SEPTEMBER 1

SEPTEMBER 1 —  1864 Atlanta falls to Union; 1764 Parliament passes Currency Act;  1925 Peabody Hotel opens in Memphis; 1941 Sheena, Queen of Jungle, debuts in America; 2013 Bad Habit makes longest ramptjump in monster truck history

1864 – Atlanta falls to Union troops.
…On the blue side you have William T. Sherman and James McPherson V John Bell Hood and William Hardee. The result: Union victory. I began this story back on July 21 when the Battle of Atlanta begun.. On the Union side, Tecumseh Sherman had been ordered to take Atlanta since April 1864, On the Confederate side, John Bell Hood, who had recently been defeated at Peachtree, wanted revenge on Sherman. He replaced Confederate General Joseph Johnston after a series of defeats. Hood was much more antagonistic than Johnston, but that aggressiveness would lead to his downfall as Sherman’s troops advanced.

Sherman figured that if he could cut Hood’s supply lines—the Macon & Western and the Atlanta & West Point Railroads—then Hood would be on the run and Atlanta would fall to the Union. On Aug 25, Sherman went to the junction of Rough & Ready and Jonesborough and hit the Macon & Western Railroad. Hood sent Hardee to try and stop the Yankees, but Tecumseh Sherman overwhelmed them. By September 1, Hood evacuated, setting fire to the supply depots on the way out so Sherman wouldn’t get them. Gone with the Wind fans, you know what happens next. I’ll get to that in November. Stay tuned.

Atlanta mayor James Calhoun sent a letter to T. Sherman, asking him to spare the city; and protection to non-combatants and private property. Sherman would famously reply: You cannot quality war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty and you cannot refine it.

1764 – Parliament passes the Currency Act.

The 13 Colonies didn’t have gold and silver mines to trade, and had to rely on printing paper money, or “Bills of Credit”, especially for the French and Indian Wars. But the system was chaotic, since it had no actual regulation or even a standard value on which to base the notes.  Sometimes you paid interest, sometimes you didn’t have to. Its usage was questioned and often doubted. Some bills could only be used to purchase and not to repay debts. Some of these notes could only be used privately. The British were very uncomfortable with taking colonial money that was depreciating in value, and in 1751 passed the first Currency Act. While this Act allowed Bills of Credit to be used publicly, or to pay taxes and military, it was restricted for use privately. This meant that merchants didn’t have to deal with depreciating currency.

Then on this day in 1764, expanded the restriction to all colonies, prohibiting the issuance of any new Bills of Credit and the reissue of existing currency by the American colonists, all 13 of them. Americans didn’t have silver or gold. There were no mines, there was no trading of gold or silver with the French or Dutch or Spanish in the West Indies because the English wouldn’t allow it, so you could say it disrupted trade between the colonies and therefore divided their allegiance to the crown even further.

1989 – America and the rest of the world lost a great man.
…Tadeusz Sendzimir passed away on September 1, 1989. He has 120 patents, 73 in the United States, for processing steel to be used in nations around the globe. Although he was born in the Ukraine, he was one of the honorary at the 100 anniversary of the Status of Liberty as a great American LEGAL immigrant.

1925 — Peabody Hotel opens in Memphis.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it could get a job at this luxurious hotel. Back in the 1930s, General manager Frank Sshutt  and his buddies went on a hunting trip in Arkansass and when they returned they may have sipped a little too m much of that Jack Daniel’s and thought it would be hilarious to put live duck decoys in the fountain.

Turns out everyone else at the hotel quacked up too at the sight, and the tradition began from there. After all these years, if you visit the hotel, everyday at 11:00 the duckmaster appears and rolls out a red carpet for our fine feathered friends, and the come marching out Sousa’s King Cotton March, and head towards the fountain where they swim around for the day. Then at 5 p.m. they walk back to their suite for the night.

Brings a new meaning to paying the hotel bill, quack quack.

The training is constant, since educks don’t have a very long life span, and every three months as new group of ducks begin training while the veterans get to move to a nearby farm. Kids and adults alike enjoy watching this March everyday because it’s just ducky.

1849 HB Elizabeth Harrison. Wiki says she was an American educator who was the founder and president of what is today the National Louis University. Harrison was a pioneer in creating professional standards for early childhood teachers and in promoting early childhood education. Heart of gold.

1931 – Lou Gehrig hits his 3rd grand slam in 4 days and his 6th hr in consec games.

1941 — Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, debuts in America.

Right before the very first Wonder Woman comic book, what a coincidence. Sheen, according to the official Comic Buyer’s Guide is ranked the 59^thSexiest Women in Comics. Great news, nerds!

That means there are 58 comic book women that are even sexier. Have fun with that. Sheena was actually issued in the UK comic Rags in 1937 Sheena was orphaned as a child when she was on a safari trip in Africa. She was raised by a jungle tribe, and developed the ability to communicate with the wild and became an expert with knives and spears. And yes, nerds, she’s blonde. So there you go.

1975 – — Gunsmoke goes off the air after 20 years of prime time television.

Quick quiz old timers who remember this show.

1. What was the name of Matt Dillon’s Horse #

2. What was the name of the bartender? #

3. Who introduced the very first show in 1955?

#4. What was Doc’s first name? #5) What Gunsmoke actor wound up becoming the most popular film and TV star during the 70s out of everyone on that show? 1) Buck 2) Sam, played by Glenn Strange 3) john Wayne 4) Galen. There was a sign outside his office that said G. Adams. His first name was very rarely mentioned, so if you knew this you’re a true fan. His character was played by Milburne Stone. 5) Burt Reynolds. He played Quint Asper from 1962-1965.

2013 — Bad Habit makes the longest ramp jump in monster truck history.

Joe Sylvester, originally from Boardman Ohio, does not like to be in second place ever. He started young riding motocross, BMX bikes, downhill mountain bikes, go-carts, cars, off-road, you name it. He held the original record for longest monster truck at 208 feet, then his record was broken, and that didn’t sit well with Joe.

It would be on this day in 2013 he’d get his record back in Columbus, PA when he drove Bad Habit up to 85 MPH and went up that ramp, jumping over a semi, 237 feet! When Joe reached the other side of the jumpramp his front end was way low and if you watch it its hard not to grit your teeth as it looks like he might actually tip over his front. But Joe steered Bad Habit at the perfect angle and landed like an ace. He lost a little bit of his front end, which was a little nerve-wracking, but he made it. Do it again Joe! U.SA! USA! USA!

1984-It had been twenty-four years since Tina Turner had been on Billboard’s Hot 100 with a song she recorded with her husband Ike called “A Fool In Love”. Now she was back with the number one song in the US, “What’s Love Got to Do with It”. The record would go on to win Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Pop Vocal Performance – Female and Rock Vocal Performance – Female.

SEPTEMBE