Daniel Boone

Early America was a time of great explorations, first by European oceangoing explorers such as Hernan Cortes, Fransisco Pizarro, Samuel De Champlain, John Cabot, and Christopher Columbus. After the British, French, and Spanish established colonies in the New World, various explorers began to explore the inland wilderness of the New World. These explorers included men such as Lewis and Clark, Zebulon Pike, Kit Carson, Davy Crockett, and Jim Bowie. One such explorer was a man by the name of Daniel Boone, a native Pennsylvanian who would play a key role in the opening of Kentucky and the lands to the west of the Appalachian mountains.
Boone made several trips into Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap between what is now northern Tennessee and southern Kentucky, the first in 1767, the second in 1769, and a third in 1773. The 1773 expedition was one of the first notable expeditions into the Kentucky wilderness. It was different from other expeditions by various explorers because this expedition included several families possessing intents of colonizing Kentucky. However, soon before crossing into Kentucky, they were attacked by local Indians, resulting in the death of two of the members of the party, including James Boone, Daniel's son. The party turned back before making it through the gap.
In 1775, Boone and several companions were hired by the Transylvania Company to construct a road through the Cumberland Gap to allow easier passage into the wilderness. After they constructed the road and families and settlers began to flow into Kentucky, Boone established several towns in Kentucky, the most famous of which is the fort at Boonesborough. Several months later, Boone brought his family to Kentucky to live. Kentucky became a territory of Virginia, and Boone became a leader in the local militia. In 1778, he was captured by a local Indian tribe and was held for 5 months before he escaped to warn Boonesborough of an impending attack by British soldiers and their Indian allies; one of the many skirmishes during the Revolutionary War.
Boone spent the rest of his life traveling through the wilderness, hunting and trapping wherever he went. He later died in 1820, in Missouri.

Photo: Wikipedia, "Wilderness Road"

Battle of San Jacinto- Part 2 of the Texas Revolution

With the fall of the Alamo in March 1836, the morale of the Texan army under General Sam Houston was extremely low, not aided by the fact of their continuous retreat through Texas. In late March, the town of Goliad in South-East Texas was taken by Mexican forces, resulting in the murder of several hundred Texan defenders who had surrendered to the Mexican invaders. This outraged the Texan army and drove them harder in their attempts to defeat Santa Anna. As the Mexicans pursued Houston and his army through Texas towards the Louisiana/Texas border, General Houston waited patiently for Santa Anna to make a mistake that he could capitalize upon.
On April 20th, 1836, following a small skirmish between elements of the two armies, Santa Anna positioned his troops with their backs to a river, a poor tactical choice if one's location is in danger of being overrun by a hostile force. However, Santa Anna had no fear of this, having underestimated Houston and his seeming penchant for withdrawal in the face of the enemy. He didn't even post pickets or sentries to warn of the approach of an enemy force. This blunder was one that Houston would use to great effect. On the afternoon of the 21st, Houston moved his 800-900 man force within a few hundred yards of the Mexican army 0f 1200-1300 men without being detected. When attacked by the Texan army, the Mexican forces attempted to mount a defense, but were quickly overrun, resulting in close quarters fighting, a type of combat that the Texans excelled at, as opposed to the open field European style of warfare the Mexican forces were trained for. The Mexican army attempted to retreat, but with their backs to a river, the retreat quickly turned into a rout. Within the next hour, approximately 600 Mexicans were killed, along with 700 captured. Houston's army lost less than 10 men killed and a few wounded. General Santa Anna was discovered among the captured, dressed as a common soldier, in an attempt to disguise himself as the Mexican army commander. He was allowed to return to Mexico after signing an agreement waiving Mexico's claim to Texas, and forcing the withdrawal of all Mexican forces from Texas.
As a result, the Republic of Texas was officially created and later annexed by the United States as the 28th State in 1845. This annexation was viewed by Mexico as a declaration of war, a war fought from 1846-1848 and later known as the Mexican-American War. This war ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, granting the US ownership of not only Texas, but modern day California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Wyoming.

Remember the Alamo!- Part 1 of the Texas Revolution

In 1836, a small group of Texans gathered inside an 18th century Spanish mission, originally constructed to aid the spread of Christianity. However, these men were not there for religious purposes. Instead they were prepared to defend this small structure with their lives in order to aid a cause they deemed worthy of such sacrifice.
Previously, Texas had been a region controlled by the Mexican government until they were expelled by Texan forces fighting for the freedom of their land. A sizable amount of these Texans were Americans who had moved to Texas in order to make a new life for themselves, while the rest of them were Mexicans. In February of 1836, Santa Anna invaded Texas in order to regain control of the rebelling region. Around 200 men under the command of Colonel William Travis and Colonel Jim Bowie took refuge in the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. Their orders given to them by General Sam Houston, commander of the Texan army were to burn the Alamo, and fall back to meet up with the main army. Instead, they decided to mount a defense of the mission in order to stall the Mexican forces, giving Houston a chance to assemble the small Texan army into a cohesive fighting force. The Mexicans arrived in San Antonio on February 23rd with between 1,600 and 6,000 men and settled in for the siege of the fort. The course of the next 13 days brought constant artillery fire by both sides and occasional skirmishing caused by Texans venturing out of the fort to gather food, firewood, and to burn huts and surrounding buildings that could be used by the Mexicans for cover.
On March 5th, Santa Anna gave orders to prepare for an assault on the Alamo, which commenced in the early hours of March 6th. The initial two assaults upon the walls were beaten back with heavy casualties on the Mexican side. However, where the early assaults failed, the third and final assault would clench victory for the Mexicans. Between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning, Mexican troops poured through a breach in an outer wall of the Alamo, resulting in a short period of fierce hand-to-hand combat. When the smoke had cleared, all but a few of those residing in the Alamo were dead, with the survivors being mainly women and children who had taken shelter inside the mission. Among the Texan dead were Colonels Bowie and Travis and famed Tennessean, Davy Crockett. Estimates of dead on the Mexican side vary between 600 and 1,600, a tribute to the fighting skill of the Texan defenders. Although the battle at the Alamo could be considered a Texan military defeat, it was also a tactical victory. The 13 days spent fighting at the Alamo allowed General Houston to assemble the Texan army and prepare it for it's upcoming struggle against the Mexican forces culminating in the Battle of San Jacinto in April of the same year.

Accountability to Duty

With the election for our nation's executive leaders approaching rapidly, it is important that we as voters determine what we are looking for in our candidates. Some of us look at the issues. We want to determine how the candidate will react to a national security situation, or how they will react in a national economic crisis, such as the one we find ourselves currently embedded in. Others look at the moral issues. How does the candidate view abortion, same sex marriage, or stem cell research? Each of us has our different criteria that we seek in a leader, and most of the time, we don't find a perfect match on the ballot.
While I consider all of these to be important, I also consider the character of the person. I feel that honesty, respect, integrity, and perseverance are important in leaders these days, just as they have been in the past. However, one character trait that is often overlooked in our day in age is a sense of duty and accountability to that duty. As president, the future leader of our country must be committed to the task given him by the people of this nation, and he must be prepared to guide our country to the best of his ability. The following is an excerpt from a letter written by Robert E. Lee to his son Custis during the Civil War.

"In regard to duty, let me in conclusion of this hasty letter, inform you that nearly a hundred years ago there was a day of remarkable gloom and darkness, still known as the dark day, a day when the light of the sun was slowly extinguished as if by an eclipse. The legislature of Connecticut was in session and as its members saw the unexpected and unaccountable darkness coming on, they shared in the general awe and terror. It was supposed by many that the day of judgment had come. Some one in the consternation of the hour moved for an adjournment. Then there arose an old patriotic legislator, Davenport of Stamford, who said that if the last day had come, he desired to be found in his place of duty, and therefore moved that candles be brought in so that the house could proceed with its duty. There was quietness in that man's mind, the quietness of heavenly wisdom, an inflexible willingness to obey his duty. Duty, then is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things, like the old puritan. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less."

Davenport of Stamford knew that he was being held accountable by the people who had placed him in that office to carry out his duty, and he felt that nothing should stand in his way of carrying out that mission. I now ask you who read this to always hold those in power over us accountable to the duty with which we have charged them: protecting the rights of the people. So often in politics, accountability is thrown aside and disregarded as an import factor in one's deportment. However, with a loss of this accountability and sense of duty, a politician has no need to act in a manner befitting one who represents the people of this great country, nor protect those people or their rights.

High Treason

The year is 1780. The American Colonies have been at war with Britain for over 5 years in the struggle for independence from the British Empire. General Benedict Arnold, one of the more successful generals in the Revolutionary Army, is given command of a fort in New York called West Point (the future home of the U.S. Military Academy). It is now that an idea begins to form in his mind, an idea whose roots had been deepening for several years. Though Arnold's military career was relatively new, he had already proven himself to be a successful military strategist and field commander at the battle of Fort Ticonderoga and at the battle of Saratoga, a key military victory for the American forces. However, due to animosity that had developed between himself and other high ranking officers in the Revolutionary Army, he had been passed up for promotion several times, creating deep resentment within himself towards his fellow officers. As a result, his appointment to the command of West Point provided a perfect opportunity for him to take revenge upon the army and his fellow officers. He began plotting with British General Sir Henry Clinton to betray West Point to the British and to defect to their side. On September 21, 1780 (today) Arnold met with John Andre, a British Major and messenger between Arnold and Clinton to work out the details of the fort's capture. However, the plot was discovered before Arnold could turn over the information to Andre, causing Arnold to escape to the British Army. Major Andre was not so lucky. In failing to escape he was captured by American forces and executed as a spy. Arnold went on to command British forces throughout the rest of the war, and retired to England for the remainder of his life.

Please Contribute Ideas

If you all have anything that you would like to hear about in my blog (stories, people, events etc.) feel free to post them in the comments section.

The Premise of the Blog

This blog is not what one would consider to be a standard blog. While others are written to let readers know what is happening in the life and thoughts of the composers, this blog will have little if nothing to do with me. Instead, I plan to impart my knowledge and love of the history of this nation to you readers out there. My apologies if I occasionally get really nerdy when talking about it. I will post about various leaders in our history, their deeds, thoughts, beliefs, quotes, speeches, and whatever else my nerdy history mind decides to post. Also, I will post about historical events such as elections, battles, passages of laws, and so on and so forth. I have realized that many quotes from our past still have relevancy to our nation today. On that note, I shall leave ye, O intrepid reader, with a thought from my favorite Patriot and yours, Joseph Warren.

"Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of. Our enemies are numerous and powerful; but we have many friends, determining to be free, and heaven and earth will aid the resolution. On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important question, on which rest the happiness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves."