Daily Blog

My Hiatus Continues...

7/26/2020

A number of issues have put my blog work way behind over past several weeks. Today I also celebrate a birthday. So I have decided to continue with this break until next Sunday.

Hope you will join me then to read more on the continuing series about womens' history as it relates to Canada, and often the US and elsewhere. In these you will be reading about their incredibly important roles and contributions that, sadly, are more often than not, long since forgotten.

Even worse... the streets we walk... they paved for us. But sadly, for the most part we were never even taught about them.

These blogs attempt to correct this. And I hope you will join me next week for another installment.

Bart, the elder

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It is Foolish and Wrong... Part V

7/5/2020

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It has been often said throughout over 500 blogs in this space, that the purpose of this research, advocacy and writing is to keep our stories of heroism alive.

Polls suggest the concept is much in need.

Twenty years ago a poll was taken of equivalent historic points for both the Americans and the Canadians. Our southern friends passed with some 63% getting answers right. But in Canada the polls showed only 39% getting things right.

A Canadian poll in 2008 produced the results that 90% of respondents claimed learning more in school about American history, than their own Canadian history. Six years later another poll produced the shameful result that only 4% of respondents knew of Canadian involvement in the South African War of 1899-1902.

More recently, an IPSO's Reid poll showed that 55% of Canadians failed the poll on Canadian women's history two years ago. Yet at about the same time another poll revealed that over a third of respondents to another poll agreed with knowing someone who had served overseas in the last 20 years. Many of those serving were women.

The last blog in this space brought you information most never knew as we were certainly never taught it in school. That being the story of how Canadian Calixa Lavallee, writer of the music for our nation Anthem, had served and was wounded in the US Civil War.

Today I will briefly mention a few of the Canadian women who served in the US military a decade and more BEFORE the Great War.

I'll start with the Spanish American War. It started with the explosion of the USS Maine in the Havana harbour. While 94 survived, and astounding 261 did not. (Searching this site will reveal a most interesting Canadian connection to it's masthead.)

It was because of the experiences the nurses brought forth in the US Civil War that the governments of the day became more and more aware of the fact that nurses were an incredible aid to the war efforts. Both Canadian and American nursing groups pressured the US government into allowing trained nurses to serve in this war.

In fact, researching again at this site will produce some very interesting facts about famed Annie Oakley and how she offered to supply a company of some 50 female sharpshooters, complete with their own weapons and ammunition for the war effort in Cuba. But President McKinley declined the offer. The earlier blog on this subject tells of the origin on the very term sharpshooter and that Annie's name was in fact NOT Oakley.

Soon the federal government agreed with the use of nurses in the military and by war's end in Cuba, some 250 had donned the uniform and earned their $30 a day.

And one of these nurses was Elizabeth Winchester Russell, born at Hamilton Ontario. The family was well known and her father's success as a doctor no doubt had an influence on her choice of careers. About a dozen days before her 19th birthday she, then being trained as a nurse, signed up with the US forces in 1898. She was immediately assigned to the USAHS (US Army Hospital Ship)..."Relief."

Here we see the USAHS Relief, the 2nd of six ships over the years to have the same name, at the New York docks on 2 July 1898. Probably the very day it would sail off to Cuba and the Spanish American War of 1898.

The hospital ship was the first of its kind, being built from the start as a hospital ship. It carried state of the art equipment of the day, had 500 beds, and a compliment of 74. Six of these were nurses. Their day to day operations were based out of Siboney during the Siege of Santiago, oft also mentioned in previous blogs, and no doubt during numerous trips back to the US with the patients being brought home from the war front.

Elizabeth Russell served with Esther Voorhees Hasson who, a decade later would be named the US Navy's Superintendent of their nurses corps. The second Superintendent was Chatham NB born Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee, who was the first of only 4 women in the US Navy to be awarded the Navy Cross, just one medal down from the Medal of Honor. The four were so awarded for their incredible efforts during the terrible epidemic of 2020...oops... I mean 1918. Three of these awards were made posthumously. (much has been written about her in previous blogs here, including notation that a war ship was named in her honor in 1944 and a 2nd is under construction right now.

Another one of the Relief nurses was Ferebe E Guion (later Mrs J Parks.) It is most difficulty locating the names of the other nurses, but I believe they may have been Lucy Rose Hevron, Amanda Armistead Ludlow and Ashby Sharp. I believe the terms for all were for 1 year.

Here are the six nurses taken onboard the USAHS Relief. While the image is on numerous websites, not one that I found identifies any of the women. So, they may be the above 6 or who knows????

Elizabeth Russell would go on to serve during the Philippine War, and not having enough service she would be aboard the Sardinian on 30 October 1899 when it sailed from Quebec to Capetown South Africa for service in the Boer War. With her were Annie Affleck from Ontario, Sarah Forbes from Nova Scotia and Georgina Pope from PEI, as the Head Nurse.

The four nurses were joined by one male Medical officer, and about 1,050 infantry officers and men.

I will bring you more on this story in 2 weeks.

Hope you will join me on July 19.

Bart

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It is Foolish and Wrong... Part lV

7/1/2020

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While this blog is a few days late, time was needed for last minute verification of a few points. This and the fact that my fellow Canadians today turned their leaf (Maple, I assume) over and became 153 years old. Thus, like the blog and writer, perhaps needed a few more days sleep. Hehe.

My day probably began a little less pleasant that yours. It was just 0645, when some criminal element of fraudsters decided to make the typical illegal call to me to falsely tell me that they has just discovered a fraudulent double purchase on my credit card, (not saying which one of course) and that by pressing the number one I could immediately speak to an investigator to get the matter resolved.

The creep of course did not bother to note that chances are, at 0645, such offices would not be opened, nor would they be on a legal holiday.

Surely it is time that a stop to these calls be made... not just adding the number to a blocking list. Such may prevent calls from THAT number, but they have hundreds, if not thousands of others to use.

It is time a class action law suit is filed against every telephone company who's line these criminals are renting, and one used for illegal purposes. The law should also be changed to forbid any phone company from providing services to any party who then blocks the number they call from, without justifiable and verifiable evidence that such blocking is needed. Further, it should be an offense to make the call from a number, that when you try to follow up on, only produces the lie that the line is not in service. When, in today's case, just a few minutes earlier it obviously WAS in service.

Perhaps a few multi-million dollar fines might get these providers to better police those whom they rent their lines to. At law, the provider of such services is an accomplice in the crimes being carried on ever day by their aiding and abetting these criminals.

Surely somewhere data bases exist as to what numbers are being used for these purposes as a result of citizen complaints. Following up on these, would lead to the phone companies who gave the tools to the criminal to perform their crimes. Just a thought!

And to this list can be added today's number... 1 (902) 083 1917. The number is assigned to Nova Scotia/PEI.

The culprits in this situation are damaging the fabulous reputation of the majority of great folks in both of these Canadian provinces. And while using such a line, they could still be calling form another jurisdiction, or worse yet another country.

Moving along...

On 29 March 1867 the British Parliament enacted the British North America Act. It united the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick as the Dominion of Canada with its seat at Ottawa. This law came into effect 153 years ago today... on 1 July 1867.

So happy birthday to all from coast to coast to coast and those Canadians elsewhere in the world.

Most will recall seeing an image of this painting over the years. The original of the Fathers of Confederation was done in charcoal and depicted 23 Fathers and their Secretary at the PEI 1864 Conference. But at another later that year, 10 more Fathers were added, and another 3 for reasons unknown to me.

The charcoal depiction was destroyed in a terrible fire at the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa in 1916 and redone in 1967 for the 100th anniversary of Confederation. While depicting PEI, if you look though the windows it actually depicts Quebec.

At front near the center of the image is a lone Father standing. His name was Charles Tupper and was from Nova Scotia, and indeed one of its Premiers. He would later be the first ever President of the Medical Society of Canada and ever so briefly was also the Prime Minster of Canada.

My family members are in his line of descendants.

Here is a fellow you probably know, but don't know it!

He ran away from home at age 16 and within a few years became quite an accomplished pianist and bugle player. Possibly for a $300 bonus he was lured into signing up in the US Civil War with a Rhode Island infantry regiment.

His job was a that of a bandsman. But soon he was in the thick of things as a stretcher bearer during the Battle of Antietam, the worst of all battles apparently in the history of the US. Many Canadians fought in this battle and went on to later... or earlier... earn Medals of Honor. In the first 2 hours of this battle more troops were lost than on D Day. In about 12 hours some 23,000 had been killed, wounded, missing or captured. That's about ONE CASUALTY EVERY SECOND during the battle.

It should be noted that when the Civil War began, about 1 1/2 years earlier, the US Army only consisted of 16,400 men. And from those you can subtract 25% who left to join the Confederate forces.

After becoming wounded in either the hand or leg, sources differ, and a recovery period this fellow, now a Lieutenant, was released from the military. Years later he would return to his home.

This being in Quebec were, among other things, he took up writing music for songs. One of these you will hopefully recall. It was, and to this day, is called Oh Canada, and as Canada's nation anthem, you probably have heard it more than once today.

His name was Calixa Lavallee, though his surname seems to have been misspelled in this.... his pension index card. The surname ends with an...ie.. and others even have it spelt ending in...ey.

The music was written by Lavallee for a French poem. The words were written by many others. The most popular being from Montreal lawyer Robert Stanley Weir in 1908. He would make slight changes a few times during the Great War and the federal government made a change more acceptable to the public in 2018 by altering the line.... In All Thy Suns Command to read In All Of Us Command.

The line... We Stand on Guard For Thee, is repeated several times. How ironic, as Calixa Lavallee did just that in the Fall of 1862. As did about 50,000 other British North Americans during the war.

Much more about these men AND women will appear in the next blog that will be posted this Sunday.

Once again... Happy Birthday Canada!

The 4th is when our friends south of the border will celebrate their birthday. Though with the troubled times south of us, there will probably be little in the way of celebration this year.

Bart

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My Hiatus Continues...

It is Foolish and Wrong... Part V

It is Foolish and Wrong... Part lV

Author;

Bart Armstrong

Archives

Categories

My Hiatus Continues...

It is Foolish and Wrong... Part V

It is Foolish and Wrong... Part lV

Author; Bart Armstrong

Archives

Categories

Author;

Bart Armstrong