http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1818
Here are some one liners...
Milk Sickness and the Poisoning of Mrs. Lincoln -- People are dying of milk sickness along the frontier, including the mother of Abraham Lincoln. The poisoning is caused by a plant that cows eat.
Andrew Jackson Invades Spanish-Florida -- After a massacre near Fort Scott, Andrew Jackson invades Florida and kicks the snot out of the Seminole Indians for not adhering to the treaty.
In Other News -- Frankenstein, the modern flag US Flag, and Silent Night.
Milk Sickness and the Poisoning of Mrs. Lincoln
As American colonists move West they meet with a mysterious new disease: the Milk Sickness, otherwise known as the Trembles, the Slows and many other names that indicate a rural, undeveloped region. It is not an epidemic, but as roads improve, perishable items such as milk, butter and meat are carried further and faster so the poisoning spreads. It begins with cows trembling. In people the symptoms are intestinal pain, vomiting and a persistent death. Recently, a number of people have died of the Milk Sickness at the Little Pigeon Creek Settlement in southwest Indiana, including Nancy Hanks Lincoln, the mother of 9-year-old Abraham Lincoln. It is caused by a poison from the WHITE snakeroot plant. When cows and goats graze in the woods they eat this plant. People eat the dairy products and meat from those animals which concentrates the poison leading to vomiting and death. Cattle prefer grass, but they will eat the WHITE snakeroot during times of drought when there is no other food available. The cause of the poisoning will not be discovered until 1928. One wonders why it takes so long. [1] [2]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
I browsed a number of journal articles from the 1880s on the subject of milk sickness. It is pathetic to watch these men of science trying to guess what is going wrong instead of following the cows around and figuring out what the heck they were eating. There was a certain amount of class prejudice going on. Scientists live in cities. Farming near cities are usually takes place in developed lands mostly cleared of wood and wild brush including the WHITE snakeroot. Scientists didn't want to ride long distances to remote regions just to watch smelly cows. But when long-distance transportation of perishable foods became practical, the poisoning became a problem for the cities, and thus became a problem for the scientists who lived there. FYI, I emphasize WHITE snakeroot as a poisonous plant because a medicinal grade BLACK snakeroot or Black cohosh is sometimes used to help women with symptoms of menopause. Of course, I am not a doctor. I don't even play one on TV. [3] [4] [5]
I browsed a number of journal articles from the 1880s on the subject of milk sickness. It is pathetic to watch these men of science trying to guess what is going wrong instead of following the cows around and figuring out what the heck they were eating. There was a certain amount of class prejudice going on. Scientists live in cities. Farming near cities are usually takes place in developed lands mostly cleared of wood and wild brush including the WHITE snakeroot. Scientists didn't want to ride long distances to remote regions just to watch smelly cows. But when long-distance transportation of perishable foods became practical, the poisoning became a problem for the cities, and thus became a problem for the scientists who lived there. FYI, I emphasize WHITE snakeroot as a poisonous plant because a medicinal grade BLACK snakeroot or Black cohosh is sometimes used to help women with symptoms of menopause. Of course, I am not a doctor. I don't even play one on TV. [3] [4] [5]
Andrew Jackson Invades Spanish-Florida
It's all fun and games until someone gets massacred. By an earlier treaty, the Creek Indians were supposed to move away from the American border with Spanish Florida. The Seminole Indians are a type of Creek Indian but some of them don't think so. Raids across the American border (by both sides) have escalated into the Scott Massacre when a supply boat headed for Fort Scott is attacked by Indians. There are few survivors. General Andrew Jackson is in charge of the US Army in the South, so on his own initiative (sometimes called "exceeding one's authority") he assembles his troops at Fort Scott and crosses the border into Florida. Indians who resist are killed. Women and children are removed. Collaborators, even British subjects, usually get a tribunal before they are hanged or shot. Tallahassee is gone. Indian villages are abandoned. By the time Jackson reaches Pensacola, the Florida governor is hopping mad. He certifies that the Indians in Pensacola are unarmed. Jackson doesn't stop, so the governor retreats to Fort Barrancas and after exchanging some cannon fire, the Spanish governor surrenders. The State Department is ecstatic! The War department is not. By next year Spain will sell Florida to the United States for 5 million dollars which is a little over 96 million in today's dollars. [6] [7]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
Did Andrew Jackson hate Indians? No. He hated murderers and if those murderers were Indians he was merciless. He didn't treat Indians as equals, but if an Indian tribe worked with him, Jackson defended them. If Indians fought against him, Jackson beat the ever-loving tar out of them. As Daniel Webster said of Jackson, "He is a dangerous man." True enough. Secondly, all governments must face the problem of insurgents crossing a national border to cause havoc and then crossing back for relative safety. That happened when Russia invaded Afghanistan. The same thing happened when the United States invaded Afghanistan and it still happens. Governments and the military think long and hard before invading yet another country. One war is usually difficult enough. [8]
Did Andrew Jackson hate Indians? No. He hated murderers and if those murderers were Indians he was merciless. He didn't treat Indians as equals, but if an Indian tribe worked with him, Jackson defended them. If Indians fought against him, Jackson beat the ever-loving tar out of them. As Daniel Webster said of Jackson, "He is a dangerous man." True enough. Secondly, all governments must face the problem of insurgents crossing a national border to cause havoc and then crossing back for relative safety. That happened when Russia invaded Afghanistan. The same thing happened when the United States invaded Afghanistan and it still happens. Governments and the military think long and hard before invading yet another country. One war is usually difficult enough. [8]
In Other News
- The modern flag of the United States is adopted. The original Flag Act of 1777 indicated 13 stars on a field of blue. The new rule is one white star per state added on 4th of July following the date of admission. That worked until 1953 when someone noticed that Congress never approved Ohio's admission to the Union. (They fixed it.) [11] [12]
- "Silent Night" is first sung on Christmas Eve in Austria. Father Joseph Mohr had written the lyrics two years ago, but this year Franz Gruber, the church organist, composes the melody and history is made in a small village in Austria. ([Stille Nacht by the Vienna Boys Choir], [Silent Night by Michael Bublé]) [13] [14] [15]
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