Category: Emperor Napoleon

Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb Somewhere On Our Way: Books

6/28/2018

Books

4 of 13

“… How about you Johnny, what’ve you been up to?”
“Reading.”
“Here?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“We can Gus.”
“We?”
“If you want to.”
“Why?”
“Why listen to crows?”
“True. What did you read?”
“Your book.”
“I don’t have a book Johnny.”
“The one on the 99th.”
“That’s not my book, just a book about the regiment I was in.”
“You did the things they did.”
“Until 11 August.”
“The 99th was a solid unit.”
“Thanks.”
“I mean the men in it.”
“We tried.”
“Esprit de corps.”
“Willing.”
“I think Napoleon would have thought so.”
“The Frenchy?”
“Yes.”
“Seeing all we saw Reb, it motivated us.”
“Your book describes such things.”
“Officers?”
“Everyone Gus.”
“Company C … the names?”
“All there.”
“Let’s step Johnny, to the bivouac site.”
“Let’s.”

Next Up: Part 5 on 30 June of the summer series Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb Somewhere On Our Way: In-Between Time.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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Whiskey221: Rebellion, Napoleon and Washington

10/10/2015

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General Washington resigns his commission 23 December 1783, by John Trumbull

Whiskey 221 ~ October 1794, Part 1 of 3
The Whiskey Rebellion 1791-94: Western Pennsylvania

Quiet

George Washington was no Napoleon Bonaparte and Napoleon was no George; they were men of the same era yet not the same men: Napoleon an Emperor and the only one – Washington a president and only one of many.

The French Republic (1792-1804) wasn’t quiet. They had this thing called the Reign of Terror from September 1793 to July 1794: they killed the aristocracy, or anyone not with the new times. The guillotining ended (mostly) yet the French never recovered; in 1799 General Napoleon used force (the army) to take down the French Republic; in 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor.

The American Republic (1789-to present) was quiet by comparison. For example, we had no Reign of Terror in dealing with non-compliance (rebellion) in our Whiskey Rebellion of 1791-94 (no guillotining); there was just a bit of rioting and outright lawlessness happening in the western hills of Pennsylvania. The rebellious citizens didn’t want to pay a whiskey tax; President Washington asked Congress for guidance; they said something had to be done, so President Washington called on the state militias for federal support.

What would Napoleon have done? He was fond of promising one thing and doing the opposite; he probably would have said something nice and then sent in the cannon and bayonets. America chose otherwise, a quiet and strong approach to domestic tranquility, one based on representing We the People in Congress according to our numbers – something a Napoleon (would be dictator) would find incomprehensible.

Napoleon I at Fontainebleau 31 March 1814, by Paul Delaroche

Next Up: Part two of Whiskey221, Saturday 17 October, with more about our American Republic, representation and whiskey rebels.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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Heal Union: Gus and Johnny’s Napoleonic Somewhere Sunrise

6/18/2015

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The Heal Union spring series continues with KILO.

Reb Yank Somewhere Sunrise

Are we not wise enough to give all we are?
Surely we're bright enough to outshine the stars

“Morning Gus!”
“Morning Johnny!”

“Welcome back to Somewhere.”
“Thank you ~ and where we Somewhere at?”
“The Dunkard Church plateau.”
“Oh,” Gus noted, “a fulcrum.”
“Correct.”
“Antietam Creek is toward the sunrise?”
“Yes,” Reb followed, “and Sharpsburg a bit to the south.”
“Antietam was in 1862.”
“It was.”
“Then why Napoleon today?”
“Two hundred years ago -”
“- On 18 June 1815?”
“- Yeah, on 18 June, Napoleon was defeated for the final time.”
"Final time?”
“Right. Napoleon, after two decades of war, tried one more time.”
“Persistent fellow.”
“Sure.”
“What happened?” Gus asked.
“Here or there?"

Reb Yank Somewhere Peace

“There.”
“Napoleon assaulted the British army while it was separated from its German ally.”
“And?”
“The French had the Brits on the ropes," Reb continued, "so much so that the British commander said something like ‘Only nightfall or the Germans can save us.’”
“Which did?”
“The Germans. They marched to Waterloo a day earlier than Napoleon had thought possible, assaulted the French flank and routed his army.”
“Oops Napoleon.”
“His Waterloo.”

Reb Yank Somewhere Sons

“What happened here Johnny?”
“Humans went nuts.”
“Yeah?”
“That’s what the crows call it: The Day the Humans Went Nuts.”
“Seventeen September, 1862.”
“Yes.”
“Apt.”
“Antietam had phases Gus: this was the objective of the Republic’s morning offensive.”
“Confederate’s held this at first light?”
“There was artillery here, a battalion of cannon.”
“And later?”
“The Republic gained the ground.”
“Things got crazy?”
“They say blood cleanses.”
“Christian.”
“Then this place has been cleansed.”
“I hear ya,” Gus offered; “there’s a marker by the cannon.”
“There is.”
“Can we see it?”
“Sure …”

Reb Yank Somewhere Peace Sons

“Sons.”
“True,” Reb echoed.
“Peace.”
“Peace.”
“That’s Dunkard Church.”
“Now and then.”
“A place of worship for German pacifists, right?”
“Yes,” Reb confirmed.
“God’s people.”
“Strange fulcrum Gus.”
“They usually are.”
"Time."
“Back to Virginia?”
“Mount Horeb.”
“Mount Horeb?”
“Mount Horeb Cemetery,” Reb clarified.
“Oh ... you mean, like ...”

“See ya tomorrow Gus!”
“See ya tomorrow Johnny!”

*Heal Union Finale: 150th Juneteenth and Aesop with Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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Whiskey220: Rebellion, Representation and Washington

10/10/2014

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Star Spangled Banner Flag (15 Stars and Stripes)

Whiskey 220 ~ Part 1 of 3
The Whiskey Rebellion 1791-94: Western Pennsylvania

Transitions

Fifteen Stars and Stripes tell of a nation in transition. The new Republic’s first president, former general George Washington, signed a new flag law in January 1794. Basically, with the addition of Kentucky and Vermont into the Union, a new flag was needed. The Star Spangled Banner we all know, created by Congress in 1818, kept the 13 Stripes to honor the founding and added Stars for new States.

The flag wasn’t the only thing in transition, it’s just a good symbol for what was happening; the Revolutionary War won, the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union were over in eight years (1781-88), and the new US Constitution made the former colonies the world’s leading Republic ~ oh yeah, the French.

Napoleon Bonaparte

The French Republic (1792-1804) foretold itself in 1789 with the Storming of the Bastille; a young Napoleon Bonaparte watched in horror (he disliked the masses). There’s also the French Republic’s Reign of Terror, running its guillotine through September 1793 to July 1794. The terror stopped for a bit, then in 1799 Napoleon took over ~ and that ended in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo.

The US Republic had a much milder situation involving citizens in 1794: the trouble was a federal whiskey tax on hooch. The citizens (many former revolutionaries) in the hills of four western Pennsylvania counties resisted; first with not paying the tax, then they accosted a Federal tax collector, then they took up arms …

That was enough for President Washington; as commander-in-chief he called on the State Militias to quell the rebellion. Four states, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia began calling up their militias in support of the government.

US President George Washington

President Washington takes a ride west from Philadelphia to review the political and military developments; he wanted to see firsthand how things were going ~ and to participate as needed. On his journey, he kept notes.

It’s not all politics in President Washington’s Diaries; here we read of our president driving his carriage, feeding and tending horses, and socializing quite often. You also see a different side of Washington: his 18th century Rick Steves fellow traveller side. An example – Washington’s 13 October 1794 commentary on the Pennsylvania landscape:

“From Carlisle along the left Road, which I pursued, to be out of the March of the Army, and to avoid the inconvenience of passing the Waggons belonging to it; the Lands are but indifferent until we came within a few miles of Shippensburgh – The first part of a thin and dry Soil, succeeded by piney flats (not far from the South Mountain). For a few miles before we arrived in Shippensbg. the Lands were good, but uncultivated.”

Our president was also political in his diaries; on the 2nd of October President Washington met with two citizens, US Representative William Findley and lawyer David Reddick, who provided current word on the state of the insurrection. Representative Findley spoke for the sentiments of the rebellion; Reddick supported Findley and added a comment Washington made note of ~ one on citizen communication:

“He [Reddick] added, that for a long time after the riots commenced, and until lately, the distrust of one another was such, that even friends were afraid to communicate their sentiments to each other; That by whispers this was brought about; and growing bolder as they became more communicative they found their strength, and that there was a general disposition not only to acquiesce under, but to support the Laws – and he gave some instances also of Magistrates enforcing them.”

Yes ~ citizens communicating (first by whisper) in order to find their strength ~ let’s pickup there next time, and we’ll have President Washington sharing a coach with Virginia’s Governor Henry Lee III.

Next: Whiskey220 ~ Sunday 19 October.
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Video: The Whiskey Rebellion
~
Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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Word Wars: Napoleon’s Palm, Our Henry Lee and Hitler’s White Rose

8/25/2014

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Johann Phillip Palm ~ 1768 to 26 August 1806

War Cry Heal Union: The series (8 of 10)

For James Wright Foley (1973-2014) and free speech.

Word wars are always already moral. The powers of the moment, be it Emperor, Mob or Dictator, attempt to control the message through morality’s timeless twins ~ silence and violence.

The US Constitution recognizes this aspect of power in the ageless First Amendment (1791):

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The story of free speech and press in Western Civilization ~ from Socrates to Foley ~ is a telling story …

Henry Lee III ~ 1756 to 1818

Napoleon’s Palm
On 25 August 1806, Johan Phillip Palm, a German publisher living under the rule of law according to the ideas of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte I, was tried in a mock court. Palm had published news ~ behavioral tales of Napoleon’s soldiers in Germany ~ and did not reveal the author to the mockery; the next day, 26 August 1806, Palm was executed by firing squad.

America’s Henry Lee III
On 27 July 1812, Henry Lee III, a famed American revolutionary living under the rule of law according to the ideas of a mob in Baltimore, was pummeled to incapacitation. Lee was defending Alexander C. Hanson and his First Amendment right to publish an antiwar editorial. The defenders of a free press were attacked by a “Be Quiet!” mob; Lee was never the same health-wise and died in 1818.

Hitler’s White Rose
On 22 February 1943, Sophie Scholl, a German teacher living under the rule of law according to the Nazis and Adolf Hitler, was tried in a mock court. Scholl and two Others, part of a group writing under the name White Rose, were found guilty of publishing antiwar pamphlets and writing anti-government graffiti. The three were beheaded almost immediately ~ five hours after the mockery.

And many Others ~ free speech and press ~ part of everyone's story.

*Next on Ew Publishing’s WCHU: a double feature honoring rebels and constitutions. The Rebels of Harlem Heights begin the summer series finale on Tuesday, 16 September ~ followed by Constitution Day 2014 on Wednesday, 17 September.
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Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb Somewhere On Our Way: Books

Whiskey221: Rebellion, Napoleon and Washington

Heal Union: Gus and Johnny’s Napoleonic Somewhere Sunrise

Whiskey220: Rebellion, Representation and Washington

Word Wars: Napoleon’s Palm, Our Henry Lee and Hitler’s White Rose

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Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb Somewhere On Our Way: Books

Whiskey221: Rebellion, Napoleon and Washington﻿

Heal Union: Gus and Johnny’s Napoleonic Somewhere Sunrise

Whiskey220: Rebellion, Representation and Washington

Word Wars: Napoleon’s Palm, Our Henry Lee and Hitler’s White Rose

Author

Archives

Categories

Whiskey221: Rebellion, Napoleon and Washington