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Historical Myths, Lies And Untruths

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PAGE CONTENTS:
Some Myths of American History
Other Historical Myths
Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Addsress
Debunking Modern Myths About the Middle Ages
Davy Crockett's Death at the Alamo
Jesse James
Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned
The Telephone
Betsy Ross and the First American Flag
Looking at Civil War Black History Myths
8 Myths About Ancient History
Historical Myth: The 300 Who Held Thermopylae

Some Myths of American History

There is no evidence that Betsy Ross sewed the first U.S. flag. The story didn't even flutter forth from her relatives until 1870.

George Washington did not toss a dollar across the Potomac.  Even if he did toss something, the dollar didn't come into being until after the U.S. gained independence.

Francis Scott Key did not write our national anthem. He penned the words then set them to an old English drinking song. It did not become our national anthem until 1931.

Most of the midnight ride of Paul Revere was accomplished by other horsemen. It was Samuel Prescott, in fact, who carried the warning to Concord.

The Declaration of Independence was not approved on July 4, 1776. Only John Hancock, for the assembly, signed it that day. The other signatures were made on August 2.

George Washington wasn't the first U.S. President. John Hanson was the president of the Congress of the Confederation and carried the title of president of the U.S., as did eight men after him.

"Yankee Doodle" is not an American song. It was a British ditty designed to harass ragtag colonists during the French and Indian War.

Other Historical Myths
Most of us learned in school that the Magna Charter was signed in 1215by King John. But it was not – the monarch could not write his name.He granted the Magna Charter by placing his seal on it.

Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Addsress
Abraham Lincoln did not write the Gettysburg Address on an envelope, enroute by train, to Gettysburg.  Lincoln wrote at least one page of the first draft of the speech in Washington, on White House stationery, on November 17, 1863.  He added the final nine and a half lines, in pencil, when he went to his bedroom in the Gettysburg home of David Wills the following evening.  On the morning of the address, November 19, Lincoln wrote a new draft, copying the first, and making few changes.  There were 239 words in the first and 269 words in the second draft. Lincoln made a copy of the speech and sent it to the Metropolitan Fair in New York, to be sold for charity.   Lincoln inserted two words which every newspaper had quoted him as using, but which were not in the original draft: "under God".  It is uncertain whether Lincoln actually spoke these words when he gave the speech.

Debunking Modern Myths About the Middle Ages
by Melissa Snell
 
You've probably seen the email that's circulating around the web, purporting to provide facts about the Middle Ages. In humorous terms it connects the origins of some modern phrases and customs with life in sixteenth-century England. The most recent version I've seen has the subject heading "The Bad Old Days."
 
Just in case you didn't already know, let me make this perfectly clear: This is a hoax. It has virtually no basis in fact, and if any of its contents happens to strike near the real origin of an actual custom or phrase, it would be an astonishing coincidence.
 
Weddings and Hygeine (From the Hoax):
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.
 
The Facts:
In the agricultural communities of medieval England, the most popular months for weddings were January, November and October,1 when harvest was past and the time for planting had not yet arrived. Late autumn and winter were also when animals were usually slaughtered for food, so freshly butchered beef, pork, mutton and similar meats would be available for the wedding feast, which often coincided with annual festivals.  Summer weddings, which might also coincide with annual festivals, enjoyed some popularity, as well.
 
As for "yearly baths," the idea that medieval people rarely bathed is a persistent but false one. Most people washed themselves on a regular basis. Going without washing was considered a penance even in the early Middle Ages. Soap, possibly invented by the Gauls sometime before Christ, was in widespread use throughout Europe by the end of the ninth century, and made its first appearance in cake form in the twelfth century. Public bathhouses were not uncommon, although their ostensible purpose was often secondary to their clandestine use by prosititutes.
 
In short, there were numerous opportunities for medieval people to cleanse their bodies. Thus, the prospect of going a full month without washing, and then appearing at her wedding with a bouquet of flowers to hide her stench, is not something a medieval bride was likely to consider any more than a modern bride would.
 
Baths (From the Hoax):
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children-last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it - hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."
 
The Facts:
Most peasant folk could not afford a bathtub and used a barrel with the top removed.1 The time and energy required to draw enough water from the well to fill a barrel was prohibitive enough to make a full-body bath a rare occasion. However, it wasn't necessary to immerse oneself completely to get clean. Think of what you can do with some cloths, soap, and a bucket of water.
 
There is no evidence to confirm that peasant families bathed serially in the same bathwater, but they may have occasionally done so to save the extra labor. Contrary to popular belief, medieval people were not entirely oblivious to matters of hygiene, and are unlikely to have blithely plunged themselves into filthy water "to get clean."
 
For the most part, children were treated with the special care with which they have been treated since the beginning of time. Rather than being submerged in a barrel full of water (filthy or otherwise), an infant would be bathed in a smaller vessel like a basin. There is no reason to believe that the relatively small amount of water needed would not be freshly drawn from the well or mildly heated over the fire in a kettle. There are no known instances of a child being "thrown out" when his bathwater was disposed of.
 
The expression "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water" is German in origin and can be traced to the fifteenth century satire NarrenbeschwЖrung by Thomas Murner.
 
Thatched Roofs (From the Hoax):
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof-hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."
 
The Facts:
Most peasant cottages and many town buildings had thatched roofs -- which, rather than being simply "thick straw-piled high," were constructed of carefully, tightly woven straw, brom, heather, reeds or rushes.1 When properly devised, thatch was (and still is) very good at keeping out the elements, including rain, snow and hail.
 
Unfortunately, thatch could be an attractive abode for such uninvited guests as small rodents, insects and birds, it was subject to rot relatively quickly in wet weather, and in dry weather it posed a fire hazard.
 
On the other hand, it was cheap and easy to construct, so cottages could, and did, get a new thatch roof when the old one ceased to provide adequate shelter. Most peasant housing was fairly impermanent in any case, and cottages were usually completely rebuilt every generation or so.
 
While it is quite possible that a cat would jump up on the roof to hunt vermin, he would not "live" there, nor would dogs or other small animals. This is simply one of the sillier claims of the hoax.
 
Alas, the origin of the phrase "raining cats and dogs" is currently unknown. Its first known use in print was in the seventeenth century, but it may go back a few hundred years before that.
 
Floors (From the Hoax):
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence the saying "dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway-hence, a "thresh hold."
 
The Facts:
Most peasant cottages did indeed have dirt floors. Some peasants lived in homes that sheltered animals as well as themselves.  When livestock was enclosed in a peasant home, it was usually partitioned off in a separate room, sometimes at right angles to the family's living space.
 
Yet animals could still occasionally find their way into the house proper. For this reason, an earthen floor was a practical choice.
 
However, there is no evidence that the term "dirt poor" was used in any context before the 20th century. One theory suggests that its origins lie in the "Dust Bowl" of 1930s Oklahoma, where drought and poverty combined to create some of the most horrific living conditions in American history; but direct evidence is lacking.
 
In castles, the ground floor might be beaten earth, stone or plaster, but upper stories almost invariably had wooden floors, and the same pattern likely held true in town dwellings. Straw was not needed to keep people from slipping on wet slate, but it was used as a floor covering on all surfaces to provide a modicum of warmth and cushioning. Reeds or rushes were sometimes supplemented with aromatic herbs like lavender, and the entire floor would usually be swept clean and strewn with fresh straw and herbs on a regular basis. Old straw was not simply left down when fresh straw was added.
 
If such were indeed the case, it might be logical to think of the little raised strip in a doorway as an item intended to "hold" in "thresh," except for one significant detail.  There's no such thing as "thresh."
 
The word "thresh" is a verb which, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, means "to separate seed" or "to strike repeatedly." It is not, and never has been, a noun used to designate floor rushes. The word "threshold," like "thresh," is Old English in origin and dates to before the twelfth century. Both OE words appear to relate to the movement of one's feet; thresh (OE threscan) meaning to stamp or trample and threshold (OE therscwold) being a place to step.
 
Tomatoes (From the Hoax):
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
 
The Facts:
Pewter was used for plates, drinking vessels and other tableware in the Middle Ages, but not exclusively. Wealthier folk used silver or gold for special occasions, and wooden plates evolved in the later Middle Ages. It was quite true that the lead content (about 30% at most1) of pewter plates would leach out upon contact with acidic foods. However, lead poisoning is not a quick process, but is a slow accumulation of toxins over time,2 and its effects would not have been associated with any one particular food.
 
Furthermore, the tomato -- which originated in South America and was evidently cultivated in Mexico long before the arrival of Europeans -- did not make an appearance in any European cuisine until it came to Spain in the early 16th century.
 
The Spanish and Italian peoples adopted it wholeheartedly into many recipies, and there are no known instances of any claims in either region that the fruit was poisonous.
 
However, in northern Europe, tomato plants remained purely decorative, and they were rarely seen in Britain at all in the sixteenth century. There was indeed a belief that the plant was poisonous, due in part to its resemblance to belladonna and deadly nightshade. As a member of the nightshade family, the tomato plant's roots and leaves contain the neurotoxin solanine, and thus are indeed poisonous.  This may explain the northern Europeans' reluctance to use its fruit, as well as the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the English to experiment with it.
 
Porridge (From the Hoax):
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while -hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."
 
The Facts:
In peasant cottages there was no kitchen in which to cook. The poorest families had only one room where they cooked, ate, worked and slept. It is also possible that most of these extremely poor families owned only one kettle.
 
Poor town-dwellers usually didn't even have that, and obtained most of their meals ready-made from shops and street vendors in the Medieval version of "fast-food."
 
Those who lived on the edge of starvation had to make use of every edible item they could find, and just about everything could go into the pot (often a footed kettle that rested in the fire rather than over it) for the evening meal.  This included beans, grains, vegetables and sometimes meat -- often bacon. Using a little meat in this manner would make it go farther as sustenance.
 
The resulting stew was called "pottage," and it was the basic element of the peasant diet. And yes, sometimes the remains of one day's cooking would be used in the next day's fare. (This is true in some modern "peasant stew" recipes.) But it was not common for food to remain there for nine days -- or for more than two or three days, for that matter. People living on the edge of starvation were not likely to leave food on their plates or in the pot.
 
Contaminating the carefully-gathered ingredients of a night's supper with rotting nine-day-old remains, thus risking illness, is even more unlikely.
 
What is likely is that leftovers from the evening meal were incorporated into a breakfast that would sustain the hard-working peasant family for much of the day.
 
The word "porridge" did not come into use until the 17th century.
 
Pork (From the Hoax):
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man "could bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."
 
The Facts:
Meat was indeed scarce for the poorest peasants, but the one type of meat they were most likely to have was meat they could preserve for an extended period. This was done by smoking, curing or salting. In medieval Europe, the most popular meat for smoking was pork.  Smoked and cured ham or bacon would be edible far longer than any other type of meat, and thus was a thrifty choice for a peasant on the edge of starvation.
 
Bacon was therefore no status symbol. Freshly-slaughtered meat was more of a special treat among peasants.
 
Bacon (and just about every other foodstuff that was stored indoors) was indeed hung from the rafters, but not for display. It was done simply to keep it off the floor, away from rats and other vermin.
 
The food situation was much different in the homes of well-to-do townfolk and castle-dwellers. The amount of food prepared on a daily basis in a castle kitchen was staggering, and included such items as ale, wine, bread, orchard fruits, wild fruits, wild nuts, onions, peas, beans, garden vegetables, fresh fish, dried fish, shellfish, beef, mutton, goose, wild game and -- yes! -- pork. This doesn't include the delicacies served on special occasions or to very great lords, such as lamb, veal, suckling pig, hedgehog or swan, or imported items like almonds, dates, oranges, raisins, figs, and pomegranates.
 
For these prosperous people and their households, "chewing the fat" was not a common pastime. Nor was it a phrase used in the sixteenth century. Informal sources indicate that both "bringing home the bacon" and "chewing the fat" originated in 19th-century North America, but currently I have no confirmation.
 
Bread (From the Hoax):
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."
 
The Facts:
This singularly ridiculous assertion appears to refer to households such as castles or manor houses where workers, families and guests must all be provided for, as opposed to single-family peasant dwellings or poor townfolk households. I wonder, but cannot discover, how large a loaf would have to be to feed dozens or even hundreds of people. And how much time would the serving staff waste cutting it up "according to status"?
 
The fact is that in castles and manor houses, bread was baked in manageable loaves and the individual loaves were distributed among the tables.
 
Generally, two kinds of bread were baked in the castle ovens: white bread used with meals, and coarser bread used for trenchers. Workers ate in a separate area of the dining hall from the lord and his family, and they may have received coarser bread than the finer variety provided to the nobles, or they too may have had white bread with their meals.
 
Peasants, who didn't have ovens in their homes, didn't always have bread with meals, but they could bring the loaves they had prepared to the village's communal oven.  There the baker would bake it for a fee, part of which would go to the lord. Peasant bread was usually coarse and brown. In towns, baking was an industry with guildmembers, shops, and varieties of breads at various prices.
 
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the phrase "upper crust" dates to the year 1836.
 
In conclusion, and that's the truth... (and whoever said that history was boring)
 
Life in the 1500s is far more complex and fascinating, and far less ridiculous, than the hoax suggests. The world was a very different place back then, but people -- foolish and sensible, filthy and clean, cruel and kind -- were in some ways quite like we are today.
 
©2007 About, Inc., A part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.
 

Davy Crockett's Death at the Alamo
At 5:00 A. M.on Sunday, March 6, 1836, the epic Battle of the Alamo began.  By 6:30 A. M. the battle was over.   
 
"It was but a small affair" Santa Ana reportedly said of the Alamo, but Texans tend to think of it as a bit larger affair, contrasting it to the Persians and Spartans at Thermopylae.
 
The storming of the Alamo was not so much a battle as a melee and a slaughter.  The Mexican dead and wounded numbered about 600.  Five or six prisoners were brought before the commanding general, Santa Ana.  He was furious that these men had been spared, even momentarily, and ordered them executed on the spot.  Among the captives was David Crockett.  Though tortured before they were killed, these unfortunates died without humiliating themselves before their torturers.
 
Santa Ana ordered the bodies of all the Texans burned.  The Mexican dead were either paced in trenches and covered over, or thrown into the San Antonio River.
 
Even the most Texan of Texas historians eventually abandoned the beloved image of Davy clubbing the enemy with his rifle "Old Betsy" until overwhelmed and killed in the heat of battle.
 
Most with an interest in the unvarnished truth agree that we do not need a rifle-swinging balm for our national psyche, and there is nothing dishonorable in the way Davy died at age 49.  The defenders of the Alamo died herically and David Crockett died as he lived - with courage.
 
Copyright 1997, by Dale L. Walker, "Legends and Lies, Great Mysteries of the American West"

Jesse James
Jesse James was the equivalent of a modern-day Robin Hood.  He stole from the rich and gave to the poor.  Robin Hood probably never really existed except in Middle English folklore.  Jesse James' role as Robin Hood is a similar myth.  There is no evidence that any of the loot Jesse stole was distributed anywhere except amoung his gang members.  Jesse James stole from the rich, and the poor, and kept all of the proceeds.
 
Copyright 1997, by Dale L. Walker, "Legends and Lies, Great Mysteries of the American West"

Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned
We all know the story of mad Emperor Nero starting the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, then fiddling while the city burned. However, this would have been impossible. For one thing, the violin wouldn't be invented for another 1,600 years. OK, some versions of the story suggest that he played a lute or a lyre - but then, scholars place the emperor in his villa at Antium, 30 miles away, when the fire began. Though he was innocent of this disaster, however, there is much evidence to show that he was ruthless and depraved.
 

The Telephone
Antonio Meucci invented the telephone, not Alexander Graham Bell.  On June 15, 2002, the United States Congress oficially recognized Meucci as the true inventor of the telephone.  Bell received the patent for a telephonic device mere hours before a patent for a similar device by an inventor named Elisha Gray was filed.  Bell most probably stole the idea for the telephone from designs and drawings by Antonio Meucci that were stored in the laboratory where Bell Worked.  The United States Supreme Court annulled Bell's patent in 1887 on the grounds of fraud and misrepresentation.  Between 1850 and 1862, Meucci developed at least 30 different models of working telephones.  He never profitted from his invention and died poor in 1889.
Excerpted from the book "American Firsts (Innovations, Discoveries, and Gadgets Born in the U.S.A.)", by Stephen J. Spignesi, ©2004 by Stephen J. Spignesi.  Used without permission, but with the best of intentions.
 

Betsy Ross and the First American Flag
by Jone Johnson Lewis & Elizabeth Griscom Ross Ashburn Claypoole
 
Betsy Ross made the first American flag after a visit in June 1776 by George Washington, Robert Morris, and her husband's uncle, George Ross. She demonstrated how to cut a 5-pointed star with a single clip of the scissors,if the fabric were folded correctly.
 
So the story goes -- but this story was not told until 1870 by Betsy's grandson, and then even he claimed it was a story that needed confirmation. Most scholars agree that it was not Betsy who made the first flag, though she was a flagmaker who, records show, was paid in 1777 by the Pennsylvania State Navy Board for making "ship's colours, &c."
 
She was born Elizabeth Griscom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Samuel and Rebecca James Griscom. She was the great-granddaughter of a carpenter, Andrew Griscom, who had arrived in New Jersey in 1680 from England.

Young Elizabeth probably attended Quaker schools and learned needlework there and at home. When she married John Ross, an Anglican, in 1773, she was expelled from the Friends Meeting for marrying outside the meeting. She eventually joined the Free Quakers, or "Fighting Quakers" because they did not adhere strictly to the historic pacifism of the sect. John and Elizabeth (Betsy) Ross began an upholstery business together, drawing on her needlework skills.

John was killed in January 1776 on militia duty when gunpowder exploded at the Philadelphia waterfront. Betsy acquired property and kept up the upholstery business, beginning to make flags for Pennsylvania as well.

In 1777 Betsy married Joseph Ashburn, a sailor, who had the misfortune of being on a ship captured by the British in 1781. He died in prison the next year.

In 1783, Betsy married again -- this time, her husband was John Claypoole, who had been in prison with Joseph Ashburn, and had met Betsy when he delivered Joseph's farewells to her. He died in 1817, after a long disability.

Betsy lived until 1836, dying on January 30. She was reburied in the Free Quaker Burying Ground in 1857.

When Betsy's grandson told his story of her involvement with the first flag, it quickly became legend. published in Harper's Monthly in 1873, by the mid-1880's the story was included in many school textbooks.

What made the story turn into legend so quickly? Probably three social trends helped:

  • changes in women's lives, and social recognition of such changes, made discovering a "founding mother" to stand alongside "founding fathers" attractive to American imagination. Betsy Ross was not only a widow making her own way in life with her young child -- widowed patriotically in the American Revolution not once, but twice -- but she was earning a living by a traditionally women's occupation: seamstress. (Notice that her abilities to buy and manage land never made it into her legend, and are ignored in many biographies.)
  • A growing patriotic fever connected with the American flag required a tale that was more than just a business transaction, such as the probably-true story of Francis Hopkinsin.
  • The growing advertising industry made the woman with a flag a popular image, used to sell a variety of products (even flags) - see a sample image at the right.

Ignoring many other stories of women's involvement in the American Revolution, Betsy Ross became a prominent character in the telling of the story of America's founding.

Today, a tour of Betsy Ross' home in Philadelphia (there is some doubt about its authenticity, too) is a "must-see" when visiting historical sites. The home, established with the aid of two million ten-cent contributions by American schoolchildren, is still an interesting and informative tour. One can begin to see what home life was like for families of the time, and to remember the disruption and inconvenience, even tragedy, that war brought to women as well as to men.

Even if she did not make the first flag -- even if the visit by George Washington never happened -- Betsy Ross was an example of what many women of her time found as the reality in time of war: widowhood, single motherhood, managing household and property independently, quick remarriage for economic reasons (and, we can hope, for companionship and even love, too).

Did Betsy Ross make the first flag or not? It seems unlikely that she did. The first person to tell the story was her grandson, many years after her death.

I've received emails telling me that I should not be "unpatriotic" by debunking this story, beloved of generations of schoolchildren and teachers.
 
But what's "unpatriotic" about telling the truth? Isn't history about trying to get to the truth behind the stories that people tell?
 
Betsy Ross was, indeed, a flagmaker, a successful businesswoman who transcended personal tragedy both during the American Revolution and after.
 
Like many women in times of war, she supported herself and her child, managing a household and a business, and making the best of the circumstances of her life.  What's unpatriotic about that, even if she didn't make the first American flag?
 
©2007 About, Inc., A part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.
 
 

Looking at Civil War Black History Myths
by Eddie L. Johnson
 
I've never been a big fan of Black History Month. While the intent is good, I'd like to see black history become a far more integral part of our national consciousness and educational system.
 
Relegating the celebration to the shortest month of the year gives short meaning to the many contributions African Americans have made to this nation.
 
The often stated myth, Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, is the first one I shall mention.

The Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect on Jan. 1, 1863, didn't free a single slave that Lincoln was in a position to set free. It ordered the release of slaves in "any state or designated state" that was in rebellion against the federal government. Even worse, Lincoln exempted from his order slaves held in parts of the south that were under control of the Union Army. He excluded 48 counties of Virginia that would later become West Virginia. His order also left enslaved Africans Americans in New Orleans and twelve Louisiana parishes, as well as slaves in Portsmouth and Norfolk, Virginia, and seven surrounding counties occupied by Union forces.

Slavery was actually ended on Dec. 18, 1865, eight months after Lincoln's assassination, when the Constitution's 13th Amendment was ratified.

The second greatest myth about slavery is entitled "The Reason for the Civil War."  The Civil War was fought over states' rights, not slavery.  In his famous speech, Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens acknowledged the central role slavery played in the Civil War. "Our government is founded upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man, and that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition."
 
Stephen was no off the wall loose cannon. He helped draft the Confederate Constitution, and his words were backed up by a section of the document, which forbade the Confederate Congress from enacting any law "denying or impairing" the right of white to own slaves.
 
© 1995-2007 Ottaway Newspapers, Inc., the Local Media Group of Dow Jones.
Any reproduction for other than personal use will be considered a violation of copyright.

8 Myths About Ancient History
by N. S. Gill
 
It's a little harder to prove that myths about ancient history are false than it is to disprove myths about more modern eras, but the prevailing opinion is that the following ideas are wrong.
 
The following ideas about ancient history might more properly be called "urban legends" to signify that they are mostly modern ideas about ancient history. In addition to the following, there are also plenty of myths, especially about origins, that were woven into the stories the ancients told as history.
 
1) Caesar Was Born by Caesarean Section
The idea that Julius Caesar was born by Caesarean Section is old, but since Caesar's mother, Aurelia, was involved in his upbringing, and the surgical techniques of the 1st (or 2nd) century B.C. should have left her dead, it is unlikely that the story about Caesar's birth by C-section is true.
 
2) Judaism Borrowed Monotheism From Akhenaten
Akhenatenwas an Egyptian pharaoh who put aside the traditional Egyptian pantheon of gods in favor of his own sun god, Aten. He did not deny the existence of other gods, as a monotheist would have, but held his god above the others, as a henotheist.
 
The date of Akhenaten may make it impossible for the Hebrews to have borrowed from him, since their monotheism could have preceded Akhenaten's birth or followed the return of traditional Egyptian religion.
 
3) Jesus Was Born on December 25th
We don't even know for sure what year Jesus was born, but references in the Gospels suggest Jesus was born in the spring. The god Mithras was born of a virgin on the winter solstice and was known as the light of the world. It is likely that aspects of the worship of Mithras were adopted by early Christians.
 
4) Latin is the Most Logical Language and Superior to Others
This is a hard one for me since I tend to buy into this myth, but Latin is not any more logical than any other language. However, our grammar rules were based on the grammar of Latin. Since English is, but should not be put into a Latinate mold, English comes out looking awkward. The specialized vocabularies we use in areas like law, medicine, and logic, tend to be Latin-based, too, which makes Latin seem superior.
 
5) Caesar Said "Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword."
The quote is anachronistic in detail and spirit. There were no drums and all swords were double-edged. The idea that citizenry needed to be persuaded of the value of war is not from the first century B.C.
 
6) Atlantis
Atlantis was used as a parable by Plato and possibly mentioned by Solon of Athens. Whether there might possibly have been a real lost continent of Atlantis or not remains open to debate, mostly among non-academics.
 
7) Thumbs Up! - End of a Fight Between Gladiators
It is believed that when the person in charge of a gladiatorial event wanted one of the gladiators to be finished off, he turned his thumb down and that when he wanted the gladiator to live, he pointed his thumb up. The editor's gesture signifying that a gladiator should be killed is not exactly thumbs down, but thumbs turned. This motion is thought to represent the movement of a sword.
 
8) Amazons
The Amazons were probably not the one-breasted man-haters we think of when we hear the word. They are more likely to have been fully-breasted Scythian horse-riding warriors, judging from artwork, although Strabo does write that their right breasts were seared off in infancy.
 
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Historical Myth: The 300 Who Held Thermopylae
by Robert Wilde
 
The Myth:
The narrow pass of Thermopylae was held for three days against a vast Persian army by just 300 Spartans, 299 of which perished.
 
The Truth:
Although there were 300 Spartans present at the defence of Thermopylae, there were at least 4000 allies involved on the first two days and 1500 men involved in the fatal last stand. Still a tiny figure compared to the forces against them, but more than the legend which forgets some contributors.
 
The Background:
Having raised a vast army operating on the limits of supply and command √ perhaps 100,000 strong √ the Persian King Xerxes invaded Greece in 480 BCE intent on adding the city states to an Empire which already spanned three continents. The Greeks responded by putting aside traditionally enmity, allying and identifying a place to check the Persian advance: the land pass of Thermopylae, already fortified, was just forty miles away from a narrow sea strait between Euboea and the mainland.
 
Here smaller Greek forces could block the armies and fleet of the Persians at the same time and hopefully protect Greece itself.
 
The Spartans, a brutal people with arguably the most militaristic culture in history (Spartans could only reach manhood once they'd killed a slave) agreed to defend Thermopylae. However, this agreement was given in the first half of 480 and, as the Persians advanced proceeded inorexibly but leisurely, months passed. By the time Xerxes had reached Mount Olympus it was August.
 
This was a bad time for the Spartans, for they were to hold both their Olympics and Carneia. To miss either was to offend the Gods, something the Spartans cared passionately about. A compromise was needed between sending a full army and keeping their divine favour: an advance guard of 300 Spartans, led by King Leonidas would go. Instead of taking the Hippeis, his 300 strong bodyguard of the best young men, Leonidas departed with 300 veterans.
 
The (4)300:
There was a little more to the compromise. The Spartan 300 weren't supposed to be holding the pass by themselves; instead their absent army would be replaced by troops from other states. 700 came from Thespiae, 400 from Thebes. The Spartans themselves brought 300 Helots, basically slaves, to assist. At least 4300 men occupied the pass of Thermopylae to fight.
 
Thermopylae:
The Persian army did indeed arrive at Thermopylae and, after their offer of free passage to the Greek defenders was refused, they attacked on the fifth day. For forty-eight hours the defenders of Thermopylae held out, defeating not just the poorly trained levies sent to dull them, but the Immortals, the Persian elite. Unfortunately for the Greeks, Thermopylae held a secret: a small pass by which the main defences could be outflanked. On the sixth night, the second of the battle, the Immortals followed this path, brushed aside the small guard and prepared to catch the Greeks in a pincer.
 
The 1500:
King Leonidas, undisputed head of the Greek defenders, was made aware of this pincer by a runner. Unwilling to sacrifice the entire army, but determined to keep the Spartan promise to defend Thermopylae, or perhaps just act as a rearguard, he ordered everyone bar his Spartans and their Helots to retreat. Many did, but the Thebans and Thespians stayed (the former possibly because Leonidas insisted they stay as hostages). When battle commenced the next day there were 1500 Greeks left, including 298 Spartans (two having been sent on missions). Caught between the main Persian army and 10,000 men to their rear, all were involved in fighting and wiped out. Only Thebans who surrendered remained.
 
Legends:
It is entirely possible the above account contains other myths. Historians have suggested the full force of Greeks may have been as high as 8000 to begin with or that the 1500 only stayed put on the third day after being trapped by the Immortals. The Spartans may have only sent 300, not because of the Olympics or Carneia, but because they didn't wish to defend so far north, although it does seem unusual they would have sent a King, if so.
 
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