Walt Kelly's Pogo Possum, sitting in a flat-bottomed swamp boat in the comic strip, said "We have met the enemy and he is us." The original declaration was "We have met the enemy and they are ours," and it was uttered by Oliver Hazard Perry immediately after he had captured an entire British fleet on Lake Erie, something that the flabbergasted British had never before experienced. He started his navy service at age 13 as a midshipman under his father's command, when he took charge of building a fleet at Lake Erie the 27-year-old brought along his own 13-year-old midshipman, his brother Matthew Calbraith Perry. His opponent on Lake Erie was a month younger than Perry, had started his Royal Navy service at age 12, and was Perry's match in ambition and intelligence - but apparently not in confidence and luck. The US Navy honors Perry with its "Perry class" frigates, 50 ships built between 1977 and 1989.
Several other nautical events happened on this date as well, Admiral of the Sea Christopher Columbus was slapped in chains for mismanaging the colony he governed, the Pilgrims tried to get underway again, and the Duke of Buckingham was assassinated largely due to his incompetence as a naval strategist and commander.
Freedom for all humans has generally increased through history, and today is a landmark. The British Parliament abolished slavery throughout the empire, three decades before Lincoln's emancipation proclamation which had little immediate effect, it applied only to the Confederate states where Lincoln had no jurisdiction and freed no slaves in the Union.
1500 - Enemies at court had convinced Spain's Ferdinand and Isabella to appoint Francisco de Bobadilla to replace Christopher Columbus as governor of Española. On this day Bobadilla arrived and promptly arrested Columbus and his brother (possibly uncle) Bartolemeo, and had them returned to Spain, shackled in irons. Columbus insisted on wearing his chains until he could appear at court where they were removed by the Queen's order.
1620 - After almost three weeks' delay repairing the Speedwell, the Leyden Separatists (Pilgrims) set sail from Dartmouth, England in Speedwell and Mayflower. Two days and 300 miles later the Speedwell is at risk of sinking from additional leaks and the ships return to England.
1628 - The handsome but unscrupulous George Villiers, first Duke of Buckingham, having bungled a naval mission to relieve the Huguenots at La Rochelle, France and preparing another expedition, was assassinated by John Felton, a former naval officer whose pay was in arrears and held other grudges over the failed La Rochelle mission, in Portsmouth, England.
1833 - An act of parliament was passed freeing all slaves in the British Empire, effective on the following 1 August. Children under age six are to be freed on that date, older children and adults became apprentices for three years in England. Transition details are left to the discretion of the colonies, with a limit of six years. Compensation for slave holders was included, approximately one million slaves affected by the act.
1940 - The Luftwaffe's blitz on London started late at night, continuing into the morning of the 24th.
1977 - Dr Paul B. MacCready wins the prize of £50,000 ($100,000) for sustained human-powered flight with the Gossamer Condor maintaining an altitude of about ten feet and a speed of 10 miles per hour over the mile-long figure-eight course specified by British industrialist Henry Kremer when the prize was established in 1959.
Liberation Day, Romania - First day of two-day holiday marking the end of the Fascist Iron Guard government in 1944. Started as the Legion of the Archangel Michael in 1927 and becoming the Iron Guard in 1929, the "Nests" of this virulently anti-Semitic group committed atrocities parallel or in advance of those in Nazi Germany. The liberation was an internal coup on the same day the Soviet army invaded.
1785
- Oliver Hazard Perry, US sailor - Born to "Fighting Quaker" parents
at South Kingston, Rhode Island, entered the US Navy as midshipman and
was assigned to the sloop General Greene under his father's command. Sailed
to Europe and Africa in the Barbary Wars, in 1805 promoted to lieutenant
and given a small schooner. Put in charge of construction of a small fleet
of gunboats by President Jefferson. Given command of 14-gun Revenge in
1809, cruised Atlantic coast of US. Ordered to survey Rhode Island harbors
in 1811, Revenge was wrecked on a reef and Perry requested inactive status
and an investigation which cleared and commended his actions. Married
Elizabeth Champlin Mason in May 1812, promoted to master-commandant in
charge of small defense fleet at Newport, Rhode Island in July, frustrated
by lack of action during early war with England requested more active
duty. February 1813 was asigned to Lake Ontario, then put in charge of
building small fleet on Lake Erie where the English had a small fleet
and controlled the lake, completed two brigs and four schooners by July.
On 10 September 1813 engaged British squadron commanded by Captain Robert
Barclay. British directed heavy traffic against Perry's flagship Lawrence,
killing or wounding 80% of her crew and all officers except Perry. Perry
transferred to the lightly-damaged Niagara with his personal battle flag
that said "Don't Give Up The Ship," and immediately sailed into British
battle line and captured the squadron within 15 minutes, bringing every
ship back as prizes of war. His report to General William Henry Harrison
said "We have met the enemy and they are ours." Promoted to captain, reassigned
to quiet command at Newport, patrolled Barbary coast 1815 - 1817. Was
dispatched to Venezuela on diplomatic mission in 1819, completed mission
but contracted yellow fever and died at sea near Trinidad on 23 August
1819, his 34th birthday. Bured at Port of Spain, Trinidad, his remains
were moved to Newport, Rhode Island in 1826.
You don't have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things; to compete.
You can be just an ordinary person, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging
goals. The intense effort, the giving of everything you've got, is a very
pleasant bonus.
- Sir Edmond Hillary
But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all
who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed
at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed
at Bozo the Clown.
- Carl Sagan
Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to
see it tired on him personally.
- Abraham Lincoln
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of
chains or slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others
may take but as for me; give me liberty or give me death!
- Patrick Henry
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