Sunday, January 6, 2013
Raphael Semmes
VERBATIM
Raphael Semmes
Much has been written about Raphael Semmes, some of it controversial to say the least; but Semmes was without doubt one of the Confederate Navy's most brilliant and charismatic officers during the American Civil War where he ended his career as Rear Admiral of the Navy.
Raphael
Semmes was born in 1809 to Maryland tobacco farmer, Richard Thompson
Semmes and his wife, Catherine Middleton. Catherine was the daughter of
South Carolina lawyer and planter Arthur Middleton, a signer of the
Declaration of Independence. She died when young Raphael was two years
of age and his father died when he was ten. He was taken in and cared
for by two uncles, living most of the time at his Uncle Raphael's
Georgetown home.
As a young man, Uncle Raphael had sailed to many ports around the world, working for a maritime trading company. Settling down in Georgetown, he became a successful businessman, operating a wholesale grocery business, Semmes and Company. In addition, he was a bank director, an insurance commissioner and a tavern-keeper. Uncle Alexander Semmes on the other hand, owned a fleet of merchant ships but was lost at sea sometime in 1826 or 1827. Another uncle, Benedict Joseph Semmes, was a medical doctor who served in the Maryland state legislature and in 1825 presided as speaker in the House of Delegates. In 1828, he was elected to the U.S. Congress and served from 1829 to 1833. It was he who enabled the young Raphael to gain an appointment as a midshipman in the Navy. During his naval career, Raphael Semmes would study law and became an accomplished lawyer in the states of Alabama and Florida, where he spent much of his service. Despite being an accomplished lawyer, he proved himself to be an extremely capable, naval officer and recognition of his abilities was quick in coming when assigned command of the USS Somers during the US-Mexican War of the 1840's.  As a result of his gallantry in Mexico, Semmes was appointed a surveyor for the US Lighthouse Board. He worked in that capacity along the Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida coasts with the naval rank of Commander until the late 1850's when he was sent to Washington, DC as a member of the Lighthouse Board. He would hold this position until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. In March 1861, the State of Alabama decided to leave the Union and join the new Confederate States. Commander Semmes, finding himself torn between career and duty, decided to follow many of his colleagues and resigned his position in the United States Navy, returning immediately south to Alabama. A month later, in April of 1861, Semmes travelled to New Orleans and joined the Confederate Navy with the appointed rank of Commander.  Arriving in England and now without a command, Commander Semmes proceeded to Liverpool and met with a fellow, former US Naval officer, Commander James Dunwoody Bulloch, now the Confederate’s Navy Purchasing Agent in Europe. Bulloch already knew of Semmes’ prowess and maritime experience and requested that he travel to the Azores to ‘commission’ and take command of the Confederate’s newest cruiser, the CSS Alabama with a promotion to the rank of Captain. As the new commander of the CSS Alabama took his ship to sea few realized, the twenty two month voyage that followed would see Raphael Semmes hailed as a hero and damned as a pirate.   In February of 1865, Rear Admiral Semmes was given command of the James River Squadron and the responsibility of defending the approaches to the Confederate positions at Richmond in Virginia. Despite shortages of supplies, Semmes once more excelled in his given tasks but these successes were to be short-lived. In April of 1865 the Confederate Army was forced to abandon Richmond compelling Semmes to scuttle his fleet and prevent it falling into the hands of the enemy. Then, in command of a force without any ships, Semmes organized the former crews and marines into a naval brigade to fight alongside the battered Army of Northern Virginia in which he received the rank of Brigadier General. The end of the war came later that month and found Semmes and his remaining command near Durham, North Carolina where they surrendered alongside the army of Confederate General, Joseph E. Johnston. In December of 1865, Raphael Semmes was brought as a prisoner of war to Washington, D. C. on charges of treason and piracy. The US Government investigated these charges, taking testimonial oaths and statements from witnesses to Semmes actions from both sides of the conflict. In the end, the investigating authority found they were baseless and ordered Semmes’ immediate release after thirteen weeks of incarceration. Following the war, Semmes held several posts from college professor at Louisiana State Seminary to judge and newspaper editor. Such was his reputation his notoriety caused him trouble from those now occupying the former Confederate States. His destruction of the mercantile marine during his captaincy of the Sumter and Alabama embittered northern public opinion against him that. The unjust and false accusation of ‘Pirate’ was often used against him, even after his eventual pardon under the amnesty proclamation of President Johnson. It became impossible to lead the quiet life he craved so he once more took up the legal profession as a self-employed lawyer in Mobile, Alabama. Here he thrived, immersing himself in legal argument and helping other former Confederate soldiers and sailors whilst running a successful law firm until his death on August 30, 1877. During his later years he became a published author with ‘Service Afloat and Ashore During the Mexican War’ (1851); ‘The Campaign of General Scott in the Valley of Mexico’ (1852); ‘The Cruise of the Alabama and Sumter’ (1864); and ‘Memoirs of Services Afloat during the War between the States’ (1869). The body of Raphael Semmes is interred in the Old Catholic Cemetery, Mobile in Alabama. The enduring legacy of Rear Admiral Raphael Semmes is that his actions of the American Civil War are still studied around the world to this present day. Several books have been written about his exploits. The many voyages he undertook as a Confederate naval officer and the successes he enjoyed, have directly influenced naval warfare. During the early part of World War Two, Captain Hans Langsdorff of the Graf Spee, a German pocket battleship and successful commerce raider, spoke of Semmes during his final days in Montevideo saying, ‘Captain Semmes of the Confederate ship Alabama was and remains my inspiration!’ |
NC: The Original Golden State
VERBATIM
“From 1804 to 1828 all domestic gold coined by the United States Mint came from North Carolina. During that time thousands of foreign immigrants poured into the Piedmont area. North Carolina was known as the ‘Golden State.’
“For many years, North Carolina provided the only native gold for the United States mint. Once the gold was shipped to Philadelphia to be minted, however, little came back to circulate in the Tar Heel state. As a result, North Carolinians wanted a government mint.”
“While Congress delayed in deciding to establish the mint, private enterprise met the demand. With home-made equipment, Christopher Bechtler coined gold, including the first minted-gold dollar. Historians report that Bechtler coined $109,000 in his first four years of business (1831-1835). Always trusted, the Bechtler mint lasted until 1857, a decade and half after its founders’ death. “
There may be a new gold rush on the way. From last year:
“Now a second gold rush is going on in the piedmont area. Mining Companies using new technologies are investing in gold mining. Old mines are being revived, thanks largely to the high price of gold making exploration profitable again. Mines that have been abandoned for more than a hundred years are being opened and gold is being extracted.
A large nugget was found in 1997 but now those nuggets seem to be weekly finds. During this year’s Heritage Days event, a student found a nugget worth about $300. “The spot price for gold was at $1,475 per ounce,” Robinson said. “I offered him $300 out of my own pocket, but he was a smart kid and turned me down. He knew he had found something special.”
Just two weeks before, a French Exchange student found a nugget weighing approximately three grams. Robinson offered for that nugget too, for the museum at the site, but was turned down as well.
Since the start of the gold panning season in March, Robinson said there have been record numbers of panners at the mine. For $2 per pan, visitors search through dirt taken directly from Little Meadow Creek and have a chance to find a fortune. “Anything found in the panning area belongs to the panner, not the state,” Robinson said. “Your $2 ticket is your claim. So, if you did happen to find a 17 pound gold nugget at the bottom of your pan, it would be yours to keep.”
Action Alert: Midnight April 18, 2013
VERBATIM
Freedom Fighter Radio is urging all who cherish freedom and love our Sovereignty to consider two actions.
First, at midnight April 18, 2013 bring in the 238th anniversary of the start of the 1st American Revolution.
Discharge 3 rounds into the ground or fire blanks or fireworks if you don’t own a gun or it is illegal to discharge in your area. If you don’t own a gun, get one or blast a recording of gunshots from your car stereo. We need this to happen at thousands of locations in every major city. If this is done, they will not have the man power to handle the calls and this action will send a clear message that we the people will not be disarmed nor will we submit without resistance to a global or dictatorial government. Our government has ignored the will of the people and thereby is governing without our consent.The site is not calling for people to break the law, thus why there are a myriad of ways to demonstrate. Please notice that should you participate with your firearm, that the call is to discharge it into the ground, not in the air.
2nd Operation Distress Flag
Title 4 Chapter 1 Section 8 (See flag code click here) – In times of extreme danger to life and property the flag is to be flown Union Down America both conditions have and are being met. When ever you see an American Flag flying over any Government Building Local, State, or Federal Lower it and Fly it union down ( an international sign of distress ).If a State flag is present fly it above the Union down to display state sovereignty! State sovereignty should always trump federal authority per the 10th amendment. Be Creative!
This is only the beginning, a Revolution is coming.
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.John F. Kennedy.
A revolution is coming “a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough“ but a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability.
Florida firearm violence hits record low; concealed gun permits up with poll
Via Tino
In the so-called Gunshine State, home to the most gun permits in the country, firearm violence has fallen to the lowest point on record.
As state and national legislators consider gun control laws in the wake of last month's Connecticut school shooting, Florida finds itself in a gun violence depression. The Firearm-involved violent crime rate has dropped 33 percent between 2007 and 2011, while the number of issued concealed weapons permits rose nearly 90 percent during that time, state records show.
"We're happy to have facts and statistics put into these debates, because every time they do, we win," said Sean Caranna, executive director of Florida Carry Inc., a pro-gun-rights advocacy group.
In the so-called Gunshine State, home to the most gun permits in the country, firearm violence has fallen to the lowest point on record.
As state and national legislators consider gun control laws in the wake of last month's Connecticut school shooting, Florida finds itself in a gun violence depression. The Firearm-involved violent crime rate has dropped 33 percent between 2007 and 2011, while the number of issued concealed weapons permits rose nearly 90 percent during that time, state records show.
"We're happy to have facts and statistics put into these debates, because every time they do, we win," said Sean Caranna, executive director of Florida Carry Inc., a pro-gun-rights advocacy group.
More @ Naples News
Should the U.S. pass tougher gun control laws in 2013?
McConnell Won’t Rule Out Government Shutdown
VERBATIM
“We now have a debt the size of our economy, which makes us look a lot like Greece,” McConnell said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It’s a shame that the president doesn’t embrace the effort to reduce spending.”
When host David Gregory asked McConnell about the debt ceiling, and whether Republicans would consider a government shutdown to force the issue of spending cuts, the leader did not rule out the possibility.
“None of us like using these situations, like the sequestration or the debt ceiling or the operation of government, to try to engage the president to deal with this,” McConnell said. “If we’re not going to deal with it now, when are we going to deal with it? We’ve watched the government explode over the last four years.
“Now, the question is, will the president lead?” McConnell continued. “Why should we have to be bringing him to the table? Why isn’t he leading us in the direction of beginning to solve our long-term debt and deficit problem? It’s perplexing to me that the president of the United States, elected to lead the country, is so reluctant to engage on the most important issue confronting our future.”
McConnell said the Democratic Senate and Republican House have no choice but to work toward reducing America’s “massive, massive debt.”
“I wouldn’t have chosen this government,” he said. “I voted for Mitt Romney. If Mitt Romney had been elected, nobody’s taxes would have gone up, but this is the government we have, and can we make some progress for the country over the next two years? I’m hopeful we can.”
The answer is not tax increases, McConnell added.
“We don’t have this problem because we tax too little,” he explained. “We have it because we spend way, way too much.”
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