Rebecca Brand August 1st

Kimberly Gilliland  August 2nd

Rebecca Woods   August 5th

Kathryn Hall   August 16th

Ellis Henry Townsend   August 27th

Women’s Issue.....Give your Brain a Workout!
By the time you’ve reached adulthood, your brain has developed millions of neural
pathways that help you process information quickly, solve familiar problems, and execute familiar tasks with a minimum of mental effort. But if you always stick to these well-worn paths, you aren’t giving your brain the stimulation it needs to keep growing and developing. You have to shake things up from time to time!
Memory, like muscular strength, requires you to “use it or lose it.” The more you work out your brain, the better you’ll be able to process and remember information. The best brain exercising activities break your routine and challenge you to use and develop new brain pathways. The activity can be virtually anything, so long as it meets the following three criteria:

1. It’s new. No matter how intellectually demanding the activity, if it’s something you’re already good at doing, it’s not a good brain exercise. The activity needs to be something that’s unfamiliar and out of your comfort zone.
   
2. It’s challenging. Anything that takes some mental effort and expands your knowledge will work. Examples include learning a new language, instrument, or sport, or tackling a challenging crossword or Sudoku puzzle.
   
3. It’s fun. The more interested and engaged you are in the activity, the more likely you’ll be to continue doing it and the greater the benefits you’ll experience. The activity should be challenging, yes, but not so difficult or unpleasant that you dread doing it. 
   
   
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   Ancestral Tidbit......
   Robert Sloan, Private, N.C. Militia, Pension # s 7523
   On 27 Nov 1832 in court before Justices Archibald Maxwell, John Farrine and Hogan Hunter, appeared Robert Sloan, age 81, who being duly sworn, deposes and says that he enlisted under Col. Lillington, Capt. James Love, Lieut. David Cannon, Ensign John McCann and Sgt. Stephen Cade in January 1775 or 1776, and left the service in April or May 1776.
   That he was in the battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge in Feb 1776, that they rendezvoused at Duplin Old Courthouse and marched to Rockfish Creek below Cross Creek about 7 miles in Cumberland County to Elizabethton (Elizabethtown) in Bladen County, that they went down the Cape Fear in a boat to Black River, and thence up Black River to Moore’s Creek.
   That next they marched to Long Creek Bridge where an express was received from Col. Caswell directing them to march back to Moore’s Creek Bridge and help make entrenchments, that another express was received directing the to march higher up to Black River and reinforce Caswell, that this order was countermanded and they were instructed to march back to Moore’s Creek, that the night before the battle he was with a regiment at Rockfish in Cumberland County under Gen. Moore, that he (Sloan) knew Joseph Rhodes, John Walker, Curtis Ivey and Col. Malmaday (Malmedy), a Frenchman.
   
   After the battle, they marched to Wilmington. Then Robert Sloan was furloughed home for 10 days.
   He returned to Wilmington and then went to Brunswick County to Lockwood’s Folly, then back to Wilmington. He stated that he could prove this tour of service by James Wallace.
   Sloan entered the service again under Capt. Isham Sheffield and Lieut. Barnett Brock. The regiment was commanded by Col. James Kenan and Col. Thomas Rutledge. The time was spring or early summer. He was marched to Wilmington, Jumping Run and over into Brunswick County. He was in no battles during this tour.
   He served another tour under Capt. Charlie Ward, Lieut. Charles Brown and Sgt. Caleb Quinn and under the overall command of Col. James Kenan. This was in the fall of 1779-80. He was in a skirmish at Big Bridge in New Hanover County. The Americans were stationed at the N.W. side of the river where they came under heavy pressure and retreated.
   The applicant served another term under Capts. James Gillespie and James Pearsall, Lieut. Samuel Houston and Ensign Henry Stokes. This was under the overall command of James Kenan and started in June or July 1780. He was not in the battle that followed because he had gotten 5 days leave to go home and hill out his corn. When he returned to Rockfish, he found that the enemy had gone to Wilmington. He camped along with other members of his unit at Rockfish for the remainder of this tour.
   Sloan served another tour in 1781 under the same officers as in his previous tour. They were stationed at the Big Bridge above Wilmington when Col. Malmaday told him (Sloan) that Cornwallis and his army was marching from Wilmington towards the Bridge and was admonished by him to carry off the artillery and magazines. He was commanded by Col. Lillington to take a detachment and bring the artillery and magazines up the river in boats to Limestone Bridge. He got as far as Isham Sheffield’s landing where he guarded the equipment until it was sent for by the army at Kingston. Then his unit marched back to the Big Bridge. Sloan can prove this tour by Hugh McCann. Signed Robert Sloan, his x mark.
   Robert Sloan was born 1752 near Belfast, County Down, Ireland, and the record of his age is written on a paper in the possession of John Green.
   Robert Sloan lived only in Duplin and New Hanover Counties.
   He cites for references Hugh McCann, John McKane, David Quinn, Rev. Gibson Sloan, Osborn Carr and William Carr.
   Deposition of John McCann Sr and Peter Carlton, clergyman, as to the character of Robert Sloan.
   William Carr, age 78 last May, served with Robert Sloan under Capt. James Love. Signed William Carr, his x mark.
   Pension # s 7523 was granted under the Act of 6 April 1838, at $60 per annum. It was sent to the Honorable James McKay, Elizabeth, N.C. Robert received a total pension of $150.00
   Those that used Robert Sloan as their patriot were: Thelma Mallard and Ruth Hearn Eakins. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Rebecca Brand August 1st

Kimberly Gilliland  August 2nd

Rebecca Woods   August 5th

Kathryn Hall   August 16th

Ellis Henry Townsend   August 27th

Women’s Issue.....Give your Brain a Workout!
By the time you’ve reached adulthood, your brain has developed millions of neural
pathways that help you process information quickly, solve familiar problems, and execute familiar tasks with a minimum of mental effort. But if you always stick to these well-worn paths, you aren’t giving your brain the stimulation it needs to keep growing and developing. You have to shake things up from time to time!
Memory, like muscular strength, requires you to “use it or lose it.” The more you work out your brain, the better you’ll be able to process and remember information. The best brain exercising activities break your routine and challenge you to use and develop new brain pathways. The activity can be virtually anything, so long as it meets the following three criteria:

1. It’s new. No matter how intellectually demanding the activity, if it’s something you’re already good at doing, it’s not a good brain exercise. The activity needs to be something that’s unfamiliar and out of your comfort zone.
   
2. It’s challenging. Anything that takes some mental effort and expands your knowledge will work. Examples include learning a new language, instrument, or sport, or tackling a challenging crossword or Sudoku puzzle.
   
3. It’s fun. The more interested and engaged you are in the activity, the more likely you’ll be to continue doing it and the greater the benefits you’ll experience. The activity should be challenging, yes, but not so difficult or unpleasant that you dread doing it. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   On July 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies claimed their independence from England, an event which eventually led to the formation of the United States. Each year on July 4th, also known as Independence Day, Americans celebrate this historic event.
   

   Conflict between the colonies and England was already a year old when the colonies
   

   convened a Continental Congress in Philadelphia in the summer of 1776. In a June 7 session in the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall), Richard Henry Lee of Virginia presented a resolution with the famous words: "Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."
   Lee's words were the impetus for the drafting of a formal Declaration of Independence,
   

   although the resolution was not followed up on immediately. On June 11, consideration of the resolution was postponed by a vote of seven colonies to five, with New York abstaining. However, a Committee of Five was appointed to draft a statement presenting to the world the colonies' case for independence. Members of the Committee included John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert R. Livingston of New York and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. The task of drafting the actual document fell on Jefferson.
   
   
   
   On July 1, 1776, the Continental Congress reconvened, and on the following day, the Lee Resolution for independence was adopted by 12 of the 13 colonies, New York not voting. Discussions of Jefferson's Declaration of Independence resulted in some minor changes, but the spirit of the document was unchanged. The process of revision continued through all of July 3 and into the late afternoon of July 4, when the Declaration was officially adopted. Of the 13 colonies, nine voted in favor of the Declaration, two -- Pennsylvania and South Carolina -- voted No, Delaware was undecided and New York abstained. John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, signed the Declaration of Independence. It is said that John Hancock's signed his name "with a great flourish" so England's "King George can read that without spectacles!"
   

   Today, the original copy of the Declaration is housed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and July 4 has been designated a national holiday to commemorate the day the United States laid down its claim to be a free and independent nation. 
   

                                                    

Gail Tucker                July 3rd

Margaret McPherson   July 16th

Joan Sutton                  July 16th

Pamela Bradshaw        July 31st

Did You Know?
Among the original thirteen colonies, North Carolina was the first to vote for independence from England. North Carolina became the first colony to declare its complete independence from Britain in 1776 in the document entitled the Halifax Resolves, drawn up after the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge.

Ten Facts about Washington and the Revolutionary War
From the Internet
Despite having little experience in commanding large, conventional military forces, Washington’s strong leadership presence and fortitude held the American military together long enough to secure victory at Yorktown and independence for his new nation.
1. Washington was appointed commander of the Continental Army on June 14, 1775. He would not return to Mount Vernon until 6 years later.
On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress, responding to the growing crisis near Boston, directed that one of its own constituents – George Washington – take command of the newly designated Continental Army. Not only did Washington have the most military experience amongst the Congressional delegates, but as John Adams pointed out there were also great political advantages in having a someone outside of New England take command of a military force that was congregated around Boston and largely made up of New Englanders.
           

Arriving shortly after the conclusion of the Battle of Bunker Hill, Washington moved swiftly to assume command of the ragtag forces surrounding besieging the British garrison within the city of Boston.   What Washington did not realize at the time was that it would be six long years of battle, marching, siege, crises, and winter encampments before Washington had an opportunity to return to his beloved Mount Vernon. In September 1781, as the combined American and French forces made their way down to Yorktown, Virginia, Washington was able to make a brief visit to his home along the Potomac River. During this visit Washington and Rochambeau refined their plan for defeating Charles Cornwallis’ forces trapped on the York Peninsula.

2. Prior to his appointment as head of the Continental Army, Washington had never commanded a large army in the field
George Washington was but one of only a handful of candidates considered by the Second Continental Congress who possessed any significant military experience. But by European standards Washington’s experience in commanding large conventional armies was non-existent.      

Leading up to the French & Indian War, Washington had ably commanded the Virginia Regiment, but this provincial military unit never had more than 2,000 men in its ranks. In 1754 Washington commanded roughly 100 regulars and 300 militia at the ill-fated Battle of Fort Necessity.

Despite this seeming lack of experience in managing large army formations, Washington brought a number of strengths to his new position as commander of the Continental Army. Washington had learned many important command principles from the British regular officers that he marched with during the French & Indian War and British army manuals that he studied. He also witnessed, firsthand, how vulnerable British formations could be in the rough, timbered frontier land that predominated in North America. His verve, impressive physical presence, and command instincts helped to hold together an ill-equipped force that outlasted his more experienced opponents. And as Benjamin Franklin would famously state, “[a]n American planter, who had never seen Europe, was chosen by us to Command our Troops, and continued during the whole War. This man sent home to you, one after another, five of your best generals, baffled, their Heads bare of Laurels, disgraced even in the Opinion of their Employers.”
So much for conventional experience.

3. Washington and the Continental army narrowly escaped total destruction in the New York campaign of 1776
Unlike the successful Siege of Boston, the efforts to defend the city of New York ended in near disaster for the Continental Army and the cause of independence. In what proved to be the largest battle of the Revolutionary War in terms of total combatants, Washington’s forces on August 22, 1776 were flanked out of their positions atop the Gowanus Heights (part of today’s modern Brooklyn) and soundly defeated by William Howe's roughly 20,000 man force on Long Island.
Confronted by a powerful British army to his front and the
East River to his back, Washington rapidly formulated a risky plan
to save his threatened army atop Brooklyn Heights. With the
constant threat that the Royal Navy would enter the East River and
block his avenue of retreat, Washington ordered that all available
flatboats be brought down to his position so that the army could be
moved to nearby Manhattan on the night of August 29-30, 1776. Aided by a providential fog that hid the evacuation, Washington was able to successfully move all 9,000 of his troops to Manhattan without losing a man – a remarkable military feat that astounded his British enemy. 

As the New York campaign progressed, Washington’s forces were subsequently defeated at the Battle of White Plains on October 28, 1776 and later at Fort Washington on November 16, 1776. The debacle at Fort Washington cost the Americans 59 killed and another 2,837 captured. Chased from New York, Washington’s fractured and demoralized army retreated all the way across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania.
It was during these dark days at the close of 1776 that Thomas Paine’s words from the recently published American Crisis rang most true - “These are the times that try men’s souls...the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

4. Washington crossed the Delaware River twice in December 1776
Washington’s great triumph against the Hessian forces at Trenton on the December 26, 1776 is one of the best known episodes of the Revolutionary War. (Map: Battle of Trenton) Fearing a counterattack by British regulars, Washington hustled his tired warriors and frozen Hessian captives back to the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River.
Would this single victory over a Hessian garrison be enough to sustain the morale and inspiration of the beleaguered Patriot cause? Encouraged by reports of the enemies’ general confusion in New Jersey and a successful campaign to extend the enlistments of many soldiers ready in his ranks, Washington decided to seize the initiative once more. Determined to expand upon his initial success Washington shuttled his army and artillery back across the frozen Delaware on December 30, 1776 and into a strong position along the Assunpink Creek outside of Trenton. It was here that Washington awaited the arrival of Gen. Charles Cornwallis’ force of 8,000 Redcoats and Hessians.
Disdaining any complicated maneuvers, a confident Cornwallis ordered three successive frontal assaults on January 2, 1777 by his Hessian grenadiers and British Regulars. Each attack across the narrow Assunpink bridges and fords was driven back with heavy loss of life. The casualties were so heavy that one soldier remarked that the bridge to his front “looked red as blood, with their killed and wounded and their red coats.” (Map: Battle of Second Trenton)
With the rapid onset of an early winter’s eve, Cornwallis ordered a cessation of offensive actions. Certain of a victory the following day, the British general boasted that “we've got the old fox safe now. We'll go over and bag him in the morning." Unfortunately for Cornwallis, the morning sun that illuminated the empty American camps proved that the “old fox” was gone. Washington during the night had stolen a march and had marched his army north to Princeton where the Americans proved victorious once more on January 3, 1777 (Map: Battle of Princeton).
The victories at Trenton and Princeton, not only helped bolster the morale of the American army and encourage recruitment, but these bold actions also greatly impressed the French who were actively weighing their involvement in the war.

5. Washington’s smallpox inoculation program was one of his best decisions of the war
Up until modern times, disease, not bullets, bayonets, or cannon fire, had been the great killer of soldiers in all armies. In 1775, smallpox had so devastated the American army in Canada that John Adams bemoaned that “...smallpox is ten times more terrible than the British, Canadians and Indians together.”  Having survived his own bout with the smallpox in 1751, Washington was altogether familiar with how disease could rob the cause of a viable army. Not only would smallpox kill off soldiers in the ranks, but the threat of infection also scared away many of the recruits that Washington’s army depended upon.  Starting during the winter of 1777 in Morristown, New Jersey, Washington took the bold and controversial move to have soldiers in his army inoculated against smallpox infection using a technique called variolation. Later during the winter encampment at Valley Forge, Washington went even further, demanding that his entire army be inoculated – an action that required great secrecy since inoculated soldiers were incapacitated for a period of time. By some reports, death by smallpox in the ranks dropped from 17% of all deaths to a low of 1% of all reported deaths – a tremendous reduction.  Historian Elizabeth Fenn, author of Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775- 1782, claims that “Washington's unheralded and little-recognized resolution to inoculate the Continental forces must surely rank with the most important decisions of the war..."

6. Supply issues became one of Washington’s greatest challenges
One of the oldest of military adages is that amateurs study tactics while professional warriors study logistics. As with all military campaigns, providing for the vast material needs of an army in the field requires a focus on organization and effective supply management. Unfortunately for Washington and the Continental Army, a poor supply chain became a chronic issue that negatively impacted combat effectiveness. Biographer Ron Chernow states that “[s]eldom in
history has a general been handicapped by such constantly crippling conditions...He repeatedly had to exhort Congress and the thirteen states to remedy desperate shortages of men, shoes, shirts, blankets, and gunpowder. This meant dealing with selfish, apathetic states and bureaucratic incompetence in Congress. He labored under a terrible strain that would have destroyed a lesser man.”  Nowhere were supply troubles more evident and onerous than during the Valley Forge winter encampment of 1777-1778. Rather than snow and frigid temperatures, it was actually the rainy, temperate weather at Valley Forge that turned the surrounding roads to mud, further hindering an already tenuous supply network.

Local farmers were more likely to send their foodstuffs and supplies to the nearby British who had hard currency to offer in return. The Continental Army by comparison could only offer payment in greatly devalued paper currency or through IOUs. Washington became so concerned over the poor state of supply that he appointed Gen. Nathanael Greene as his new quartermaster. Greene, who was initially concerned about taking this thankless job, overhauled the inefficient supply system and greatly improved the state of the Continental Army through his efforts.

7. Mount Vernon escaped destruction in 1781, but the method used to gain its security alarmed Washington
In April of 1781 the British sloop of war HMS Savage anchored menacingly in the Potomac River near George Washington’s plantation home at Mount Vernon. The Savage, under the command of Captain Thomas Graves, had been raiding up and down the Potomac and now demanded that the General’s estate provide the sloop with “a large supply of provisions.” If the order to provide supplies was actively resisted, Mount Vernon was likely to have been put to the torch as other nearby plantation homes had been.
While the Savage was anchored close to shore, seventeen intrepid Mount Vernon slaves made their way down to the ship and gained their freedom as they arrived on the warship’s deck. Lund Washington, George Washington’s distant cousin and estate manager, first thought to resist this ultimatum per his master’s instruction, but later agreed to provide sheep, hogs, and “an abundant supply of other articles” to the Savage, partially in an attempt to win back the escaped slaves. Captain Graves gladly accepted the supplies, spared the plantation, and refused to return the slaves.
Washington, once he learned of Lund’s decision to provide supplies to the enemy, was incensed. From his headquarters in New Windsor, New York, he wrote Lund and dismissed any significant concern over the escaped slaves, but noted that “It would have been a less painful circumstance to me, to have heard, that in consequence of your non-compliance with [the HMS Savage’s request], they had burnt my House, and laid the Plantation in ruins.”

8. Prior to its decisive victory at Yorktown, the American military teetered upon total collapse
Years of rampant military spending, economic mismanagement, and hyperinflation fueled by a successful British campaign to flood the colonies with counterfeit paper money had left the American financial coffers bare. Washington, in a letter to John Laurens in France, declared in January 1781 that he could not even pay the teamsters that were required to bring supplies to his troops. A gloomy and frustrated Washington admitted that “we are at the end of our tether, and

that now or never our deliverance must come.” French setbacks in Rhode Island, news of British successes in the Southern theater, and intelligence reports indicating a possible French exit in 1781 all added to the sense of impending defeat.
In late May 1781 Washington’s situation and the fate of the American cause began to rapidly improve. Comte de Rochambeau, the commander of the French troops in America, informed Washington that France had made a 6,000,000 livres gift to the Continental Army. But it was the news that Rochambeau did not initially share with Washington that made an even bigger impact. The French fleet, now operating in strength in North American waters, had been secretly directed to the Chesapeake and a real opportunity to defeat Cornwallis’ force now
existed. Washington, who had been stubbornly
fixated on attacking the British base at New York
City, rallied to Rochambeau’s plan and moved his
army south to Virginia. On September 5, 1781 the
French fleet under the command of Admiral de
Grasse drove off the British fleet sent to relieve
Cornwallis. The trap was now set. The siege of
Yorktown began on September 28, 1781 and
ended with a Franco-American victory on October
19, 1781 – the decisive battle of the Revolutionary
War.

9. Washington deftly put down a growing military rebellion
Despite having achieved a decisive victory at the Battle of Yorktown in October of 1781, threats to the Patriotic cause continued. In March of 1783, a growing number of American military officers, discouraged by lack of regular pay and ongoing financial support, began to openly discuss options that included a wanton disbandment of the army or possibly even a military show of force pointed directly at Congress.  Washington, who learned of the “Newburgh Conspiracy” through a printed camp circular, appeared at a March 15, 1783 meeting and challenged the gathered group of officers. “My God! What can this writer have in view, by recommending such measures! Can he be a friend to the army? Can he be a friend to this country? Rather is he not an insidious foe?” Towards the end of his address, Washington reached into his pocket to retrieve a pair of spectacles and in a theatrical gesture remarked that “...I have not only grown gray, but almost blind in service to my country.” This display of self-sacrifice from their longstanding leader deeply affected many of the officers who in turn abandoned their treasonous thoughts and returned the obvious affection of their leader.

10.Washington’s greatest display of power was his surrender of power
On December 23, 1783, Washington strode into the statehouse at Annapolis, Maryland and surrendered his military commission to a grateful Congress. In front of the gathered congressmen, Washington declared, “Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from

the great theatre of Action—and bidding an Affectionate farewell to this August body under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my Commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life.”  History is filled with example after example of military commanders seizing political power during times of revolution – Julius Caesar, Oliver Cromwell, Napoleon Bonaparte, Mao Zedong, and Muammar Gaddaffi are just some of the better known examples. We take it for granted today that the United States Armed Forces are subordinated to civilian rule, but in the 18th century it was far from certain that any general would simply surrender power to a civilian authority.
But for George Washington, civilian control of the military was a core part of his beliefs. Washington’s resignation signaled to the world and the American people that this new nation would be founded on different principles.  An astonished King George III, when he learned of Washington’s intention to peaceably surrender his commission, uttered that “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”

                                 

Luanne Johnson         June 23rd

Diane Minshew         June 25th

MEMORIAL DAY
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of the United States of America. Over two dozen cities and towns claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. While Waterloo, N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day.
Regardless of the exact date or
location of its origins, one thing is clear –
Memorial Day was borne out of the Civil War and a desire to honor our dead. It was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed. The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.
On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.
The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war).
It is now observed in almost every state on the last Monday in May with Congressional passage of the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90-363). This helped ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays, though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead; January 19th in Texas; April 26th in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10th in South Carolina; and June 3rd (Jefferson Davis’ birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee. 

A Quote:
And we love to dance, especially that new one called the Civil War Twist. The Northern part of you stands still while the Southern part tries to secede. – Dick Gregory 

RED POPPIES
In 1915, inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields,” Moina Michael replied with her own poem:

We cherish too, the Poppy red That grows on fields where valor led; It seems to signal to the skies That blood of heroes never dies.

She then conceived of an idea to wear poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going to benefit servicemen in need. Later a Madam Guerin from France was visiting the United States and learned of this new custom started by Ms. Michael. When she returned to France she made artifical red poppies to raise money for war orphaned children and widowed women. This tradition spread to other countries. In 1921, the Franco-American Children’s League sold poppies nationally to benefit war orphans of France and Belgium. The League disbanded a year later and Madam Guerin approached the VFW for help.
Shortly before Memorial Day in 1922 the VFW became the first veterans’ organization to nationally sell poppies. Two years later their “Buddy” Poppy program was selling artificial poppies made by disabled veterans. In 1948 the US Post Office honored Ms. Michael for her role in founding the National Poppy movement by issuing a red 3 cent postage stamp with her likeness on it. 

Cynthia Davis       May 20th

Erin Delivery     May 28th

Women’s Issue.... Cold-Killing Hot Toddies
Granny was right. Hot toddies really can ward off a cold or flu, says Martha Howard, medical director of Wellness Associates in Chicago. Brew up a potent virus fighter by simply stirring the juice of a lemon & honey to taste into a mugful of boiling water. Next, add 2 teaspoons of elderberry syrup that you get at a health food store. The toddy’s hot steam & liquid help clear your head; the lemon clears stuffiness and gives you some vitamin C; and the antiviral and antibacterial honey also soothes your throat. Elderberry syrup is a proven treatment for flus and colds and practically guarantees shortening recovery time by up to four days. If you like your toddies a bit more spirited, add just a jigger of whiskey, rum, bourbon, or brandy a few hours before bedtime. The alcohol acts as a mild sedative and may even help you sweat out the cold.

HISTORICAL TREES IN AMERICA
Trees have ever been a factor in life’s history; they preserve historical events, and are now the only living links between us and the remote past, about which memories cluster like trailing vines. The historic trees left are not numerous, and, therefore, are more precious; they are patriarchs in the society of the vegetable kingdom, receiving the homage of many. With what mute eloquence do they address us; with what pathos do the trees of Olive tell the beautiful life and sublime death of the One we worship! How the trees of Lebanon talk of Solomon and the Temple at Jerusalem! The presence of these green robed senators of mighty woods stirs a spirit of reverence in the human soul. The groves were God’s first temples.
In our country and in our own land, there have been and still are ancient trees intimately connected with our history as colonists, as a nation, which command the interest of every American. Probably the most ancient of these living links with the past, was the Big Tree that stood on the banks of the Genessee River, near the Village of Geneseo, New York. When white man first saw the tree it was revered by the Senecas that named the beautiful village “Big Tree.” This tree was an oak; its age was more than a thousand years. In 1857, there was little left but its mighty trunk. A vigorous elm had clasped one of its decayed branches robbed of its sustenance hour by hour, while twining its young branches lovingly among the gnarled ones of the patriarch, drew from it its life blood. During a great flood in 1857, these two trees were swept away and buried in the bosom of Lake Ontario. 

In the summer of 1682, a small vessel, “The Welcome”, sailed from England with William Penn and a company of Quakers for the shores of the Delaware Bay. The settlers received him with great joy when he landed. “It is the best day we have ever seen”, said the Swedes.
After making arrangements with the colonists, Penn proceeded up the river. There on the bank, under the wide spreading but leafless branches of the Elm of Penn’s Treaty Tree, the treaty was made with the Indians, not for their lands, but for peace and friendship. “We meet”, said Penn, “in the broad pathway of good faith and good will. No advantages shall be taken of either side; all shall be openness and love. I will not call you children, for parents sometimes chide their children too severely—nor brothers, for brothers differ; the friendship between you and me, I will not compare to a chain, for that might rust or break—we are one body, one flesh, one blood.” The children of the forest were delighted with this new doctrine, so different from the Puritans and Cavaliers, of which they had heard and said, “We will live in love with William Penn and his children as long as the moon and sun shall endure”, and this was the only treaty between those nations and the Christians that was never sworn to, and never broken. 

   “HISTORIC TREES IN AMERICA”

NEW YORK: - - - - - - - - - -The Big Tree, The Stuyvesant Pear Tree, Gates Weeping Willow, 
James McCrea, Arnolds Willow Tree

CONNECTICUT- - - - - - - - The Charter Oak

MASSACHUSETTS- - - - - The Washington Elm, The Tory Tulip Tree

KENTUCKY- - - - - - - - - -  Beech Tree with D. Boone and Dates 1784-1800

SOUTH CAROLINA- - - - -The Magnolia Council Tree

INDIANA- - - - - - - - - - - - -The Miami Apple Tree

LONG ISLAND- - - - - - - - -The Fox Oak 

MARYLAND- - - - - - - - - -  A Tulip Poplar- called "Old Liberty Tree"

VIRGINIA- - - - - - - - - - - -  The Apple Tree at Appomattox

LOUISIANA- - - - - - - - - -  The Stately Pecan Tree

GEORGIA- - - - - - - - - - - - The Tree that Owns Itself

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA- The Cameron Elm and the Memorial Trees 
planted at the Tomb of Washington. 

Happy Birthday!!

Ellen Newbold        April 5th 

Centelle Harrison   April 19th

Candis Smith          April 28th

Did You Know?
It’s the biggest
Quick, what’s the largest county by land in North Carolina? Why, it’s Robeson coming in at 949 square miles. The county was named after Col. Thomas Robeson, a Revolutionary War hero. 

Happy Birthday!!

Ellen Newbold           April 5th

Centelle Harrison       April 19th

Flag Note...

When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a
wall, the union should be uppermost and to the Flag’s own right, that is, to the observer’s left. When displayed in a window, the Flag should be displayed in the same way, with the union or blue field to the left of the observer in the street. 

St. Patrick’s Day and The American Revolution

(from the internet)
       The American Revolutionary War, as it involved Irish American immigrants, was almost a civil war in nature, as Irish soldiers fought both for the American Continental Army and for the British. Infused with the spirit of independence, large numbers of Irish fought for the freedom promised by a new beginning with a government based on individual rights not yet known in the old world. In many ways, this spirit and the actions taken across the Atlantic from the Old Sod, were precursors to the battles yet to be fought for rights of independence for Ireland itself, and eventually for Northern Ireland.
       Following the War of Independence, Irish Americans displayed their fervor for the new nation in celebration, and in parades, not only on 17 March for St. Patrick’s Day, but also on in fourth of July parades honoring the new nation.
       Many Irish did more than just take up muskets to aide the new nation, many also participated in the formulation of the new government. Thomas McKean, for example, whose parents came from Ireland to American as young children, was the 8th President of the Continental Congress and a
signer of the Declaration of Independence. Three other signers were born in Ireland: Matthew Thornton, George Taylor and James Smith.
       It was in the mid-1790’s that the Charitable Irish Society of Boston began again, after several decades, to hold its annual dinners on St. Patrick’s Day. This gave new impetus to establishing the holiday as a very special day in Irish society, as the elite of Boston’s Irish community attended, including in 1797, Secretary of War Henry Knox. The society collected pricey fees to attend, all to the benefit of Boston’s Irish needy.



       Catholic immigration from Ireland began to increase in the
1780s, and continued to do so for the next 40 years, as religious
freedoms in the new USA were more than attractive to Catholics in
Ireland, who were faced with ongoing restrictions on their religious
practices. This wave of Catholics into American Irish society included
new members gaining control of various organizations, including the         
Charitable Irish Society of Boston, and the effect was readily seen in
St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. While the wealthy Protestant elite had
observed subdued and generally private celebrations, the more vocal
and vibrant Irish Catholic personality introduced more enthusiastic public festivities. 

        Though the early 1800s an interesting phenomenon was becoming increasingly obvious: Irish fervor and excitement for celebration became more and more directed to nationalism, and St. Patrick’s Day events began taking a backseat to Fourth of July festivities. Irish Catholic immigration had been slowing due to emigration restrictions placed on Catholics by the British, but by the late 1820s, liberalized rules were passed, resulting in a new influx of Irish Catholics to America, and with it renewed fervor for celebrating the day of St. Patrick.