Battle of Spotsylvania Court House

The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, sometimes simply referred to as the Battle of Spotsylvania, was the second major battle in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign of the American Civil War. The battle was fought in the Rapidan-Rappahannock river area of central Virginia, a region where more than 100,000 men on both sides fell between 1862 and 1864. The battle was fought May 8–21, 1864, along a trench line some four miles (6.5 km) long, with the Army of Northern Virginia under Gen. Robert E. Lee making its second attempt to halt the spring offensive of the Union Army of the Potomac under the command of Lt. Gen. Grant and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade. Taking place less than a week after the bloody, inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness, it pitted 52,000 Confederate soldiers against a Union army numbering 100,000. Continued

Images: Battle of Spottsylvania [sic] by Kurz and Allison. George H. "Maryland" Steuart.

Trappe Church

Text from the marker: Capt. Angus Greme, one of two officers in Lafayette's army who, according to tradition, were so struck with the view from here that they vowed to return after the revolution. Greme did settle nearby with his family and in 1850 he was buried beside Trappe Church, then a chapel of ease (established 1760) of St. George's Episcopal Parish. Present stone building dates from 1875. (Maryland Bicentennial Commission & Maryland Historical Society) 

Samuel Ringgold

(Wikipedia) Samuel B. Ringgold (1796 – May 11, 1846) was an artillery officer in the United States Army who was noted for several military innovations which caused him to be called the "Father of Modern Artillery." He was also, famously, the first U.S. officer to fall in the Mexican-American War, perishing from wounds inflicted during the Battle of Palo Alto. Ringgold was the son of Samuel Ringgold, a U.S. Congressman from Maryland. A younger brother, Cadwallader Ringgold, also served in the military, becoming a rear admiral. Continued

Mike Cuellar

(Wikipedia) Miguel Ángel Cuellar Santana (KWAY-ar; May 8, 1937 – April 2, 2010) was a Cuban professional baseball player. He played for 15 seasons in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher in 1959 and from 1964 through 1977, most prominently as a member of the Baltimore Orioles who won the American League (AL) pennant in each of Cuellar's first three seasons with the team. During that time, Cuellar and the Orioles won the 1970 World Series. Cuellar also played for the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros and California Angels. Continued

Image: Orioles Card "O" the Day

Cinco de Mayo

(LoC) Mexican troops under General Ignacio Zaragoza successfully defended the town of Puebla on May 5, 1862, temporarily halting France's efforts to establish a puppet regime in Mexico. With the U.S. absorbed by the Civil War, Emperor Napoleon III hoped to create a French sphere of influence in Latin America. The victory is commemorated as a national holiday in Mexico.

The Mexican victory at Puebla was short-lived. French reinforcements seized the town in March 1863. The following June, Maximilian, younger brother of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria and a member of the Hapsburg dynasty, was crowned emperor of Mexico. He remained in power until 1867, when Napoleon III abandoned his Mexican adventure and withdrew his troops.

In the United States, Cinco de Mayo has become an occasion to celebrate Hispanic culture. Fairs commemorating the day feature singing, dancing, food, and other amusements, and provide a means of sharing a rich and diverse culture. More

Samuel Ogle

(WIKIPEDIA) Samuel Ogle (c. 1694 – May 3, 1752) was the Provincial Governor of Maryland from 1731 to 1732, 1733 to 1742, and 1746/1747 to 1752. ... Under Ogle's leadership Maryland quickly became engaged in a border dispute with Pennsylvania. Several settlers were taken prisoners on both sides and Penn sent a committee to Governor Ogle to resolve the situation. Rioting broke out in the disputed territory (now known as Cresap's War) and Ogle appealed to the King George II for resolution. Faced with this situation, Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore arrived in Maryland and assumed charge of the colony in December 1732. Upon Calvert's arrival, Ogle retired from the governorship for the first time. He would do this twice more. He resumed the governorship in 1733. The border dispute would not be settled until 1767 when the Mason-Dixon line was recognized as the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania. Continued

The Great American Lawn: How the Dream Was Manufactured

Coxey's Army reaches Washington, D.C.

(Wikipedia) Coxey's Army was a protest march by unemployed workers from the United States, led by the populist Jacob Coxey. They marched on Washington D.C. in 1894, the second year of a four-year economic depression that was the worst in United States history to that time. Officially named the Commonweal in Christ, its nickname came from its leader and was more enduring. It was the first significant popular protest march on Washington and the expression "Enough food to feed Coxey's Army" originates from this march. Continued

Some Chesapeake Bay steamboats

Baltimore and Potomac Railroad

(Wikipedia) - The Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad's main line from Baltimore, Maryland southwest to Washington, DC. It is now part of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor; freight is handled by Norfolk Southern. Continued

John Waters

(Wikipedia) John Samuel Waters, Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, personality, visual artist and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films. He had a major mainstream hit in 1988 with the movie "Hairspray" starring Divine and introducing Ricki Lake. ... Waters was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Patricia Ann (née Whitaker) and John Samuel Waters, who was a manufacturer of fire-protection equipment. Waters grew up in Lutherville, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore. His boyhood friend and muse Glenn Milstead, later known as Divine, also lived in Baltimore County, Maryland, a short distance away.

"NYU...I was there for about five minutes. I don't know what I was thinking about. I went to one class and they kept talking about Potemkin and that isn't what I wanted to talk about. I had just gone to see Olga's House of Shame. That was what I was more into."

Photo: Mr Azed

It’s Not You, It’s Your Books

(NYTBR) Some years ago, I was awakened early one morning by a phone call from a friend. She had just broken up with a boyfriend she still loved and was desperate to justify her decision. “Can you believe it!” she shouted into the phone. “He hadn’t even heard of Pushkin!” We’ve all been there. Or some of us have. Anyone who cares about books has at some point confronted the Pushkin problem: when a missed — or misguided — literary reference makes it chillingly clear that a romance is going nowhere fast. Continued

Photo: moriza

Pratt Street Riot

(Wikipedia) - The Baltimore riot of 1861 (also called the Pratt Street Riot and the Pratt Street Massacre) was an incident that took place on April 19, 1861 in Baltimore, Maryland between Confederate sympathizers and infantrymen of the United States Army. It is regarded by historians as the first bloodshed of the American Civil War. Continued

President Street Station

Pigmeat Markham

Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham (April 18, 1904 – December 13, 1981) was an African-American entertainer. Though best known as a comedian, Markham was also a singer, dancer, and actor. His nickname came from a stage routine, in which he declared himself to be "Sweet Poppa Pigmeat." Continued

Samuel Chase

Samuel Chase, lawyer and politician, was one of Maryland's four signers of the Declaration of Independence and an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Chase was born on April 17, 1741, near Princess Anne, in Somerset County. ... Chase is thus remembered as much for the scandals associated with his career as for his considerable legal and political talents. - Maryland Online Encyclopedia