Revival History

 MEMBER OF THE DREADED CHEYENNE 'DOG SOLDIERS': It is written in some texts that they participated in Battle of the Greasy Grass (Little Big Horn). They did not. The Cheyenne contingent at Greasy Grass were Northern Cheyenne; a different tribe, with their own dialect and religious practices. Dog Soldiers (Southern Cheyenne), also referred to as 'Dog leash men' (they wore a leash, similar to the Lakota 'sash wearers') took responsibility for the tribe's security, both internal and external. Selected for bravery, discipline and fighting skills, they maintained order in the camp. If a hunt was planned, they would see to it that pairs of young warriors, did not sneak off to go out and get the first kill for example. Similarly, when instructions were given to break camp, they would do a full perimeter inspection and literally whip stragglers to pack up with the other people. In battles, designated Dogmen were appointed to pin themselves to the ground (via leash a

 28th of November, 1940. The English Channel  Flight Lieutenant John Dundas of No. 609 squadron shot down Major Helmut Wick in air combat over the English channel, south of the Isle of Wight. Wick, the Geschwaderkommodore of JG 2, was Germany's current highest scoring ace of the war at the time with 56 kills to his credit.  Major Wick was seen to parachute from his Messerschmitt and drift towards the water but his body was never recovered.  By a cruel twist of fate, on the day that he died, Major Wick was pictured standing with Hermann Göring on the front cover of the Berlin magazine Illustrirte Zeitung.

 At 11.11am on Monday, 28 November, 1944, 4,000 tonnes of bombs and ammunition exploded at the RAF base at Fauld in Hanbury. The blast occurred in 180,000 sq ft of underground corridors - 12ft high and 20ft wide - which were used to store RAF munitions during the Second World War. In these concrete passages, bombs and ammunition were tightly packed. During wartime, corners had been cut in the way the base was run due to the shortage of manpower and greater demand on resources. The blast created a 400ft deep by three quarters of a mile crater, which has now become a poignant landmark in the British countryside due to its morbid history. Bodies were strewn everywhere, while others were left entombed in the warren of concrete corridors, and even the civilian population were caught up in the devastation. The original death toll announced by the then Minister of War was 80, of whom 25 were actually working in the mine at the time. Other estimates range from 70 to 80 - the exact number will

 DEFIANCE IN A WICKED WORLD At one time the Manx government used to welcome Russians and oligarch friends of Putin here. It was good for business, we were told. Now it's questionable whether these scum should ever have set foot bought a jet or lodged a rouble here. Steve Rosenberg, the excellent BBC Moscow correspondent reports on the seven year sentence handed down to Sasha Skochilenko, an artist for protesting the Ukraine war. Her crime? She replaced five small labels in a supermarket with tiny anti-war labels.

 April 26th, 1901. Sheriff Salome Garcia of Union County, New Mexico, tightens the noose around the neck of Thomas Edward Ketchum also known as Black Jack Ketchum.  Black Jack Ketchum was the only person ever hanged in Union County, New Mexico Territory (now Union County, New Mexico). He was also the only person who suffered capital punishment for the offense of "felonious assault upon a railway train" in the New Mexico Territory.  The execution by hanging was botched; he was decapitated because the executioner used a rope that was too long.

 Eva Dugan (1878 – February 21, 1930) was a convicted murderer whose execution by hanging in Florence, Arizona, resulted in her decapitation and influenced the state of Arizona to replace hanging with the lethal gas chamber as a method of execution. Dugan was born in Salisbury, Missouri, in 1878. She married and had two children (a son and a daughter) but her husband abandoned the family, leaving them destitute. Dugan relocated to Juneau Territory of Alaska, after trekking north during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896–1899 and became a cabaret singer and worked as a prostitute to support herself and her children. Many years later, she moved to Pima County, Arizona where she worked as a housekeeper for an elderly chicken rancher, Andrew J. Mathis. Very quickly the employer/employee relationship became cantankerous. The two often bickered with each other because Mathis hated Dugan's cooking and wasn't satisfied with her work and Mathis was demanding, abrasive and difficult to get a

 The execution of Sioux leaders, Little Six and Medicine Bottle who were convicted of war crimes against the citizens of Minnesota during the Dakota War of 1862, Fort Snelling, Minnesota, 1865.  The Minnesota Massacre in August 1862 resulted in the deaths of more than 450 settlers living near the reservation.  When the annual payment from the government failed to arrive on time, Wo-wi-na-pa, the son of Little Crow, and some other Dakota men led an attack against the white settlers. Among them were Little Six, the grandson of Shakopee and leader of the Mdewakanton band, and Medicine Bottle, the nephew of Chief Medicine Bottle. Little Six and Medicine Bottle fled to Canada after the massacre. In early December 1862, the military convicted 303 Sioux prisoners of murder and rape by military tribunals and sentenced them to death. Thirty-eight of the convicted were hanged all at once, making it the largest hanging in American History. Medicine Bottle and Little Six evaded capture for almost

 Roxalana "Roxana" Druse (née Teftt; born c. 1847 – hanged February 28, 1887), was the last woman hanged in the state of New York. The first woman to be hanged in four decades in Central New York, her botched execution resulted in the decision to replace the gallows with the electric chair in 1890. Mrs Druse murdered her husband, William Druse, in their home in Warren, New York. The murder unfolded with the help of her son and daughter, George and Mary Druse, and nephew Frank Gates. The family members were threatened with death if they refused and all had an involvement with the murder case. Druse claimed that her motive was that her husband was abusive to her and was not supporting the family because he had left for a number of days after an argument. Frank Gates and George Druse were later released due to their lack of involvement in the murder. During the trial, Mary Druse admitted to assisting in the murder and was sentenced to life at the Onondaga Country penitentiary. O

 HOW THE APOSTLES DIED. 1. Matthew Suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, Killed by a sword wound. 2. Mark Died in Alexandria, Egypt , after being dragged by Horses through the streets until he was dead. 3. Luke Was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous Preaching to the lost. 4. John Faced martyrdom when he was boiled in huge Basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution In Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered From death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison Island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos . The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve As Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey . He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully 5. Peter He was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross. According to church tradition it was because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die In the same way that Jesus Christ had died. 6. James The leader of the church in Jerusalem , was thrown over a hundred feet down

 On July 7th, 1865, 158 years ago today, Alexander Gardner recorded a number of photographs of the gallows before, during, and after the execution of the Lincoln conspirators. Of all the poignant images taken that day, one stands out to me as particularly intriguing. The photo was taken right after the hanging while the motionless bodies were still swinging at the end of the ropes. The crowd of witnesses and soldiers had begun to disperse, but one small observer appeared to be transfixed as he continued to stare at the bodies of Mary Surratt and Lewis Payne (Powell). Below, I posted a crop from the photograph focusing on the boy and the insert is a highly magnified close up. The question arises, how did such a young boy become a witness to this historic execution? Some research claims he was a 15-year-old who joined the 16th NY Cavalry and when it was discovered he was too young to enlist, was made a "regimental mascot" for the unit. Apparently, he accompanied this unit to th

 In April 1736, Andrew Wilson and George Robertson were confined in the notorious Tolbooth prison in Edinburgh, awaiting their execution, after having been convicted of robbing a tax collector. Public sentiment favored the men, who were said to have been taking back a tax that they contended was taken from them unfairly. Shortly before the scheduled time of execution, when the jailers opened the doors to the cell, Wilson charged and blocked them, while Robertson dashed away and escaped into the sympathetic crowd.  Wilson was hanged on April 14 before a large crowd of angry onlookers, moved not only by their sympathy for Wilson’s crime, but also by his self-sacrificial conduct in helping his friend escape. As Wilson’s body was being cut down, some in crowd began throwing stones at the executioner. The situation soon escalated. The Captain of the Edinburgh City Guard was John Porteous, whose overbearing mannerisms were said to have made him unpopular in the city. As the disturbance grew,

 Mary Fairfax Sommerville was a world-renowned mathematician, geographer, science writer and theoretical astronomer. The inventor/astronomer/mathematician Sir David Brewster called her “certainly the most extraordinary woman in Europe.” She is also responsible for the coining of a word. In 1834 the British intellectual William Whewell ran into a problem when writing a review of one of Sommerville’s books. At that time practitioners of science were called “men of science.” Because he couldn’t very well refer to Mary Sommerville as a “man of science” he needed another term. So, he invented one: “scientist.” In one sense, therefore, we might say that Mary Sommerville was the world’s first scientist. Mary Fairfax Sommerville died on November 29, 1872, one hundred fifty-one years ago today.

 Nicolas Jacques Pelletier (c1756 – 25 April 1792) was a French highwayman who was the first person to be executed by guillotine. 𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 Pelletier is routinely associated with a group of known criminals. On the night of 14 October 1791, with several unknown accomplices, he attacked a passerby in the rue Bourbon-Villeneuve in Paris and stole his wallet and several securities. During the robbery, he also killed the man, though this is disputed in later literature as possibly just having been an assault and robbery or also an assault, robbery, and rape. He was apprehended and accused that same night, for the cries for help alerted some in the city, and a nearby guard arrested Pelletier. Judge Jacob Augustin Moreau, the District Judge of Sens, was to hear the case. A legal advisor was given to Pelletier, but despite his efforts and calls for a fairer court hearing, the judge ordered a death sentence for 31 December 1791. On 24 Decemb

 The Patriot cause in South Carolina looked bleak in July 1780. On May 12, following a two-month siege, the British had captured Charleston, forcing American General Benjamin Lincoln to surrender his entire army—one of the worst American defeats of the war and the largest surrender of American forces until 1862.  Once they had control of Charleston the British swept across the rest of the state. Their previous policy that had allowed citizens to remain neutral was revoked—anyone who didn’t take an oath of loyalty to the crown was now regarded a traitor and subject to hanging and confiscation of their property. Tarleton’s notorious and hated cavalry ranged across the state, searching out disloyal citizens and earning a reputation for cruelty. One of his officers, Captain Christian Huck, was dispatched with a body of cavalry and Loyalist militia to subdue the Patriots in the northern upcountry. Huck was a German-born Loyalist from Pennsylvania, a violent and profane man with a grudge aga

 Among the many episodes of horrific brutality during the Civil War, the Great Hanging at Gainesville stands out as one of the worst.  There was considerable Unionist sentiment in North Texas following that state’s secession and widespread objection to the Confederate Conscription Act that went into effect in April 1862. Opposition to the draft led to rumors of a Unionist plot to seize state arsenals. In response to the rumors, Texas militia entered Cooke County in late September 1862 and arrested over 150 suspected Unionists, charging them with treason and insurrection. A “citizens court” was convened in Gainesville to try the accused. During the first ten days of October, the vigilante “court” convicted and hanged seven of the accused, and two were killed while trying to escape. Meanwhile, the proceedings had attracted an angry mob to Gainesville, and on October 13 they seized and lynched 14 of the defendants, without benefit of trial. The following week, under pressure from the mob,

 Thirteen members of the Richmond Greys, a volunteer militia from that city, pose for a photograph in 1859. This image is believed to have been made in Charles Town, Virginia (later West Virginia), where the Greys had been dispatched to help with security during the execution of John Brown. Actor John Wilkes Booth left the Richmond Theater where he was performing and managed to buy a uniform from the Greys and secure a spot amidst them during the hanging.  Encyclopedia Virginia

 On this day, 29 November 1781, the Zong massacre began, during which crew of a British enslavers' ship began murdering 132 enslaved Africans by throwing them overboard. The vessel was en route from Accra to Jamaica, and began with 442 enslaved people aboard, of whom around 60 died from maltreatment. In the Caribbean, the vessel accidentally overshot Jamaica, and on November 29 it was decided to begin murdering some of the surviving enslaved people, so that the owners of the ship could be compensated for their "loss" by their insurance company. Over the next three days, 132 people were thrown into the sea and killed, and 10 more defied the enslavers by choosing instead to die by suicide. The stated justification for the murders was that the first mate claimed that they were short of water, and if they did not kill some of the Africans, all of them would have died. However, the ship still had large amounts of water upon its arrival in Jamaica. The insurance claim ended up

 GEORGE GLENN (1850–1931). George Glenn, black traildriver, son of Wash Glenn, was born into slavery on March 8, 1850, probably in Colorado County, Texas.  He was raised on the ranch of Robert B. Johnson of Columbus and trained in ranching activities and as a trail cook.  After the Civil War and emancipation, Glenn evidently continued at the Johnson ranch as a cowhand. In the spring of 1870 he accompanied Johnson on a cattle drive to Abilene, Kansas.  At the Red River, when a fresh group of cowhands displaced the original ones, Johnson and Glenn continued with the new group to Abilene, where they sold the herd. Johnson fell ill and died at age thirty-six in Abilene in July 1870. Glenn had his employer embalmed and buried in a metal casket in the area. The following September he decided to bring Johnson's body back to Texas for burial and had the casket disinterred and placed in a wagon. Reportedly, Glenn traveled alone with Johnson's body for forty-two days across three states,

 Likely we’ve all heard the expression “to play the devil’s advocate.” It has an interesting origin. Beginning in the 16th century, when a person was being considered for canonization by the Catholic Church, the candidate’s merits and qualifications for sainthood were presented by a canon lawyer called the advocatus Dei (“God’s advocate”), whose function was to make the case for the candidate’s canonization. Opposing the advocatus Dei was another church-appointed canon lawyer, whose assignment was to argue against canonization, by trying to uncover reasons the candidate was not deserving of sainthood. That lawyer was called, you guessed it, “the devil’s advocate” (advocatus diaboli). In 1983, under the direction of Pope John Paul II, the process was reformed, and the “devil’s advocate” role was merged into the office of the “Promoter of the Faith,” whose responsibility includes overseeing a comprehensive examination of a candidate’s merits, making the process now less like a trial and

 DAKOTA WOMAN PREPARING AN ANIMAL HIDE: The hide would be rubbed by hand to assist softening. It would be then used to make pouches, moccasins, robes, etc, etc. The buffalo provided everything for the people; shields, robes, tipi covering, rugs, food, the bladder kept water. Everything was used; nothing was wasted. Even the dung was used for fuel. Without extermination of the buffalo, resistance could have continued for another 50 years. Why only 50? More advanced weapons came along after that.

 John Henry George "Babbacombe" Lee (15 August 1864 – 19 March 1945) was an Englishman famous for surviving three attempts to hang him for murder. Born in Abbotskerswell, Devon, Lee served in the Royal Navy and was a known thief. In 1885, he was convicted of the murder of his employer, Emma Keyse, at her home at Babbacombe Bay near Torquay on 15 November 1884. The evidence was weak and circumstantial, amounting to little more than Lee having been the only male in the house at the time of the murder, his previous criminal record, and being found with an unexplained cut on his arm. Despite this and his claim of innocence, he was sentenced to hang. After he survived three attempts at hanging, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He became popularly known as "the man they couldn't hang". 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐡 On 23 February 1885, three attempts were made to carry out Lee's execution at Exeter Prison. All ended

 Thomas Granger or Graunger (1625? – September 8, 1642) was one of the first people hanged in the Plymouth Colony (the first hanged in Plymouth or in any of the colonies of New England being John Billington) and the first known juvenile to be sentenced to death and executed in the territory of today's United States. He was a servant to Love Brewster, of Duxbury, in the Plymouth Colony of British North America. Graunger, at the age of 16 or 17, was convicted of "bug/gery with a mare, a cow, two goats, divers sheep, two calves, and a turkey", according to court records of September 7, 1642. Graunger reportedly confessed to his crimes in court privately to local magistrates, and upon indictment, publicly to ministers and the jury, being sentenced to "death by hanging until he was dead". He was hanged by John Holmes, Messenger of the Court, on September 8, 1642. Before Graunger's execution, following the laws set down in Leviticus 20:15 ("And if a man shall

 Scarface Charley, whose Modoc name was Charka.  He was given the nickname "Scarface Charley" due to a facial scar he received during a battle. He was a prominent figure during the Modoc War, or the Modoc Campaign (also known as the Lava Beds War), a conflict that took place in 1872-1873 in the border region of California and Oregon, USA.  The Modoc War was primarily a result of tensions between the Modoc people and the U.S. government over land rights and the forced relocation of the Modoc tribe to the Klamath Reservation. 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 Scarface Charley was born around 1830 in the traditional homeland of the Modoc people, which included parts of present-day California and Oregon. 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐨𝐜 𝐖𝐚𝐫 In the late 19th century, the U.S. government sought to move several Native American tribes, including the Modocs, to reservations as part of its policy to consolidate tribes into smaller areas. Scarface Charley and other Modoc leaders, notably Captain Jack, opposed this forc

 Isaac Parker – Hanging Judge of Indian Territory. “I have ever had the single aim of justice in view… ‘Do equal and exact justice,’ is my motto, and I have often said to the grand jury, ‘Permit no innocent man to be punished, but let no guilty man escape.'” -Judge Isaac C. Parker, 1896 Judge Isaac Parker often called the “Hanging Judge,” from Fort Smith, Arkansas ruled over the lawless land of Indian Territory in the late 1800s. In 1875, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) was populated by cattle and horse thieves, whiskey peddlers, and bandits who sought refuge in the untamed territory that was free of a “White Man’s Court.” The only court with jurisdiction over Indian Territory was the U.S. Court for the Western District of Arkansas located in Fort Smith, Arkansas, which was situated on the border of Western Arkansas and Indian Territory. Judge Isaac Parker was born in a log cabin outside Barnesville, Belmont County, Ohio on October 15, 1838. The youngest son of Joseph and Jane Park

 Seventy-five years ago, the first atomic bomb was being prepared to be dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Many have asked whether it was necessary to drop the bomb and from studying this time period for 25 years, I would say without this bomb, an invasion of Japan in November 1945 would have gone forward and cost the lives of millions of people. To explore the reasons for this historical assessment, let’s explore some interesting facts surrounding the history of the atomic bomb and how it has been dealt with in the post-1945 world.  The Empire of Japan exacted a higher cost in human lives during just two operations out  of hundreds while raping and destroying China (approximately 300,000 dead in Nanking in 1937-1938, and 250,000 in greater Chekiang region in 1942) than the number of Japanese who died from the atomic bombs (Hiroshima claimed 140,000 and Nagasaki 70,000). Also unacknowledged are the 22 million Asians slaughtered by the Empire of Japan, the millions of rape victi

 Here is the talk that I gave at New Life church Sunday.  I ad-libbed some during the talk, but this is pretty true to the way it was presented.  A member of New Life after hearing the talk emailed me this.  “These were common men that did extraordinary things for their country”.   I’m putting this up for all to read.  It is hard to conceive the valor of these men  who called DeRidder and Beauregard Parish home. I encourage you to take this and share with others. For your friends who are not on FB and  probably would like to read this , why don't you copy & paste so you can print for them. These are the folks who laid the foundation of DeRidder as we know today.  Intro: Here’s what founding father , John Adams, had to say about the 4th. “The forth day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America.  It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance , by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty .  It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with