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Part VIII of XIII

“… Here’s a part of me: Kennedy Grogan, C.S.A.”
“In memory of.”
“Killed at Greenland Gap, West Virginia.”
“Where’s that Johnny?”
“About a hundred miles west.”
“Grogan was killed April 25th, 1863.”
“Aged 20 years.”
“There’s no date of birth.”
“Might have been his birthday.”
“The day a Yank …”
“Right.”
“How’d we get here Johnny?”
“What do you mean?”
“Where ‘Mericans like me are killing ‘Mericans like Grogan.”
“Calhoun.”
“Where’d Calhoun learn usurpin’?”
“Yale.”
“A Northern connection.”
“Still.”

​
​

​
“What do you know about Greenland Gap?”
“Yanks heard us Rebs were on the move, so they guarded the mountain gaps.”
“Grogan?”
“Why you being so formal?”
“Kenny then.”
“Kenny was riding with about fifteen hundred Confederate cavalry.”
“How many Yanks held the gap?”
“Around ninety.”
“Ninety?”
“Yank infantry fortified a few houses and a two-story, made of oak timbers, German church.”
“Turned it into a fort.”
“We assaulted the church after nightfall.”
“Kenny?”
“His unit, the 35th, was part of the assault.”
“Kenny was killed assaulting a fortified church?”
“Looks like.”
“Hear them crows?”


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Part 11 of 13
 
“We was born into usurpation, weren’t we Johnny?”
“We were.”
“That’s like being born into slavery.”
“Same power.”
“How’s that?”
“Same power that Plato was up against.”
“Might makes right.”
“Yes Yank.”
“So it’s always been something about the people.”
“Divide and conquer usually.”
“Ouch.”
“The people was sort of a derogatory phrase Gus.”
“Bad.”
“Slaveholders would even refer to their slaves as ‘the people.’”
“Like who?”
“Lee.”
“Robert E.?”
“It was common Gus.”
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
“Correct.”

​“Lincoln.”
“1858.”
“Fifty-eight Reb?”
“When Lincoln was running for the Senate.”
“He lost.”
“And then won the presidency in 1860.”
“Did Lincoln coin the Divided House phrase?”
“No, Sam Houston used it.”
“Heard of him.”
“Texas Governor who wouldn’t rebel in 1860.”
“Who else?”
“Thomas Paine.”
“Common Sense.”
“Thomas Hobbes.”
“Never heard of him.”
“Saint Augustine.”
“Sounds vaguely familiar.”
“The Gospels.”
“Heard of them.”
“Mathew and Mark.”
“Oh my.”
“Lincoln was quoting Jesus Gus.”
“Smart man Johnny.”

​“It mostly worked.”
“’Cept for the war.”
“Blame the usurpation.”
“Usurpation divides We the People.”
“That is its purpose Gus.”
“And today in 2017?”
“Worse.”
“Worse?”
“Worse as measured by the constitutional definition of We the People.”
“So our Republic prefers usurpation to constitutional representation?”
“Our Republic is stuck in usurpation.”
“Sounds like Tory Crown.”
“Correct Gus.”
“So to get America unstuck?”
“Use our exceptionalism.”
“Our exceptionalism?”
 
*Next Up: 12 March and part 12 of Republican Values: Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb On Our Way Census.
 
Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

A new 1878 pamphlet
 
The pamphlet Fire-Water Ignites Black Hawk War of 1832 (and other things) is excerpted from The History of Jo Daviess County Illinois, published in 1878 in Chicago by H. F. Kett & Co. The book is a testament from the 19th century about a place called Jo Daviess County; the few pages selected from the 800-page book are about a brief war with the aborigine.
 
Though morality runs through the pamphlet, it’s not a moral tale: it’s more like a story about humans being human.
 
*Next Up: A continuation of the annual fire-water series with Whiskey 222, Saturday 29 October.
 
Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

War Cry Heal Union: The series (5th of 10)


Honor and Death were present when Van de Graaff met Buckley.

Imagine a hot Georgia mid-afternoon 150 years ago today; about 1,000 soldiers, mostly Mississippians, hear the fate of Atlanta (and thus the Confederacy) is in their hands.

Now imagine another moment, one less than an hour from the other one, of a Mississippian (Van de Graaff / a name implying Germany) and a New Yorker (Buckley / who was born in Canada) meet and try to kill each other.

Here, I’ll explain …

The commander of the Mississippi brigade, Brigadier General Winfield Scott Featherston, a veteran who fought in the eastern theater (Virginia and Maryland) under the command of Robert E. Lee (at Antietam in 1862, for example), and then was transferred west (also by Lee) later that year. On this day, 20 July 1864, Featherston is leading an aspect of Confederate General John B. Hood’s plan of attack on the Federal approach to Atlanta. Hood was put in command by Jefferson Davis (President of the Confederacy) and brought an “I’ll attack” strategy to the defense of Atlanta; the battle at Peachtree Creek was his first effort.

Hood told General Stewart, who told General Loring, who told Featherston who then told the 1,000 Mississippians (including Van de Graaff) of their moment. So off they go in attack, six Confederate/MS battalions forward into six Federal battalions ~ two from Ohio and one each from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and New York. The Federal line falls back; at first the charge succeeds with the Mississippi brigade taking the ridge; then the Federals’ fire cannon into the breached line (into the Mississippians) and counter-assault.

The 26th Wisconsin captured the battle flag pictured here from one of Featherston’s battalions, the 33rd Mississippi, and its loss (capture) would have taken place during this phase of the battle; in total, Featherston’s brigade would lose seven battle flags at Peachtree Creek.

Which brings us to the meeting of Van de Graaff and Buckley.  

Private Dennis B. Buckley of the 136th New York battalion struggles with the battalion Adjutant of the 31st Mississippi, W.J. Van de Graaff. Various reports note a hand-to-hand struggle for the flag of the 31st; it would have looked like the one pictured above, the 33rd’s. Van de Graaff, who was carrying the flag only because the other bearers had been shot, lost the flag to Buckley; Buckley, after wresting control of the flag, was then shot and killed. Private Dennis B. Buckley was awarded the US Medal of Honor for capturing the 31st’s battle flag and is buried in Marietta National Cemetery.

Being from Illinois, I usually see our Civil War more or less from the Federal perspective; today, having been myself an Adjutant (battalion staff officer/personnel, US Army, Saudi Arabia 1991), it’s Van de Graaff that I’m feeling. In his report of the battle, Featherston made special mention of the 31st’s leaders who died on 20 July 1864, specifically, their commander Lt. Col. J. W. Drane and executive officer Major F. M. Gillespie. The 31st suffered 164 casualties from 215 men sent into battle; here’s what  Featherston wrote in his report of Van de Graaff, followed by the names of the unit’s leaders killed or reported missing: “Adjt. W.L. Van de Graaff, of the 31st Mississippi Regiment, a gallant and accomplished officer, a young man of promise and great moral worth, seized the colors of his regiment and bore them to the front after two or three color bearers had been shot down, and following their example shared their fate. He fell with the colors in his hand.”


Killed:
Lt. Col. J. W. Drane, Major F. M. Gillespie, Capt. John B. Ketchum, Adjutant W. J. Van de Graaff , Lt. W. D. Carradine, Lt. J. C. Morrow, Sgt. J. M. Johnson.
Missing:
Capt. G. W. Lewdon, Capt. C. W. Richards, Lt. S. M. Bobbs, Lt. J. C. Hallum, Lt. Thomas Lyles, Lt. P. G. McGraw, Sgt. J. S. Bridges, Sgt. J. J. Cudley.

Representing all our citizens in a new constitutional House of Representatives, one for every 30,000, is something we have to look forward to; while doing so, let’s look back and perhaps think again ~ of the individual citizen-soldiers of our Civil War ~ as well.

Next time, July 27th, is the sixth essay in the War Cry Heal Union series ~ Henry Lee III, father of Robert E. Lee, defends the First Amendment and the Unrepresented.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

War Cry Heal Union: The series (2 of 10)

I came upon today’s story by happenstance ~ much like the citizens who fought and died there.

In 2011 I visited Marietta Georgia and its National Cemetery. Most of the federal soldiers interned there are from 1864 and Sherman’s campaign to capture Atlanta; many fought in the Kennesaw Mountain battle and, specifically, at Cheatham Hill, also known as “Dead Angle,” and the map indicated a monument to Illinois ~ my home state.

The above photo’s perspective is from the top of Cheatham Hill; on the morning of battle, 27 June 1864, this would have been the Tennessee/Confederate line (the sun is to the northwest ~ an afternoon photo). The Federals were in the forest background with the hill to their front. They were mostly citizen-soldiers from Illinois, Indiana and Ohio in infantry regiments; they would soon rush across that field and up the hill to assault the Tennesseans.

What are a citizen-soldier’s sentiments at such moments? Prayer for sure … and probably shouts of ~ “There’s Hell boys!” or “Here comes Hell boys!” ~ depending on one’s perspective.

At 9:00 a.m. Federal skirmishers and a human wave of blue moved out of the forest and up the hill to assault the Confederate breastworks …

Because we can, let’s pause the assault for a moment and give some thought to the carnage that is about to take place; let’s even ponder such things as: why are citizens from Illinois, Indiana and Ohio assaulting Tennesseans on a Georgia hilltop? Or, more clearly, what part of our Constitution failed: Madison’s theory of representing We the People according to our numbers or the lack thereof?

Since we just paused war for a moment, we might as well keep going and call in a couple of founding spirits ~ Benjamin Franklin (anti-slaver) and James Madison (slaver) ~ for an imagined-yet-real constitutional dialogue:

Ben Franklin: James, they didn’t use the blueprint and representing We the People at the ratio of one Representative for every thirty Thousand.

James Madison: I know Benjamin ~ they got caught-up in slavery and the three-fifths clause.

Franklin: By 1860, the last Census before the Civil War, the representation ratio had risen to 119,000 citizens per Representative [Brickner: Article the First page 100]. Obviously, that is un-representation and not our design for We the people of the United States Republic.

Madison: I know ~ it’s Plato’s Republic …

Franklin: … Which doesn’t work.

Madison: They’ll learn ~ we had too as well.

Yes, We the People still hold the Unrepresented “not yet” card. It’s the Constitution’s Article 1 Section 2 Clause 3: “The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative.”

Okay, back to the assault. If the Illinois, Indiana and Ohio citizens have to charge (orders you know) and the Tennesseans, under the command of Benjamin Franklin Cheatham and Patrick R. Cleburne, have to obey orders and hold the line … you can see what’s about to happen. There’s no room for maneuver ~ nowhere to go. The Illinois citizens want the hill so they can take Atlanta (only 20 miles away) and go back home; the Tennesseans want the hill to save Atlanta and go back to a home.

So the assault happens … now the photo looks different; suddenly it’s a nice picture of a citizen-killing zone. Soldiers often say similar things ~ how peaceful Nature can be and feel … and then Hell breaks out.

On 27 June 1914, the 50th anniversary of the battle, the Illinois Monument was dedicated on Cheatham Hill; it’s on the spot where 15 Illinois Infantry Regiments fought and dug in: they couldn’t dislodge the Tennesseans and they couldn’t retreat down the hill without suffering terrible casualties; “Dig-in” was the command and dig they did. The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain 150th Anniversary group recently highlighted a 100 year-old article from The Marietta Journal and Courier written in preparation for the monument’s unveiling a century ago; the events at Dead Angle are honored:

“Cheatham’s Hill was one of the memorable battles of the war. The Federals and Confederates faced each other there for six days and six nights, their lines being so close that the soldiers were in ordinary speaking distance. They fought from the 27th of June to the 3rd of July, 1864 and on the last day the Confederates withdrew because of a flank movement. It was well they did so, as the Federals had constructed a tunnel far into the hill, had placed explosives under the Confederate position and intended to touch off the mine on the 4th of July.”

The tunnel is still visible today … and war continues its flanking movement.

The day after the monument's dedication, 28 June 1914, the heir to the Austrian throne is assassinated by an “unrepresented” subject of the empire (an anarchist); this singular event, seemingly a world away from Marietta and Cheatham Hill, would lead the European Empires into World War I ~ a war that would soon touch Georgia and all the other states in the Union.

Perhaps stated in terms of We the People of Europe, WW I (like our Civil War) was caused by a failure to represent ~ account for ~ The Unrepresented.

We’ll pick-up there tomorrow with Empires Crumble and Others Build, part 3 in the War Cry Heal Union series.

Video:
Cheatham Hill

Bryan W. Brickner
Ew Publishing

In attending a hemp film showing, I got surprised.

I hadn’t read anything about the movie and didn’t even look up the title; you know, I thought I was just going to see a hemp film (and I’ve seen lots).

It was March, near Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood, and I knew it wouldn’t be a bunch of farmers; I knew it would be city folk in a collective space with walls of art and a view of Chicago.

Jack Herer was the surprise; he wasn’t there of course (1939-2010), yet the night was his. Bringing it Home: industrial hemp, healthy houses and a greener future for America (2013), a documentary by Linda Booker and Blaire Johnson, would have inspired an activist like Herer – also known as The Hemperor.

Herer authored The Emperor Wears No Clothes (1985), the best hemp book ever: it tells the political economic story of America’s hemp war and argues (shows really) that hemp can save our home – planet earth.

The Wicker Park crowd though was different than the one Herer wrote for; his audience didn’t know hemp was great. This group, about 25 people, all activists really, in one way or another, arrived already knowing hemp is great; most seemed to be there in support of hemp ~ you know, to show support and see a new show.

Then the movie started … sort of.

What began was a few seconds about a father discussing his ill daughter and her special health needs. The person monitoring said something like, “Oops ~ wrong spot.” I thought that meant we’d see the hemp film now …

The movie started and again it was about a father’s efforts to help his ill child, and it wasn’t about eating hemp: it was about living inside of hemp – in a hemp house – and the environmental (and economic) protection and benefits for individual and community.

Bringing It Home is not an individual health care story: the film is about the revolution that Herer talked about ~ the one with hemp saving the planet ~ and the documentary shows a Herer-like reality.

Here’s a Hemperor inspired Bringing it Home synopsis:

Seed ~
A father in search for the safest and cleanest building material for his environmentally sensitive child: he finds hemp.

Generation ~
No hemp in America to show so the movie goes to Europe. Here we find British farmers (not hippies mind you) working with the government to monitor the fields and the 16 types of industrial hemp that can be grown for seed and fiber.

Pollination ~
Hemp’s not just for breakfast anymore; the 21st century hempvolution is in housing: specifically, building materials.

Flower ~
Food, jobs, clothing, environmentally sound, and now eco-friendly housing … in Europe and the rest of the world. The movie notes the lack of American hemp and highlights the need to grow our own.

Harvest ~
Bringing It Home makes the point that hemp is too expensive to ship to America; not growing our own looks like an economic and environmental failure. From a business and government angle, the film shows America needs hemp investment for infrastructure; most notably, networks of fiber processing plants near the hemp fields in order to turn the green plant into the other green (cash).

Hemp and Earth Day go together, each one for the other one. Hemp offers us an earth gift: an economically environmental revolution that can help the earth get ready for what’s coming … and that’s the 22nd Century. So, like Bringing It Home teaches, let’s begin (and finish) the building with hemp.

Happy Earth Day 2014 Everyone!

Bonus Video:
HempCrete: Strongest & Greenest Building material in Nature

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

By Stephen Young

Distillers continue their work at Mt. Vernon, the home of George Washington, trying to make whiskey like the first US President used to make it.

As initially reported by Reason a couple years ago (and recently updated as, Celebrate George Washington’s Birthday, Drink Some Whiskey), a group using historical recipes and methods have been patiently testing ways to accurately recreate the drink that helped fuel a revolution.

I appreciate efforts to preserve history in a way that is interesting, so cheers to anyone who attempts to make history literally intoxicating.

But I propose a more family-oriented way to relive the past that gives a different sense of Washington’s entrepreneurial spirit: bring back hemp to Mt. Vernon.

As noted in The Cannabis Papers, a book I helped to write, Washington succeeded at his hemp business, and he expressed interest in it that seemed to go beyond mere profit. In his journals Washington described visiting the hemp plots regularly and seemed disappointed when he missed certain aspects of the crop’s growth.

That interest is easy to understand today: hemp was crucial to the colonies just as it was very important to a young nation. And hemp could be crucial now to the current American economy, if only it were allowed to be grown by American farmers. What better place to start a new tradition than at Mt. Vernon? Sure, the crop could be restarted at other estates of founding fathers, say Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello for example, but the first should be the first.

In the wake of discoveries about cannabinoids, hemp has even more potential uses than in the late 18th Century. Even uncultivated wild hemp, once derisively referred to as ditch weed, is now seen as life-saving medicine packed with therapeutic CBD that can stop maladies from epilepsy to cancer.

Washington played many roles with great success, such great success that he must be considered visionary. His revolutionary tactics baffled his enemies in battle. His understanding of representation aimed to ensure a continuing Republic. He put his efforts into businesses he knew would succeed. It’s clear Washington recognized the practical applications of hemp in his time, but I wouldn't be surprised if also he had some sense how important hemp would be in the future.

More Hemp from Mr. Young:

Part I ~ Government Grown: How Polo Illinois Helped Win the War

Part II ~ Government Grown: How Polo Illinois Helped Win the War

posted by bwb

Excerpt from Chapter 3:11, Oligarchy
The Book of the Is (2013)

11
The previous charge might raise some eyebrows as it looks a lot like what has happened. We can look at why Madison said this wouldn’t happen, as discussed in Federalist 58, and maybe we can see why one for every thirty Thousand is a fair and agreed upon number.

In Federalist 58, Madison again places the charge to be defended in the title: “Objection That The Number of Members Will Not Be Augmented as the Progress of Population Demands Considered.” Madison and the others saw the problem clearly and even anticipated what we now face. Here is also where we see an assumption made by the Constitutional Convention breakdown: the founders thought the large states would defend this principle.

Perhaps it just hasn’t happened yet, as it probably will be the large states that will demand House augmentation. Madison: “There is a peculiarity in the federal Constitution which insures a watchful attention in a majority both of the people and of their representatives to a constitutional augmentation of the latter.”

I see how Madison is still going to be correct; he and the others thought augmentation would take place because the general population in the larger states would demand it. If states like California, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio, if they demanded constitutional representation, they would achieve it.

This “peculiarity” hasn’t materialized only because the large states haven’t demanded it. Madison wrote that from the interest of the large states: “it may with certainty be inferred that the larger States will be strenuous advocates for increasing the number and weight of that part of the legislature in which their influence predominates.” Madison argued that if there were problems, the general population could step in by building a coalition of the constitutionally willing:

Should the representatives or people, therefore, of the smaller States oppose at any time a reasonable addition of members, a coalition of a very few States will be sufficient to overrule the opposition; a coalition which, notwithstanding the rivalship and local prejudices which might prevent it on ordinary occasions, would not fail to take place, when not merely prompted by common interest, but justified by equity and the principles of the Constitution.