Library Burning

In August of 1814, British soldiers burned the Library of Congress. In fact, they burned the whole city. They marched in straight for the Capitol. Admiral Cockburn of the Royal Navy sat in the Speaker's chair and shouted, "Gentlemen! The question is, Shall this harbor of Yankee democracy be burned? All in favor of burning it will say Aye!" AYE!! "Those opposed will say Nay," ... a general silence in the room ... "Light up!" and they exploded into action, running wild through the House, using books from the young library as kindling, sliding them off shelves, loudly scrambling throughout the Capitol, torching and stomping on art, like the full-length portraits of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and generally making merry mischief, even across the wooden passage-way into the Senate -- the rotunda had yet to be built ...

Meanwhile that summer, down in Monticello, Virginia, an extremely well-read, retired president had found himself in thickening debt, and, hearing about the tragic indignity which left the new gov't bereft of good books, he came to our rescue (and his own) by offering a fairly priced purchase: $23,950 for 6,700 volumes. The Senators went right for it, happy to have such a splendid offer for such a magnificent array of quality titles. The House paused. Daniel Webster was against it, as were others. Cyrus King of Massachusetts wanted to block all books deemed atheistical, irreligious, or immoral. He got shot down 81 to 71. Score one for the Enlightenment. Since then, the Library has collected in ALL subjects in ALL languages, quickly becoming the largest repository of information in the world. Thomas Jefferson saved us. Without his intervention, that simple congressional library woulda prolly just been fulla boring-ass law books and hurtful-ass morally sound books >>> and all that ICK & SHUDDER to which that all leads.

Also, today I learned Andrew Jackson fired the 3rd Librarian of Congress, George Watterston, when it was alleged he was the one who spread those scandalous stories about Jackson's lady, the lately deceased and ADORED wife Rachel.

PATTON

Today I learned about General George S. Patton and what a MIGHTY BADASS he is and always shall be. All considerations of armored warfare come from him, the Tank Godfather, who used tactics from Stonewall Jackson, who of course got it from the elder battlers, amen. That is, without forgetting the later developmental work and legacies of big boys Rommel and Guderian. Patton read their writings, understood what they planned to do, even while admiring them no end. Patton was everywhere, bursting with action whenever his duty was assigned. He usually wanted to visit the front lines before a battle, doing his own reconnaisance, sometimes relying on strong personal instincts like what he perceived as actual memories of nearby ancient battlefields. He believed he was a soldier reincarnated generation after generation, surprising many with his vast knowledge of places without ever having been there. Sure he was a voracious reader of classics and military history since he was a small boy, but he proposed it was more than simple imagination and memory of studies ... he claimed HE WAS THERE. When in battle he was EVERYWHERE. He was promoted quickly during wartime, even reaching full colonel commanding a brigade in France when he was 32 years old (October of 1918). So many reports like this:
"He was all over the place throughout the battle, jumping in and out of tanks, walking more than he rode, running more than he walked, now ahead of his tanks, coaxing them on, then behind them when they needed a push, like a frenzied schoolmaster trying frantically to keep in line a flock of unruly pupils on an outing." - from the blazing-hot bio of Georgie by Ladislas Farago

Amiens! Amiens!

Today I learned about the Battle of Amiens. Hoo boy was this HUGE! This was the one which finally repelled the Germans AWAY from Paris. August 1918 and the Germans were only 37 miles from the City of Lights. That long trenchline through Belgium and France finally began to break for the Allies with this collective triumph > British, French, Canadians, Australians, even Americans got involved. This is why it worked: the first time all parts worked together - IN SECRET. It was all well-planned when the battle began hours before dawn with a bombardment (with artillery shells fulla deadly gas! blimey!), then sent in wave after wave with different attacks all up and down the line. This was the first big battle to use beaucoup de tanks -- big tanks (Mark V), little tanks (whippets) -- and the Germans pretty much shat themselves when the 1st round of these 4-mile-per-hour machines came rolling through. Of course, operating these monsters was pretty f'ing scary too ... in the middle of it all: cavalry -- hundreds and hundreds of men on horseback ripping through the German defenses, then, later in the day ... PLANES (the Royal Air Force was only a few months old). Pretty much the first full-scale multi-pronged modern attack -- sorta the beginning of the end of trench warfare, right there on the largest, most famous trench of all. They broke the line and began the colossal push-back. General Ludendorff called August 8th "the black day of the German Army." It should also be noted the Americans were the ones who got the ball rolling back in June, clearing out Belleau Wood. The French couldn't clear it, but wave after wave (six full assaults lasting for weeks) of US soldiers finally pushed the Germans out. This was the first US/German scrap. They originally had the place defended so well cuz they had machinegun nests with inter-locking fields of fire all mathematically coordinated while the Americans (featuring thousands of black troops -- yes yes y'all) initially marched in line abreast, getting slaughtered. The wood was a thick'n'nasty thatch of dense, dying forest ... ugly scene, but ultimately mightily heroic. The French gave medals to the black soldiers. They hardly ever gave their medals to anyone not French. Right on.