Fiesta San Antonio (or simply "Fiesta") is an annual 10 day festival held in April in San Antonio, Texas, and is the city's signature event (along with some events held in the following surrounding cities: Boerne, Schertz, Windcrest, Balcones Heights, and Alamo Heights) since 1891. The festival, also known as the Battle of Flowers, commemorates of the Battle of the Alamo, which took place in San Antonio, and the Battle of San Jacinto, which led to Texas' independence from Mexico in April 1836.

Fiesta is the city's biggest festival, with an economic impact of $340 million for the city. More than three million people take part, in more than 100 events that take place all over the city and beyond.

I believe, but haven't checked, that it is the largest party in the state.

In reply to agrams

agrams said:

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reading that link, i didn't know there was a special out of the way cemetery plot for American servicemen executed for crimes in the European theater. 94 plots there, but 98 total executions for crimes, of which Slovik was the only one in the plot for not committing murder or rape.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oise-Aisne_American_Cemetery_Plot_E

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The whole video is worth watching but the part dealing with this topic begins at the 7:25 minute mark.

[This is not a UFO theory thread. -Staff]

In reply to Green2Maroon

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By way of comparison, the U.S. Army executed about 160 soldiers during and after World War II. Only one soldier was executed for desertion, Pvt. Eddie Slovik. The rest of the executions were for rape and/or murder.

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This is amazing and shows you how much changed from WW1 to WW2.

I listened to Dan Carlin's really great WW1 podcast Blueprint for Armageddon and he had a section of the execution of French soldiers for desertion. The French Army shot more than 900 soldiers from 1914-1918 for disobeying orders or desertion.

The Italians executed nearly 800 for desertion in the same stretch despite having an army less than half the size of France's unit.

In reply to StockHorseAg

StockHorseAg said:

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It's really interesting to look at the race of the men who are on this list. One really dominates it.

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WOW! No joke. Especially when compared to the number of soldiers of each race that were serving in those areas.

Here is another good one.

The patent for the Fax Machine was awarded to Alexander Bain in 1843.

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Bain also experimented with telegraphy and discovered a unique method for recording messages. On early telegraph machines, an operator had to listen for the clicks representing the dots and dashes of Morse code and write down the message. Bain found that the same pulses of electricity representing the code could print a character on chemically treated paper. This discovery was the ancestor of that indispensable tool of late-twentieth century offices, the facsimile machine (fax).

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Sadly, he was litigated into bankruptcy and returned back to the UK to work at a watch shop and die with little to show for his invention.

In reply to StockHorseAg I had the same thought.

In reply to Nagler That is a pretty incredible story indeed.

Robert E. Lee was offered command of the Union Army by Lincoln in early April, 1961, but when Virginia seceded he tendered his resignation and joined the confederate army.

RMS Lancastria was a British ocean liner requisitioned by the UK Government during the Second World War. She was sunk on 17 June 1940 during Operation Aerial. Having received an emergency order to evacuate British nationals and troops from France, the ship was loaded well in excess of its capacity of 1,300 passengers. Modern estimates suggest that between 4,000 and 7,000 people died during the sinking the largest single-ship loss of life in British maritime history.

In reply to p_bubel

p_bubel said:

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The Great Raft was an enormous log jam or series of "rafts" that clogged the Red and Atchafalaya rivers from perhaps the 12th century until its removal in the 1830s. It was unique in North America in terms of its scale.

The raft raised the banks of the river, creating bayous and several lakes. Called the Great Raft Lakes, these included Caddo and Cross Lakes, along the lower reaches of the Red River's tributaries. Ports developed along these lakes, and Jefferson, Texas, became the second-largest inland port in the United States during this period. The city thrived and was considered a major gateway to East Texas. It was important for shipping out area commodity crops, such as cotton.

When the log jams were removed, the water level in Caddo Lake and others dropped dramatically, reducing their navigability for riverboats. The ports declined, and riverboats ceased to travel in Caddo Lake.

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There is also a man made dam on Caddo Lake.

In reply to Cinco Ranch Aggie With the end of the Franco-Prussian War(1871), France was required to pay 5,000,000,000 francs to Germany before troops would end the occupation of France.

In 1807, as the Napoleonic Wars dragged on, England was having a hard time keeping its navy afloat. It had removed almost all trees from its own shores and had run out of timber to build new ships.

Denmark tried its best to remain neutral during the wars, and to maintain that neutrality put its own sizeable fleet into harbor at Copenhagen.

England decided it needed the Danish fleet, so in August of 1807 it sent its fleet and army to Copenhagen and started bombarding the city, killing numerous civilians (from a neutral country, keep in mind). Denmark eventually surrendered its entire fleet to England to make the bombardment stop. England basically stole another country's entire fleet, killing peaceful noncombatants to do so.

So much for honor, chivalry, and the rules of war.

Battle of Copenhagen (1807) - Wikipedia

In reply to p_bubel

p_bubel said:

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Fiesta San Antonio (or simply "Fiesta") is an annual 10 day festival held in April in San Antonio, Texas, and is the city's signature event (along with some events held in the following surrounding cities: Boerne, Schertz, Windcrest, Balcones Heights, and Alamo Heights) since 1891. The festival, also known as the Battle of Flowers, commemorates of the Battle of the Alamo, which took place in San Antonio, and the Battle of San Jacinto, which led to Texas' independence from Mexico in April 1836.

Fiesta is the city's biggest festival, with an economic impact of $340 million for the city. More than three million people take part, in more than 100 events that take place all over the city and beyond.

I believe, but haven't checked, that it is the largest party in the state.

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And, like virtually everything else done in San Antonio, it's another excuse to drink beer.

After the Battle of Gettysburg approximately 24,000 loaded muskets were picked up off the battlefield. Of these, about half had multiple loads in them. This is at a battle fought by two veteran armies at this point. It hints at what many of the soldiers said in their letters home, that it took more courage to kill for your country, than to die for it.

The first African-American officer killed in the Civil War was both a Confederate and Union officer.

Andre Cailloux was born a slave and apprenticed to the cigar making business in New Orleans. He was freed by his master in 1846 and started his own cigar factory in New Orleans. He married a mulatto woman, Felica Coulon, also born into slavery. Her mother purchased her freedom. Cailloux and her had four children. Cailloux's business was modestly successful and while not rich, he prospered and became a leader in the 10,000 person freedman's community of New Orleans, in part due to his reputation as one of the best boxers in New Orleans.

He became an officer in the city's Native Guards, a state militia unit for freedmen. Cailloux was a lieutenant in the Guards when Farragut's fleet arrived off the coast of Louisiana and was called into Confederate service. The Native Guards disbanded after the city was captured.

When the Native Guards were reactivated, this time in Union service, Cailloux was made a company commander, with the rank of captain. On March 27,1863 Cailloux and the Native Guards attacked Fort Desperate at Port Hudson. Cailloux was killed leading his company. A few days later a truce was called to bury the dead but the Confederates would not allow the Federal burial parties to bury the dead negro troops around Fort Desperate. As a result Cailloux's body laid in the ditch of Fort Desperate until Port Hudson surrendered on July 8. By then his body was unrecognizable except for a ring he was known to wear.

A large funeral was conducted in New Orleans, the former Catholic Church where the funeral was held still stands, as a community center.

Attack of Fort Desperate as depicted by Frank Leslie's Illustrated, the circled sword is supposed to represent Cailloux:



Cailloux's funeral procession in New Orleans from Harper's Weekly:



Cailloux's grave in St. Louis #2 cemetery in New Orleans:

Last Union officer killed in Civil War, 1st Lt. E.L. Stevens, Boykin's Mill, SC. Shot by a 14-year-old boy in the Confederate home guard, Burrell Boykin, on his family's land.

The family later developed a breed of retrieving dog known as the Boykin Spaniel. Really great restaurant on the Mill Pond now

In reply to BQ78 Should be noted that the Native Guard were never called into Confederate service. Their offers were repeatedly rebuffed and the state of Louisiana clarified that only white men could serve in the militia. The governor called them out when New Orleans was attacked, but they were given no orders other than to disband when the regular Confederate army units surrendered.

In reply to CanyonAg77 There is no mistaking a misfire with a Civil War rifle, there is enough kick to know. Not saying there wasn't some heat of battle or panic causing multiple loads but some were guys just stacking them up and not firing.

Many also as you suggested just shot in the air and some of the soldiers admitted to this fact. But even shooting into the air you might hit someone but shooting into the ground would be too obvious in a mass formation. At Chickamauga, one Confederate soldier was caught firing into the air and his captain threatened to shoot him if he didn't stop. The soldier told the captain he could go ahead and shoot him but he wasn't going to appear before his God with the blood of his fellow man on his hands.

In reply to Sapper Redux Pretty much every unit in New Orleans was caught flat footed and didn't put up a fight after Ft. Jackson and Ft. St. Phillip. Hell, Farragut sailed right up to the levee and sent a hand full of sailors to take the city.

The Native Guards were at Camp Moore when the city fell, so no opportunity to use them whether they or the government even wanted it.