History of Mound Robbing and Looting in the U.S.

  History of mound robbing and looting in the U.S. Bad archaeology at the Spiro Mounds Complex in Oklahoma. The history of this site looting has been largely recovered thanks to the people of the great state of Oklahoma (Way down yonder in the Indian nation). This site was such a treasure trove that it was call the King Tuts Tomb of the Arkansas Valley.

A Fireplug: we could say that its about plumbing

History With RCS: From fireplug to fire hydrant    

                 You may know a fireplug as a place often found at the corner of a city street. A dog may urinate there. A fireplug has been called a fire hydrant. 

                Reminiscing, it comes to me that the justly famous US judge, Learned Hand, was once figuratively associated with the term, fireplug. I have forgotten the story, but am pretty sure that it included a dog.  Read on and you will be able to make an educated guess as to the origin of the word "fireplug" before reaching the climax of this post. You might find useful information in the historical section at www.theplumber.com

                In the early US trunks  and limbs of hemlock and elm trees were used to make piping to carry water from one place to another. Logs from 9 -  10" thick might be cut into 7 - 9' lengths for this purpose. Not an easy piping to use.  
                

                The men who made and laid this piping were called borers. They were named for their use of the five foot steel auger they carried with them. In those days of 1600 - 1700s these men attracted a great deal of curious attention as they traveled from town to town to carry out their unusual craft. They also brought welcome news and gossip with them. No TV or radio in those days. Up the www!

                Borers bored and formed sections of trunk so that they could tightly ram log sections together to form a series. The joints were usually sealed with pitch or tar. Sometimes a log might b split, hollowed out, bound with metal hoops, and caulked with lead with the help of a blacksmith. Plumbers were later named for their use of lead. Blacksmiths was the name for iron workers to distinguish them from goldsmiths, silversmiths, bronze smiths, etc. 

                Most water systems were gravity flow outfits. They would start at perhaps a spring or stream on high ground and allow the water to flow downhill to, say, a farm house. The line might lead to the back of the house, then on to the barn, and from there on to a catch basin.

                Water was tapped by a smaller ole bored into the log and stopped with a wooden plug.

                The city of Boston was one of the earliest places in the country to have a real waterworks. It probably first went online about 1652. In those days nearly every house was of wood and had an open hearth fireplace. Fire was a major danger. So, the first water works was for both domestic and fire fighting use.

                It was comprised of a hole drilled into the side of one of those log pipes at a strategic spot and a wooden plug used to stop that hole. A fireman could then remove the plug when and where water was needed to fight a fire. Thus fireplug!

                Let me add a bit. The line supplying water to Boston's wharves and other buildings ran from Jamaica Pond to the Faneuil Hall area, the meeting place for the Massachusetts rebels who held their Boston Tea Party in the nearby harbor on Dec. 16 1773. Not so long ago a section of a wooden water main was removed from that same vicinity. The log measure 22 feet long, the bore  4"  in diameter for the lower half of the tree, and 2-1/2 in the upper. Common with early wood pipe, the trees natural forks branched out in wyes and tees.

                In 1795, The Jamaica Pond Aqueduct Corp. followed through with 15 miles more of 3" and 5" wooden water pipe of bore logs, again using hemlock trees for construction. Since open wells provided easy prey to contamination from nearby privies, the new supply of fresh water contributed to a lower death rate.

           

                 These rustic new pipelines were valuable to firefighters. They would bore a hole into the side of the wooden pipe along the edge of the street, insert a smaller pipe, and connect the hose of their fire wagon, a two man pumper. The fire out, they would plug up the hole again with a wooden plug. A fireplug.

                                                                                                                                RCS

Peasants' Revolt of 1381 AD

   Some doings and

happenings can be taxing and humiliating. Humiliation of certain people can be dangerous. Successful conscious social change takes careful organization and planning.

Snake War: short version

 

The people of the United States have warred a lot (as have other peoples)

They seemed to have been easily led to it. During their Civil War(1861 to 1865)they found time and resources to drive a lot of Indians off their lands. At the end of that Civil War they began to "pacify" Indians from the Mississippi river to the Pacific Coast.

By 1850 powerful and influential men  from around the world became interested in the American West. We might blame that on the Fortyniners and gold fever. The name, California became a sort of magnet which drew men from from east of the the Mississippi and the Pacific coast. That same magnet drew men around the Horn and through the Straights of Magellan: some crossed the Pacific ocean from the Far East to get to California. That magnet drew men and their capital and during the Civil War and drew them even more strongly after that war of Americans against Americans.

In 1864 the Snake War began and then continued until 1868. Their were other U.S. wars (from about 1861 to 1868) during this same time. There were: Texas-Indian wars, a Colorado war, Apache wars, California Indian wars, and a Cheyenne Campaign! Many were sure that "good Indians were dead Indians." Indians were to put their heads down, in a dirty corner of what had once been their America the Beautiful, or die.

Historians called the Snake War an irregular war which Americans fought against the Northern Paiute, the Bannock,
and the Western Shoshone. Some of that fighting was done along the Snake river. When historians used the word "irregular" they were being diplomatic. This war took place in what became the states of Oregon, Nevada, California, and Idaho. The U.S. Won.

The war began when many small bands of the tribes mentioned above were disturbed by the activities of people of the mining interests and the new road building interests digging in the lands from which those Indians were accustomed to take their sustenance. Significant numbers of those Indians were made "good." Some Indians were able to make a few interlopers "good" too.

Powerful and influential persons were interested in the undeveloped lands of the U.S. Monied people in California,  on the US. East Coast. and elsewhere were interested in the lead, copper, gold, and silver. They were interested in the prime lands of the Far west of what was becoming the U.S.
The were interested in the resources the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean. They saw an access to a toad to greater wealth.

There were those who had the the resources to apply pressure where needed to see that the natives of the land did not hinder their plans. California interests brought pressure to bear on' general George Wright, commander of the department of the Pacific, to provide better protection for those building the new roads from from Red Bluff and Chico to Silver City and Boise. "Do something about those Indians," they were demanding. It would take a book to cover all the powerful pressures brought to bear to clear the way to wealth. Still we can stay that much of those pressures had to do with money, wealth, power, and the growing craft of Public Relations, the selling of ideas which move the public.

In the States, a growing number of strong pressures were being felt by men in positions to act on the will of the men with the power to put effective power on them. Pressures acted on Congressmen, large contractors, railroad men, world wide mining interests: capitalists from the
East Coast, the West Coast, and around our world. There were high hopes and a great deal of pushing and shoving. The people felt these activities. 

The War consisted mostly of hunting Indians. Volunteers hunted Indians, interested citizens hunted Indians, immigrants hunted Indians, the Army hunted Indians. Some said that the Indians were in the way of destiny.     




by Richard Sheehan



Should I start to think of learning to copyright my work?

I look forward to your comments, questions, additions corrections, criticisms, and praise. 

How Our Understanding of Neanderthals Changed in the Last Few Years

Boulder Dam

History With RCS:  Two Dam Good Presidents and a Little Boy

                 This memory begins with my father driving us around some of the U.S. Southwest during WWII. It was a big deal for several reasons, but for some reason I am remembering that gas, oil, tires, and tubes were all rationed as an important part of the war effort. Lots of memories are coming up. Many things were rationed and the lines were long. We stood in line for meat, butter, and nylons. I think that my father may have been combining the trip with looking into new work. On to the Dam story.

                Soon we were at the Dam, with the car parked right on it. Then we were going down inside the dam on an elevator to below water level. I may have been as much as six years old. I was wide eyed, looking, listening, and, I with suspect, with my heart beating a bit faster than usual. On the big elevator were some workmen who were still working on the dam. My father was talking with them. I think that they were talking more about the war, the depression, and the president than about the dam. For the times a great new dam. 

                It seems we had seen some plaques telling of the great Hoover Dam. The workmen were telling my father that they called the the dam Boulder Dam. They were telling my father that they called it Boulder Dam because of the great boulders they had seen moved or blown up during construction, and because they though that President Hoover didn't deserve to have the dam named after him. The reason they didn't want the dam named after him seemed to be something about the Depression. 

                President Hoover was of the Republican party. The president at the time of our visit was FDR of the Democratic party. Both parties were different then from how they are now. FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, is the first president I remember in my life-time.
    

                In an old newspaper, dated March 4th 1929, I read this: "Herbert Clark Hoover is inaugurated as President of the United States." A bit farther along it continues, "He announces that the government should assist and encourage these movements of collective self-help." That announcement makes me thing that he deserves to have the great dam named after him.

                I do not remember those "movements of collective self-help." They are before my birth. Still they have a nice ring to them.
At the time of this first visit to Boulder Dam on the Colorado river, Franklin Roosevelt was president and it seemed most Americans were pleased with him. As we walked through the inside of the dam, I remember the workmen saying that they were proud of their work on the dam. It seems that they were pleased with FDR, but they did not mention his name as an appropriate name for the dam.

                President Hoover was born in 1874 and died in 1964. Strange, I felt a downturn in the quality of US citizenship and US government beginning in 1964. Memories.

                The year 1964 felt like a a turning point to me. A turning point for our nation too. A turning for the worse. It does seem like since then the money earned per week, month and year bought less and less by the year. It was at about this time that I began to note most people referring to our government as "they" and "them" rather than as "we" and "us." It somehow seemed that we were worth more in the 50s than we have been in too many years. I felt a bit of turn for the better in 2020 and feel it still in 2021.

                Anyway, president Hoover was a Progressive Republican and raised a Quaker; all to the good. He was interested in efficiency in business and government. That sounds good. He was president as our country fell into economic depression. Tough on him and nearly everyone else. He lost some points because he supported the unpopular Prohibition of the use of drinking alcohol.

                The task of writing this informal little essay brings many memories to my awareness. I remember much of the dramatic beauty of our countryside, of our country. I remember awful and great Word War Two, and much more.

                There is a lot that is happening and being done now to write about. We are learning more of the story of humanity and about much else. We may be learning to communicate better. We may be learning that democracy consists of participation. 

                Maybe I will write more about our learning.

                                                                            

                                                                                                                        RCS
 
         

Mago Bill: One

 Mago Bill is a nickname I have given my paternal great grandfather

                                

                I have used the name Mago Bill in recent blogs because I believe that it inspires me to give you some unusual and interesting backstories and histories in a variety of posts.

                My sister, the genealogist of our family, introduced me to existence of documentation of the life pf M. William Sheehan. His existence had not been known to us. We had not known his name nor that he had been our paternal great grandfather. As I remember, my sister showed me that he had probably been born in the far south of Ireland and that his parents had brought to the United States when he was very young. We soon discovered that the M in his name probably stood for Mago. to me he promptly became Mago Bill, my inspiration.

                Spanish speaking friend tell me that "mago" means magician. Some of the same friends tell me that the three kings or three wise men of Christmas who brought gifts to the infant Christ were call "magos." I have found that  Mago was an important name among the Carthaginian Phoenicians before Rome came of age. Some of that name knew Hannibal well.

                Carthaginian traders and traders and navigators came to Ireland to trade for tin an other commodities. They brought so much knowledge of the name Mago with them that it impressed some of the people there. So much that they used it. For hundreds of years the name Mago has experienced some on an off popularity in Ireland.

                You may have read before that my paternal great grandfather was named and called Mago William Sheehan and that I have called him Mago Bill. You have even read that he, as many and Irish lad from time to time, was named after a famous Carthaginian. However, have you remembered me writing of Mago Barca?

    

                Barca could have been that famous Carthaginian Phoenician of the late third century BC, or not. Mago Barca was Hannibal's (yes, that Hannibal) brother. He may well have been a navigator and also have fought Roman legions in Iberia accompanied by Irish and Dan. He was the youngest son of Hamilcar of the Barcids.

                The above has prompted my to think of the Balearic Islands and food. The   Balearics seem to have an Irish connection of a sort. On Menorca, Mago Barca lent his name to the port city there which is still called Port Mahon. Mago and Mahon much alike to us today, but the history of language is one of change.

                Does not Mahon seem to have a bit of an Irish ring. I remember seeing  photos of Balearic ladies long ago. They looked very much like my aunt Eleanor and sister Geraldine. My sister would probably agree that she was and is better looking than was my aunt. The Balearic ladies of the photos were all attractive and I was struck by their similarity to Eleanor and Gerry.

                Ah, yes, food! Mahon, the typical Mahon egg sauce of the island, that has conquered the world, is Mayonnaise! On a visit to Ireland, I found mayonnaise still moderately appreciated. Still isn't there another mayo something or other on the old sod. Do not think me capable of a nasty thought. You may have heard of Mayo County, Ireland.

                I seem to be on a bit of a roll. I thought of another couple of miscellaneous bits to add here. Gilli, gilly, ghilli, and ghilly is only one of them. I've searched for each online with no luck. I had a friend who's Irish mother spoke of having a gilli in the family. This was many years ago and I had heard of ghilly long before that. A ghilly is an Irishman, across centuries he has been one of particular talents. He can be one especially familiar with the Irish countryside. He might act as a guide. He might help one to catch a trout or salmon by hand. In amore distant time he may have been the right hand man of noble warrior. He might have been a sort of Irish Ninja and expert in the use of camouflage. He might have been expert in a martial art. He would have the skills and talents of a huntsman. If  you have heard more of ghilly tell us a bit. This is supposed to be an interactive site.

                There are still those in Ireland who know the term and there were those who used it hundreds of years ago. The gilli I speak of is unlikely t have been a Norwegian dancer. I have heard that there may have been a similar word with a similar pronunciation and, perhaps, meaning.

                I may have heard more than I know.

                The Irish whistle comes to mind and reminds me that  there is also an Irish bagpipe. Could the bagpipe have also been a Fir Bolg instrument? I have been told that when it comes to men before a battle, that an Irish whistle can get them on their feet as little else can.. But to keep them moving forward to battle, victory, death, or hell, it takes a good pipe and a good piper, even if it be a Scot.

                I am pleased that you did not miss this addition to this piece. Thanks for reading.

                

                                                                                RCS 

Early Waterwworks in the U.S.A.

  History With RCS: If the Water doesn't work,we don't work, and don't play much either  

                You may know a fireplug as a place often found at the corner of a city street. A dog may urinate there. A fireplug has been called a fire hydrant.  

                Reminiscing, it comes to me that the justly famous US judge, Learned Hand, was once figuratively associated with the term, fireplug. I have forgotten the story, but am pretty sure that it included a dog.  Read on and you will be able to make an educated guess as to the origin of the word "fireplug" before reaching the climax of this post.

                In the early US trunks  and limbs of hemlock and elm trees were used to make piping to carry water from one place to another.Logs from 9 -  10" thick might be cut into 7 - 9' lengths for this purpose. Not an easy piping to use.  

                The men who made and laid this piping were called borers. They were named for their use of the five foot steel auger they carried with them. In those days of 1600 - 1700s these men attracted a great deal of curious attention as they traveled from town to town to carry out their unusual craft. They also brought welcome news and gossip with them. No TV or radio in those days. Up the www!

                Borers bored and formed sections of trunk so that they could tightly ram log sections together to form a series. The joints were usually sealed with pitch, tar or resin. Sometimes a log might b split, hollowed out, bound with metal hoops, and caulked with lead with the help of a blacksmith. Plumbers were later named for their use of lead. Blacksmiths was the name for iron workers to distinguish them from goldsmiths, silversmiths, bronze smiths, etc. 

                Most water systems were gravity flow outfits. They would start at perhaps a spring or stream on high ground and allow the water to flow downhill to, say, a farm house. The line might lead to the back of the house, then on to the barn, and from there on to a catch basin.

                Water was tapped by a smaller hole bored into the log and stopped with a wooden plug.

                The city of Boston was one of the earliest places in the country to have a real waterworks. It probably first went online about 1652.
In those days nearly every house was of wood and had an open hearth fireplace. Fire was a major danger. So, the first water works was for both domestic and fire fighting use.

                Have you guessed the origin of the word fireplug? 
It was comprised of a hole drilled into the side of one of those log pipes at a strategic spot and a wooden plug used to stop that hole. A fireman could then remove the plug when and where water was needed to fight a fire. Thus fireplug!

     

 

                                                                                    RCS

Mago Bill History Notes

 Mago Bill Inspired History Notes

                You may remember Mago Bill as the name of some of my earlier blogs. You may remember that I believed that the given name of my paternal great grandfather was Mago William. While that Mago may have been called Will, he may never been called Bill, but it makes me smile to do so.

                My, somewhat imaginary, Mago Bill has inspired my interest in history and supported my political vision.

                Thoughts of Bill, Mago Bill, lead me to the following. An earlier Mago and the Carthaginians had certainly heard of Atlantis, but that fabled land had been lost for thousands of years before these Phoenicians posted themselves near the Pillars of Hercules. Those pillars may have been called the Pillars of Atlas, or even the gates of Atlas. They certainly guarded the way to the great Atlantic Sea and to the isle beyond the Western Isle.

                The paragraph above leads me to thoughts of many stories, but I will stick to my notes on those who knew the name “Mago” well.

                They were a knowledgeable people whom we might now begin to call Carthaginians. They knew much of trade and navigation. They also knew of mining, metallurgy, the writing of languages, and of defense and attack on land and sea. They were seamen. They that the islands not too far beyond the Pillars not only contained gold, silver, lead, and tin, but also contained men who knew about mining and metal working. They may have known about the little people who could follow the veins of metal deep into the earth. Those Carthaginians knew that men all around their smaller sea valued tin for making their bronze.

                The name and perhaps title of Mago was well known among those Carthaginian Phoenicians. I have found the use of title among them as early as 750 BC. You may find that it was used much earlier. I do find strong evidence that they were carrying on trade with the Western Isles from 500 BC to 400 BC.

                The Magonids were a political dynasty of Carthage room about 550 BC to 340 BC. The dynasty began with Mago I, under whom Carthage became prominent among the Phoenician colonies in the western Mediterranean. Under the Magonids the Carthaginian Empire expanded to include Spain, Sardinia, Libya, and Sicily. Diodorus and Herodotus often better tell us of the doings and happenings of the Magonids more honestly than do the Romans.

                There was a Mago II and then a Mago III who led the Carthaginians. There also seems to have been A Mago who commanded, or navigated for the trading fleet which connected the Western Isles to the Mediterranean. You may know, or have guessed, that the isle beyond the western Isle is the island nation we call Ireland.

                It might have been Mago, that knowledgeable ship-master, who so impressed a Sheehan as to name his or her son Mago. My great, great grandfather called his son Mago William. That is a source of my inspiration to call a blog of mine “Mago Bill.”

                Thank you for reading.

 

                                                                                        RCS

• Mago
• Carthaginians

 

                                            

Mound Builders, Hopewell Culture

PreColumbian Cultures of North America

Mound Builders, Hopewell Culture

                People of the Hopewell tradition were ancestral to many modern Indian nations. I believe that they are representative of a culture extending farther back then the time of mega fauna and the atlatl. They  had maintained a recognizable way of life going back thousands of years, perhaps 10,000 and more years.

                The Hopewell people were a Native America culture that flourished in settlements mostly along the Mississippi River, the Ohio, and  Missouri and their tributaries from about 100 BC to about 400 AD. There is evidence that they continued almost intact for another 100 years. It was a dispersed culture which traded widely and were connected by that trade. However, they also had much commerce with other cultures.

                Mega-fauna existed well after the Pleistocene, but seemed to have flourished during part of that time. The Pleistocene existed during periods of Ice Ages about 2,580,000 BP to about 11,700 BP. That is one might say it ended just before Noah's flood. We do not yet have much evidence of the doings of people during those days.

                I believe that ancestors of the Hopewell did use the atlatl to successfully hunt what we might call giant animals. Today an atlatl is often call a spear thrower and that is what it is. It is a simple implement with which to launch a spear. There are some who use it for hobby or sport today and who say it is much more powerful than any bow and arrow. It  is most often used a much closer range than a good bow may be used.

Their are tribes today still remember songs or chants of their hunters using the atlatl to kill animals which do not exist today. I believes the the families and their tribe ate well.

                By the way an animal called mega-fauna which weighed 100 pounds was called small. A sizeable one might weigh 3,000 pounds. Most of them in most places were extinct after about 40,000 BP. Could direct ancestors of the Hopewell been hunting mega-fauna before the end of our recent Ice AGE. Many of them were much like animals existing today but much larger. I have heard of Indians hunting an animal the size of an elephant, but looking like a sloth, a ground sloth. When did that happen. Some say that there was mega-fauna around only 300 years ago. Mass extinctions certainly happened long before than. However, if you check around you may find that in North America there was a variety of mega-fauna living at least as recently as 13,000 BP. Anyway, at a certain and a certain place, there certain mega-fauna eaten by certain people less than 1,000 years ago. Please let me know what you discover.

                Well, back to the Hopewell about the time of Christ or a little before. Then, and even after 500 AD the Hopewell people like many other Native Americans were matrilineal. As an example, in such cultures a man and a woman might have joined under the name of the woman's family. The children of such a union may have had the responsibilities and privileges of the female line. If I, as a male, were a married member of the culture my surname would likely become that of my wife's mother, grand mother and great grandmother. My children might bear that name. The land we lived on might be affiliated with that name. I might be known for the doings of my mother's family. I have not describe the Hopewell here, but rather have given an example of matrilineality .

                I am far from sure of the ways matrilineality of the Hopewell affected their culture.Tell me what you know or find out. By doing so we may both learn more of how our patrilineality affects us. The wise have often told the value of self-knowledge.

                The Hopewell have been called Mound Builders and came from a long line of such builders of earthworks. They built more than elaborate mounds. They also made tools, and artworks of stone, wood, bone, cooper, and a number of other materials.They also remembered how to make an atlatl.

                Evidence of their works and commerce have been discovered from the tip of what is now Florida and the mouth of the Mississippi to the Great Lakes, and from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachian Mountains. Some say to the Atlantic Coast of North America.

 

                    More on this blog.

 

 

 

                                                        RCS

Straight Talk

History With RCS: Children deserve to be taught.               

                There are American Indians who have taught their children that it is good to talk straight. They taught that it is good to not tell a lie, that it is good to speak only the truth. They taught that it is good to make a spiritual agreement with one's self not to talk crooked. They taught that straight talk within one's self and with others let people trust, grow, and calm many fears. Straight talkers, they taught, make all of life better. Straight talkers make us glad that  there are cleansing springs of truth, they taught.

 

                                                                                                    RCS

                                                                                            

Cow Head

Most Americans know Cabeza de Vaca as one of the four survivors of a three hundred man expedition to Florida in 1583. H e wandered eight years in North America a a naked, unarmed healer of  Indians and probably the first European to describe thundering herds of buffalo.

In 1541 the same Alvero Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was penetrating southern Brazil by canoe near what is now the riverine intersection of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. When in the distance, he saw a cloud of spray "two spear throws or more above the treetops." He had to beach the expedition before it plunged over the brink of an enormous waterfall. He ha discovered Iguazú Catarata. Iguazu is as wide as three Niagras and one hundred feet higher.

 

 

RCS 

First Intro to This New History Blog

 This Posts will deal with history of a variety of sorts. I am not sure of the names of all the categories yet. However, let me give tentative names of a few:

American History, which will mostly deal with the history of the United States of America.

World history, beginning about 4000 BC and continuing to about 2000 AD.

Pre History ending about 4000 BC and beginning perhaps about 500,000 BP.

An Introduction to These History posts

The following is a sort of history you might find on this page in the future. I have my biases. For example, Irish history seems so important to me I may put it on a completely different Page which I may call Ireland and Irish.

There are those who deprecate history itself. So common is this deprecation that the expression "That's history." has become deprecatory.

That which happened this morning is history. That is, it is history when someone can tell me about it, or when I witness it and tell you about it. Basically, it seems that history is that told about what has happened. I suspect that there are historians who would not find this simplification agreeable. 

By attending to a history, one may not only learn what happened, but also how it happened and other potentially useful information. History can be felt as the pleasure of a good story. Even a history, badly told can contain useful info. Many are finding a lot of history enjoyable and interesting.

Some say that experience is the best teacher and that history is a accounting of our experience

This history business is not always easy. For example, many would agree that a history not told be a historian is just a story. Then again a true story might be thought a history. But then again there are historians who are falsifiers. Not easy.

A lot more can be said and is said about history. As an example it is said that historians record and present history in accord with their own worldviews and perspectives. Some record it as the see it. More try to make sense of histories told by others. A great many historians embrace truth and reality, in accord with how they have seen it and understood it. I believe that their interest in reality is great. 

I believe that you could be a historian. When you value evidence, know a true story, and have a realistic imagination, you may be a pretty good one. However, many will call you a story teller, unless you have documents as your principle source of evidence. 

Many professional historians tend to examine the nature of changes as an important part of their work. The examine all sorts of changes: cultural, economic, technological and many more.

History is not a science. It has an immense number of variables, yet has no laboratory. Historians do have the advantage of hindsight and they use that advantage. They also find help in the questions they entertain. Such as: "How did we get into this mess?" and "Why did that happen?" At other times they test their ability to suspend judgement and try to place themselves in the context of the moment.

As I think about it, there seems to be a very great deal to learn about the doing of history. I may write more as I begin to learn more. In the meantime I will try to share a good story or two and a few of the curiosities of the past. Historians have been called antiquarians; doesn't that have a romantic ring.

 

 

Better posts to come here.

My name is Richard Sheehan. I am a U.S. citizen living in Colombia.

My future posts will be signed, RCS

 

Calusa

History With RCS: Calusa, A great people who deserve more talk and understanding.

                I haven't yet written much of the early peoples of North America, but if I live long enough I intend to write much more.

                Below are the titles of four posts in which I have mentioned native peoples. Searchers will find more.

~  Detroit"s Lost Mounds
~ Red Indians
~ Talk Straight
~ Cow Head

                The words I now write of the Calusa are few. Even so I expect that will be sufficient to fix the Calusa  people and the name Calusa in the minds of a few our readers.

                In the 1500s the Calusa still controlled much of  the southwest of Florida. They defended their land against the aggression  of other peoples including European explorers.  The Spaniards knew them as fierce. The Calooshahtchee River, with its mouth on the southwest of  Florida, was theirs.

                They lived mostly along the inland water ways and developed them for transportation and food production. The sea was also a source of food for them. They left middens of seashells large enough in size to compete with their great mounds and other earthworks. The fished with nets and tapped fish.

                 The Calusa had a strong influence on the tribes around them. That influence may be because of their wide trading. They typically used dugouts for use at sea and along their inland waterways. They also built  and used larger vessels. They visited Cuba regularly and probably sailed much farther into the Caribbean.

                Their homes were built on platforms on pilings over the water. Their buildings had particularly handsome roofing of palmetto leaves. It is said that some of their 'houses' were large enough to easily accommodate 2000 persons!

                They were excellent wood workers and they also did some fine wood carving. They were excellent farmers, sailors, fishermen, and traders, They are probably responsible for the construction of what we have called bayous.

                The apex of their culture probably dates well before 100 BC. Their middens and and earth works have been dated to that time.

                We have much to learn from and about the Calusa. Please feel free to extend and correct our knowledge of them.



                                                                                                            by R.C.S.

A Leading Republican

 Napoleon Bonaparte, a leading republican of his day, was willing to become Emperor of France. France welcomed him as Emperor. There may be a lesson to be learned from this bit of history.

Napoleon did bring reforms to Europe and beyond in the fields of science, education, and a variety of cultural areas. These works could be called republican.

The legal system called the Napoleonic Code, influenced much of Europe and a significant part of the rest of the World. Napoleonic law is an important part of the law of the U.S. state of Louisiana. 

Napoleon was a warrior, a leader of armies. Some have said that he won a war against  Russian. To attack Russia, he left home with about a half million men. He returned home with about 20,000 men and "the shirt on his back."

He met his "Waterloo" in a battle against Prussia and Britain. In that battle Prussia "saved Britain's bacon.

After Waterloo, Britain, Spain, Prussia, Austria, Russia, and others joined one another in suppressing liberal movements throughout Europe. 

 

This is a TEST:

~ Why do the histories of so many revolutions seem revolting?

~ Where is your revolution headed?

~ Why might a republican be willing to become an emperor?

~ What is a "loo?"

~ Why ought the citizens of a republic be responsible?