DECEMBER 3, "The Who" Concert Tragedy

  On the evening of today's date - December 3, in 1979 at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum the press of concert-goers outside of the entry doors to a  show being performed by the British rock group  called "the Who" pushed forward with enough force to cause the death of 11 people who were trampled by the crowd.  23 other people sustained injuries in a situation so chaotic  that the concert was performed to the end, before the band members were even told of the deaths.

The Crowd Began Gathering Early

   "The Who" was on on the late part of a successful world tour which had taken them to Detroit and Pittsburgh in the days before their Cincinnati appearance at the Riverfront Coliseum (which is now called the Heritage Bank Arena).  The event seemed to be a success from the monetary side. 18, 348 tickets had been sold. The vast majority of these had been "General Admission" or "Festival Seating' which meant that instead of being actual seats with numbers on them, they were in the large open floor area directly in front of the stage.  And the spots where one stood were of course on a "first come first serve" basis. The Concert had been scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. but by 7:00 the crowd waiting to enter which had been gathering since about 5:00 had grown to about 8,000. By 7:00 only two of the doors had been opened at the far right of the main entrance area. Why the late opening and of only two doors is something which I've not been able to discover.

The "Stampede" Begins.....

  Then at about 7:15, "the Who's" "Quadrophenia" movie began playing as an opening to the concert. At this point, the crowd appeared to think that the band had started the concert early.   So the situation quickly became dangerous when the entire crowd thinking that they were missing the concert began to surge toward the two open doors in a way that left some people being pushed to the ground and being literally crushed under the forward  force of the crowd's movement.  At total of eleven people who were unable to tear themselves away were knocked to the ground or simply crushed by the  pushing and died of asphyxiation. Other people recalled being lifted off the ground and being carried along as if by a wave of the ocean. Some felt themselves being moved horizontally in and on top of the crowd. In some reports such as the Enquirer it was called a "stampede." The Concert did actually go on as planned as those who were inside had gotten there without knowing about the mob scene outside. The members of the band did't know of the chaos outside, and were not told of it until after the concert's end. In fact Cincinnati Safety Director Richard Castellini had thought of cancelling the Concert until he heard that the problem was on the outside, not in the arena itself.

In the Aftermath of the Chaos

   There was much to discover in the aftermath, but few people willing to take responsibility. Lt. Dale Menkhaus, who was in charge of the 25 man policemen who were assigned to police the event could see early on what a problem the crowd was turning into. He told one of the

concert promoters that more doors needed to be opened,  but was told that the doors couldn't be opened until the sound check was over. And coliseum officials who had been told that more doors needed to be opened wouldn't comment on why more doors weren't opened.  Some local TV news outlets described it as a drug crazed mob when it was obviously just too many people being squeezed through only a couple of open doors. The band when they were told of the deaths were obviously enough stunned and horrified. When they began a concert in  Buffalo the following night, band leader Roger Daltry said;  "We lost a lot of family last night. This show's for them." The city of Cincinnati also placed a ban on "Festival" seating on December 27, 1979, which, with minor exceptions, remained in place for the next 25 years. The families of the victims sued the band, the concert promoter and the city of Cincinnati. The suits were settled in 1983, awarding each of the families of the deceased @ $150,000, and roughly $750,000 to be divided among the 26 injured.

  Who or what was responsible for their lost lives? The idea of "festival seating" which crammed too many people into such a restricted spot? Was it whomever kept all but two of the doors closed, and why? Was it not having enough security personnel on handle such a huge crowd? We'll likely never have an answer.


Below is a list of those who were killed that night, along with their age, and hometowns:

Walter Adams, Jr., aged 22, Trotwood
Peter Bowes, aged 18, Wyoming, Ohio
Connie Sue Burns, aged 21, Miamisburg
Jacqueline Eckerle, aged 15, Finneytown
David Heck, aged 19, Highland Heights, Kentucky
Teva Rae Ladd, aged 27, Newtown
Karen Morrison, aged 15, Finneytown
Stephan Preston, aged 19, Finneytown
Philip Snyder, aged 20, Franklin
Bryan Wagner, aged 17, Fort Thomas, Kentucky
James Warmoth, aged 21, Franklin

May they all rest in peace.


Sources =

 https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/12/02/who-concert-tragedy-40-years-ago-stampede-kills-11-persons-coliseum-rock-concert/2590113001/

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/rock-roll-tragedy-why-11-died-at-the-whos-cincinnati-concert-93437/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Who_concert_disaster

OCTOBER 24 - Transcontinental Telegraph is Completed

On today's date, October 24 in 1861, the last link in the Transconti -nental telegraph system was completed, and the United States for the first time had instantaneous communication from the east coast to the west. From Washington to California news and communication was for the first time immediate. The world had become a lot smaller by just the clicking of a small device like the one pictured above, the telegraph sounder.

The Need for Coast to Coast Communication

"California and the Pacific Northwest. This ground was rich enough to grow fruits and vegetables in abundance, and lumber was in limitless forests.  And GOLD had been discovered there in 1848." As I wrote in my Blog about the Transcontinental Railroad (1869) and all that went along with it  ( https://historysstory.blogspot.com/2014/05/may-10-trans-continental-railroad-is.html), California had suddenly become very important. In fact it had already become a state in September of 1850. Well, just as the physical commute from the east coast to

California was nearly a killer proposition, getting news and communication was nearly as tough. It took weeks for mail to get through, and the Pony Express, a mail service delivering news, etc. using "young skinny wiry fellows, Orphans preferred, willing to risk death daily" (Poster right) and a series of horse-mounted riders between Missouri and California, took ten days. And it only operated from April 3, 1860, to October 1861

"What hath God Wrought.."

This biblical phrase (Numbers, 22:23) "What hath God wrought" was the first message sent on May 24, 1844  on a new device developed by Samuel F.B. Morse (below) and others by transmitting electrical signals over a wire laid between receiving stations, utilizing a code developed by Morse and thus known as Morse code. This assigned each number, letter or character a unique sequence of short and long signals called

"dots" and "dashes." This new invention revolutionized communication service between cities in the U.S.  Efficient telegraphic stations had been set up throughout the 1840's And 1850 there were lines linked most eastern states, with a similar, separate network of lines linking the booming economy of California. The need to integrate the western state with its federal government and the financial and political centers in the east became self evident.

Funding the Transcontinental Telegraph

The move to set up a transcontinental telegraph line started in 1860 when Congress approved a subsidy of $40,000  to any company that would commit to the construction of a telegraph line which would link the western network with the eastern. The main challenge was to cover the space currently missing any coverage between Salt Lake City and western Missouri. The Western Union Company  took up the challenge. In a way very similar to that which would rule the Transcontinental Railroad a few years later, the work would be done by two teams working to the center from opposite ends.

In charge of the eastern team was Edward Creighton. In charge of the western team was James N. Gamble (right) - yes that Gamble, of the Proctor & Gamble Co. whose beautiful home on Werk Road in Cincinnati was recently demolished for no good reason. The first pole went up on July 4, 1861 and by the project's completion in October of that same year they had planted 27,500 poles holding 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of single-strand iron wire over some very rough country.

Operational Difficulties.....

There were naturally some operational difficulties to be overcome in the construction. There was of course a Civil War raging not far from this area so acts of sabotage were a frequent concern. Also there was a bit of trouble with the indigenous tribes through whose land the poles and wires were being erected. In 1861 some Sioux warriors cut and

removed a section of wire for fashioning bracelets. Later, some of those wearing the bracelets fell ill.  A Sioux medicine man determined the illness was the great spirit of the "talking wire" avenging its desecration.  Thereafter, the Sioux stayed clear of the wire. And of course in the treeless Plains the logs had to be shipped by 200 oxen over the Sierra Nevada mountains, along with wire and glass insulators.  According to Gamble that portion of the job took over a month.

The Completion of the Transcontinental Telegraph

But in spite of the difficulties the line was completed in just four months; a surprise to President Lincoln (and most everyone else) who thought that it would take years. And the total cost came to a half million dollars. In the first  message sent over the new system, Steven J. Field addressed to President Lincoln a message which sought to reassure the President that Transcontinental Telegraph would bind the western states to the Union:

"They (the people of California) believe that it will be the means of strengthening the attachment which bind both the East & West to the Union & they desire in this the first message across the continent to express their loyalty to that Union & their determination to stand by the Government in this its day of trial They regard that Government with affection & will adhere to it under all fortunes.

 Stephen J Field,  Chief Justice of California"



Sources  =

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_transcontinental_telegraph

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/western-union-completes-the-first-transcontinental-telegraph-line

https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/10/25/1861-first-transcontinental-telegraph-was-sent-to-dc/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/americas-original-wire-the-telegraph-at-150/

https://www.historynet.com/western-union-things-right-west-got-message.htm 

OCTOBER 17 = Al Capone is Convicted of Tax Evasion

On today's date, October 17 in 1931 Al Capone (left) was  convicted of Income Tax Evasion and sentenced to 11 years in Federal Prison. After a lifetime of violence, killing and bloodshed it took the long arm of the Internal Revenue Service to at long last put this ruthless criminal behind bars.

The Rise of "Scarface" Al Capone

Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born on January 17, 1899 to  Italian immigrant parents in New York City.  He started the crooked path early, being expelled from school at 14. He joined a street gang and it was in such company that he acquired at age 17 during a fight the facial scar which gave him the nickname which he personally hated. But this kid had a lifetime of crime ahead of him, and his scar was certainly no hindrance. While he was still a teenager he took up with the Five Points Gang and made himself useful as a bouncer in their brothels. In 1920 he moved to Chicago, becoming a trusted lieutenant to Johnny Torrio, the head of a crime syndicate which supplied alcohol which was then illegal under the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In 1920 this amendment established prohibition as the law of the land. Torrio was nearly killed in an attack by the North Side gang and was sufficiently frightened to retire while he still was alive.  He returned to Italy handing over the reigns of his organization to Capone in 1925.

Capone Goes for Bigger Profits

  Al decided to expand the business, particularly the illegal liquor end of things, and he wasn't shy about using increasingly violent means to do it, effectively going to war with the North Side gang

which had attacked Torrio. Violence increased as did the body count while Capone's men fought it out with North Side thugs and their leaders Dean O'Banion and George "Bugs" Moran (right). At stake was control of the bootleg liquor business and the millions of dollars to be raked in from it and the brothels which they controlled.  Of course Capone was careful to pay off the various politicians, policemen, judges, in particular Chicago Mayor William Hale Thompson which protected him from too much law enforcement. Capone became a kind of celebrity and enjoyed every minute of it. He

loved it when the crowds would cheer for him when he showed up at baseball games. He even cultivated a certain Robin Hood image by opening soup kitchens (left) to feed poor men hit by the economic depression which was at its worst. Anybody who could bring relief to the millions left unemployed was certain to be a popular man with the public.

The St. Valentines Day Massacre

But the violence could get to be too much. Capone wanted to wipe out the North Side gang and the influence of its Irish-American leader, "Bugs" Moran once and for all.  On February 14, 1929, seven members of the North Side gang were lured into a garage by several men dressed as Chicago policemen. There the men were lined up against a wall and were shot down in cold blood. It may be that Capone's men thought

that the group they had murdered included Moran himself. But it did not.  In fact, it was Moran himself put the finger squarely on his blood rival by commenting to the press: "Only Al Capone kills like that." Capone had taken the precaution of being out of town at that time. No investigation was able to link the murders into Capone's hands, but he  was widely believed to be the one behind it. His  public image was severely damaged by this brazen murder in broad daylight leading to calls for Government action, while the papers began referring to Al as "Public Enemy No. 1"

The I.R.S. Finally Bags Al 

As Capone's fortune rose, so did the Treasury Department's interest in his income. A ruling by the Supreme Court in May of 1927 worked in the government's favor. In U.S. -v- Sullivan it was determined that “gains from illicit traffic in liquor are subject to the income tax (and) would be taxable” by the government.  Al Capone claimed for years that he had no income which was taxable, so this was exactly what the feds needed to reel in Capone. Led by Elmer Irey and Frank Wilson a group from Treasury known as "the T men" they quietly followed Capone's money and gathered the necessary evidence to show that Capone had made millions off of income for which he had never paid taxes. And on today's date Mr. Capone was convicted on 22 counts of Income Tax Evasion, was sentenced to 11 years in prison was fined $50,000 ($847,111 in today's dollars), charged court costs and ordered to pay back taxes of $215,000 (now, $3,642,576).

Jail is Tough on Al

Capone began serving his sentence in Atlanta, but there were charges that he was allowed too many luxuries there, so his residence was changed to the Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. There, the warden, one James Aloysius Johnston, proved to be a more difficult man to deal with than Capone had dealt with before. There would be none of luxuries that Al had enjoyed before.  As prisoner # AZ-85, Capone occupied a normal cell of 5 ft. by 9 ft., working in  the prison laundry. These surroundings in a claustrophobically small cell in a damp place like Alcatraz is to anyone who has ever toured the place as this writer once did a few years ago, were not conducive to anybody's good health.  At Alcatraz, Capone's body, ravaged by syphilis, began to turn against him leading eventually to insanity. He was released from the Rock after only four years there, and eventually died of a stroke on January 25, 1947 at his home in Palm Island, Florida.

Sources =

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Capone

 https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/capone-goes-to-prison

 https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2018/10/17/al-capone-sentenced-to-prison-for-tax-evasion-on-this-day-in-1931/#35da68ae7c4c

https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-should-know-about-al-capone 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Torrio

https://www.history.com/topics/crime/saint-valentines-day-massacre

OCTOBER 4 = The Soviets Launch "Sputnik"

"Our movies and television programs in the fifties were full of the idea of going into space. What came as a surprise was that it was the Soviet Union that launched the first satellite. It is hard to recall the atmosphere of the time."

— John Logsdon, Dir. of Space Policy Institute

On today's date, October 4 in 1957 the Soviet Union (Russia) launched an orbital space satellite, which they called "Sputnik, after the Russian word for "satellite". As one can see from viewing the image of it above, it was a rather odd looking craft that looked something like an octopus extending it's tentacles. But in terms of the Cold War (the period from @ 1946 through the mid 80's when U.S./Soviet relations were at their most tense) it came as a rude  awakening to the American people that the Soviets may have gained an edge over the in the race in the Space Race.

"Sputnik": What & Why?

   "Sputnik" was was the first artificial satellite ever launched into space from earth. Measuring about 58 meters (23 inches) in diameter and weighing 184 lbs. of polished metal with four external antennas which broadcast radio signals back to earth which were strong enough to be picked up by amateur radio operators all over the world. The information being collected was tracking and studying the density of the upper atmosphere which could be deduced from "Sputnik's drag on earth's orbit, and the effects of its radio signals gave data about the

ionosphere. Traveling at 18,000 miles an hour, its elliptical orbit took it to a distance of 584 miles at it's farthest point from earth, 143 miles at its closest. And it took @ 101.5  minutes to orbit the earth. As to why the Russians launched it, well they were looking for a way to show that their system was as advanced as that in the U.S. perhaps more so. So the Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev  (above) gave the program his full backing.

The Space Race

  Many Americans were shocked that the Soviets that the Soviets had beaten the U.S. to the punch in such a public fashion. And they felt very uneasy about having this damned Soviet contraption flying over our skies. Perhaps the satellite could eventually be used to spy or even launch weapons on this country. Eisenhower himself (below)was not

worried about it. Many in his administration dismissed 'Sputnik" as a "useless hunk of iron". But others were more concerned. As David Halberstam wrote in The Fifties, "The success of Sputnik seemed to herald a kind of technological Pearl Harbor, which was exactly what Edward Teller said it was."  Whatever the case, the Russians and the U.S. continued one-upping each other with various "firsts" - until the U.S. wrote the final note on the subject by landing Apollo 11 with Armstrong and Aldrin landing on the moon itself in July 20 of 1969, effectively handing the U.S. the win in the Space Race.

Sources =

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/sputnik-memo

SEPTEMBER 21, 1897= "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus!"

Yes I know! With every year that passes the pause between the end of summer and Halloween gets smaller. And after Halloween never mind Thanksgiving but let's move straight on to the Christmas BUYING season.  I bemoan this entirely commercial kidnapping of our once cherished kids holiday into a big cashier's payoff as much as you do. So please understand that that is not what I'm doing here! It would feel a lot more appropriate if this had occurred some time in December.  But it didn't.  It happened now and since this Blog is called "TODAY in History", please indulge me for posting it today.

It just so happens that one of the best loved episodes of our Christmas holiday season occurred on today's date, September 21 in 1897  when the little eight year old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote in to the newspaper the New York  Sun to  get an authoritative answer to a question which had bothered her. Miss O'Hanlon's actual letter (above) struck one of the the Sun's editors as being important enough to require an immediate response.  So Mr. Francis Pharcellus Church composed a properly philosophical answer. First I'll give you the full text of the Sun's introduction, Miss O'Hanlon's letter, and then the Sun's rather lengthy response and then we'll look at some of the historical details.

"Is There a Santa Claus?

We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.

Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’

Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

VIRGINIA O’HANLON.

115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."

The Reaction to and Legacy of "Yes, Virginia..."

  The editorial response from the Sun has gone on to be the most often repeated editorial in our English language. Nevermind that it goes on to deal with some pretty adult concepts such as "the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge." and uses some words which I don't imagine most 8 year olds would ever understand these days such as "comprehensible". But it does refer to some very modern day problems as "the skepticism of a skeptical age." In our very own present day with our computers, cell-phones, "smart" phones, we. or at least I wonder if it's possible to capture the imagination of children who seem jaded in a world that that has become harsh and all too real, wherein children know the latest computer trends, but rarely go out and see nature in its own habitat.

Some Reality...

  And of course even this seemingly magical moment has some harsh reality to go with it. The editorial went unsigned in the newspaper that day; its author, Mr. Francis Pharcellus Church had been a war correspondent during the American Civil War, and had thus seen humanity and destruction at its worst. So that may have informed the editorial with its laments about skepticism, and the need for child-like faith, romance and love. Indeed it may very well be that Mr. Church

himself (right) was a kind of hardened cynic. In an edition of the radio program "the Rest of the Story" an anecdote was broadcast saying that Francis Pharcellus Church was an atheist who had no belief in superstitions. It also said that Church didn't want to write the editorial and that this was why he didn't want his name attached to it. Although I must say that I find it difficult to believe that the man who wrote those sweet words was a cynic who didn't believe any of what he wrote there. But there it is for my readers to consider.

"Yes Virginia" Continues....

   Whatever the truth about the details of the story behind the story may be, the essential meaning of the story goes on year after year to inspire readers with its faith in the goodness and love to be found in the whole idea of Christmas and Santa Claus. A cartoon has been produced of the story, a TV movie, and of course numerous newspapers around the
country continue to re-print the letter from little Virginia, and the Sun's response every Christmas. Not a bad legacy for a letter from a little girl, wouldn't you say?


Sources =

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_Virginia,_there_is_a_Santa_Claus

https://oklahoman.com/article/2878743/yes-virginia-brwe-offer-this-classic-for-santa-doubters

https://www.newseum.org/exhibits/online/yes-virginia/ 

SEPTEMBER 3, 1783 = The Treaty of Paris is Signed

The Treaty of Paris was signed by Britain and America on today's date, Sept. 3 in Paris (hence the name), in 1783. This document recognized the former American colonies to be a free and independent nation.  Although both the Brits and we Americans mostly got what they wanted out of the Treaty, the Brit's overall feelings can be summed up by the painting above by Benjamin West. It is a painting of the peace negotiators and it remains eternally unfinished, because the British  declined to sit and be painted into it.

The Fighting War Ends

The last actual armed combat between Britain and America came in October 1781 with the surrender of the last major army the Brits had in America (outside of New York City) on October 19, 1781 at Yorktown, Virginia. That left @ 9,000 prisoners of war (including General Cornwallis) on America's hands. The defeat at Yorktown left the war in

America with diminishing support in the British Parliament and with the British public. The war government of Lord North had been brought down by the defeat at Yorktown  and had been replaced the new Prime Minister, Lord Shelburn (right) who saw a favorable opportunity to develop a new and lucrative trading partner with the Americans. But the point which held up full negotiations on a Peace Treaty was the British unwillingness to recognize America as a free and independent state. Lord Shelburn had no problem with this. Yes Britain would accept American Independence. So on that basis negotiations could proceed.

The United States Send Jay, Adams and Franklin

  The U.S. sent John Jay, the U.S. Minister to Spain to Paris to negotiate with the Brits, and with him sent John Adams (below), and Ben Franklin, already in Paris as our Minister to France.  The Continental Congress  had given it's delegation strict instructions to follow France's lead in the negotiations. But the U.S. delegation saw no advantage in hitching our position to France. Jay told the Brits that his 

people would negotiate directly with them. Adams, who favored the idea as well said that the U.S. wished: "...to be honest and grateful to our allies,  but to think for ourselves."  The most important point came in the first sentence of Article I stating, "His Britannic Majesty acknowledges
the said United States... to be free, sovereign and independent states." 
This was fine with Shelburn who saw it as a way of splitting the U.S. off from France and thus bring about the rich trading partnership with the Americans. And it paid off handsomely with the Brits ceding all of the territory south of Canada down to Spanish held Florida, and east of the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River, thus doubling the size of the United States with the stroke of a pen.

Other Terms of the Treaty of Paris

Among other things, the treaty recognized the deep sea fishing rights of American fishermen in the Grand Banks off the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland coasts.

Declared the Mississippi River to be open for the free navigation of both countries.

Said that the Continental Congress would recommend and "provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties.." seized from British loyalists during the war. Also, it said that debts to creditors on either side of the conflict would be paid.

Released Prisoners of war on both sides; and any property of the British army presently located in the United States was forfeited. This included slaves.

The Treaty was signed by Franklin, Adams and Jay and the British emissary Richard Oswald at the Hotel d’York in Paris, on September 3, 1783.  It would be ratified by the Continental Congress in early 1784. The conflict which had started out as a skirmish between a few hundred British regulars and disgruntled Massachusetts farmers and townsmen way back on April 19 in 1775 and had swallowed up a large chunk of the North American continent was at long last over. And the United States of America which would eventually take up nearly the entire continent was born.


Sources =

https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/treaty-of-paris

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_(1783)

"John Adams" by David McCullough, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2001

"The American Heritage History of the American Revolution" by Bruce Lancaster, American Heritage Publishing Co., New York, 1971

AUGUST 22, 1485 = The Battle of Bosworth Field

The Battle of Bosworth Field, which was fought on today's date, August 22 in the year 1486, was the climactic engagement in the English Civil War which took up the later half of the 15th Century, called "the War of the Roses". The war was essentially  a struggle between the houses of Lancaster and York over which of them would hold the throne of England and thus rule the country.  The Battle was won by the forces of Henry Tudor, the Earl of Richmond who would afterword would ascend to the throne as Henry VII, having vanquished the forces of King Richard III of the house of York whom he believed had usurped the throne via murder. Richard was killed during the battle; the last English king to suffer that fate in battle. As this marked a change to the house of York and the end of the Plantagenet dynasty over to the Tudors it is a very important moment in the history of England.

Richard Usurps the Throne

The murder which Richard was suspected was that of his nephew Edward V. Richard had become Lord High Protector when Edward IV died and his only successor was his son the 12 year old Edward V. But Richard managed to get himself declared King on July 6 1483 after

which date the young Edward was not seen in public again. Richard III (right) was of course widely suspected of having him murdered. Richard was also rumored to have murdered his own wife Queen Anne. There was also some troubles regarding the Princess Elizabeth, the elder sister of the murdered Prince, and whom she was going to marry.  She was already engaged to marry Henry Tudor, the Earl of Richmond who had been across the English Channel in France waiting for the right opportunity to go and knock the usurper Richard off the throne. With Richard under a cloud of suspicion, now was the time.

Henry Lands in Wales, the Armies Clash at Bosworth

Henry, (below) with an army of 6,000 men landed unopposed at Milford Haven on the southwest coast of Wales on August 11, 1485. He

pushed immediately towards Richard, gathering support as he marched toward Richard's forces in London. Richard quickly gathered his forces, between 7,500 and 12,000 men, and the two finally clashed at Bosworth Field, near Leicestershire.  A large portion of Richard's army was under and Sir William Stanley but he held back while they decided which side it would be most advantageous to support. Thus leaving Richard with fewer men at his disposal than he thought, Richard divided his army into three portions each with a specific goal. Stanley's inaction left the battle swaying back and forth until Richard apparently decided to bring it to an end by charging his group directly at Henry. When he saw Richard apart from the rest of his forces,  Stanley decided to throw in with Henry which turned the tide against Richard.  Seeing Henry fairly close by, Richard swung at him mightily, but was unable to get at him and was soon overwhelmed by Henry's men, who knocked him to the ground, and killed him there on that ground. thus ended the troublesome reign of the Richard III of the house of York.


Sources =

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bosworth_Field

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/The-Battle-of-Bosworth-Field/

"Kingdoms of  Europe" by Gene Gurney, Crown Publ., New York, 1982.