IS YOUR CONGRESSMAN AN IMBECILE?
That thought may have crossed your mind, particularly if you hail from one of the Rocky Mountain congressional districts or Dear Old Dixie.
Indeed, in addition to being an Imbecile, your Congressman may also be an Idiot and a Moron (Hitting on all cylinders, so to speak.)
How is this possible?" You ask.
Don't sell your Congressman short, neighbors. Many of them are excellent multi-taskers, and can handle the chore of simultaneously being an Idiot, an Imbecile and a Moron quite effectively.
You see, the definition of these words have changed.
Back around the turn of the 20th century, the new "Science" of Eugenics was VERY, VERY confident that we could improve the human breed by "selecting" out the "Undesirables" by confinement in an "institution" or by "sterilization". (Later in the century, the Nazis would come up with even more subtle euphemisms.)
Although there was a strong racial overtone to this "science", it attracted a surprisingly wide following; including such diverse characters as Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, the socialist playwright George Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, and others.
Even the National Park Service got into the act, citing Eugenics as a reason for removing "substandard, retarded" mountain people from their homes in what was to become Shenandoah National Park.
Naturally, new "sciences" require a new vocabulary and the psychologist Dr Harry H. Goddard was Johnny at the rat hole with a set of definitions of mental ability. Dr. Goddard was Director of Research at New Jersey's Vineland Training School for Feeble Minded Girls and Boys (Our politically incorrect ancestors did not mince words!) from 1906-1918.
Dr. Goddard suggested a measure of I.Q. ranking for the human race, with "Idiot" being an I.Q. of 0-25, "Imbecile" being an I.Q. of 26 to 50, "Moron" being an I.Q of 51 to 70 and 71 and above, Dr.Goddard and the rest of us.
As is usually the case with junk science, Dr. Goddard's research soon started to unravel, including his famous study on the progeny of Martin Kallikak, and thus, the scientific use of the terms "Idiot", "Imbecile", "Moron" and "feeble minded" were dropped but not before some 60 to 65,000 "patients" were sterilized throughout the United States.
However, "Idiot", "Imbecile", and "Moron" are very useful words and should not be discarded, but rather should be rehabilitated for use in Environmental Studies.
Therefore THE THUNDERBEAR DICTIONARY OF THE ENVIRONMENT has undertaken to redefine these words.
Take the noun "Idiot". It should refer to a Congressman, usually Western and usually reactionary, who keeps repeating a statement that is provably not true in the face of all evidence to the contrary.
Now, the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once observed. "You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts."
That is, as a right wing Congressperson, you may strongly believe the federal lands of the United States should be transferred to states for resale to your political donors as quickly as possible.
That is your opinion. It is contentious and debatable, but it is your opinion and you are entitled to it.
However you are not entitled to the claim that the Federal Government is conducting a "Land grab" by establishing a national park or wilderness area on federal land. The federal government cannot grab itself. The Federal government, which is basically you and I own this land. The several states were carved out of federal land not the other way around (With the usual exception of Texas: Surprisingly enough, Texas did not rejoice in having no federal land prior to FDR. Instead Texas decided to MAKE federal land by allowing the purchase of private land for national forests such as Davey Crockett, Sam Houston, Angelina, and a slew of national parks for a very respectable (and profitable) federal presence).
However, Rocky Mountain Congressmen continue to whine about a "Federal land grab" as if the Federal government was using the Right of Eminent domain to seize private property for its own use. This is patently not true and is obvious to a Middle School geography class (though not certain congressional delegations).
Therefore, the continuous use of the term "Land grab" must result in the Congressman being classified as an "Idiot".
Now we move on to "Imbecile" of which there are many in Congress
"Imbecile" refers to "Climate Change Denial".
Climate Change refers to the VERY strong probability that SOMETHING is happening to the earth's climate; we may not have all the pieces, but there is definitely something going on and it seems to be accelerating.
Climate change may or may not come with an accepted solution. You may, for example, think that Climate Change is a very good idea. Vladimir Putin thinks so, and so would you if you owned Siberia. Certain other people think so too (Remember, Mitt Romney reminded us the corporations are people! If that is the case, then Billy Cargill, the grain corporation, likes the idea that the growing season for barley in northern Canada is moving northward every year. Johnny Maersk, the shipping giant, likes the idea that the legendary Northwest Passage to the Orient will soon be a reality, shaving weeks off the time required to get a vessel from port to port.)
You can differ on solutions for Climate Change or if it is too late to do anything except mitigate, but only an Imbecile Congressperson would deny that something is happening.
Then there is the Congressional Moron that confuses cause and effect.
We are told that the National Parks are "broken"; that the NPS "cannot take of what it's got, let alone take on new national parks"; that there is this immense maintenance backlog, 11 billion dollars in all, that mysteriously accumulated; that the NPS must be "reformed"; that the Park Service must realize that the park. experience is a commodity to be sold; that in order to survive the parks must go into "partnership" with various winsome public-spirited corporations.
Why is this the case? Why are the parks, humming along with record visitation, suddenly broken?
Actually, the parks are not "broken"; they were kneecapped.
"Knee capped?" You ask.
Yes, once upon a time, there were two figure skaters that were competing against each other. One was a blonde named Tonya Harding, the other a dark haired girl named Nancy Kerrigan.
Now Nancy was more popular with the public, and a bit more talented a skater.
So what should Tonya do? Practice more? Try harder? Those were certainly options.
However, one day while Nancy was practicing, a man walked out of the crowd. He was carrying a collapsible steel police baton. He used it to kneecap Nancy. That is, he smashed the popular girl's knee.
Now you don't have to be an Olympic coach to figure out that you can't skate well with a broken knee.
Did that solve Tonya's problem? Not hardly. For some strange, unfathomable reason, there was suspicion that Tonya had hired the hit man.
Blonde jokes aside, Tonya should have foreseen this.
A similar problem faced the Congressional enemies of the NPS. How to knee cap and discredit the agency without getting caught.
That would be a pretty tall order, neighbors. The National Park Service was (and is) the most popular agency in the federal government. (Granted, as most federal agencies are not particularly lovable, the bar is set rather low.)
However, as the Ranger-Anarchist Edward Abbey pointed out:
"The National Park System is one of the very few decent things which the U.S. Government-that remote and faceless institution-has ever provided for ordinary citizens. Maintaining the Park System is almost the only nice, friendly thing, which the Federal Government does for ordinary people. Nearly all of its other activities, carried on at our expense, are for the benefit of the rich and powerful, or for the sake of secret, furtive, imperial causes that can inspire in us feelings only of sickness, shame and dread."
Yes, indeed! It would take some doing to end America's love affair with the national parks and the Park Service, neighbors.
Ah, but where's there's a will; there's a way!
Americans have always hated things that are (A) expensive and (B) unreliable or (C) Both
A good example would be American public transport. The Europeans got the hang of public transit early on; the American less so, and they avoid public transport if at all possible.
"So", said the Bad Guys "How do we make the National Parks (A) Expensive and (B) Unpleasant to visit.
"We starve the beast! Cut their Appropriations!"
"But how do we knee cap them without getting caught?"
"We employ Fee Demo. We tell them that while it is true we are reducing appropriations, we will let them charge as much as they like and keep the money AND engage in any other money making schemes they can come up with. If they don't have enough money to cover budget it's their own damn fault."
"Brilliant"!
"Yes! The Parks will soon be expensive. Even if the superintendent is a whiz-bang capitalist, it is unlikely that he/she can raise enough in wedding fees or beer endorsements to cover operations. Maintenance backlog will accumulate; elevators will not work, toilets will not be cleaned regularly, roads will get bumpy, there will not be as many of those seasonal rangers around to answer questions. The Park Experience will become an unpleasant one!"
"Marvelous! When do we start?
"As soon as we can sell the Fee Demo idea to the Moron Members of Congress, which should not be difficult!"
There you have it friends! The reason why the NPS got suddenly, mysteriously "broken" (And why your Congressperson can simultaneously be an Idiot, an Imbecile and a Moron!)
So, what can be done? (Aside from subjecting Congress to Eugenics.)
Well, for one thing, drop Fee Demo and demand a flat one percent cut of the Federal Budget for the Five Environmental Agencies: NPS, BLM, USFS, FWS and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Would One Percent help?
You bet, neighbors!
How much?
"If in doubt, ask a ranger." So I asked Deny Galvin, someone who knows his way around a budget.
According to Deny, "One percent of the 2014 federal budget would be around 38 billion dollars.
The budget for the five environmental agencies for 2014 would be: BLM 1.4 billion, FWS 1.5 billion, NPS 2.6 billion, USFS 6.3 billion, and the EPA 8.2 billion. This totals out to around 20 billion dollars.
If the American people were to demand that one percent of the federal budget be spent on the environment, this would give the environmental agencies an additional 18 billion dollars to play with, nearly doubling their budgets. The famous NPS 11 billion dollar deferred maintenance problem would melt like snow in Death Valley after a few years of a one percent budget, The Forest Service's fire problem would be solved, and FWS's endangered species would become less so" said Deny.
Is it possible? Well, I don't know. You might write your Congressperson and ask, and, if they are not Imbeciles, Idiots, or Moron, they might reply.
A PROBLEM WITH NAMES
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill creating the National Park Service, an agency designed to manage America's burgeoning national parks.
And that, according to some of the boys and girls up at Princeton University, was just about the only nice thing that Mr. Wilson ever did for anybody.
Wilson, you see, was something of a racist. While President of Princeton University, he took an almost gleeful delight in denying admission to black Americans. While President of the United States, this Ivy League scumbag introduced Southern style racial segregation into the federal government. This ruined the lives of thousands of black Americans who had managed to beat Jim Crow by joining the federal work force and enjoyed a modest middle class lifestyle.
Wilson made sure that black federal workers could not supervise white workers. Blacks who did were summarily demoted to low paying, servile jobs with no chance of advancement.
Wilson's brave new world after the end of the "Great War" would be a Whiteman's world. None of the colonies inhabited by dark people would be given self-government. India would not be freed. "Liberated" colonies of Germany and the Ottoman Empire were simply transferred to either Great Britain or France.
On the other hand, Japan suggested a ringing proposal for the new League of Nations: That all people were equal; that there were no "inferior" races. Now this was something that Wilson could not abide, so, with the aid of the British, he was able to get Japan's idea dropped. (After all, how could you have colonies without the belief that the inhabitants were just a wee bit inferior"?)
So that in a nutshell (and Wilson's own writing on the subject) is why the boys and girls up in Princeton want his name taken off several buildings and programs at Princeton. Bigotry should not be honored and given pride of place.
So, how does this affect the national parks?
Not directly. For a variety of reasons, neither Wilson's birthplace in Staunton, Virginia, nor his retirement home in Washington DC became National Historic Sites.
They are, however, both registered National Historic landmarks and the NPS is the Keeper of the National Historic Register.
So?
Well, if you google up "Wilson NPS" or "NPS Wilson" you will get a site bulletin in the familiar NPS format, complete with NPS logo, describing Wilson's retirement home -and providing a hagiographic description of the accomplishments of Woodrow Wilson; all of the good stuff, none of the bad stuff. No condemnation of Wilson's endemic racism or his jailing of the harmless socialist, Eugene Debs (Later pardoned by Wilson's rather decent successor Warren G. Harding.)
While one cannot rewrite history in a democracy, one can provide a more balanced portrayal of a person or an event. The NPS might consider adding such balance to their portrait of Wilson.
Now things get a bit more complicated when we get to the story of the NPS and Professor Joseph LeConte.
Dr. LeConte was an eminent scholar of 19th century scientific America, back when there was so much to be discovered that one could be a geologist, a physicist, a biologist and an anthropologist, all at once, under one tent, and nobody raised an eyebrow; that's what geniuses were supposed to do.
He was also a White Supremacist, as were a number of his scientific contemporaries.
LeConte came by his racism understandably, having been born and raised on a slave plantation in Georgia, where he eagerly soaked up all the" justifications" and "obligations" of those who practiced human servitude.
When The War of the Rebellion rolled around, Joseph LeConte knew where he stood.
As a trained chemist, he was much too valuable to be sacrificed leading forlorn hope charges. Instead, he was tasked with solving the munitions problem of the Confederacy.
"Professor Joe" did a bang up job. (No pun intended. Thanks to his efforts, the South ran out of food before it ran out of ammunition.)
After Appomattox, LeConte could not abide a North Carolina where blacks could vote, hold office and make laws. He migrated to California and the new University of California at Berkeley, where his older brother John was president.
LeConte was bright, perhaps even brilliant, but he couldn't leave well enough alone.
Late 19th and early 20th century Academia was rife with "Scientific Racism" which sought to justify oppression and colonialism by ranking races and ethnic groups in a hierarchy of desirability, citing the "well known failure of the African race to develop". (It is true that the African race's failure to develop the Maxim machine gun in a timely manner WAS a cultural set back!)
Professor LeConte jumped into the racial pot with feet and fists flying. He was an enthusiastic equal opportunity racist; agreeing with his colleagues that the most subhuman and degenerate of the white races were the Irish.
Although the Professor believed that the Negros were doomed to extinction due to their numerous bad habits, he believed that the lifetime of the race could be extended by breeding them with one of the "Marginal" white races such as the Irish.
Now the problem is that Professor wrote all this stuff down in a book and got it published. This means that today's indignant protestors can (and do) show up at a school board meetings in Berkeley waving pungent excerpts from the book, demanding a name change for Berkeley's Joseph LeConte Elementary School. It also means that the cause oriented UC Berkeley student body can be riotously counted upon to demand a name change for the University's largest building, LeConte Hall.
The hapless National Park Service has LeConte problems on both sides of the continent.
In Yosemite National Park, we have the LeConte Lodge, a small granite structure located in Yosemite Valley.
How come?
Well neighbors, very few folks have the energy to be totally good or totally evil, 24/7. Most people are a mixture of good and evil, and Joseph LeConte was no exception. Like the founders of the SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE, the Professor did many good things for the Environment but he was also racist.
LeConte was one of the co-founders of the Sierra Club, and naturally, the SIERRA club chose to honor him upon his death in 1902,with a small library and interpretive center. Remember, this was before the NPS was established, and the individual parks were somewhat flexible about what could be build within the park boundaries, particularly if the structure served a good cause. So LeConte Lodge was built and served the Preservation Effort for decades. Naturally, the dark side of Professor LeConte was never mentioned. No reason for the subject to arise.
But arise it does today, and Yosemite National Park is currently in negotiation with the Sierra Club about what to do with a monument to an avowed racist.
Meanwhile, on the other side of continent, the Leconte name strikes again. In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, we have 6,594-foot Mount LeConte. More important, on top of Mount LeConte, we have LeConte Lodge.
Unlike the structure in Yosemite, this LeConte Lodge is a real hostelry, providing bed and board. It is accessible only by a seven-mile foot trail (Supplies are brought in by Llama pack train) the prices are not unreasonable (Around $125) but you literally have to be lucky to get a room. There is an annual lottery and the lodge is booked for the year at the drawing.
All of the above creates a mystique that make The LeConte Lodge one of the most sought after and prestigious accommodations in the National Parks. The lodge has a passionate following and is not going away any time soon.
However, the name just might. According to the nice folks at GRSM, the USGS says that, indeed, the mountain and the lodge are named for Joseph LeConte. HOWEVER, there is an escape clause; there is a small, but significant chance that the mountain and lodge were REALLY named for Joseph's older brother John, who was a scientist and University president in his own right. If older brother John had any genocidal racial opinions, he was smart enough to keep them off the printed page.
Great Smoky Mountain National Park might consider a little "Midnight plaque changing" in which a plaque honoring John was quietly substituted for the one honoring Joseph.
Are names important? Do people really care? Is it important?
Damn straight, Neighbors!
Consider if you will, "Donald J. Trump State Park". (There now! See! We've raised your blood pressure already!)
Yes, Virginia! There REALLY is a "Donald Trump State Park". (You can't make this stuff up, folks!)
"Donald J. Trump State Park" is a 435-acre New York State Park located in Westchester County just outside New York City.
Now did the altruistic Mr. Trump see the need for wetlands preservation, forest recovery or recreation?
Not quite.
Mr. Trump had bought the land for a high-end golf course. However, he did not do his homework. Golf is a rather poisonous sport. A variety of harmful chemicals are necessary to keep the links green. New York State has strict environmental regs. Mr. Trump was unable to get the necessary permits. No amount of bluster could get his project past the environmental watchdogs.
So?
Mr. Trump decided to deed the land to New York State as a state park and take a $100 million dollar tax write off for his gift. There was one proviso; the park had to be named after him, with highway signs so stating.
At first the name didn't matter. Then it did. All the people Trump has insulted in his presidential campaign (and they are legion!) are demanding a name change from "Donald J. Trump State Park" to, well.....ANYTHING!
So, yes. Names do matter.
Therefore unless the NPS wants a brawl with the Southern Poverty Law Center, The N.A.A.CP, The Anti-Defamation League, The Ancient Order of Hibernians, and God know whom else, they better come u with new names for the LeConte Lodges.
ORPI AND THE BORDER
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (ORPI to its friends) is now open for business (and has been since September, 2015). It had been closed for 11 years after the tragic death of Park Ranger Kris Eggle, murdered by a Mexican drug cartel assassin.
Nothing so simple, neighbors. ORPI was closed due to what might be called political geography. You see, ORPI is located on.... (Roll of drums!) THE BORDER, that magical line that separates First World USA from Third World Mexico. When you have the double-barreled problem of poor but honest folks looking for work and violent drug gangs trying to supply an illicit need, then neighbors, you will have problems.
The U.S is the only developed nation that physically butts up against a developing nation. When you have that difference in prospects, there is bound to be a bit of frission.
THE BORDER is an actual physical entity, not just a strand of barbed wire. It is a strip of land 100 kilometers wide on either side of that strand of wire, stretching 1,954 miles sea to sea from San Diego/Tijuana, to Brownsville/Matamoros.
In a sense, THE BORDER is its own country, larger and more populous than some European nations. It has its own customs and rules, not all of which conform to the laws of Mexico or the US. THE BORDER, you see, is where the "Wild West" sort of lingered on into the 21st century.
Is it dangerous?
Well, neighbors, that sort of depends on whom you talk to. If you talk to John Kerry, you will not venture south of Lukeville, Arizona or Presidio, Texas unless you have "Essential business."
John Kerry?
Yup, John is our Secretary of State and is sort of in charge of your welfare if you decide to stray from the safety of the United States.
Now John is a bit of a worrywart. He will tell you to stay in large groups if at all possible, not drive after dark and stay away from towns or areas that John has quarantined as sufficiently dangerous that you enter them only if you have "essential business" (John never defines exactly what "essential business" is.)
This is unfortunate because there are lots of these "essential business" areas in Northern Mexico, particularly the state of Sonora, which butts up against ORPI.
I was particularly intrigued with one cryptic warning from the State Department.
"If you attempt to transit Vicam, Sonora, you may encounter ad hoc road blocks set up by local indigenous and environmental groups."
Now this was interesting! I had visions of being attacked by the descendants of Geronimo and John Muir. For what purpose?
A bit more research yielded the answer.
The "Local Indigenes' were Yaqui Indians, plus their environmental supporters.
It seems that the Yaquis were being oppressed and exploited.
Since being "Oppressed and exploited" has been sort of the job description of the American Indian since 1492, the Yaquis should not have been surprised. And they were not.
It seems that the Sonoran state capitol of Hermosillo has a great thirst for water what with a planned Tecate brewery, a Pepsi Cola bottling plant and several other water guzzling businesses in a desert environment. So the city fathers of Hermosillo decided to tap the sacred Yaqui River, the Mother of the Yaquis. Makes perfect sense! Except that the Yaquis need the water to irrigate their crops.
The Indians were (and are) upset. They are not called "The fighting Yaquis" for nothing; The Yaqui met the Europeans in the mid 16th century, drew a line in the sand and indicated it was not to be crossed. After a few encounters, the Spanish tended to agree.
The Yaqui were not entirely crushed until the battle of Cerro Del Gallo in 1927 when the Mexican government went after them with heavy artillery, planes, and it is said, poison gas.
Indeed, the last battle between regular U.S, Army troops and Indians on American soil was the Battle of Bear Valley, Arizona on January 9, 1918; a skirmish between a war party of around 30 Yaqui warriors and around 30 troopers of the 10th Cavalry (Colored). The buffalo solders spoke admiringly of the courage of the Yaquis.
The Mexican government takes a dim and unromantic view of Gringos participating in Mexican internal affairs, so no matter how much you support the Yaqui cause, it is best that you agree with John and avoid that part of Highway 15 in Sonora.
"If I cross the border at Lukeville, in ORPI, will I be killed in Sonoyta? You ask nervously.
"Don't see why not, neighbor! After all, 28 people were killed in Sonoyta last year, why should you be treated differently?"
Indeed, John Kerry darkly reminds us that around 20 corpses from the previous year murdered 100 Americans in Mexico in 2014, up.
That is no doubt true, John. However, we must remind ourselves that not every American is a Marcher to Zion; that some of us are up to no good. If you can avoid participating in the drug trade, at least until you get to Colorado, your chances of living to your actuarial due date are excellent.
Now that law enforcement had been reinforced by the addition of more rangers and border patrol, my spouse and I were looking forward to a trouble free visit to ORPI and points south of border down Mexico Way.
Out of curiosity, I looked up Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in WIKIPEDIA, and if you want some early morning chuckles, so should you.
According to WIKIPEDIA, "Land for the Monument was donated by the Arizona State Legislature to the Federal Government during Prohibition, knowing that the north-south road would be improved and make contraband alcohol easier to import from Mexico." (This is a cautionary reason for taking WIKIPEDIA with a large grain of salt.)
At least WIKIPEDIA got the date right, 1937.
1937, that was quite some time ago. ORPI was established by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt with a stroke of a pen, using the authority of Antiquities Act of 1906.That brings up the question of why hasn't ORPI graduated to national park status?
ORPI is huge, 330,000 acres, larger than many if not most national parks and is an International Biosphere Reserve to boot. So why is ORPI not a national park?
Many of America's most illustrious national parks, Acadia, Death Valley, Grand Teton, Grand Canyon, etc. began life as national monuments; is it not ORPI's turn after 79 years?
Now neighbors, most NPS personnel will tell you that it really doesn't matter: That National Monuments receive the same protection and funding as national parks.
Unfortunately, this ain't necessarily so.
You see, while a president can establish a national monument with the stroke of a pen, another president can abolish a national monument with that same proverbial stroke of a pen.
"But" you protest, "President Trump would never abolish ORPI or any other national monument...would he?"
(ORPI and the Border to be continued in issue #299)
THE MARBLE MAN
Readers may have noted that the City Council of New Orleans voted to remove the statues of General Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and General P.G.T. Beauregard, as well as a White supremacy monument on the very plausible grounds that these worthies and philosophy no longer reflect the sentiments of the bulk of The Crescent City's Population.
Oxford University is contemplating doing the same with a statue of the Empire builder Cecil Rhodes. (Mark Twain famously remarked "Mr. Rhodes is a very great man, and when he dies, I'd like a piece of the rope.")
Spain has just completed the removal of the last statue of the Dictator Francisco Franco. It took so long (some 30 years) because, as in the case of most Civil Wars, there are lots of strong willed people (and their descendants) on both sides of the issue.
So what do we do with all these statues, undermined by changing demographics or changing historiography?
Rather than melt them down and upset people, one solution might be a sculpture garden. (After all, some of these statues are works of art in themselves.)
A private foundation could purchase and endow a large tract of land outside a major city; say, Richmond. Trees could be planted; pathways built, then, as demographics changed, the orphan statues could be transported and installed in the sculpture garden. Such a garden would be a major visitor attraction
This is how the former Soviet Union dealt with a vast surplus of Lenin and Stalin statues, now out of fashion.
Then there is the clever idea of "counter statuary". Rather than melt down the statue of someone who is now considered "politically incorrect; say General George Custer, and thus censoring history, a modern sculptor would do a rendition of, say Sitting Bull, in apparent debate with Custer.
Naturally, there might be some statues of people so retrograde that most decent people would prefer they be scrapped: the statues of John C. Calhoun, "Pitchfork Ben" Tillman, and Theodore Bilbo come to mind.
How about Robert E. Lee?
Surely you jest, Sir!
General Lee is one of the iconic figures of the nation. He is a person of blameless character, particularly when compared with his opposite number, U.S. Grant (Who drank, you know.)
However, aside from genuine battlefield acumen, there are some controversies that swirl around General Lee.
The first would be the accusation by abolitionists that in 1859, Colonel Robert E. Lee, USA, whipped three enslaved people, one a woman, for attempting to escape from Lee's Arlington plantation. Now neighbors, one might think that these charges, if true, would be a real "statue breaker" for General Lee.
Lee vehemently denied the accusations that he had any of his enslaved peoples whipped.
Lee's apologists tended to believe him.
Indeed, while the North may have won the war, the South had won the PR battle. The Confederate Army many have lacked material, but it was superior in Žlan and panache; the Confederates were simply more interesting. They even won the reluctant admiration of their foes.
As U.S Grant said "Never have so many have fought so gallantly for so evil a cause." That sentiment extended particularly to Robert E. Lee, who became a marble statue in his own lifetime.
However, were the abolitionists correct? Did Robert E. Lee flog three enslaved people at Arlington Plantation for the offense of attempting to escape?
On one hand, abolitionists has been known to exaggerate to make a good story better, as in "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
On the other hand, all we have is Lee's word that he never flogged any of his bond persons.
So what is the truth?
"When in doubt, ask a ranger."
So your editor called up Arlington House /Robert E .Lee Memorial and asked the flogging question.
The answer was surpringly blunt: No pussy footing or tap dancing around the question.
"It is the position of the National Park Service that three runaway slaves were flogged at Arlington" said the ranger.
"But Lee denied whipping enslaved people."
"That is technically true. Lee himself did not do the actual whipping; he hired a specialist whose trade was whipping enslaved people. It was the custom of the time. Unfortunately for Lee's reputation, historians have located the invoice "for services rendered." According to the ranger "Lee was a pragmatist who did not hesitate to use fear and terror to achieve his goals, not unusual in the 19th century. During the war, Lee signed the death warrants for some 50 white men who had deserted. Do you seriously think that he would hesitate to flog captured runaways?"
"On the other hand, the abolitionist charge that when the professional flogger refused to flog the enslaved woman, Colonel Lee melodramatically snatched the whip away from him and laid 35 strokes on the woman's back, is certainly an exaggeration. Professional floggers were a hard bitten lot and it was unlikely that the sex of a victim would deter them in any way."
Thank you, ranger!
The second complaint against Lee was the claim that General Lee authorized the kidnapping of numerous free Blacks in Pennsylvania during the Gettysburg Campaign.
In this case, we asked NPS Gettysburg historian John Heiser to comment. This is what John had to say:
"First, General Robert E. Lee did not issue any orders to his commanders to recover escaped slaves or capture Black civilians in Maryland or Pennsylvania during the Gettysburg Campaign. He was only concerned with military affairs and the impact his army would have while in enemy territory, rather than what can be termed a civil affair.
On the other hand, a number of African Americans, including many who were freedmen or native born to Pennsylvania, were indeed taken as prisoners and sent south under guard by General Albert Jenkins, commander of a brigade of Confederate cavalry acting as advance guard for the Army of Northern Virginia once the first troops (General Ewell's Corps) had crossed the Potomac River.
The most heinous incident occurred at Mercersburg, Pennsylvania on or about June 16, when Jenkins' men herded a substantial number (The estimates run as high as 50) of black civilians, all of who had been born in Pennsylvania, into the town square and then sent them south under guard, ultimately to be used as servants, sold into slavery or enrolled as slave laborers in the Confederate military. Additionally, squads of mounted Confederate cavalrymen also took blacks from other towns around Chambersburg and likewise had them marched south under guard.
Jenkins objective in going beyond his orders most likely had much to do with his pre-war experience as a lawyer and plantation owner as well as his time in Congress where the legality of slavery was a hot topic prior to the outbreak of war. The most unsettling side of his mission was his insistence on taking every black civilian prisoner for sale into slavery, no matter whether they could prove their legal status of freedom by birth or not. It is unclear whether General Lee knew about Jenkins activities, but the report had to have come back to him at some point during or after the Campaign was over.
Unfortunately, no record of Lee's reaction, be it approval or condemnation, has survived, though Jenkins' severe wounding at Gettysburg probably put any concern over the report, good or bad, at the back of Lee's priorities. And though Jenkins may have been the main culprit acting without direct orders, historian Edwin Codington pointed out that high ranking officers knew of the practice and condoned the capture of Black Americans during the campaign. In his monumental work THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN; A STUDY IN COMMAND, Codington noted that roving bands of southern cavalry liberally took black civilians as prisoners and at least one group of "contrabands" (captured blacks were placed under guard by General George Pickett's Division when that command left Chambersburg for Gettysburg on July1, 1863.)
There is no definitive record of how many unfortunate black northerners were actually taken to Virginia during the campaign. Estimates run between 150 and 200 or more, but no factual record has survived to know for certain. Fortunately for one group of captives taken by Jenkins, they were freed near Greencastle, Pennsylvania when their armed guards were taken off guard and captured by a small band of Union cavalry, but the final destination for many others was most likely slave pens in Virginia."
Thank you, Ranger Heiser!
The rogue General Jenkins met his end at the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain, West Virginia, in 1864,and one rather hopes he does not have a statue.
THE SAFETY MESSAGE: WHEN GOING OUT MAY BE PERMANENT
Yup! It's Safety Message Time: That part of THUNDERBEAR that justifies the scurrilous rest of the stuff!
Today, we talk about something very simple; getting you found in a manner timely enough to avoid a discussion on which funeral home offers the best deal.
Every year, scores of people go out for a short walk and never come back.
Why?
Partially because they encounter something or someone that incapacitates them, be it a fall, an avalanche, a rockslide, a lightning strike, a falling tree branch, bad weather or a bad guy.
But only partially. Where there's life, there's hope. If you are not killed outright, there is an excellent chance of rescue and speedy access to modern medicine.
Provided of course, concerned people know where you were going, and thus, your probable location.
So, unless you don't mind waiting for the snow to melt before being found, it is best to file a hiking plan.
"Hiking plan!" you fume "I'm just going for a stroll in the local park, for Chrissake!
Famous last words, neighbors; famous last words.
Let me tell you of my adventure in the DC wilderness.
Our house backs onto the 536acre Wheaton Regional Park, which backs on the Sligo Creek Park, which attaches to the more famous Rock Creek Park allowing me to walk from my place to Barrack Obama's place in less than half a day, all on public land. (Though admittedly, I have yet to be invited.)
The point being that there are more than a hundred miles of trails in the Washington DC wilderness in which to lose you.
Wheaton Regional Park is sufficient for me. Everyday I do a regular four-mile circuit hike through the park. I do not vary my route and return home within five minutes of designated time.
Sounds pleasantly dull? Yes, it is. So this November I decided to take another trail in a remote part of the park with a different trailhead, completely unrelated to the trail I had been taking.
So I filed a different hiking plan with my spouse, who has an interest in my return (key point, neighbors) I had no idea where the trail exited, but would hike two miles, turn around and return home at the designated hour; nothing complicated.
I would also take a cell phone to reduce reliance on blind fate, in addition to a daypack full of water bottles, a first aid kit, space blanket, headlamp and rain jacket.
For a four mile stroll? In an urban park? Well, you never can tell. Besides, cardio-wise, you get extra points for carrying extra weight.
The name of the trail was The Northwest Branch. It ran beside a stream of the same name that had rapids that would have been class IV had the kayaker been 3 inches tall, about the depth of the water.
The trail was level, but made up of a slate stone that slipped easily. It was a pretty walk through an Eastern woodland forest in late autumn, a time of vivid color that beats the West hands down in the beauty game.
The trail was unusual in that it was empty of people; Lonely as a Methodist in Mecca.
Close to the midway, turn around of the walk, the trail crossed the Northwest Branch, and so did I, at least partially. I stepped on a rock that seemed to have a black belt in Judo; at any rate, I found myself spinning in an entirely new direction.
I landed on my back, which immediately began to hurt like the Seven Hinges of Hell.
A further assessment indicated that I had not broken my back. The location seemed to indicate broken ribs. (I had indeed broken three of them.)
Now neighbors there are advantages and disadvantages to various broken bones. (So choose wisely!)
With a broken leg, self-rescue is difficult, but once the leg is immobilized (splinted) the pain is manageable.
With cracked or broken ribs, self-rescue is possible, but you can't immobilize the ribs, as breathing is our investment in the future. Therefore, every breath (Or God forbid, cough or sneeze) results in extreme pain. (You definitely want to change the channel!)
I considered calling 911, but decided against it as the dispatcher would ask the inevitable question "And where, exactly are you located, Sir?" If I answered "North West Branch Trail" She would ask me to name some crosses streets, which sadly were not available. They would eventually get to me, but it would take some time.
I realize that finding a casualty on a marked trail in Yellowstone was yawn simple for the SAR lads and lassies of that park, but this was the DC wilderness. They do things differently here.
I recalled one incident where a young woman had a serious bike accident. She called 911 and was asked for cross street information. There was none; she was on a bike trail in a forest. The dispatcher suggested that she crawl to a cross street or an identifiable landmark.
Although it was immensely reassuring to know that my wife would bring help because I had given her my new hiking plan but I decided to simplify things by self-rescuing.
This was not any machismo on my part (It only hurts when I laugh!") but rather a desire to get to a hospital where I could be stuffed with enough opiates to calm Elvis Presley on a bad night.
I heaved myself upright with a blood thinning scream and backtracked the two miles to the trailhead, thankful that I didn't meet anyone as I was lurching along like the hunchback of Notre Dame, punctuated by the occasional yelp. I was no fun at all. I was careful not to deviate from the trail; no "short cuts" to confuse SAR folks.
I made it home, went to Emergency, and had my diagnosis of broken ribs (and blood clots on the lungs) confirmed.
The moral to the story is that the most simple, routine "walk in the park" can get complicated in a matter of seconds. It is immensely reassuring to know that people know where you are.
So is there anything to add? Well, yes. I asked veteran backcountry and SAR ranger George Durkee, if he had any comments. He did.
"Filing a hiking plan?" Yes! This just came up a couple of days ago. A guy was going alone to an area south of Mount Whitney. Storm coming in, but he kept going. Never showed up back at home so a search started with no real idea of where he was. I think it took about 4 days in pretty gnarly and dangerous terrain for searchers to find him. Second hand report is an avalanche took him. Anyway, the point is he didn't leave a detailed description of where he was going. After, I suggested to our Search and Rescue discussion group that it would be cost effective for government agencies to buy and loan out (Hmmm, rent!) tracking/emergency transponders for solo hikers (at least) past a certain date. At least November 1st, but maybe earlier. I think they're required on Mount Hood in winter.
The objection will be that it somehow takes away from the feeling of solitude; manly self-reliance etc. And that's partially true, but it's not for the individual (though mothers everywhere would applaud the requirement) but for the searchers who have to look for their sorry asses if they don't show up again.
I had said the same thing long ago after Randy Morgenson's disappearance. We'd looking into tracking devices then, but the technology had not advanced that far. For about the last 10 years, though, you can get fairly light weight Satellite Emergency Notification Devices (SENDS) They'll both track you and have an emergency activation button (eg. SPOT, In Reach, Shout Nano, and GeoPro) several have two-way texting ability. You may remember about seven years there were several NPS employees who disappeared (Morgenson at SEKI in '96; Christensen at Rocky in '01(???); an airplane in Alaska in the early 2000's, that generated huge, expensive and emotionally draining searches. It took 5 years to find Randy; several weeks to find Christianson; and I don't think the airplane was ever found, though some wreckage did wash ashore, but no bodies recovered. For the cost of just one of those searches, the NPS could have brought tracking devices for every single field employee in the Park Service.
That they haven't says something about the NPS's anemic Safety First program which is, mostly, a CYA effort. Obviously, the devices don't prevent actual accidents, but they do reduce the huge risk of responders as well as at least limit the emotional damage of searching for an employee and friend, not knowing their fate.
It took some years, but Sequoia did require most all of their field employees to carry such devices. They developed their protocols for checking in twice daily and keeping the tracking feature on. The emergency signal goes to several park staff (via cell phone as well as their 24/7 dispatches.) Employees must also register their itinerary with Dispatch as well as participate in twice-daily check-in when in the backcountry. Yosemite, I believe, has some SEND'S but don't know if their protocols are as well developed. Only a few other parks do this, I believe. Another disaster waiting to happen.
There have been two other recent searches in the Sierra, where in one case it took a year to find the guy, and in another, it's been two years and he's still not found. Both fall solo trips; A friend (Peter Agoston) has designed an online registration form that hikers should fill out and send to friends or relatives (http://reconn.org)
There's also a commercial company that will provide "flight following" for all manner of devices-cell phones or satellite gizmos. If you don't check in at agreed times, they call out the troops. They're still in beta, I think, but I can find the link if you want.
Coincidentally to your incident, a retired NPS friend just wrote asking about carrying something. He decided, that getting up in years as he is. It's not a bad idea. I agreed of course."
Thank you, George! I must admit, that being self-centered, I had entirely neglected the increased risk to SAR personnel if they don't have a general idea where you are.