Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Battle of Westport in the American Civil War

Battle of Westport in the American Civil War Battle of Westport - Conflict Date: The Battle of Westport was fought October 23, 1864, during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Battle of Westport - Armies Commanders: Union Major General Samuel R. Curtis22,000 men Confederate Major General Sterling Price8,500 men Battle of Westport - Background: In the summer of 1864, Major General Sterling Price, who had been commanding Confederate forces in Arkansas began lobbying his superior, General Edmund Kirby Smith, for permission to attack into Missouri.  A Missouri native, Price hoped to reclaim the state for the Confederacy and damage President Abraham Lincolns re-election bid that fall.  Though he was granted permission for the operation, Smith stripped Price of his infantry.  As a result, the strike into Missouri would be limited to a large-scale cavalry raid.  Advancing north with 12,000 horsemen on August 28, Price crossed into Missouri and engaged Union troops at Pilot Knob a month later.  Pushing towards St. Louis, he soon turned west when he realized that the city was too heavily defended to assault with his limited forces. Responding to Prices raid, Major General William S. Rosecrans, commanding the Department of the Missouri, began concentrating men to deal with the threat.  Having been deterred from his initial objective, Price moved against the state capital at Jefferson City.  A string of skirmishes in the area soon led him to conclude that, like St. Louis, the citys fortifications were too strong.  Continuing west, Price sought to attack Fort Leavenworth.  As the Confederate cavalry moved through Missouri, Rosecrans dispatched a cavalry division under Major General Alfred Pleasonton as well as two infantry divisions led by Major General A.J. Smith in pursuit.  A veteran of the Army of the Potomac, Pleasonton had commanded Union forces at the Battle of Brandy Station the previous year before falling out of favor with Major General George G. Meade.   Battle of Westport - Curtis Responds: To the west, Major General Samuel R. Curtis, overseeing the Department of Kansas, worked to concentrate his forces to meet Prices advancing army.  Forming the Army of the Border, he created a cavalry division led by Major General James G. Blunt and an infantry division consisting of Kansas militia commanded by Major General George W. Deitzler.  Organizing the latter formation proved difficult as Kansas Governor Thomas Carney initially resisted Curtis request to call out the militia.  Further problems emerged regarding the command of Kansas militia cavalry regiments assigned to Blunts division.  There were ultimately resolved and Curtis ordered Blunt east to block Price.  Engaging the Confederates at Lexington on October 19 and Little Blue River two days later, Blunt was forced back both times.   Battle of Westport - Plans: Though victorious in these battles, they slowed Prices advance and allowed Pleasonton to gain ground.  Aware that the combined forces of Curtis and Pleasonton outnumbered his command, Price sought to defeat the Army of the Border before turning to deal with his pursuers.  Having retreated west, Blunt was directed by Curtis to establish a defensive line behind Brush Creek, just south of Westport (part of modern-day Kansas City, MO).  To attack this position, Price would be required to cross the Big Blue River then turn north and cross Brush Creek.  Implementing his plan to defeat Union forces in detail, he ordered Major General John S. Marmadukes division to cross the Big Blue at Byrams Ford on October 22 (Map). This force was to hold the ford against Pleasonton and guard the armys wagon train while the divisions of Major Generals Joseph O. Shelby and James F. Fagan rode north to attack Curtis and Blunt.  At Brush Creek, Blunt deployed the brigades of Colonels James H. Ford and Charles Jennison straddling Wornall Lane and facing south, while that of Colonel Thomas Moonlight extended the Union right south at a right angle.  From this position, Moonlight could support Jennison or attack the Confederate flank. Battle of Westport - Brush Creek: At dawn on October 23, Blunt advanced Jennison and Ford across Brush Creek and over a ridge.  Moving forward they quickly engaged Shelby and Fagans men.  Counterattacking, Shelby succeeded in turning the Union flank and forced Blunt to retreat back across the creek.  Unable to press the attack due to a shortage of ammunition, the Confederates were forced to pause allowing the Union troops to regroup.  Further bolstering Curtis and Blunts line was the arrival of Colonel Charles Blairs brigade as well as the sound of Pleasontons artillery to the south at Byrams Ford.  Reinforced, Union forces charged across the creek against the enemy but were repulsed.   Seeking an alternative approach, Curtis came across a local farmer, George Thoman, who was angry about Confederate forces stealing his horse.  Thoman agreed to aid the Union commander and showed Curtis a gully that ran past Shelbys left flank to a rise in the Confederate rear.  Taking advantage, Curtis directed the 11th Kansas Cavalry and the 9th Wisconsin Battery to move through the gully.  Attacking Shelbys flank, these units, combined by another frontal assault by Blunt, began to steadily push the Confederates south towards the Wornall House. Battle of Westport - Byrams Ford: Reaching Byrams Ford early that morning, Pleasonton pushed three brigades across the river around 8:00 AM.  Taking a position on a hill beyond the ford, Marmadukes men resisted the first Union assaults.  In the fighting, one of Pleasontons brigade commanders fell wounded and was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Benteen who would later play a role in the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn.  Around 11:00 AM, Pleasonton succeeded in pushing Marmadukes men from their position.  To the north, Prices men fell back to a new line of defense along a road south of Forest Hill.   As Union forces brought thirty guns to bear on the Confederates, the 44th Arkansas Infantry (Mounted) charged forward in an attempt to seize the battery. This effort was repulsed and as Curtis learned of Pleasontons approach against the enemys rear and flank, he ordered a general advance.  In a precarious position, Shelby deployed a brigade to fight a delaying action while Price and the rest of the army escaped south and across the Big Blue.  Overwhelmed near the Wornall House, Shelbys men soon followed. Battle of Westport - Aftermath: One of the largest battles fought in the Trans-Mississippi Theater, the Battle of Westport saw both sides sustain around 1,500 casualties.  Dubbed the Gettysburg of the West, the engagement proved decisive in that it shattered Prices command as well as saw many Confederate partisans leave Missouri in the armys wake.  Pursued by Blunt and Pleasonton, the remnants of Prices army moved along the Kansas-Missouri border and fought engagements at  Marais des Cygnes, Mine Creek, Marmiton River, and Newtonia.  Continuing to retreat through southwest Missouri, Price then swung west into the Indian Territory before arriving in Confederate lines in Arkansas on December 2.  Reaching safety, his force had been reduced to around 6,000 men, approximately half of its original strength. Selected Sources Battle of WestportCWSAC Battle Summary: Battle of Westport

Sunday, March 1, 2020

Dont Be Negative About Negatives

Dont Be Negative About Negatives Don’t Be Negative About Negatives Don’t Be Negative About Negatives By Mark Nichol A site visitor called attention to a sentence in one of my recent posts and asked, because it has two negatives, whether it is grammatically correct. The sentence in question? â€Å"In case you hadn’t heard, I couldn’t care less.† The reader confused the appearance of two negative words with the concept of the double negative, which is not the same thing. In the sentence I used, each negative is located in a separate clause: Hadn’t appears in the dependent clause, and couldn’t is in the main, independent clause. Therefore, they don’t contradict each other. But even if they did, would that be wrong? Not necessarily. Two forms of double negative exist. One, referred to as two negatives resolving to a positive, is also known as litotes (LIE-tuh-tees), a rhetorical device in which emphasis is conveyed by understatement. For example, â€Å"I do not disagree,† a form of two negatives resolving to a positive, is an effective way to convey lukewarm concurrence. â€Å"He is not unattractive,† likewise, is not the same as â€Å"He is attractive.† By using the double negative, the writer intends to damn with faint praise. The double negative carries the euphemistic connotation that the man in question is only merely pleasant looking rather than handsome. The other form of double negative, known as two or more negatives resolving to a negative, is the one we associate with the grammarian’s admonition to avoid double negatives. Here are some examples of double negatives that are not considered specimens of proper English usage: â€Å"I ain’t no fool.† â€Å"She didn’t do nothing.† â€Å"They ain’t going nowhere.† â€Å"We don’t never go out.† â€Å"You don’t have no money.† Related examples employ a minimizing adverb instead of a negative: â€Å"I can’t hardly tell.† â€Å"He couldn’t barely see in that fog.† But are these sentences grammatically challenged? Not really. They aren’t exemplars of Standard English, but they’re seldom unclear, and they are appropriate in context, to authentically convey the substandard usage of uneducated speakers of English. To review, â€Å"In case you hadn’t heard, I couldn’t care less† is unimpeachable, â€Å"I do not disagree† and â€Å"He is not unattractive† are eloquent equivocations, and â€Å"I ain’t no fool† and similar constructions are entirely acceptable as expressions of dialect or of jocular usage. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Classes and Types of Phrases5 Lessons for Mixing Past and Present TenseHow Verbs Become Adjectives

Friday, February 14, 2020

The American history ( 1900 ) The Cold War Research Paper

The American history ( 1900 ) The Cold War - Research Paper Example A reading which I found to be informative and concise about Cold War is done by H.W. Poon in 1979.and adapted by T.K. Chung .Poon has done substantial research in history since World War I and could be considered a good source. All my critics in this researchare based on this author’s account of history. He drew vivid image of history of events and personalities that have to deal with the events of the war and history. He wrote a timeline of events from the beginning of the cold war, its causes, The Berlin Crisis, the Cold War in East Asia,the formation of allied forces, until the tension eased in 1954. The article is written for a general viewership since it is a hosted website of the writer. Its website has been on the internet since 1998 and has been telling storiesin history, I have often heard of the Cold War but I do not know its underlying reasons. I had very few ideas about the cold war, and on this ,Poon has added to a deeper understanding of the reasons for conflict. As told, one of the reasons for conflict is in having different ideologies of both. US has free elections, freedom of the press, and has the freedom of assembly. Poon described the Soviet atmosphere so different from the US since they have communist government.. This fact is already known, but Poon argued in his writing that due of this difference of government system, a compromise between the two nations had very little hope. Another reason he gave is due to economics. Here again, there is conflict, as United States wanted free trade throughout the world but the Soviets resisted this since it wanted to â€Å"shield off her own sphere from international commerce† because they are afraid that trading with the West would expose Russia to the risk of being opened to influences of the West that would erode the totalitarian system† Again this opposed view brought hard feelings between the two countries. Next reason, which is debatable, is the power of rivalry, because after World War and the decline of Europe, power is shared by the Soviet Union and the United States. Poon sees this as a power struggle as each one wants to dominate the other. The power of domination has been suspected by the United States thru the speech delivered by Winston Churchill in March 1947 that the Soviets planned an aggressive control of Europe The speech is certified as a primary source document (See Annex A – copy of the speech of Winston Churchill) Poon’s report of Truman’s declaration is confirmed by a document found from the archives of the Congress, Document 171 of the 80th Congress. 1st session. This is supposed to be a primary source of document that will testify to the reference of the report. The core of Trumann’s Doctrine was that "it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure." This statement clearly manifests an anti-communist princ iple and could only suggest an open war on Communist Russia. To confirm this policy, the United States went into a massive military and economic aid I Greece and Turkey Poon gave his impression on t he characters of the two presidents, President Roosevelt and Truman that made me visualize their personalities and how they actually ruled the country during the war,I have not known before that Pres. Roosevelt was optimistic while Pres. Truman was opposite. Pres.

Saturday, February 1, 2020

Issue brief Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Issue brief - Case Study Example A physician or a director who has an MD degree must supervise the nurses or physicians carrying out laser treatment (Williams, 27). Since Dr. Goyzueta is qualified to be a director and an owner it is wise for him to venture into the spa thus should target a better location. Most of the fatal cases reported in facial surgeries have been associated with New York spas. This claim means that most clients are not willing to risk their lives in plastic surgeries in these spas. This proves as a challenge to generate customers of the best paying services in spas. To ensure that the business becomes successful Dr. Goyzueta, should start his spa in New Haven where there are no such fatal cases reported since he will gain more clients. New York’s population comprises of younger people as compared to that of New Haven. This is against spas services since past researches claim that 92% of spas customers are above 35 years (Williams, 22). According to previous researches that prove women spending almost 70% of their earnings on their appearances, the physical appearance among most of the females in the United States is one of the most important things (Williams, 22). This makes it effective for spa business where the population has more women than men do. Most of these women are working and receive relatively higher wages in comparison to the population in Manhattan, which is low populated and the spa services are not much of a necessity (Merriam-websters Geographical Dictionary, 2007, p. 34). The traffic in the Northeastern part of the United States is heavy, making it effective for people to have massages during the rush hour thus creating business opportunity for the medical spa. The medical spas laws in the Northeastern part of the United States is lenient in the essence that the use of lacer light can be performed by advanced nurses. The

Friday, January 24, 2020

My Escape from Slavery :: Personal Narrative, Autobiographical Essay

I live on a car lot. My front yard is gravel and asphalt with intermittent splotches of eternally black oil unyielding to any cleaning agent natural or otherwise. Our house is built on the lot right beside iron train tracks. And of course there is the constant image of old cars lined up in rows, not junky just old. It's embarrassing to live under these conditions, but I wouldn't change the situation at all. My family moved onto the car lot when I was in seventh grade. My father had been in the used car business for only about five years. As an adult my father had switched jobs more often than most middle class parents are accustomed. Before taking on the title of a car salesman, he had held a well-paying state department position in which he trained the unemployed so they could find work. However, he claims that by the end his job had become more about paper work and less about people. You see, my dad is a businessman, or at least prides himself as one. People are his game. He saw the car business as the perfect profession to utilize his gifts that were so shamefully being wasted at his old job. Those first years of his being a car salesman, however, I almost never saw my dad. I would get up and be off to school before he awoke, and I would be asleep or at least in bed before he was able to drag his exhausted and overworked body in the front door and collapse in the bed. Often he would be unable to eat dinner until he slept for a couple hours. I can still remember a few times seeing him sitting on the couch at 2 o'clock in the morning in his pajamas eating cottage cheese and peaches and watching Headline News. Needless to say, my father grew tired of living such an existence. Sure, he was supporting his family, but I'm certain he felt horrible about his lack of time with his children. This case is of course what led to my father's suggestion that we move into the building next to his office on the lot. This "house" was actually just another office building with a kitchen. Furthermore this car lot had been erected in the same location as all the other dealerships in our community: downtown.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Effects of John Brown’s Raid On Northern-southern Relations

John Brown’s raid of the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia involved only a few abolitionists, freed no slaves, and ended after only two short days. Brown’s initial idea was that after raiding the federal armory slaves would rise up and rebel against their owners, not only in the north but eventually in the south. This was a radical idea, and although his raid was primarily condemned in the north, Brown became a hero. Southerners became offended when in the years following Brown’s raid northerners felt compassion and even regarded him as a hero. The southerners however felt that he wanted to cause upheaval in the south. The issue however united the north for the cause of abolishing slavery. †Congress can contribute much to avert [southern withdrawal from the Union] by proposing†¦ an explanatory amendment of the Constitution on the subject of slavery†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Doc G) The Northern view of John Brown had changed drastically in the years leading up to the civil war. Initially John Brown was viewed as an irrational for his actions in Pottawatomie, Kansas. It was in Pottawatomie where Brown and a few colleagues took violent measures of vengeance against five pro-slavery southerners in Response to the Bleeding Kansas crisis. The northern view of Brown changed however after his 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia. The northern people did not immediately view him as a hero however. Many northerners viewed his raid as â€Å"utterly mistaken and, in its direct consequences, pernicious†. (Doc A) Southern people viewed Brown’s raid as a commotion and an appeal to rebellion. The previous Bleeding Kansas crisis also pushed the south more towards succession. It was by delegates chosen by the several states†¦ that the Constitution of the United States was framed in 1787 and submitted to the several states for ratification†¦ that of a compact between independent states. † (Doc H) President Lincoln responded â€Å"Having never been States, either in substance, or in name, outside of the Union, whence this magical omnipotence of ‘States Rights’, asserting a claim of power to lawfully destroy the Union itself? † (Doc I). Both of these statements were made in 1861, and clearly represent the division that sent our nation to war. While the years progressed the northern view of John Brown became increasingly more positive, people began to view Brown as a hero, as well as a martyr. Many believed while what he did was irrational and fanatical at the time, he paved the way for many northerners to become decided on the topic of abolition. John Brown’s raid ultimately made the Northern-southern relations even more strained, but caused the north to band together and fight against slavery and succession. In conclusion, the raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia pushed the North and the south farther apart, but was a small step to becoming the free country that America is today.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

The Effects Of Global Warming On The World - 1333 Words

Ever since the Earth was made approximately four and a half billion years ago, the formation of fossil fuels from decayed plants and animals have been a burden upon the planet. Coal, for example, was the first fossil fuel to become the main energy source in the United States to replace the low-energy firewood during the second half of the nineteenth century. Although coal was beneficial for the industrial age of the United States, it had its drawbacks. These drawbacks included the emissions of Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide, Nitrous Oxide, Sulfur Oxide, Particulate Matter, and Volatile Organic Compounds. With the significant increase of fossil fuel emissions in the atmosphere, the Earth started to experience an increase in global temperature due to the Greenhouse Effect. As countries around the world shifted from pre-industrial to transitional to post-industrial phases, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels increased by an unthinkable amount. Greenh ouse gases negatively impact the world environment because it can cause smog pollution, acid deposition, water contamination, habitat destruction, and the loss of biodiversity. As of today, fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas continue to negatively impact the world environment and its ecosystems. However, world governments have started to shift away from the regular use of nonrenewable energy sources to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydropower, and geothermal. As theShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Global Warming On The World1235 Words   |  5 PagesThey may not be feeling the effects of global warming at the moment, but in time it will become a more widespread issue. The effects of global warming are hard to refute, and there is endless evidence of this growing problem in our world today. The continuation of global warming is a serious threat to everyone and everything on Earth. Global warming has been a problem for over a hundred years, and it continues to grow every day. The first evidence of global warming was discovered in 1859 by JohnRead MoreThe Effects Of Global Warming On The World868 Words   |  4 PagesDisputed Global Warming Affects Global Warming is in the minds of critical thinkers and scientist as well as the Industrial World. In this paper, we will look at man-made causes of Global Warming, and natural causes in Global Warming Affects. The man- made cause would be (GHC) which abbreviates to greenhouse gases and the chemical (SO2) represents sulfur dioxide from cars and Industry. The natural cause in the climate would direct more to a cooler climate. The Global Warming remains,augmented thatRead MoreThe Effects Of Global Warming On The World1025 Words   |  5 PagesJacob Keirns Persuasive Paper Miss Beverly March 22, 2016 Global Warming â€Å"Some men aren t looking for anything logical, like money. 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The climate changes are being caused by the heat that is trapped in theRead MoreThe Effects Of Global Warming On The World1267 Words   |  6 Pages Over the course of the years global warming has become a threatening issue that scientists and the government have been cognizant about. Global warming is the term used to describe a gradual increase in the average temperature of the Earth s atmosphere and its oceans, a change that is believed to be permanently changing the Earth’s climate. The earth periodically warms up and cools down. The Earth is currently going through a warming trend that coincides with the industrial revolution. ThisRead MoreThe Effects Of Global Warming On The World1185 Words   |  5 PagesThe Effects of Greenhouse Gasses Global Warming has been devastating the earth and economy for the last twenty-five years. Greenhouse gasses developed from the production of chemicals such as R-22, oil, and factories have destroyed ozone and ecosystems for the last hundred years. 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Those disasters are caused by the impact of humans to nature, such as deforestation, ecological imbalance, and use of chemicalsRead MoreGlobal Warming And Its Effect On The World1036 Words   |  5 Pagesdefinition of Global warming is; a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth s atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants. Global warming is a very big issue that is slowly affecting the whole world. Climate change has been studied since the early 1970’s, and scientist of many different fields are agreeing that global warming’s effects are increasing at a rapid pace. Global Warming was notRead MoreGlobal Warming And Its Effects On The World Essay919 Words   |  4 PagesThe world has many years existing in this galaxy and every day we see that is changing more and more but not in a very good way that it can end in the extinction of the planet earth. â€Å"Earth Hasn’t Heated Up This Fast Since the Dinosau rs’ End† (Lavelle). Carbon is growing so fast in the atmosphere faster than in the past 66 million years since the dinosaurs went extinct (Lavelle). All the presidents hold a position of power that could change this big problem that the planet is having, behind thisRead MoreThe Effects Of Global Warming On The World1823 Words   |  8 PagesGlobal warming is called by some as a threat to all people on all nations while others disregard it as another publicity stunt by the media. Research tends to indicate that humans have caused most of the past century s warming by releasing heat-trapping gases as we power our modern lives. The result is global warming with the weather patterns shifting and glaciers melting, the world we know today is slowly dissipating as these changes bring about dramatic consequences for all on the planet including