Hols of the Day

 
It's National Chocolate Mint Day. Boy, do I wish I'd known that yesterday when I was grocery shopping.

And now Ma feels it her duty to alert you to something coming up tomorrow, for Wednesday will be...

Hoodie Hoo Day! The folks at Wellcat.com made up (and apparently copyrighted) this holiday. They sell herbs and things and naturally it follows that they would make up holidays....I guess.

ANYWAY, it's a northern hemisphere kinda thing and at high noon tomorrow, we're supposed to go outside and yell "Hoodie Hoo!" It's an effort to chase away winter and encourage spring, though why nobody taught Punxsutawney Phil to do this on Groundhog day, I have NO idea.

Ma knew you would want to be apprised of this aforehand so as to prepare for tomorrow's big moment. Remember...high noon. The future of spring rests upon your shoulders. (not mine, since I'll be on the treadmill at that hour)

That out of the way, history always holds interesting stuffs, so without further ado...

Today in History:

1859--Dan Sickles is acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity, 1st time this defense is successfully used

1913--1st prize inserted into a Cracker Jack box

1942--FDR orders detention & internment of all west-coast Japanese-Americans

1960--Bil Keane's "Family Circus" cartoon strip debuts

1985--Canned & bottled Cherry Coke introduced by Coca-Cola

1986--The U.S. Senate approved a treaty outlawing genocide. The pact had been submitted 37 years earlier for ratification.

2008--Ma Hoyt goes 5 miles on the treadmill! (yes!)

Now let's jump back to ol' Dan Sickles. He was an interesting, if abysmal, character.

A printer, who became a lawyer, who became a New York senator and then a U.S. Representative, Sickles had quite the reputation as a ladies' man. That's putting it nicely. As was usual back then, double standards stood tall and Mr. Sickles shot a Mr. Key in the street outside his home for paying inappropriate attentions to Mr. Sickles' wife (to put it nicely). And by the way, this particular Mr. Key was a son of the famous Francis Scott Key.

Ah well, people WILL die after being shot multiple times, and thus an infamous murder trial followed.

Using an "insanity plea" for the first time, Dan Sickles was acquitted, to the joy and acclaim of Washington D.C.'s upstanding and righteous citizens.

One of his lawyers happened to be Edwin M. Stanton, who later became President Lincoln's Secretary of War. Mr. Stanton must have been an able barrister, for he employed another little technique, "unwritten law" (self defense of one's wife as his own property).

Wives = property. Oh you just gotta love it. Of course you couldn't have it going both ways. The wives did NOT have the right to shoot their husbands' paramours. Besides being somewhat ill-mannered, equity of that nature could substantially cut into a fellow's extracurricular activities, not to mention have a deleterious effect on the population's increase.

And so he went free. Mr. Sickles did publicly forgive his wife, much to the outrage of the same upstanding and righteous folks who had cheered his acquittal. Fortunately for Danny Boy, along came the Civil War and a chance to redirect his energies.

Sickles volunteered and eventually ended up as Major General by the time of Gettysburg. Promotional opportunities increase when one starts by being appointed Brigadier General.

At that three day battle, things took a rough turn for Major General Sickles. Not liking the battlefield assignment he'd been given, Dan disobeyed a direct order and moved his corps from the vicinity of Round Tops up to Peach Orchard. Whether this move aided or thwarted his Union comrades is still debated. But he escaped court martial (and his command) when he received a cannon ball to the leg, which was subsequently amputated.

Not missing an opportunity, the Major General kindly donated his leg bone and the offending cannonball to the Army Medical Museum. It is said he often visited his limb on the anniversary of its demise.

Eventually he was awarded the congressional Medal of Honor for his actions at Gettysburg.

There's more, of course. Do a little investigating and read for yourself. Click here and scroll down to visit "the leg."

I think it's fair to say that a list of seemingly obscure dates can house history of a riveting nature.
 

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