My Adolescent Cartoon Crush Is Now A Russian Cult's Deity -- Seriously, I'm Not Joking!

Do any of y'all remember watching your favorite cartoons as kids and realizing that you were focusing just a little too much on one of the characters? I mean sure the other characters were great, but there was always that one character in particular that you identified with who was just so smart, so cool, so amazing at everything they did and so good at vanquishing bad guys -- or maybe they could have actually been one of the villain themselves?

Very recently in doing research for a topic for this blog, I came across a somewhat interesting reddit post regarding these cartoon crushes. It was a discussion by adults telling the stories of cartoon characters that they'd some attraction to at one point or another.

Even though we'd all seemingly had them, nobody usually ever talked about focusing on certain characters in some of our favorite TV shows, or animated films. Many adults today consider those tiny little torches we carried for those certain special animated characters to be a bit embarrassing to say the least; just a little blip on our journey to adulthood. 

However, now that we're all older and (mostly) more mature, we can finally admit that -- between about the ages of around 10 - 15, or so, in that strange gap in adolescence between childhood and the march toward becoming an adult -- these cartoon hotties always gave us feelings that we're not quite sure how to deal with. 

For Gen-X folks like your favorite blogger, and later the Millennial generation, we've all had our share of crushes on certain animated characters in our formative years. Given the animated shows of the 1970s through the early 2000s, we had a wide variety of awesome characters to choose from.

Now, before I go on, I would like to point out that not all of these were necessarily immature sexual attractions by early adolescents -- although if I were referring to that, I'd have to confess that Princess Teegra from Ralph Bakshi's Fire and Ice (1983) did cause me to wear out that old VHS tape pretty fast when I was around 14 or so.

For the most part these cartoon crushes were largely characters that some of us just personally identified with, or maybe wanted to be like in some significant way: a defender of the innocent, a superhero, a soldier, a fantasy character, a furry character if that is your thing, or even a bad guy character that had that certain charisma that you wished you could adopt for your own personality.  

Cartoon crushes come in all forms from human characters, anthropomorphic animals or furries, fantasy creatures, robots and cyborgs, and even villains at times.

So I decided to do a three-month long social experiment on my facebook page earlier this year and asked my friends and colleagues online if any of them had a cartoon crush in their youth they would like to share. I was amazed that a number of my friends who admitted to having a cartoon crush. Many of these are people my age and younger, though a few Baby Boomers even chimed in listing characters from the older cartoon and anime shows.

The cartoon crushes ranged from a variety of shows and characters which included:

1 - Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 TV series)
2 - Robin Hood and Maid Marion from Disney's Robin Hood
1 - Mighty Mouse 
1 - Underdog 
2 - Flynn Rider and Rupunsel from Disney's Tangled 
2 - Scarlett and Lady Jaye from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero 
2 - Penny from Inspector Gadget 
1 - Daffy Duck from Looney Tunes 
1 - Peppermint Patty from Peanuts 
2 - Sailor Mars and Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon 
1 - Trixie from Speed Racer 
1 - Asuka Langley Soryu from Neo-Genesis Evangelion 
2 - Bart Simpson from The Simpsons 
2 - Chel from The Road To El Dorado 
1 - Esmeralda from Disney's The Hunchback of Noter Dame
1 -  Cheetara from ThunderCats (and I second that one!)
1 - Helga Pataki from Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold! 
1 - Maleficent from Disney's Sleeping Beauty 
3 - Kim Possible and Shego from Disney's Kim Possible 
1 - Lola Bunny from Space Jam 
3 - Winry Rockbell and Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist
2 - Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender 
1 - Raven from Teen Titans (the original)
1 - Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
1 - Revy from Black Lagoon
 
And finally the ever-popular Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit -- who got a whopping 8 responses from guys (and at least one female).  

Some of the choices listed were not even from animated shows. One person told me they had a crush on the genie animation from the beginning of I Dream Of Jeannie. Another mentioned Princess Daphne from the 1980s interactive game Dragon's Lair, or Princess Zelda from The Legend of Zelda. Another was the holographic A.I. woman Cortana from the Halo game franchise, several of the female cast of Fortnite, and one lady who even admitted to a crush on....Mr. Clean?

Uh....yeeeeeeah....

Many of those who responded offered their reasons why they choose those particular characters as their cartoon crushes. Others simply posted the name of the character. Overall, the responses were overwhelming positive, and convinced me that my own cartoon crush wasn't so weird....either that, or maybe I just know a whole lot of weirdos on facebook? 
 
As for yours truly, my childhood cartoon crush was none other than the talented Miss Gadget Hackwrench from Disney's Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers. 

Gadget Hackwrench from Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers
(Image courtesy of Disney)

Okay, you can stop laughing your jerks! 

Yes, I'll admit it, between the ages of 13 to 14, I had an absolute affection for a fictional cartoon mouse. 

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers was probably one of the most popular Disney cartoon series of the early 90s after the original DuckTales. The series premiered on Saturday, March 4, 1989 on the Disney Channel and would run three seasons of 65 episode until Monday, November 19, 1990. The show would enjoy great rerun viewership over the next several years on the Disney Afternoon lineup until 1993, and later in 1995-96 as part of Disney Channel's late afternoon Block Party lineup with other great Disney shows like TailSpin, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, and Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears among other great shows.

The cast of Disney's Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers TV series.
(From left to right): Dale, Gadget, Chip, Zipper, and
Monterey "Monty" Jack.
(Image courtesy of Disney)

The series involves the title characters, Disney mainstays Chip 'n' Dale, who create a detective agency that solve crimes that involve rescuing missing pets, or seemingly low-key thefts that usually end up leading to larger criminal conspiracies that the Rescue Rangers ultimately thwart by the end of each episode. 

Chip and Dale are both joined in their missions by the other Rangers: the cheese-addicted Aussie strongman character Monterey "Monty" Jack, a blue housefly named Zipper who does all of the little jobs that the others usually can't like picking locks or crawling through small places, and of course the resident inventor and mechanic of the group, Gadget. 

At then 13 years old, I was completely captivated by the cartoon series -- so much so that I always swore if I ever got a tattoo it would be the Rescue Rangers logo. I never did though, or any other body ink for that matter; at least not yet. 

Gadget is a young blond-haired female mouse who is the team's pilot, mechanic and inventor. She wears a purple mechanics jumpsuit with blue goggles on her head, and has absolutely no problem getting dirty while working on her inventions. 

Her character is brought to life by the remarkably talented voice actress Mrs. Teressa "Tress" MacNeille, best known as the voice for popular 90s animated characters like Babs Bunny (Tiny Toon Adventures), Dot Warner (Animaniacs), and Arnold's Grandma Gertie (Hey Arnold!), and over a dozen characters on The Simpsons -- just to name a few. 

Gadget's personality was based upon the inventive female character Jordan Cochran in the 1985 movie Real Genius. She's a combination of the "cute girl next door" combined with an obsessed and quirky inventor. Gadget has a natural warmth about her that makes everyone welcome and pleased to see her. She's very loyal to her friends and frequently goes out of the way to help them.

She first meets Chip and Dale in the third episode of the five part origin story Rescue Rangers to the Rescue (Season 2, Episode 3) when Monterey Jack was seeking help from her recently deceased father, a famous mouse aviator named Geegaw Hackwrench. Having no other obligations, Gadget joined the group -- which later became the Rescue Rangers team -- in their mission to retrieve a stolen jewel and prove the innocence of a retiring police detective who was framed. Once the team is established, Gadget lives with Chip, Dale, Monterey, and Zipper at their headquarters in a hollow oak tree in the city park.

Gadget Hackwrench is pretty much the female version of Angus MacGuyver with a little bit of Winry Rockbell thrown in there for good measure. She has the uncanny ability to take discarded and unrelated items and invent nearly anything with them, which she attributes to the fact that she has a "mind-bashingly high IQ" and is easily bored.

In addition to building and maintaining the Ranger Plane (and later on the Ranger Wing) Gadget is the one responsible for the various technological items used by the team and is regularly inventing new vehicles and tools for the team's use. Like most eccentric inventors, she can become extremely focused on her work, and therefore oblivious to the world around her. Gadget usually assists the team via her numerous inventions. Unfortunately, her creations don't always work the way she intends and have sometimes failed at just the wrong moment to cause the team trouble.

One of the things that makes Gadget so likeable is that she has her quirks. She thinks so much from an inventor's standpoint that it tends to make her naive at times. When Gadget is excited about her inventions, she's known to use scientific jargon freely and talk at an extremely rapid pace. This tends to leave anyone listening to her clueless as to what she actually means as she talks a mile a minute and often times reiterates when she talks. A good example would be explaining that her latest invention "will be ready in a jiffy....well, maybe two or three jiffies." 

Gadget is also known to say "Golly" whenever she's surprised by something. 

One of the main personality traits that personally attracted me to Gadget's character is the fact she is constantly thinking and often times has trouble focusing on just one thing to do, or one way to do things, as exhibited in the episode Gadget Goes Hawaiian (Season 2, Episode 33). This is a trait common with ADHD, or with people on the autism spectrum that I struggled with at a young age and continue to work on even today. Some fans speculate that Gadget character might well be an Aspie herself.

However once Gadget overcomes her rapid-thinking and finds her focus she can invent at a staggering pace, for example, her armored gyro-mobile in The Case of the Cola Cult (Season 2, Episode 14) -- one of my personal favorite episodes of the series, and one that will have more significance later in this article.  

While her character comes off as generally friendly and outgoing to people, with just a little bit of snark and sass at times, Gadget can also be easily angered on occasion as seen in the episode Dirty Rotten Diapers (Season 2, Episode 38) after being driven to the breaking point in her calm nature by a ring of thieves. When she reaches that limit beyond where her cute veneer is lost and she gets all riled up, our dear Gadget can become a total badass, and God help the bad guy on the receiving end of it!

Her creative and mechanical genius, open concern for her friends, and even her scatter-brained autistic tendencies made her very attractive to a generation of fans, and I'd say one of Disney's strongest female characters at the time. 

In the show, both Chip and Dale are attracted to Gadget, and often compete for her attention, although she is portrayed as being seemingly ignorant of these advances. On more than one occasion she has upset Chip and Dale's romantic advances more than once, simply by being blissfully ignorant, or too focused on her inventions. This ends up being a running gag throughout the series. 

Now here I admit a little bit of a shipping bias since I always loved the few moments Gadget and Dale shared together. I don't really remember why, but I always thought they would make the better couple. Not sure if it is the fact that Dale can have his own moments of brilliance when it comes to inventing things like the spy gadgets in episode Double 'O Chipmunk (Season 2, Episode 32) or just the fact that he shares the same sort of scatter-minded tendencies that Gadget has (Dale often times uses the word "Zowie" when he is surprised). 

"Forget a man in uniform, what I really like is a boy in a
Hawaiian shirt." 

Gadget is also a retro favorite among fans of the furry fandom community and anthropomorphic animal cosplayers. You can find a number of images online of professional cosplayers and ordinary people dressing up for fandom conventions portraying our favorite mousey inventor and the other Rescue Rangers themselves. Apparently Gadget is a childhood favorite for many adults from my generation and 90s children.

Unfortunately, that also applies to people who are allegedly adults who seem to still hold some attraction for her well past puberty. Let's just say if you ever plan to do an Google image search for Gadget, I would strongly advise using the parental lock, or with the Safe Search filter on; otherwise you're guaranteed to see images that will murder your childhood dead in unspeakable ways. For the sake of your innocent memories of Gadget Hackwrench, please for the love of your furry deity, be careful on the internet!  

I almost had my childhood ruined several years ago by one certain Rescue Ranger themed skit on Robot Chicken which we shall never speak of again. 

Yeah, when it comes to my cartoon crush, I much prefer to remember Gadget for the awesome character that she was in my early teenage years: strong female character, pilot, mechanic, inventor....and apparently the central figure of worship in a Russian cult.

I'm totally not making that last part up, folks!

There is apparently a group of Gadget fans in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod who have built an entire religion around her likeness called Gadgetology. 

Members of the Russian Gadgetology cult preparing to hold a
ritual service for their deity -- Gadget Hackwrench.

The members of this cult believe with all their hearts that Gadget is a divine being, a goddess, who lives on another plane of existence, or a parallel universe. The members of the cult burn candles around a poster size image of the cartoon and chant to her to grant their wishes. They pray to posters of Gadget, write songs and poetry about her, and place stickers of her anywhere they can. 

Gadgetology followers regularly meet online and even hold offline events where they pray to effigies of her, celebrate her birthday, serenade her with songs and poetry, and give little offerings to her image. 

Basically, these people want to communicate with her directly, to shake her anthropomorphic hand and see her mousy inventions firsthand. They believe that she will manifest herself into our reality if enough people wish for some hard enough and long enough. Some of them even believe Gadget has already visited other dimensions to bless fans from parallel universes for their faith.

There are no less than three denominations of Gadgetology which are not mutually exclusive: Traditional Gadgetology, Progressive Gadgetology, and Apocalyptic Gadgetology. 

This is a level of fandom devotion that goes beyond just a simple cartoon crush, but hey, if it makes them happy, and they aren't sacrificing live animals, or anything, more power to them.

So there you have it, a cartoon character than I identified with and had a small attraction to around 13 and 14 years old has become so popular, not only is she a cosplay favorite, she's now literally a goddess to a couple hundred Russians. 

All I have to say about that is....bet none of y'all had a cartoon crush who was deified! Ha ha! 

No seriously, I like the idea that one of my favorite protagonists in one of my all-time favorite animated shows has brought people so much joy, and had such an impact on their lives they still care about her. That's the power of fandom folks, and it is a force to be reckoned with.

While I cannot say that my own love for Gadget ever reached such levels of devotion, I did learn from her character that being different and unique are not bad things -- they can be even be great strengths, even your own personal superpower, if utilized in the right ways.

Granted I can't invent things from a few spare parts, but I know how to use my imagination to create good work for people who enjoy my online content.  

Always be uniquely you and find your own style. 

My Gadget button, a gift from a previous girlfriend
who also shared my love for the TV series.

Have any of y'all learned anything from having a cartoon crush in your youth, or in the present day? Let me know in the comments section below, and tell me if you enjoyed this article. 

  

Have a wonderful Dixie day and y'all come back now, ya hear?

The Flight Of President Jefferson Davis Through York & Union Counties (April 26-30, 1865)

Frank Vizetelly of the Illustrated London News traveled with
President Jefferson Davis between Greensboro, N.C. to just
before his capture in Georgia.

On Wednesday, April 26, 1865 with the Southern Confederacy crumbling around them, a column of Confederate cavalry crossed the state line and entered what would be York County, South Carolina.

Commanded by C.S. Brigadier General Basil Wilson Duke of Kentucky, brother-in-law of the famous Confederate raider John Hunt Morgan, the force was composed of between 2,000 - 3,000 cavalrymen and a number of horse-drawn wagons carrying with personal items, important government paperwork, and several very important passengers, which significantly slowed their progress.

Their arrival in South Carolina was part of the retreat from Richmond, Virginia just prior to the city's capture by Union forces a few weeks before on April 3rd. The trek took this convoy through Danville, Virginia, Greensboro and Charlotte, North Carolina. Their ultimate destination was either Texas, or Mexico, where they could continue fighting the Union with other Confederate forces still in the field, or seek better surrender terms.

General Duke wished for more speed to escape pursuing Union cavalry forces and to protect his charges; however, the slow pace may also have been intentional, largely due to the wishes of the most important passenger on the convoy: Confederate President Jefferson Finis Davis.

Despite being on the run, President Davis wanted to maintain a semblance of normalcy even as he and the remainder of his cabinet fled south to escape the victorious Union forces.
 
"Jefferson Davis is traveling like a president and not a fugitive," Duke later wrote. Burton Harrison, the president’s personal secretary, observed that Davis often looked sad and dispirited during his retreat, but he refused to feel like a beaten man.


The Flight From Richmond to Charlotte & Lincoln's Assassination

On Sunday, April 2, 1865, after more than 8 months of consistent fighting, the Confederate defenses at the besieged city of Petersburg, Virginia collapsed.  

That same day, while seated in St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond attending worship services, President Davis received a telegram from General Robert E. Lee, announcing the fall of Petersburg, the partial destruction of his army, and the immediate necessity for flight. Davis and his cabinet were forced to abandon Richmond and flee south away from General U.S. Grant's advancing Union army. Davis escaped to Danville, Virginia, together with the Confederate Cabinet, leaving on the Richmond and Danville Railroad. Richmond would fall the next day on Monday, April 3rd.

Davis would be on the run for six weeks, an epic journey through four states by railroad, ferry boat, horse, cart, and wagon.

It was at Greensboro that Davis learned the full details of Appomattox, given in a personal letter from Lee, the reading of which left Davis weeping in near-despair. The following conversations with his cabinet and his remaining generals revealed that virtually everyone counseled surrender. Davis refused to even consider that option.

On Friday, April 14th, Lincoln was assassinated and died the next morning. It would be in Charlotte, North Carolina on Wednesday, April 19th while delivering a speech to a small crowd where Davis would first hear of Lincoln’s assassination. He was about to enter the Lewis F. Bates residence when he received the following dispatch from his Secretary of War (and former U.S. Vice President) John C. Breckinridge:

Greensboro, April 19, 1865.

His Excellency President Davis:
President Lincoln was assassinated in the theater in Washington on the night of the 11th instant. Seward's house was entered on the same night, and he was repeatedly stabbed, and is probably mortally wounded.

JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE.

 

A bronze plaque marks the spot on the corner of
South Tryon St. and Fourth St. in downtown
Charlotte, North Carolina where President Davis
first heard of Lincoln's assassination while speaking
to a small crowd.
The plaque erroneously lists April 18th as the
date of this event.

Bates -- himself a native of Massachusetts -- would later testify at a hearing probing Davis' possible link to the Lincoln assassination, claims that upon delivering his speech to a small group of people, Davis allegedly made the following remark: "If it were to be done, it were better it were well done." A line quoted from William Shakespeares' The Tragedy Of MacBeth.

However, according to Davis' biographer, Mr. Hudson Strode, Davis was shocked when he was handed the telegram informing him of Lincoln's assassination and death, and had to read it twice before handing it off to the person next to him, saying, "Here is a very extraordinary communication. It is sad news."

A column of Kentucky's Confederate Cavalry from Davis' escort rode up to the house at that moment, and when someone read the dispatch aloud, one cavalryman shouted in jubilation, but Davis raised his hand to silence any further cheering before entering into the house. Inside, the President commented further to his personal secretary, Burton Harrison, saying, "I am sorry. We have lost our best friend in the court of the enemy."

Also traveling with the President was Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory, who recorded in his diary the following conversation with Davis about the assassination:

"I expressed my deep regret, expressing among other views, my conviction of Mr. Lincoln's moderation, his sense of justice, and my apprehension that the South would be accused of instigating his death. To this Mr. Davis replied sadly, 'I certainly have no special regard for Mr. Lincoln; but there are a great many men of whose end I would much rather have heard than his. I fear it will be disastrous to our people and I regret it deeply.'"

Davis also expressed that he believed Lincoln would have been less harsh with the South than his successor, Andrew Johnson.

In the aftermath of Lincoln's assassination, President Johnson issued a $100,000 reward for the capture of Davis and wrongly accusing him of helping to plan the assassination. An irony when one considers that, almost 13 months prior, there was an attempt by the Lincoln Administration to kill President Davis and his cabinet (see Dahlgren affair). 


President Davis In York County, South Carolina

On Wednesday, April 26th, Davis left Charlotte, immediately after a particularly gloomy cabinet meeting that discussed Johnson’s surrender to Sherman. After riding all afternoon on Wednesday, April 26, the column crossed into York County, South Carolina and approached the Catawba River, where they were greeted around 4 P.M. by Colonel Andrew Baxter Springs, owner of the Springfield Plantation in Fort Mill.

The Confederate President was also greeted by a group of Southern ladies with bouquets of spring flowers. Springs, a colonel in the Confederate Army who'd helped recruit and supply troops, offered his home to President Davis and the Confederate cabinet. Secretary of the Treasury and Charleston businessman George Trenholm and his wife, Helen, both of whom opted to spend the night nearby at the home of Colonel William Elliott White further down the road.

According to the Springs family archives, that evening, with all of the Union forces pursuing them and a price on their heads, President Davis and his fugitive cabinet members played a game of marbles with Spring's two young sons, Eli, 13, and Johnny, 12 in the parlor. Eli was paired with Davis and Postmaster General John H. Reagan, while Johnny was paired with Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin and Secretary of War John C. Breckenridge. The teams got down on the knees, laughing and relaxing.

Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory wrote of the evening, "It was an hour of refreshing, well-contested game of marbles. Breckinridge, the best marble player since (John) Marshall, with his usually good luck, came off victorious. He is the best grown-up player in the Confederacy, if not the world."
 
It was said that, for their part, the two Springs boys were amazed that these four powerful men knew all the rules about marbles.

The Springfield Plantation House In Fort Mill, South Carolina.
The site of a rather interesting game of marbles on the evening
of Wednesday, April 26, 1865.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Despite the diversion with Colonel Springs' sons, President Davis, later that same evening wrote in a letter to his wife that General Wade Hampton of South Carolina offered to command a group of Confederate forces that would lead Davis across the Mississippi River. "The route will be too rough and perilous for you and the children to go with me - the tide of war will follow me." 

The Confederate First Lady, Varina Davis, and their children had already left Richmond on March 30th, several days before Davis, and traveled south by railroad as far as Chester, South Carolina before setting out again by horse-drawn carriages. The family would not be reunited again until May 7th in Georgia.

For more historical details on the Confederate First Family's time in Chester County, please check out the article written previously on this blog on the subject HERE.
 

The next day, Thursday, April 27th, President Davis and his cabinet met up with Trenholm at the home of Colonel White in Fort Mill and held what would be the last meeting of the full Confederate cabinet.

During the meeting, Trenholm, who had been ill for some time -- and likely at the urging of his wife who had been acting as his nurse -- asked Davis if he could resign. Davis accepted his resignation and thanked him for his service. Trenholm would later flee with his wife to Chester and then Columbia, where he was arrested. He was imprisoned until pardoned on Wednesday, October 11, 1865 and later returned to Charleston.

Postmaster General John Reagan, who was late to the meeting, was appointed the new secretary of the treasury. He protested that his duties of postmaster and keeper of the telegraph will keep him busy, but Davis, showing a good deal of humor despite the situation, replied, "Don't worry, there’s not much left  for the secretary of the treasury to do. There's but little money left for him to steal." This brief moment of levity from Davis convinces Reagan to hold both jobs.

The White Homestead as it would have appeared when
President Davis and his cabinet visited in April, 1865.
Photo taken in 1870 courtesy of the Fort Mill Historical Society.

The home of Colonel William Elliott White, believed to be
the site of the last full Confederate cabinet meeting on
the morning of Thursday, April 27, 1865.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

Later that day, as Davis, the cabinet and the cavalry escort crossed the Catawba River at Nation's Ford (modern-day US HWY 21) on a pontoon bridge -- the wooden railroad bridge was burned by Yankee cavalry eight days before on Wednesday, April 19th -- one member of the cavalry noted: "The cause has gone up. God only know what will be the end of all this."

After crossing the Catawba, the column followed a path over what today is Cherry Road (U.S. HWY 21) at Eden Terrace in Rock Hill, South Carolina. A historic marker on Eden Terrace near the Winthrop University baseball park marks the Confederate President's path.

Later that evening the column traveled west (along modern-day SC HWY 5) and reached Yorkville (modern-day York, South Carolina) where Davis and his cabinet spent he night at the home of Doctor James Rufus Bratton, a Confederate Army surgeon who served under Davis' old friend, General Braxton Bragg in the Army of Tennessee. Bratton had arrived home about Sunday, April 9, 1865, the day Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House.

York citizens were given the opportunity to greet their former leader that night when Dr. Bratton held a reception in honor of his famous guest. Davis refused to make a speech, but women and children gathered around him, so the story goes, kissing his hand and saying, "You are my President."

President Davis spent the night in a huge four poster bed in the upstairs bedroom over the drawing-room.

According to a family story, following the reception, Old Pete, the Bratton family butler, was sent to the President's room with a waiter holding priceless decanters of wine and whiskey. Old Pete evidently slipped among the stairs, because as he opened the door of Mr. Davis' room he fell sprawling on the floor.

Late that night a knock was heard on the door of the widow, Mrs. William Hackett, whose home was opposite the Bratton house. Again it was Old Pete who said, "Marse Rufus done sent me to ask you to send him a nightshirt for Marse President, Jefferson Davis." So Pete recrossed the street carrying the long white nightshirt which had belonged to William Hackett, who'd been killed in the Battle of the Crater (Saturday, July 30, 1864) at Petersburg the year before.

Dr. Bratton's house no longer stands, having been gutted by a fire in 1956. At the site where the house sits today there is a historical marker. There is also a marker in front of the York County Courthouse that mentions Davis' visit to the town.

An old photo of the Bratton House (circa 1948)
courtesy of The Rock Hill Herald.

The site of the home of Dr. James Rufus Bratton,
a surgeon in the Confederate army in York, South
Carolina. The house was destroyed by a fire in 1956.

President Davis In Union County, South Carolina

The next day, on Friday, April 28, 1865, President Davis, along with the four of his remaining cabinet members, and his escort continued west and reached the Broad River. They crossed the ferry at Pinckneyville (an old settlement town which is a ghost town today) and made their way to the town of Union. 

The Confederate President stopped over at the two-story home of Brigadier General William Henry Wallace. There Wallace's wife, Sarah, provided a meal for Davis and his entourage. Wallace, who started the war as a private in the 18th South Carolina Infantry Regiment and later rose to become colonel of the regiment, was promoted to brigadier general by Davis himself on September 20, 1864. General Wallace himself probably still returning from Virginia on parole following the surrender of Lee's army and not home at the time. 

The home of Confederate Brigadier General William Henry
Wallace on 430 East Main Street in Union, South Carolina.
The house was built in 1850.

Marker to Jefferson Davis in front of the Wallace home.

Two days later, on Sunday, April 30th, about a dozen miles west of Union, Davis' escorts arrived at Cross Keys House, a Colonial Georgian manse which sat at the intersection of two major roads.

Mary Ann Bobo Whitmire Davis, who lived in the house at the time, answered a knock at the door around mid-day and found five well-dressed men asking for a meal. No doubt she was shocked to see the men and the large number of Confederate cavalry escorting them. Davis invited the President and the four remaining members of his cabinet in and served them lunch while their military escort rested on the grounds of the plantation.

Even though she had invited them into her home and served them lunch, Mrs. Davis initially did not know who her five well-dressed guests were. She supposed they were high-ranking government officials being escorted to safety from the Yankees, but didn't ask who they were. 

As President Davis and his party departed, he remarked to Mrs. Davis with a smile that they shared the same last name. It was only then that she realized who she'd just dined with. 

The Cross Keys Plantation House of
Mrs. Mary Ann Bobo Whitmire Davis. Built in 1814
the house is one of the oldest in the South Carolina Upstate
and listed on the  National Registry of Historical Places in 1971.
Today it is owned and operated by the
Union County (SC) Historical Society.

The Grave of the Confederacy

President Davis, his cabinet, and his escorts reached the town of Abbeville, South Carolina, about 30 miles short of the Georgia Border at the Savannah River, on Tuesday, May 2, 1865 -- exactly one month following the fall of Petersburg and collapse of Confederate resistance.

The day before Davis' friend and Confederate General Braxton Bragg finally caught up to the party. While Davis was pleased to see him, he was probably the only one.

Davis and company decided to spend the night at the Burt-Stark Mansion House because the owner was Colonel Armistead Burt, another close friend of the president.

At about 4:30 P.M. that afternoon, Davis held what would be the final Confederate Council of War.  Here Davis convened an extraordinary meeting. It was not a cabinet meeting, so much as a council of war. In attendance were Breckinridge, Benjamin, Mallory, Reagan, General Braxton Bragg his military advisor, General Basil Duke the commander of his now 2,000 strong escort, along with brigadier generals Samuel W. Ferguson, John C. Vaughn, George Gibbs Dibrell, and Colonel William C. P. Breckinridge, a cousin of the Secretary of War.

After some initial discussions, Davis made a startling proposal. He still professed hope of continuing the fighting. Though there were now barely 2,000 soldiers accompanying them as they fled south, the president thought these troops could form the nucleus of a new army to rally the people and continue the war. 

Though the Confederate President had the will to continue the struggle, it was clear that his cabinet and remaining generals did not share his belief. One by one, the generals told Davis their men were not willing to continue to fight for what was now a lost cause.

Colonel William Breckinridge asserted flatly that "there was no war to continue."

Surprised by that statement, Davis then asked why these last few troops were still with him. 

"We are here to help you escape," General Duke said. "Our men will risk battle for that, but they won't fire another shot to continue the war." That accomplished, the troops would then disperse and go home.

Davis made one more plea for his generals to rally their men for the failing Confederacy. They stared at their boots and did not answer. No one was willing to continue the war, especially in the form of a destructive guerrilla conflict of the sort that General Lee himself wished to avoid. The South was ravaged enough without that. The officers would get Davis out of the country if they could, but that would be the extent of their mission.

Realizing that all was lost, a bitter Jefferson Davis, now the former president of the Confederate States of America, then said, "All is lost indeed. I see that the friends of the South are prepared to consent to her degradation." Then he went up to his room alone.

It is because of this meeting that Abbeville is sometimes referred to as the "Grave of the Confederacy."

On Wednesday, May 3rd, Davis and his escorts would leave the Burt-Stark House and cross the Savannah River into Georgia, leaving South Carolina behind.

Davis would meet with his cabinet for the last time on Friday, May 5, 1865 in Washington, Georgia, where the Confederate government was officially dissolved. After that it became every man for himself.
 
Of the remaining members of the former Confederate president's cabinet, only one, Reagan, remained with Davis. After the war, Reagan actually returned to the United States government, being elected to the U.S. House and then Senator for Texas. Among his later accomplishments was forming of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

The others set off to try and escape capture by the pursuing Yankees. Two of them (Breckinridge and Benjamin) managed to escape. Benjamin never returned to America, dying in exile in Paris, France on Tuesday, May 6, 1884.

Many of the troops from his escort -- the ones that Davis had counted on to keeping fighting -- had already abandoned him and surrendered to U.S. government authorities, making their long walk home to learn what happened to their families in their absence.

As for Davis, his only thought following the collapse of the Confederacy was finding his wife and children, then escaping the pursuing Yankee cavalry. He would catch up to his family near Dublin, Georgia on Sunday, May 7th.

Any chance of escape ended in the early morning hours of Wednesday, May 10, 1865, near Irwinville, Georgia when Union cavalrymen of the 1st Wisconsin and 4th Michigan Cavalry Regiments captured the Davis family and their remaining escorts.

The former Confederate President was taken to Fortress Monroe, Virginia and held for two years -- some of that time wearing heavy leg irons -- faced with charges of treason and conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln. Never brought to trial, Davis was finally released on bail after two years of confinement.

Jefferson Davis died on Friday, December 6, 1889 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Today he rests in peace in Richmond, Virginia beside his wife, Varina. His grave marker does not mention his tenure as President of the Confederate States of America.

Even though in the final years of his life the former Confederate President never sought to have his citizenship restored, on Tuesday, October 17, 1978 U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed a joint resolution of the United States Congress restoring Davis' U.S. citizenship.

Jefferson Davis years after the war and his
capture in Georgia in 1865.
Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

To follow the approximate modern-day route of the flight of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet through York and Union Counties (SC) first start at the North Carolina/South Carolina state border on U.S. Highway 21 then go south to S.C. 160 then right to the town of Fort Mill. Then take U.S. 21 (S.C. 322) east from Fort Mill across the Catawba River to the city of Rock Hill. From Rock Hill, take S.C. 5 west to the city of York. Continue southwest on S.C. 49 across the Broad River to the city of Union. Continue southwest on S.C. 49 to Cross Keyes and then continue to follow the highway to Laurens County.

President Davis' flight through South Carolina using current
SC Highway maps highlighting the path taken by Davis and his
cabinet through South Carolina's Piedmont and Upstate regions
in April, 1865.

References For This Article:

Hudson Strode, ed., Private Letters of Jefferson Davis, 1823-1889 (1966).
Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (1881).
Michael B. Ballard, A Long Shadow: Jefferson Davis and the Final Days of the Confederacy (1986).

Also a special thanks to the folks at the York County (SC) Historical Society, the Union County (SC) Historical Society, and the South Carolina Department of Archives.

Night Sky Photography -- 04-16-2020 -- Luna, Mars, Saturn & Jupiter In The Early Morning

Greetings fellow stargazers!

This morning, April 16th, I had to wake up early to snap these two photos of our moon -- which is currently just past its Last Quarter (or Third Quarter Moon) phase -- in a line of the "superior planets" in the southeastern sky just over the tree tops about an hour, or so, before sunrise. 

A superior planet is a planet that orbits the sun outside Earth’s orbit. The three visible "wandering stars" (planets we can see with the naked eye from Earth) are Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter respectively. Using Luna as a starting point, you can spot the small Red Planet Mars glowing like a red ember just above the moon's glow. You can easily spot the large bright white Jupiter at the end of the line with fainter Saturn in the middle closer to it's nearest planetary neighbor. The line of these three planets follows the ecliptic path of the sun and moon during daytime hours.

As viewed by my close-up shot, Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, is easily the most brilliant of the trio of planets, beaming some 14 times brighter than either Saturn or Mars. Even so, Mars and Saturn are respectably bright appearing to be 1st-magnitude star in brilliance. These worlds shine by reflecting the light of the yet to be risen sun. At present, both Mars and Saturn are shown to be about equally bright. Mars glowers red while Saturn exhibits a golden hue.

This line of planets will stay in the northeastern sky in the early morning hours for about the rest of the month and will be a good point to see the upcoming Lyrid Meteor Shower beginning late at night around Sunday, April 19th and probably peaking in the predawn hours on Wednesday, April 22nd. 

Well folks, I hope y'all enjoyed my photos. As always let me know what y'all think in the comments below and as always be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all!

I Played Kinmoku's One Night Stand Simulator Game ....And Did Pretty Well

Greetings and Salutations, Y'all!

How many of y'all have ever woken up from a night of drinking too much alcohol with little to no memory of the previous night? Add to that waking up completely naked in a strange room next to a complete stranger who is also completely in the buff.

Well folks, in this time of social distancing, yours truly had a one night stand -- uh, kinda sorta.

Thanks to the current world-wide pandemic these days your favorite blogger is spending almost all of his time indoors online. Not that that's a new things for yours truly, being a huge introvert.

All the same: All work and no play makes Carl a dull boy.... Okay maybe I'm not quite that bored just yet, but not being able to travel just sucks.

So recently I received an e-mail from a friend of mine online with a YouTube link discussing a somewhat interesting simulation game called One Night Stand.

One Night Stand is a fun little visual novel type game that strongly reminds me of those Choose Your Own Adventure or Secret Path Books that were really popular when I was a kid in the 1980s where the reader becomes the protagonist in the story with choices that determine the main character's actions with various possible outcomes.

Created by online game creator, Kinmoku (aka Lucy Blundell) in 2016, the game One Night Stand is a first person simulation player where you interact in the role of a person who wakes up naked with a major hangover in a strange bed in an unknown room next to a complete stranger thrust into an awkward “morning-after” scenario.

With no memory of the previous night's events, your job is to explore your surroundings and try to piece together what happened, learn who your new bed buddy is, and find out what happened to bring you both together. 

The gameplay is fairly simple. It begins with you as the first person waking up with a hangover to your dying cellphone buzzing with an annoyed text message from a friend of yours explaining how you ditched him and your other friends the previous night. The first minute, or so, has your character slowly awaking and coming to the suddenly realization that you are in a strange room in a strange bed sans clothes. 

Then a small, moan can be heard and your character turns to see the nude back of what is clearly a sleeping female. A person you have absolutely no memory of, or how you two met and ended up in this position.

Yeah that would be my first question too, but its something
you have to find out as the game goes forward.

After you are hit with this realization, the game begins to give you multiple choices on what to do next. Some are simple yes or no questions, while others offer either three to four possible outcomes, each of which determining the progress for the next set of choices.

Abruptly your female partner wakes up suddenly and leaves the room, allowing you to explore your surroundings and gathering clues as to her identity and what happened that led you to her bedroom the night before. You only have time to check out two or three things around the room before the girl abruptly returns and you are formally introduced to her. 

Beautiful hand-drawn artwork on her expressions.

What kind of a girl is she? How did you end up where you are? How much do you reveal to her about not remembering the details of the previous evening? What do you talk about? All important questions that the game offers dialogue to help you find out the path you need to learning these details.  

Over the course of the gameplay the girl -- whose name you have to learn if you can -- leaves the room for various reasons (to get you coffee or pain relievers for your aforementioned hangover, or to answer the door, or continued sickness as she's also recovering from the effects of too much clubbing) and that gives you time to explore the room and check out a couple of more items each time to try and piece together what happened on your own. You can use your mouse pad, or game controller to click on objects in the room and learn more about what they are. 

I'd advise against looking in the mirror, the image of a
hungover you isn't a pretty one in this animation.

You are given several options, including simply ducking out of the situation, escaping when the opportunity presents itself and you can find your clothes; or sticking around and exploring your relationship with this complete stranger you apparently shared a night of naughty fun with. Can you keep up the act of pretending to remember long enough to find out what really happened? Or is honesty the best policy and you tell her you cannot remember and trusting her to help you remember? Do you end up making her angry, making her upset, or gaining a new friend and the promise of more in the future?

One Night Stand has 12 unique endings to discover and unlock, some of them positive outcomes and others no so much. Each ending reveals some new insight into what happened. You may resort to some unusual methods to find the answers you’re looking for, but take care not to prod and pry too much. Your choices have major consequences. One or two wrong moves in your investigation, or being too pushy in your questioning can be enough to earn you a fast exit with an angry woman telling you to get out. A nosy guest quickly becomes a very unwanted one! 

The game contains some strong language and suggestive themes -- no shock given the plot, but oh well.

One Night Stand features beautiful hand-drawn artwork in life-like rotoscope animation, and a simple but beautiful original soundtrack. Game play per round is about 15 to 20 minutes. The game is available for download on Windows, Mac, Linux, Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Now for my review. 

I downloaded the game simulator and resolved to see how well I would do my first play through. I confess that the situation described in the visual novel isn't one that I am usually accustomed to. 

While I am no stranger to having a one night stand, I can honestly say that I have never had a drunken one night stand in my life. Being a firm believer in the Straight Edge lifestyle I personally don't drink alcoholic beverages, and I would never allow myself to become intoxicated with complete strangers. For various reasons being drunk and randomly hooking up is not a good thing for anyone, male or female, and can lead to very unfortunate -- sometimes life-altering -- consequences later on.

I have far too much respect for myself and for someone willing to share that particular experience with me to consider getting them intoxicated, or getting myself wasted and then hooking up with no guarantee of remembering the events the next morning.  

Also, I'm aware that most sources online that talk about one night stands advises that the proper protocol is to leave the next morning and not stick around -- which I consider a pretty screwed up thing to do to someone. I know this is to avoid causing awkwardness, or getting in deeper than you probably already have (no pun intended); but I've always felt that if someone was willing to share that part of themselves with you even if the plan isn't to go farther, simply walking away without a goodbye, or at least staying for breakfast, is just a sleazy thing to do. 

I have had a couple of sexual partners who had no qualms about doing the same to me after a night of dirty deeds, but that's on them.

That being said it was unique to play the role of a man who was put in that situation and trying the best way to subtly do detective work while at the same time learning more about the female character in the story. 

The animation is beautifully done in watercolor and the facial expressions on the girl brought to life with the animation actually create a real emotional connection to the character. The dialogue is very human and well written, and I found myself really wanting to learn more about the mysterious girl. Despite the situation you find that she is quite charming, and a bit mysterious. The fact she's also just as hungover as you are and seems every bit as vulnerable and insecure as you are about the situation also kind of endears you to the character. 

Also, on a personal note, the fact that the female character actually looks like someone I would in fact have a one night stand with in real life also kinda helped me take on the challenge of playing the role with a bit more appreciation for how serious the situation being played out is. Her character is done so well that the thought of being a jerk to her, even unintentionally, honestly inspired me to do the best I could not to make things too weird as I struggled to learn more from her about the previous night, and about her personally. My complements to the creator for doing such an amazing job there.

I followed the game play and made the choices that I more-or-less see myself actually doing in the situation. Mainly I tried to learn more about her interests, especially her interest in music, and kept the subject on that. I did confess that I was too hungover to remember too much about what happened the night before. She was willing to fill in the blanks as best as she could. I stayed honest and kept snooping to a minimum -- mostly I looked at the objects around the room and stayed away from prying into her notebook, her wallet, and opening clothing draws. 

Ultimately I ended up getting an ending where she actually plays a beautiful guitar solo for me....in her t-shirt and underwear no less! It ends with a very positive epilogue that included a hug before going our separate ways. Our characters exchange phone numbers and resolving to remain friends. It unlocked one of the 12 endings, this one was titled: Her Song. 

In the end she ended up playing an awesome guitar solo for me.
In her underwear! How cool is that!

A beautiful ending -- I wish all my actual one night
stands had been so amicable.

Not too bad at all, if I do say so myself. I'm pretty proud of the fact that I was able to turn an awkward situation and help end it on a more than positive note for both me and my new friend.

The only thing about the ending is that you don't get to learn the girl's name. I looked up other play throughs of the game on YouTube to see what the other scenarios were, and learned that her name is Robin.

I also saw based on other videos by people who played the visual novel game that some of the other endings were pretty messed up; including one where a decision to snap a photo on your phone of her nude body from the back comes back to bite you in the ass hard later on -- and rightly so! That's a serious no-no right there and even considering it would make you an asshole. There is even one ending where your character puts on her underwear (Yeah, my thought was WTF?! Seriously folks, do people actually do stuff like that?) and she understandably flips out over it big time dropping an F-bomb before kicking you out wearing that underwear....and nothing else, with you doing the walk of shame. Another bad ending comes from prying into her wallet, or her laptop.

The main trick is don't try to push more into this than just friendship. At least one other scenario shows that this just turns Robin defensive and gets you kicked out. In another you stay friends, though there is a suggestion that it could lead to more down the road. And no none of those friend endings include the words: "with benefits" so you just have to settle on a one night stand that you can't remember. 

There are other things that result in a bit of paranoia about Robin and her motives, but I don't want to go too deeply into them in case one of y'all intend to try this little game out for yourselves.

Well folks, that's about it. Even though this game has been out for about four years now, my complements to Kinmoku for creating such a wonderful little visual novel. It was a great distraction from the current quarantine situation.

Maybe next computer game I think I'll try Slender Man....

Yeah, maybe not....LOL!

Have a wonderful Dixie day everyone, and y'all come back now, ya hear!