Carol C Taylor Blog

Floating Down the Sabine

Posted on September 4, 2014 by admin

Sketch of an early flatboat or raft with living quarters for humans and space for livestock. Many of these floated pioneers to new lands at very little cost. Note the woman washing clothes to the right. Life carried on whether on water or land.

From early colonial times, land along navigable waterways was considered extremely valuable. This riparian farmland was usually fertile, well watered and with the adjacent river goods could be taken to market much cheaper than overland. With the opening of the West between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River, the major transportation routes were down the Ohio River to the Mississippi to the port of New Orleans. While a much longer journey, it was cheaper than building roads over the mountains.

By the early 1800, Tennesseans crafted houseboats and floated their way down the Mississippi to new lands. The Wright family of Lamar County arrived after a six-month trip down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Red River and up that river to Pecan Point in present-day Red River County. It was a long and arduous trek, with swamps and mosquitos, but all arrived safely. The area around what is today Shreveport was especially hazardous with the Red River Raft or logjam.

Charles Fenton Mercer advertised that the Trinity River was navigable to Dallas in an effort to sell land in the Mercer Colony in 1845. Unfortunately, that was false advertising to say the least. By the 1890s, one small snag boat made it to the Oak Cliff area. The water was too shallow and the roots, logs, and other debris made the trek dangerous.

Recently I found a letter from a woman in East Texas to relatives in Fort Worth written in the 1920s. While the relationships were blurred to say the least, she included a most interesting story. It took place in Panola County, on the extreme eastern border of Texas with Louisiana. Panola County, like Hunt County, was created in 1846, having been part of Shelby and Harrison Counties during the Republic of Texas. The major village at the time was Pulaski, located on the banks of the Sabine River.

Shortly after the 1850 Federal Census S. L. Davis decided to move his family to the town of Orange, the southeastern most community in Texas. Davis hired a carpenter to build the family a houseboat with four rooms. When the Sabine was “on the rise” it was floated on the river. Mr. Davis loaded his favorite cow to furnish milk, a couple of horses, pen of chickens, and other animals on the houseboat along with the family belongings. The family then set off on their journey. At night they tied the boat to the shore, hobbled or staked the animals for grazing, and went back to the boat to sleep. Each morning after the animals were retrieved, the journey began anew. The only haphazard on the trip, according to the author, was the loss of a locket belonging to one of the young daughters.

Once they arrived in Orange, Davis sold the houseboat for lumber, and found a landlocked home for the family. However, Davis did not particularly enjoy or maybe didn’t do well in business in Orange for by the 1860 Federal Census they were back in the Panola County seat of Carthage where Mr. and Mrs. Davis operated the only hotel in town. Ironically, the daughter who lost her locket in the muddy Sabine River later married the builder of the houseboat. However, I don’t believe they tried that adventure again.

Horse Racing

Posted on August 25, 2014 by admin

Rodeo star and jockey Jackie Worthington grew up on the back of a horse.

A century ago, Greenville residents were gearing up for the North Texas Fair that would open in a few days at the Fairgrounds. Today the site is the home of the YMCA and the old Shirey’s plant at the corner of Moulton and Stanford Streets. A few weeks earlier Greenville hosted the Texas Confederate Veterans Reunion at the same location. Things were really booming here.

The fair drew large crowds from surrounding areas and as far away as Fort Worth. Having at least five railroads that stopped here didn’t hurt. The railway companies had something of a price war going and offered special rates to every event they thought people would attend. I have never investigated the savings but newspapers claimed great deals for the traveling public.

On the 17th of August the Dallas Morning News reported, “the racing stables of the North Texas Fair have been filled to capacity. Many famous owners and trainers are here and well-known horses are among the strings, comprising the best of Texas horses and many from Arkansas.” Horse racing was a big draw at the fair.

In fact, horse racing had been a big deal since the days of the Republic of Texas, and probably much earlier. In the 1870s there was an opening in Black Cat Thicket around a salt lick. Hidden from public view, but just the right size for a racetrack, Hunt County citizens enjoyed races at the Devil’s Race Track. I have a vague idea where it was, but I would love to know the exact spot. Someone told me that respectable young ladies drove their buggies out there to enjoy the social event. Evidently the Devil’s Race Track was not taboo. I suppose they had a chaperone, though.

A couple of years ago, my cousin and I visited with an elderly gentleman in Jacksboro who remembered the rural mail carrier that came by his boyhood home. The mail carrier was our grandfather. In the course of the interview, the gentleman who is now past 100 years of age, started to tell us about my cousin’s in-laws, noted ranchers that he worked for as a lad. The patriarch of the family was something of an iconic figure. All stories I have heard about him picture a man straight out of old western movies.

The patriarch loved horse racing, especially if his horse or horses were winning. Sometime in the 1920s, a group of men in Jack County and surrounding counties decided to have a marathon race from Seymour to Cundiff. The distance is about fifty miles. The patriarch chose his best distance horse and picked a young girl to ride. Evidently he received a great deal of harassment for putting a female in the saddle with so much money at stake. But he knew what he was doing. The girl and his horse won the endurance race.

I remember the girl, who was an old woman by the time I came along. Jackie Worthington was one of three daughters. Her father was also a prominent rancher, but didn’t enter a horse in that contest. Jackie went on to become one of the pioneer women rodeo stars. In later life she ran the Worthington Ranch successfully. When she came to town, she was dressed in boots, old jeans and a long-sleeved shirt with either a Stetson or straw hat on, depending on the season. Jackie Worthington was a tiny woman, even in old age. No wonder she won the race from Seymour to Cundiff.

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A Buttermilk Sky

Posted on August 17, 2014 by admin

A full moon in a buttermilk sky is a beautiful sight.

The word buttermilk reminds me of two very different things. The first, of course, is the dairy product. I often use buttermilk when I bake but the thought of drinking it as a beverage is repulsive, although I have known lots of old-timers who swore by cornbread and buttermilk as the evening meal. The second meaning that comes to mind is a family memory. The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show on television captivated one of my cousins. Kathy always wanted to play cowboys and cowgirls so she could be Dale Evans. She even named her horse Buttermilk after the one Dale Evans rode. Kathy’s horse was buckskin so the name was appropriate.

One evening this summer while I sitting outside with a group of friends under a full moon, someone remarked how pretty the moon was in the Buttermilk Sky. I thought that was the song Hoagy Carmichael crooned in the 1950s or such. But as I looked up I recognized that cloud formation that had remained nameless all my life. Covering the moon, it was gorgeous but also had an eerie feeling.

The next day was a scorcher here. The southwest wind was brutal. That afternoon I saw what looked like thunderheads building up over Sulphur Springs. Ever the optimist I hoped they were heading our way, even though we seldom get rain from the east. Sadly, the thunderheads had dissipated before dark with no rain. I canned Purple Hull Peas that evening and was not particularly interested in the moon. Once the jars were in the canner, I stepped outside to find that the wind had changed from the southwest to a nice northerly breeze. How wonderfully refreshing!

After my canning was done for the evening, I sat down to the computer and googled “buttermilk sky” and “buttermilk sky moon.” The clouds seen the previous night were a buttermilk sky or altocumulus clouds. They are particularly spectacular in the moonlight. Some parts of the world refer to the phenomenon as a “mackerel sky” but since we are not that close to the water, a buttermilk sky it is in Texas.

I also learned that the clouds were the remnants of frontal system. Little, if any rain follows a buttermilk sky. Ironically, there were storm systems north of our nemesis, the high-pressure cap of July and August, the evening before.

I doubt if there were any Buttermilk Skies around here a hundred years ago. According to newspaper reports of July and August 1914, rain was abundant in Northeast Texas. It was so plentiful that farmers began to wonder if the damp weather would increase the likelihood of boll weevils and armyworms. No further mention was made of insects but an even worse tragedy occurred for those in the cotton business.

What began as a “quick war” when Germany planned to march into Paris and defeat the French turned into trench warfare that lasted more than four years. All textile mills in Europe were converted into armament factories. Since U. S. cotton, especially that produced in Northeast Texas, was highly valued in Europe, the war put an end to the exceptional outlet for raw cotton.

Cotton that was so plentiful that fall would sell for less than ten cents a pound. That was if the farmer was able to find a buyer. The loss of the market was devastating to farmers, merchants, bankers, and almost everyone in Northeast Texas. It would take years to recover.

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What Happened to Andrew Thomas Sampley?

Posted on August 11, 2014 by admin

Rebecca Sampley Sampley Coley, daughter of Jesse C. and Mahulda Crossland Sampley, married John Samuel Coley in 1864. They lived on Sand Mountain in northeast Alabama after the Civil War. When Rebecca died in 1885, John S. Coley donated the land for Wesley Chapel Methodist Church and cemetery.

In late October 1861 a company of men from Stevenson, Jackson County, Alabama enlisted in the 42nd Regiment, Tennessee Infantry, C. S. A. They made their way to Camp Cheatham, just north of Nashville, Tennessee. There on October 31, 1861 the men were mustered into Company E. After a brief training session, the entire regiment was transported to Fort Donelson, Tennessee, to guard the Cumberland River.

Among those men were my second great-grandfather John Samuel Coley (15), and several members of the Sampley family, also relatives. Brothers Andrew Thomas (26), Martin V. (19) and George Washington (17) were sons of Martin Sampley and his wife Perry or Perrie. Also in the group was the father-in-law of Andrew Thomas, Jesse Crawford (called Croft) Sampley (36). Andrew and Croft’s daughter Rebecca married August 9, 1860. I have not determined the exact relationship of all the Sampley men, but it is a work in progress for me.

The battle at Fort Donelson began with signs of a Confederate victory, but after two Confederate generals slipped their men out in the dark of night, General Grant’s Army was able to take the fort on Sunday, February 16, 1862. More than 7,000 enlisted men were taken to Camp Douglas Prisoner of War Camp. They were not prepared for the frigid cold Chicago weather and the crowded conditions. Of the five men from Stevenson, only Croft Sampley, the oldest of the group, managed to avoid the camp hospital.

By April and May many of the 42nd Regiment, Tennessee Infantry CSA were in critical condition. John S. Coley was admitted to hospital twice, George Washington Sampley died June 16, and his brother Martin V. Sampley succumbed ten days later. Both were buried in the Confederate grave that today lists the names of most of the deceased.

In April of 1862 men from four Confederate regiments held at Camp Douglas signed a petition expressing their desire to take the Oath of Allegiance to the Federal Government. The petition was accepted at the time the Dix-Hill Cartel was signed to allow a general exchange of prisoners. The men were taken by rail to Cairo, Illinois, where they were loaded on boats for Vicksburg. The trip took over one week with the steamships moving under a flag of truce during the day only; night travel was considered too dangerous.
John S. Coley was on the last boat to leave Cairo, having been in hospital until the last minute. Andrew Thomas Sampley was not so lucky. He was left at hospital in Camp Douglas. There his military records end. A family Bible in Birmingham provided his fate. It simply stated he died November 1862.

Andrew’s wife Rebecca gave birth to a baby boy on July 6, 1862, who died on October 22, 1862. Croft Sampley and John S. Coley returned to Jackson County, having served their year in the Confederacy. A year later, Coley joined the 5th Tennessee Cavalry, this time though it was a Union regiment. In May and June of 1864 Coley was absent without leave and then present on detached service at Tracy City, Tennessee, from July 1864 until June 1865. Years later when he applied for a Union pension, he noted that he married Rebecca Sampley on May 28, 1864 in Tracy City. I believe Rebecca’s life after marrying John S. Coley was better. She was the mother of ten children in that marriage, mostly boys. All of the children were living when she died in 1885.

When Jesse Crawford (Croft) Sampley died on Christmas Day 1893, the obituary stated that he was known in those parts as Rebel Jess. Certainly there must have been some interesting conversations in that family.

Posted in Genealogy, Historical tidbits, North Texas History | 4 Comments

The Guns of August

Posted on August 7, 2014 by admin

German Kaiser Wilhelm II, left, and British King George V were first cousins and grandsons of the late Queen Victoria as was Czar Nicolas II of Russia. None of the trio escaped unscathed from the war. Bolshevists killed Nicolas and his family in 1918, Wilhelm fled to Holland where his health deteriorated. King George V survived but aged under the weight of responsibility during the war. His dark beard and hair turned white almost over night after a visit to the Western Front.

August 4 marks the 100th anniversary of the invasion of Belgium by Germany, the start of what was then known as the Great War. Countless books have been written about the war and continue to be published. I set about earlier this year to investigate the causes of that war, and how it affected human beings around the world.

Guns of August: The Outbreak of World War I by Barbara W. Tuchman (1962) is the best resource I have found so far. The book contains vivid details, an easy prose style that makes the reader turn the page, and a cool detachment of moral judgment of the war. The author was in a unique situation when she wrote her Pulitzer Prize winning work; her grandfather was Henry Morgenthau, Sr. the U. S. Ambassador to Turkey during World War I. President John F. Kennedy gave a copy of the book to British Prime Minister Macmillan, observing that somehow contemporary statesmen must avoid the pitfalls that led to August 1914.

To me, Guns of August seemed to give clarity to the question of why did it all have to happen? That is the thesis of Tuchman’s work; it didn’t have to happen. In the summer of 1914, there were times when compromise could have occurred, when schedules could have been altered. But to quote Tuchman, the “deadlock of the terrible month of August 1914 determined the future course of the war and the terms of peace, the shape of the inter-war period and the conditions of the Second Round” (1939-1945).

Barbara Tuchman placed the responsibility of the Great War squarely on the shoulders of “foolish monarchs, diplomats, and generals who blundered into a war nobody wanted, an Armageddon which evolved with the same grim irreversibility as a Greek tragedy.” Three of the key players were grandchildren of the late Queen Victoria of England; Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King George V of England, and Czar Nicolas II of Russia. Over the years and through secret alliances Germany and Austria-Hungary had allied against the Central Powers of France, Russia, and reluctantly Great Britain. All major players agreed to respect the neutrality of the small kingdom of Belgium, though.

King Albert of Belgium chose to resist the advance of the German army through his country in August 1914. While devastating damage was wreaked on the country, the resistance stopped German victory in four to six weeks as the Kaiser planned.

When Germany, in its belief that arms and war were the sole greatness of the nation, determined to attack France and win the war in four to six weeks, the easiest and shortest route to Paris was through Belgium. Unexpectedly, Belgians defended their country. The resistance devastated Belgium but slowed down the German army. What was expected to be a short war in late summer, turned in massive death and destruction that lasted for more than four years. By then, almost every nation in the world was involved.

In the final paragraph of the Afterword, Barbara Tuchman summed up World War I very succinctly when she wrote; “nations were caught in a trap . . . a trap from which there was . . . no exit.” An excellent film produced in 1996 can be viewed on You Tube. Google “Guns of August movie” to find it on-line. It is a good introduction to the war that cost so many lives and set the stage for further violence twenty years later.

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Confederate Veterans Reunion

Posted on July 28, 2014 by admin

Prof. William Irvin Gibson (seated) served with the 2nd Regiment, Mississippi Infantry during the Civil War. Gibson served as president of Burleson College in Greenville. Later Gibson taught Greek and Latin at the school. This photograph may have been taken during the Confederate Veterans Reunion in Greenville. The man holding the flag is not identified.

One hundred years old Greenville was inundated with thousands of older gentlemen, the vast majority of whom were Confederate veterans of the Civil War. For the second year in a row, the city hosted the Texas Confederate Veteran Reunion.

Most of the gentlemen were into their seventies, maybe even a few in their late eighties or early nineties. The favored mode of transportation was by train since Greenville was a large railroad hub in the state at that time. The weather was hot; after all it was July 30-31. Amazingly the Confederate veterans camped out in tents and slept on cots for three nights and two days. The War Department of the Federal government shipped fifty tents from St. Louis at the request of Texas Senator Morris Sheppard. The local Chamber of Commerce purchased 600 folding cots when the War Department could not provide them. Newspapers reported at least 1,000 veterans participated.

The site of this vast campground was the old Hunt County Fair Grounds according to newspaper reports of the day. That was located along Long Branch Creek between Moulton and Stonewall Streets. A hospital tent was set up but it seems the only patients were those who had too much sun. Remember, folks around here prior to the 1950s didn’t have air conditioning.

Even though 1914 was an election year for state offices, the primary elections were held earlier in the week. In Texas politics at that time, the primary basically decided the vote and the election in November was only a formality. There had been a lot of political campaigning here in Hunt County, but now everyone was anxious to visit with the gentlemen and hear their stories. Surely one interesting attendee was T. M. Finley (1840-1931) of Greenville. This gentleman was not a Confederate veteran, instead he served as an artillery captain in the Union army. His battalion had fired the salute at Lincoln’s second inaugural ceremony and guarded the bridge near the barn where John Wilkes Boothe hid after the Lincoln assassination. Business interests caused Finley and his wife to relocate to Greenville in the 1880s. He was a very personable person who quickly fit in with local society. Soon he became an associate member of the Confederate Veterans Associations.

The highlight of the reunion came the first day when former U. S. Senator J. W. Bailey gave the principal address with seven to eight thousand persons in attendance. Bailey was feted the evening before at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Will N. Harrison. The home at the southwest corner of Park and Moulton Streets was as festive as Park Street was for the Fourth of July this year. In fact, bunting and flags were displayed throughout town.

Ironically, Greenville and Hunt County citizens were not staunch secession supporters. The vote to secede barely passed here. Men did ride off with Confederate units, but some supported the Union cause and fled to Arkansas to join the U. S. Army. After the war this entire area was caught up in a brutal battle between former Confederates, Unionists, former slaves, and the U. S. Army. The aftermath seems to have converted many to the Lost Cause.

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Confusion along the Red River

Posted on July 21, 2014 by admin

Tall grass on the Blackland Prairies provided inspiration to settle the area in the early 1800s.

In October 1963, Ambassador Fletcher Warren wrote a series of articles for the Wolfe City Sun entitled “A History of Northern Hunt County.” In it he described the land around the Wolfe City area and much of the rest of Hunt County; a land of fertile soil as evidenced by the tall grass prairies replete with water and timber sources from the numerous streams and small rivers rising throughout the county. The only thing missing to make the place perfect for earlier pioneers was an absence of tax collectors. A brief glimpse of the region will show that much of this area of Texas was somewhat an unclaimed region; hence few tax collectors.

Some of the earliest white settlers in all of Texas inhabited this area not far from the Red River. In 1816 Claiborne Wright moved his family from Carthage, Tennessee, to the Arkansas Territory in a keelboat. When they first arrived they settled near Pecan Point in what is today Red River County before moving to the north side of the Red River. By 1828 Wright settled permanently between Jonesborough and Pecan Point along with other early families. Skipper Steely of Paris in Lamar County has written an excellent book about his ancestors’ adventure, Six Month from Tennessee, available at the W. Walworth Harrison Public Library.

At the time of Wright’s initial arrival there was no definitive boundary between Spain and the United States following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. In 1819 the United States and Spain agreed on the boundary, with the United States ceding all claims to Texas in favor of Florida. The southwestern boundary was to follow the Sabine River from the Gulf of Mexico to the thirty-second parallel where the line turned due north to the Red River, the actual eastern boundary of Texas today. But neither Spain nor the United States ran the line to the Red River and Southern speculators insisted that the Sabine River agreed to in the Louisiana Purchase was actually the Neches River farther west. Surveyors did not set the line until after the Battle at San Jacinto.

Northeast Texas was well settled but with little local government during the Spanish and Mexican regimes. That pleased the residents just fine. Few tax collectors were ideal. As more people arrived, they moved farther south and west of the Red River. The so-called second tier of north Texas counties such as Hunt, Hopkins, old Titus, and Cass were soon filling up with settlers by the Republic of Texas.

A woman posed a question last weekend that resulted in an Aha moment for me. Why would a widow move to northeast Texas when she knew it was part of Mexico? My answer startled me as much as it did her. This part of Texas was considered part of Miller County in Arkansas Territory until 1836 when Texas became a Republic and Arkansas became a state. The widow thought she was moving to Arkansas, not Mexico. Southern speculators insisted on several occasions that the Neches River was the eastern boundary of Texas leaving the area between that river and the Sabine a part of the United States. It was a very convenient appeal to new settlers even though it was completely phony.

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How Did Cooper Get Its Name?

Posted on July 16, 2014 by admin

Judge Leroy Washington Cooper, whose support of the creation of Delta County was repaid by the naming of the county seat Cooper.

Delta County has a unique landscape and history. Surrounded on two sides by the North Sulphur River and the Middle Sulphur River, the county was not created until 1870, much later than adjacent counties. It was carved out of land previously located in Lamar and Hopkins counties with slivers from Hunt and Fannin Counties to the west. The reason was very logical. The North and Middle Sulphur Rivers as well as the South Sulphur flowing below Commerce were notorious for inundating the countryside during rainy weather. Travel to Paris or Sulphur Springs from the area for court related business was often impossible.

After the Civil War, residents of the area petitioned the state for a new county. When approved, the Texas legislature chose the name Delta for the new county. Delta is a Greek word for triangle, very appropriate for the shape of the county. In keeping with the 19th century tradition of locating towns on higher elevations, the county seat sits on a hill that slopes down to both rivers.

It was the citizens who chose the name of the new county seat. The chairman of the House Committee on Counties and Boundaries actively supported the bill to create Delta County. His name was Leroy Washington Cooper (1822-1900). The grateful citizens chose the name Cooper in honor of his support.

Leroy Cooper was the representative from the 9th District that included Houston, Cherokee, Anderson, Henderson and Smith Counties. His term of office was short, to say the least. By late 1870 Governor E. J. Davis appointed Cooper judge of the Third District Court.

Leroy W. Cooper had an unusual career in Texas politics. Born in Georgia, he brought his family to Crockett in Houston County in 1856. There he opened a law practice, became a small planter and school examiner, and held from ten to twelve slaves until emancipation in 1865. He rapidly rose to the upper ten percent of wealth in Houston County. Yet, he was a member of the Whig Party who strongly supported the Union and the Constitution. Many other Texans faced the same issues.

Were they to support their state and accept the Confederacy or did they stay true to the Union? If they followed the latter choice, did they flee Texas and join the Union Army or stay and face angry neighbors and perhaps death? Judge Cooper left no written record to provide an insight into his feelings, but he did join the 11th Brigade of Texas State Troops from Houston County. He was elected Colonel of the Brigade but later resigned to become a representative in the Confederate Texas Legislature. By late 1864 he was back in Crockett practicing law.

As soon as A. J. Hamilton was appointed governor of the state, he in turn appointed Leroy W. Cooper judge of the 9th District Court. It was then that Cooper joined the Republican Party, having never supported the Southern Democrats. After the Radical Republicans removed him from the court in 1866 he served a term in the state legislature, again was appointed judge of the 3rd District until 1878. At that time he returned to private practice.

Cameron Sinclair, a doctoral candidate in history at University of North Texas provided this information in his article “From Slave Owner to Scalawag: The Life of Leroy W. Cooper.” It appeared in the Spring 2014 East Texas Historical Journal.

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Hero or Terrorist?

Posted on July 7, 2014 by admin

Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Duchess Sophie at Sarajevo on 28th June 1914 immediately before their assassination by Garvilo Princip.

On Sunday, June 28, 1914, in the small city of Sarajevo, Bosnia, a nineteen-year-old Bosnian Serb fired at Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. The assassination was successful. Both the Crown Prince and his wife Sophie died within moments. The assassin, Gavrilo Princip, was immediately arrested. To this day, the verdict of his crime is debatable in the Balkans, a tragic example ethnic nationalism. To some the Christian Orthodox Serb was a hero; to Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosnians he was one of a long list of terrorists. For many around the world, Gavrilo Princip started the Great War.

It would be four weeks before the Austria-Hungary Empire responded to the death of the Crown Prince. But behind the scenes throughout Europe, diplomats and politicians were furiously dusting off war plans, reviewing secret alliances, and conferring with allies. Europe was basically divided into two camps: the Central Powers of Germany and the Austria-Hungary Empire against the Triple Entente of France, Russia, and maybe Great Britain. The latter had not firmly committed to involvement in a war; she would only intervene if and when Belgium was invaded.

Of the five principal European nations initially involved, three were autocratic monarchies (Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary), one constitutional monarch (Great Britain), and one republic (France). The multinational empires of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were involved in the war. The United States chose to remain neutral. In fact very little was reported in newspapers here of the assassination of the Crown Prince.

One week after the assassination, Germany gave Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary a “blank check” of unconditional support for retaliation to Bosnia. By the last week in July, the Emperor sent an ultimatum designed to be rejected to Serbia. When Serbia accepted most of the ultimatum, Austria-Hungary attacked, anyway. Serbia then called upon their ally Russia and the dominoes began to fall. Within five weeks after the assassination, full-fledged war erupted on the European continent.

At least six times during the summer of 1914, Great Britain offered meditation or to host an international conference to resolve the conflict. Each time the offer was rejected by either or both the Emperor and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. After the war, former Prime Minister Lloyd George of Great Britain offered his opinions of events immediately after the assassination. He wrote, “nobody wanted war,” but European governments “had slithered over the brink. International alliances, militarism, unscrupulous arms merchants, blundering politicians and diplomats” were all guilty. Sarajevo didn’t start the war; it merely precipitated it.

Ironically, today many historians of the era believe that Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand was the only diplomat who could have prevented the war by involving all parties in dialogue to prevent to impending ravage of lives and countries. In the end, Lloyd George believed war was a tragedy, not the crime of Gavrilo Princip.

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The Revolutionary Revolution

Posted on June 30, 2014 by admin

The Committee of Five presenting their work to the Congress. Painting by John Trumbull.

Two hundred thirty-eight years ago this month, a group of highly intelligent and extremely articulate men met in Philadelphia as part of the Second Continental Congress. The weather was hot and muggy, there was no air-conditioning, not even a fan, and the doors and windows were sealed. Secrecy was of utmost importance for they were in the midst of creating a dynamic new form of government here in the New World.

The session began on June 7 when Richard Henry Lee presented what became known as the Lee Resolution, an expression of what was already beginning to happen throughout the American Colonies. Conditions between the colonies and Great Britain had deteriorated sharply in the past year. Committees of Safety were formed to communicate with other colonies. Men and women read works of noted philosophers throughout Europe mostly written since 1685 when the Enlightenment Movement began on the Continent.

Enlightenment Thinking or the Age of Reason questioned traditional political, scientific, and religious authority to conclude that humanity could be improved through rational change, brought about by rational questioning and progress through dialogue. Leaders in the Enlightenment movement included John Locke, Thomas Paine, Renee Descartes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Jefferson, Immanuel Kant, and Voltaire, all widely read essayists. Kant’s challenge, “Dare to Know! Have courage to use your own reason!” became the battle cry of the group.

On June 11, the Continental Congress recessed for three weeks after appointing a Committee of Five to draft a statement for the world to understand the colonies’ case for independence. Members of the committee included John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia, Robert R. Livingston of New York, and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Ironically, Livingston did not sign the final copy, fearing the declaration was premature.

Between that date and June 28, 1776 three men on the committee drafted the most cherished symbol of American liberty, the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson is credited with writing the document with changes made by Franklin and Adams. Jefferson summarized Enlightenment philosophy in the “self-evident truths” part of the document.

On July 1, 1776, Congress reconvened. The following day the Lee Resolution for independence was adopted by 12 of the 13 colonies, with New York not voting. Immediately the group began discussion of the document created by the Committee of Five. Revision continued through the night of July 3 and into mid-morning of July 4. At last all church bells in Philadelphia rang out; the Declaration had been officially adopted. However, it would take five more days before the delegation from New York approved the document.

Without a doubt the Declaration of Independence is one of the most significant documents in world history. That it has stood the test of time for 238 years is amazing. Countless countries have used it as a basis for their governments, including the Republic of Texas. What a great treasure we will celebrate this coming week!

The National Archives has an interesting article on its web site. Go to http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration.html. Then enjoy your Fourth of July.