Cecil John Rhodes’ reigning weakness was his inability to comprehend the power of accumulated hatred on the actions of men and women. He was a visionary who manipulated the moment, believing that a compliment and a well-timed bribe could secure unquestioning loyalty for the exact period he needed to achieve his pre-determined goals. His own perception of himself was as a prophet of the future not as a product of the past. Ironically, Rhodes aligned himself with cultures and clans whose manifest destiny was embedded in their past, and who understood the future only in terms of retribution for ancient wrongs.
I came across a Wikipedia entry for John Y.F. Blake which is delightful in its compounded inaccuracies. The most amusing is the bit where Blake’s mother instilled in him the belief that he was Irish.
Clara T. Chitty died when Blake was 3 years old and by his own admission he had no memory of his life until his family moved to Texas – after Clara died. I cannot get the vision of endless seances out of my head.
For anyone wanting a record of John Y.F. Blake’s family history s/he should refer to The Story Of An American Family: Blake To Blake by family historian Frances Stolz which is or will be available on Interlibrary loan. Alternatively, contact me and I will pass on your purchase request to the author.
2nd Cheshire Royal Engineers Railway Volunteers Charles Kater Drury Sidgwick photographs, mainly captioned, taken during the ABW depicting armed and armoured trains, engineering sheds and buildings in Pretoria, damaged trains and bridges 1901 - 1902 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=D8025
Commentators of the day claimed that some Americans fighting with the Boers wore United States Army surplus. This is incorrect.
These men were part of an elaborate men for hire system with its own uniform that strongly resembled uniforms associated with the United States Army. The origins of this system are traced back to 1894/95 and its brigades fought in the Spanish American War of 1898 as well as in the Anglo Boer War.
There is strong circumstantial evidence which suggests that at least some of the Native Americans who signed up with Roosevelt’s Rough Riders had been trained under this system, and a group of Native Americans returned to the United States in 1900 from the Transvaal Republic in the company of other known fighters in the men for hire system.
Learn more about the men for hire system in Golden Nemesis: Manifest Destiny Between 1880 And 1900 which is due for release next week.
A few days ago I was approached by someone working for Timelines which is a new history sharing site with the potential to be a useful resource.
I am always suspicious of invitations to join new ventures because I have found in the past that a good many of them either contain some sort of malicious stuff or contribute to the slowing down of my computer because of spyware – both very irritating.
Having said this, this website appears to have an air of legitimacy about it and I am going to take that as standard until proved wrong.
As a legitimate site I can see that this would be useful for museums, libraries and archives with specialty collections and for history buffs wanting to expand the exposure of their passion on the web. But, particularly for museums, libraries and archives.
I receive a number of genealogical queries about Boer and British soldiers, including prisoners of war.
I am always willing to check my files for additional information but the best sources for extended genealogical research into soldiers associated with the war are:
The National Archives of the United Kingdom in Kew, London, England. The resources can be searched in person or one of the researchers on the Archives List of Researchers will undertake research for a fee.
The Pen And The Spindle Colonial History blog has been migrated because WORDPRESS could not resolve a series of ongoing issues on this site. Please follow this link to our temporary site. We will be building a more complete and independent website for The Pen And The Spindle accessible history online in the near future. Please [...]
The Pen And The Spindle Colonial History blog has been migrated because WORDPRESS could not resolve a series of ongoing issues on this site. Please follow this link to our temporary site. We will be building a more complete and independent website for The Pen And The Spindle accessible history online in the near future. Please follow [...]
I described in my last post how I walked from Grasmere to Rosthwaite, climbed Scafell Pike (England’s high point), and then walked over the Cat Bells to Derwent Water, where I took the boat to Keswick. The next day I visited the Pencil Museum. I credit my appreciation of pencils to my mother, who always—and I [...]
It started with my old boss, Gerard McCloskey, loaning me his Wainwright books about walking in the Lake District while I was over in England for work in October 1989. From there it was a spur-of-the-moment decision to do some exploring in the wilds of the Cumbrian Mountains as a side trip. I had no [...]
Back in the land of towering green ridges and plunging stream valleys… six days of being in the Smokies. The elk in Cataloochee I visited Cataloochee to meet up with Ray Payne of the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club and see the herd of elk that have been introduced there. Ray volunteers with the Park Service as a [...]
Golden Nemesis: Manifest Destiny Between 1880 And 1900
