Category: Note

In a letter to his nephew, Lund Washington, plantation manager of Mount Vernon, General George Washington wrote on this day in 1776 of his displeasure with the undisciplined conduct and poor battlefield performance of the American militia. Washington blamed the Patriot reliance on the militia as the chief root of his problems in the devastating loss of Long Island and Manhattan to the British. this eventually led to the appointment of Friedrich, Freiherr von Steuben who taught the militia basic military discipline.

September 29th, 1881, is the birthday of Ludwig von Mises.

On this day in 1781, General George Washington, commanding a force of 17,000 French and Continental troops, began the siege known as the Battle of Yorktown against British General Lord Charles Cornwallis and a contingent of 9,000 British troops at Yorktown, Virginia, in the most important battle of the Revolutionary War.

This is the Birthday of Samuel Adams (not counting the change in dates due to the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar). He was an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

September 26th, is the birthday of the late Jack LaLanne. Born 1914, died January 23, 2011.

On September 25th, 1789, the first Congress of the United States approved 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution and sent them to the states for ratification. This is also the birthday of Will Smith (born 1968), best known for his roles in I Am Legend and Enemy Of The State.

In 1492, Columbus set sail with 17 ships on his 2nd voyage to the Americas. Also on this date in 1775, Ethan Allen was captured by the British.

September 23, 1800 is the birthday of William McGuffey, a college president who is best known for writing the McGuffey Readers, the first widely used series of textbooks. It is estimated that at least 122 million copies of McGuffey Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster’s Dictionary.

September 22nd in the 70th birthday of survivalist writer Joel Skousen. (Born, 1946.) Skousen authored the excellent books Strategic Relocation and The High Security Shelter – How to Implement a Multi-Purpose Safe Room in the Home September 22nd in the birthday of the late Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Reid-Daly, who founded and commanded the Rhodesian Selous Scouts. He was born 1928, and he died August 9, 2010. His history of the Selous Scouts, titled Pamwe Chete, is fascinating to read, but it is a very hard-to-find book. I should also mention that September 22nd, 1290 is the birthday of one of …

On this day in 1780, during the American Revolution, American General Benedict Arnold met with British Major John Andre to discuss handing over West Point to the British in return for the promise of a large sum of money and a high position in the British army. The plot was foiled and Arnold, a former American hero, became synonymous with the word “traitor”. It’s too bad the current crop of politicians are not held accountable for their treasonous acts.

On September 20th, 1519, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan set sail from Spain in an effort to find a western sear route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia. He initially spent time searching the South American coast for a strait, but was unable to find one. He crushed a mutiny executing one of his captains and leaving another ashore. Eventually, over a year after he set sail, he discovered what he had been seeking. The Strait of Magellan, as it became known, is located at the southern tip of South America.

On September 19th, 1778, the Continental Congress passed the first budget of the United States. While the budget may have passed, the states responded poorly to the call for taxes to fund the government, and the government resorted to printing paper money to cover debts. In effect, the first budget was a failure, due in large part to the states not responding to the demands of Congress and the depreciation of fiat paper money. Are we talking about 1778 or 2017 here? Also on this date in 1796, George Washington addressed the nation in his farewell address as president. On …

The 18th of September is Chilean Independence Day. On this day, in 1810, Chile declared independence from Spain.

Today, September 17th, we celebrate Constitution Day in these United States.