APRIL 9 — 1865 Lee and Grant meet face to face; 2003 PSYOPS stages toppling of Saddam Hussein statue; 1959 John Glennnounced in Project Mercury; 1997 Grunge band Soundgarden break up
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APRIL 9
1865-1:00 in the afternoon at the Appotamax courthouse,
Generals Lee and Grant met face-to-face for the first time in two decades since they served in the Mexican-American war. April 9th of that morning the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse had come to a close when Robert E. Lee had no choice but to surrender his Army of Northern Virginia to the Union Army under Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, and one of the last battles in the American Civil War. Lee had given up Richmond already at this point after the Siege of Petersburg, retreated west, hoping to join his army with the Confederate forces in North Carolina. But Union forces pursued and cut off the Confederate retreat at the Appomotax court house. Lee tried to attack one more time, but faced the Union cavalry and two corps of Union infantry, and Lee had to surrender.
<script data-ad-client="ca-pub-8113795558250501" async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>The meeting inside the court house was a bit awkward. Lee showed up dressed in his full attire, clean and complete with swoard and sash. Grant showed up in a muddy flannel shirt with trousers tucked into muddy boots, no sidearm. The only thing not muddy on Grant was his rank. Grant sat at the wooden table, Lee sat at the marble table The two men exchanged uncomfortable pleasantries, Grant was clearly emotional and Lee made him get to the point of the terms. The terms were surprisingly generous; all officers and men were pardoned of treason, and they would be sent home with their private property, including horses, which could be used for a late spring planting. Officers would keep their side arms, and Lee’s starving men would be given Union rations. Grant later that day told his officers “The war is over. The Rebels are our countrymen again.”
Good stuff.
1881-Billy the Kid is found guilty.
This is such a fascinating story with so many details it would take me all day to go over the whole things, so let me just talk about the shooting of Sheriff Brady during the Lincoln County War. William Brady may have been corrupt, but an outlaw is an outlaw nonetheless. In the late 1880s ranchers and businessmen were fighting for economic control over Lincoln County, New Mexico. When Brady shot and killed Billy the Kid’s boss, rancher John Tunstall, Billy looked to avenge his death.
This led to a bloody battle with men and horses getting killed. In December 1880, local bartender and buffalo hunter Pat Garrett and his posse surrounded Billy the Kid and his Regulators. In the morning, Garrett invided Billy to come out, and Billy invited Garret to go to hell. The Regulators surrendered, Billy was eventually transferred to a Santa Fe prison where he tried to get Governor Lew Wallce’s pardon, but Wallace didn’t want any part of this. On April 9th, after two days of testimony, Billy the Kid was found guilty of the murder of Sheriff Brady, the oinly conviction ever to stick onto Billy. On April 28th, Billy miraculously escaped after a guard took him to the jail outhouse, and eventually was gunned down by Pat Garret.
2003 PSYOPS stages the toppling of a Saddam Hussein statue.
Psychological Operations, or PSYOPS, has been used since at least the beginning of recorded history, so I’m guessing it started way before history was even being recorded. Alexander the Great of Macedonia began running short on soldiers as he was taking over the whole known world. He knew a retreat would put him at risk of being captured and possibly defeated, so he had his army produce helmets and breastplates that would fit a giant 8 foot tall soldier, and then left them behind to make their pursuers think they were chasing giants and therefore stop pursuit.
Meanwhile, here in America in 1781, General George Washington used spies to fool the British into leaving General Cornwallis holed up in Yorktown by Americans on land and the French navy in the waters.
When Adolf Hitler sold Germany on the concept of unity by exaggerating the failures of conservative and nationalist parties, but the term was known simply as, propaganda. Speaking of WWII, Tokyo Rose was used as that beautiful feminine voice American POWs heard on the radio; telling the soldiers the fight was over. America had lost. You will too. I get into Tokyo Rose a bit more on my January 19th ep.
<script data-ad-client="ca-pub-8113795558250501" async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>The U.S. Army has four PSYOP units: the 2nd and 7th PSYOP units and 4th and 8th Military Information Support Group Airborne. During the Vietnam War, the 4th PSYOP Group was divided geographically into the 6th Battalion in at Bien Hoe, 7th at Da Nang, 8th Nha Trang, and the 10th Batallion at Can Tho. The Army and Navy uses PSYOP as well, and the CIA uses it to the degree that would make a sane man shudder.
In 2003, Metallica was used to soundblast Taliban prisoners in Iraq. Into mental meltdowns. To me that sounds like every Friday night I’ve had since I was like 15, but whatever.
By the way, wanttoknow.info has a pretty funny analogy of early Photoshop style Forrest Gump shaking hands with JFK and the CIA using modern day technology to project a holographic image of Allah in Baghdad flying over the skies. War is like a box of chocolates indeed. But it was on this day in 2003, just another example of PSYOPS in the works as a statue of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein at Firdos Square in Baghdad. But according to theatlantic.com, that stunt probably just made tensions even worse. Also on this day in 2003, Baghdad was in chaos as people looted businesses taking what they could and rebelling against the United States led-advancements of Iraqi troops. In fact the sledgehammer that was used to topple the statue was supplied by a U.S. sergeant.
The Iraqi flag could’ve come from anywhere. History is riddled with PSYOPS and every single country on earth has used it much like just about every baseball team has played with a corked bat. Except in this case the co0rked bat of PSYOPS would get people killed.
1959-First astronauts were introduced,
…after years of the US was trailing the Soviet Union in the space race. Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the U.S., running from 1959 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goat was to put a solo human into Earth orbit and return the person safely. On a side note, 36 years later in 1998, one of Project Mercury’s original astronauts John Glenn went back into space at the age of 77 as part of the Space FShuttle Discovery crew.
1997 Soundgarden breaks up.
One of the most important bands in grunge music and the first grunge band to sign onto a major label, A&M. After a number one album and winning Grammys for the singles Black Hole Sun and Spoonman, they broke up due to internal strifle over its creative direction.