Monday, April 14, 2008
Timisuckia
So I'm watching John Adams on HBO and I'm enjoying the crap out of it. I have to admit, it's the first time in my 39 years that I've seen these historical figures as real people and not just a painting or a cartoon. To see the brash Adams have a debate with the much more sophisticated Thomas Jefferson is television gold. I'm enjoying it so much that after last night's episode, I hopped on Wikipedia for what turned into a huge time suck. I started off by reading Adams' entire entry. I branched off to read things he authored and to read about treaties and loans he brokered. George Washington is also involved in most of the episodes so I read more about the French and Indian war which had a famous battle really close to where I grew up. I never really knew the history of the fort or the battle until last night. I know I've toured the place and heard the canned speech - but I was probably 8 and pulling some girl's hair while the speaker was going on and on. I then trailed over to read about General Braddock, a British general who served near my hometown as well . Not much on him on Wikipedia, but still enlightening. Finally, although I've sat through the retelling of his story more than a few times - I went out looking for information on Zachariah Connell. I used to go fishing right where his reconstructed cabin is located. Washington crossed the Yough right around that area as well. Did he sleep there one night on his way west? I can't remember completely, but I think so. From what I remember, a lot of famous folks stopped in there to stay over on their way west. Anyway - it;s a wonder I didn't dream about colonial times last night after watching 90 minutes on TV and then reading until midnight. But no, my dreams were the same......getting kidnapped by Desperate Housewives and SI cover girls.
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7 comments:
Watch "The war that made America", a great documentary on the French and Indian War from our good friends at PBS.
I too remember the comment about Washington sleeping in Connell's cabin. I also remember the photo of us dressed up in our colonial garb for the bicentennial! Perhaps you should post that!
Us? We're into British monarchy these days. EJ had to do an book report on a biography of any famous person, so she chose Queen Elizabeth II. She had to dress like her character to deliver the report. She loved it. I bought the book on ebay (since our library didn't have many kids books on the queen), and it's really quite good. I learned a lot too. She started out wanting to be the one and only empress of China, but there just aren't any kids books dedicated to Empress Wu.
Oh, and those of us without HBO will now have to wait for the DVD. But I'm looking forward to it...
oh my goodness. still a dog didnt read this today - no way, no how. i dont want to post or look at the blog from my new job. i dont need senior mgmt knowing this much about my thoughts........so i couldnt post a correction today. however, all day long, from the moment i read still a sis' comment about connell it hit me like a ton of bricks....the reconstructed cabin was colonel crawfords...not zachariah connell's. i knew that, i just had a brain fart. crawford had an excrutiating death at the hands of the indians i believe - they found his skull with coal in the eye sockets....burned at the stake. OUCH!!!!!
a nice read:
http://www.fay-west.com/connellsville/historic/crawfordcabin.php
DUH! How could I have missed the cabin name? Gosh we even went to a school named after Crawford...
Old age drain bamage.
Been busy and haven't gotten out here much lately.
You already got the Crawford cabin correction.
South's recommendadion about the PBS show is a good one. To go beyond that, there are some (me among them) who put forth the theory that the Battle of Jumonville is the beginning of the "New World Order" we have today. That being the shift from European dominance to America at the top of the global food chain.
Tenacharison smashing the skull of Jumonville set off a chain of events that over the next 150 years culminated in the USA becoming the #1 world power.
I bet you've been to the cross but never to Jumonville Glen where it all started, right?
As for Col. Crawford, there's a ton of stuff on him on the internet. I used to spend afternoons reading about him at my last job... when I wasn't watching The Wire. That expedition into The Northwest Territory (now Ohio) is fascinating. And yes, you went easy on the description of his mutilated body at the hands of the Indians just south of what is now Sandusky, OH. There are some graphic descriptions of what they did to the Col.'s other body orafaces that are not for the faint-hearted.
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