Remembering The Final 13 -- You Are Not Forgotten!

One year ago this week in U.S. history, the United States formally withdrew from Afghanistan on Monday, August 30, 2021 after 20 years of war.
 
The military evacuation, which required thousands of additional U.S. troops on the ground and significant cooperation from the Taliban to complete, ended a day ahead of the deadline set and leaving behind hundreds of U.S. citizens and tens of thousands of Afghan allies, despite the earlier promises of the current U.S. President to "get them all out."

Many Americans and allies still remain left behind to this day -- but not forgotten.

On Thursday, August 26, 2021, during the U.S. military's mass evacuation at the Kabul airport, suicide bombers killed 183 people, including 13 U.S. service members. The U.S. government retaliated by launching two drone strikes against suspected ISIS-K terrorists, one of which sadly ended up killing 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children. The last casualties of that stupid and largely useless war.

Roll Call of the Fallen:

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City, Utah

Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosariopichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts

Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Sacramento, California

Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, California

Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Nebraska

Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Indiana

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Missouri

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyoming

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, California

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, California

Navy Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio

Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee.

There were 2,456 United States military deaths in the War in Afghanistan (2001 - 2021). 1,932 of these deaths were the result of hostile action. 20,752 American servicemen and women were also wounded in action during the war.

Never forget the sacrifice of our brave military men and women.

Night Sky Photography -- 08-23-2022 -- Mars & Aldebaran: Twin Red "Stars" In The Early Morning

Good evening, fellow Stargazers!

Once again I was awake very early in the morning to capture another really good photo of two red "stars" rising in the eastern sky hours before sunrise.

The stars in question are the red giant star, Aldebaran -- the "eye" of Constellation Taurus The Bull and the planet Mars, one of the traditional "wandering stars" which can be seen together for the next month, or so, rising in the eastern sky. Their slightly red color helps both to stand out well in the evening sky.

In spite of the mostly cloudy conditions, I was able to successfully capture both red "stars" together -- well together being a subjective term since Aldebaran is about 65.23 light-years (or 20 parsecs) from the Sun.

Though its so far away, the red giant star Aldebaran is actually about 400 times brighter than our own Sun, and 44 times its size. Aldebaran is also the 14th brightest star in the night sky as seen from the surface of the Earth. 

Aldebaran is the brightest star in the Constellation Taurus the Bull, which I was unable to get a good photo of all the stars due to the cloudy conditions. I was able to capture the bright star Elnath (Beta Tauri), the second-brightest star in Taurus in the left corner of the shot. Elnath is about 134 light-years (or 41.8 parsecs) from the Sun.

Mars is one of the five "wandering stars" (or classical planets -- those visible to the naked eye in the night sky from the surface of the Earth) and at present is moving slowly towards the sunrise and past Aldebaran. Mars will actually be traveling within the Constellation Taurus beginning on September 9th through the first week of October of this year and can be seen between Aldebaran and Elnath to observers here on Earth.

Well, until next time have a wonderful evening and be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all hear.

Night Sky Photography -- 07-19-2022 -- Mars, The Pleiades, & Last Quarter Moon

Greetings fellow stargazers!

Last night I was up really late -- or maybe up really early depending on how y'all look at it -- to get a couple of really good shots of the August 2022 Last Quarter Moon in the eastern sky close to the planet Mars and near the Pleiades Star Cluster. Despite the cloud cover I was able to capture some good shots between the clear spots to get this heavenly trifecta, as well as a close-up of the Moon in its Last Quarter phase.

Our lovely Luna will continue to travel eastward, rising later all week until it becomes a really thin waning crescent moon and appear beside the bright planet, Venus, on the morning of Thursday, August 25th later this coming week -- which I will try to capture if I'm able and good visibility is kind.

Until next time have a wonderful evening, and be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all hear!

Night Sky Photography -- 08-14-2022 -- Saturn At Opposition With Constellation Capricornus

Good evening fellow stargazers!

On the night of Sunday, August 14th, Saturn reached its opposition (or nearest point) to Earth in its rotation around the sun coming to within 823 million miles (or 1.32 billion km). That's pretty close in terms of the Solar System in general, but to put it in astronomical terms: 73 light-minutes -- or about 8.8 astronomical units (AU).

In the night sky, at its closest approach, Saturn, the second-largest planet in our Solar System, appears to us here on Earth as a faint magnitude 0.3 star. At the present time it can be found close to the faint summer Constellation Capricornus the Sea-Goat -- which I kinda outlined in the photo I took, although the stars are far too faint and the sky wasn't nearly as clear as I'd liked.

Though it appears as a faint star in the night sky, the sixth planet of our Solar System is actually around 10 times the diameter of Earth at about 72,400 miles (116,500 km) across -- and that's not counting the planet's famous ring system that circle the gas giant. Including the rings themselves, you could sit about 21 Earth's across the entire length of the planet!

Unfortunately its next to impossible to view this rings from Earth without a good telescope, and a very clear sky. Though at full magnification, with a good pair of binoculars Saturn appears to be more oval-shaped.

Night Sky Photography -- 08-12/13-2022 -- Full Supermoon & Saturn Near Opposition

Greetings Fellow Stargazers!

Last night and early this morning we were blessed with clear skies finally, and just in time to catch the tail-end of the final Supermoon of 2022!

The August Full Moon -- also known as the Full Sturgeon Moon in North America -- is the final of the four Supermoons of 2022 which began in May and continued throughout the summer months.

In actuality, our lovely Luna achieved its full moon phase officially overnight between Thursday, August 11th and Friday, August 12th, however cloud cover and South Carolina's weird summer weather prevented me from actually capturing the full disk. Tonight's photo actually shows the nearly full supermoon at about 99.8% but still close enough to get the idea and see all of the surface features of the full moon.

The Full Sturgeon Supermoon was at its closest to the Earth on the early morning of August 12th at approximately 224,569 miles (361,409 km).

You can also see the full supermoon is between the large superior planets: Jupiter and Saturn. Saturn is very close it its opposition to the Earth -- when the Earth is between the Sun and Saturn. That officially occurs on the evening of Sunday, August 14th. Hopefully I'll be able to post some photos of that event, weather permitting.

Southern Fried Humor -- The Best Tribble You'll Ever Eat

Disclaimer: I do not own the Star Trek: The Original Series TV series, or movie franchise, those belong exclusively to Paramount Studios and Star Trek is the brainchild of the Great Bird of the Galaxy himself, the late Mr. Gene Roddenberry. I also didn't come up with the idea of Tribbles, those came from Hugo Award Winning author and television writer Mr. David Jerrold who wrote the screenplay for the Star Trek: The Original Series episode The Trouble With Tribbles (Season 2, Episode 15).
The purpose of this blog post is satirical in nature to inject humor into an otherwise boring-ass personal website.


Ah Tribbles!

They're nice, soft, furry, and make a pleasant sound.... then again so does an ermine violin, and I see no advantage in having one. Sure its a human characteristic to love little animals, especially if they're attractive in some way, but there's no practical use for them and they eat a great deal, and are practically born pregnant.

If someone you love makes the mistake of purchasing one of these soft, furry little pests from some wandering space trader who decided to remove one of these creatures from its natural, predator-filled, habitat where its multiplicative tendencies are left unabated; you'll end up with many, many more of these hairballs than you could ever want.

When that happens you'll get Tribbles all over your ship. On your bridge. In the hallways in your lower decks. In your turboshafts and Jeffries tubes. In your grain storage compartments. Aye, even in your machinery -- good luck enjoying your chicken sandwich and coffee when that happens!

They have to go, but what do you do when they're about to overrun your ship? You can't simply beam them out into space -- I mean you could, but that'd be inhuman.

Well, I can think of at least one practical use for the little furry critters....

Carl's Famous Roasted Tribbles Recipe

1 pound ground Tribble meat (you can substitute ground chicken).
1 tbsp olive oil
1 egg, unmolested
1/3 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup crushed cornflakes

Mix 1 pound of fresh Tribble meat (or ground chicken) with olive oil, bread crumbs, one egg, and all your seasonings. Shape the mix into egg-sized balls.

Crack your remaining eggs into a large bowl and beat them.

Mix your flour, coconut flakes, and crushed cornflakes in a bag.

Set up an assembly line. Dip your Tribble meat in the egg mixture, roll the meat around in the crunchy coating, and put it on a well greased baking sheet.

Spritz your Tribbles with olive oil spray, or nonstick coating (like refined Ferengi lobe wax) for some extra crunch.

Bake at 375F for 10 minutes. Flip your Tribbles and bake them for another 10 minutes. Then set them on a plate, or tray to cool and serve.

If you and your friends are out camping, you can fry the Tribbles over an open flame, or a grill.

Tribbles also go really well with the famous McCoy Family Beans for that memorable campfire
cooking experience.
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier Image courtesy of Paramonunt.

The Life Of Colonel Asbury Coward C.S.A. (1835 - 1925) & The Kings Mountain Military Academy

Colonel Asbury Coward (1835 - 1925).

 

Asbury Coward was born on September 19, 1835 on the Quenby Plantation in Berkeley County, South Carolina to Mr. Jesse Coward (1805 - 1850) and Mrs. Keziah Ann Dubois Coward (1807 - 1835). The couple were lowcountry rice planters who lived in Charleston County.

At age 19 Coward graduated from The Citadel Military College in Charleston, South Carolina in 1854. At the Citadel he was classmates with future Confederate Brigadier General Micah Jenkins.

He moved to Yorkville, South Carolina (modern-day York) in 1854 to study law under the direction of Mr. William Blackburn Wilson, one of the leading lawyers of his day. After only a couple of months, however, young Coward -- who reportedly liked to sign his name "A. Coward" -- decided against the law as his line of work. He much preferred outdoor activities and military life to working in some law office.

Coward persuaded his old classmate, Micah Jenkins, to come to Yorkville and together the two young men founded the Kings Mountain Military Academy in January of 1855.

Named for the nearby site of a major battle of the American Revolutionary War in 1780, the Kings Mountain Military Academy was a sort of prep school for the Citadel in the upcountry. The school's first class had 12 male students ranging from ages 11 to 16.

The school would quickly gain an outstanding reputation for its academics, as well as its strict discipline.  The five-year curriculum included classes in mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, physiology, history, grammar, English literature, foreign languages (French and German), Latin, and philosophy.

The Kings Mountain Military Academy thrived in those first years and by 1860, the academy had 10 instructors and nearly 200 student cadets.

Boasting a large campus building and dorms, the Kings Mountain Military Academy in York, South Carolina
had nearly 200 students and 11 instructors at its height, including Asbury Coward and Micah Jenkins.
The school operated from 1855 till 1861 when the American Civil War began. The academy would reopen
following the war, but never again achieved its initial success.

On Christmas Day, Thursday, December 25, 1856, Coward married Elise Corbett Blum of Yorkville. Eventually the couple would have 17 children and would sadly outlive all but one.

When South Carolina seceded from the Union on Thursday, December 20, 1860, and the War Between The States broke out on Friday, April 12, 1861, both Coward and Jenkins immediately enlisted in the South Carolina military forces, and the school closed its doors for the duration of the war.

Asbury Coward entered the Confederate Army as captain in the adjutant general's department under Brigadier General David R. Jones. Later he was transferred to the field along with General Jones, who now commanded a brigade in the division of Major General John B. Magruder in the Peninsula Campaign where he was given a promotion to major following the Battle of Malvern Hill on Tuesday, July 1, 1862.

A few months later, on Tuesday, August 12, 1862 Coward was promoted to colonel and not long after given command of the 5th South Carolina Infantry Regiment. The regiment was attached to a brigade commanded by his old friend -- now Brigadier General -- Micah Jenkins under the command of Lieutenant General James Longstreet.

The following is an excerpt from Reminiscences of a Private by Frank M. Mixson, Company E, 1st South Carolina Volunteers (also assigned to Jenkins' Brigade) recalling when Coward first took command of the 5th South Carolina in late 1862:

It was here that Col. Coward took command of the Fifth South Carolina. I recollect how game he looked. He had the regiment formed for dress parade. He was dressed in a brand new suit, polished high top boots, shining spurs and bright sword. He did not weigh over one hundred and twenty pounds, but he looked game. He had the orders read appointing him colonel, and then he told the men that he was now their colonel and would be respected as such; he would not tell them to go only as he led them. When he got through his talk the Fifth knew they had a colonel, and after-events proved it, for from then on the Fifth was one of the best regiments in our brigade.

As a military academy teacher, Colonel Coward was said to have been a very strict, but excellent field officer.

The 5th South Carolina Infantry saw action with General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at the Second Battle of Bull Run (August 29-30th), and during Lee's first invasion of the North at Turner's Gap at the Battle of South Mountain (Sunday, September 14th) and the Battle of Sharpsburg, Maryland (Friday, September 19th).

Jenkins' brigade now served in the division of Major General George Pickett and was present at the Battle of Fredericksburg (December 11-15th) although it was not engaged.

Brigadier General Micah Jenkins CSA
(1835 - 1864) was Coward's best friend
and commanding officer both before
and during the War Between the States.

Through the first half of 1863, the 5th South Carolina would be detached from the Army of Northern Virginia. Jenkins' brigade was retained to defend Richmond, Virginia in June of that year missing Lee's second invasion of the North and the subsequent Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863).

Coward's 5th South Carolina Infantry Regiment and Jenkins brigade went with Major General John Bell Hood's Division to Georgia in the autumn of 1863 and participated in the second day's fighting at the Battle of Chickamauga on Sunday, September 20th with the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg.

Later that same year, the 5th South Carolina fought with Bragg's army during the disastrous Chattanooga Campaign at the Battle of Wauhatchie (October 28-29th) and the Knoxville Campaign.

On Saturday, January 16, 1864, General Micah Jenkins led his brigade to victory in the small Battle of Kimbrough's Crossroads (Dandridge) against Federal cavalry, which Colonel Coward's regiment took part in. Not long after Longstreet's Corps would return to Virginia and Lee's Army in time for the new spring campaign.

Tragically, during the Battle of the Wilderness (May 5-7, 1864), Brigadier General Micah Jenkins was riding ahead with General Longstreet when both men were accidentally struck down by friendly fire on Friday, May 6, 1864. Although Longstreet survived his neck wound, Jenkins -- along with two of Longstreet's aides -- died a few hours later. Colonel Coward witnessed his longtime friend and commanding officer's death.

That same afternoon Coward led his regiment in an attack through the now burning wilderness and, when the colors of the 5th South Carolina Regiment fell, Coward himself picked them up and led the charge over the Union earthworks along the Brock Road in the thick of the battle where he was wounded for the first time in the war. He would be back in command a week later, but was wounded again at the Battle of Chaffin's Farm on Friday, September 30, 1864.

The regiment's final engagement was at the Battle of Cumberland Church (Farmville, Virginia) on Friday, April 7, 1865.

Colonel Asbury Coward during his service
as Superintendent of The Citadel
(1890-1908).

Coward was still in command of the 5th South Carolina Infantry Regiment when it, along with the rest of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, surrendered two days later at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on Sunday, April 9, 1865.  The regiment surrendered and subsequently paroled its remaining 19 officers and 263 men.

Following the surrender and end of the war, Asbury Coward returned to Yorkville to his wife and family. He would go on to have a very productive life beyond his service to the Confederate army.

Colonel Coward reopened the Kings Mountain Military Academy in 1866, but things were not the same as they were before. His friend, and former commanding officer, General Micah Jenkins, was dead. In the decades following the end of the war, not many families could afford to send their kids to boarding school. South Carolina was also under Federal military occupation until 1876 and the end of the Reconstruction Era and the school's cadets were not allowed the use of military rifles for their drills.

In spite of this, Coward kept the school going and maintained its usefulness and prestige, despite the extreme poverty in the State.

Colonel Coward also served as the chairman of the Kings Mountain Centennial Committee in 1880 and helped commemorate the Centennial Monument at the site of the Revolutionary War battlefield in Blacksburg, South Carolina.

His dedication to education would be well rewarded.

From 1884-1886, Colonel Coward would hold the office of South Carolina Superintendent of Education, and in 1890 would become Superintendent of The Citadel in Charleston and served at that post until 1908 when he was awarded a Carnegie Pension for his service to mankind. The Citadel made great strides under the leadership of Coward who gained the respect and affection of every student body he ever commanded.

The University of South Carolina in Columbia awarded him the honorary degree of doctor of laws in 1896 and U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Coward to the prestigious West Point Board of Visitors in the early 1900s.

After briefly living in Johnson County, Tennessee with one of their adult children, both Colonel Coward and his wife (now 89 and 87 respectively) returned to York to live out the remainder of their lives.

Colonel Asbury Coward and his wife, Elise Corbett Blum Coward, taken in 1923, nearly 67 years after
the couple were married on Christmas Day in 1856.

Colonel Asbury Coward died on Tuesday, April 28, 1925 at the age of 89. He is buried in historic Rose Hill Cemetery in York, South Carolina next to his wife, Eliza, underneath a beautiful granite monument.

On Wednesday, October 7, 1931, the Kings Mountain Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a small monument honoring Colonel Coward near the Centennial Monument at Kings Mountain National Military Park in recognition for his work in helping to preserve the battlefield site for future generations.

Colonel Coward's marker near the Centennial
Monument at the Kings Mountain National
Military Park in Blacksburg, South Carolina.

The Kings Mountain Military Academy would close down permanently in 1908. A year later the property the academy stood on was sold to the York Episcopal Church. Today the York Place Episcopal Church Home For Children sits on the site of the former military school. A historical marker notes both the site of the academy and its first commandant, Brigadier General Micah Jenkins, who is buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston.

The marker is located on Kings Mountain Road (SC Highway 321) in York, South Carolina.

Both the Citadel and Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina have collections of Colonel Asbury Coward's personal letters during and after the war. His memoir was published in 1968.

One of Asbury and Elise Coward's sons, Dr. Francis Asbury Coward (1877-1922) would serve in the American Expeditionary Forces A.E.F. as a 1st Lieutenant and doctor in the Medical Corps on the Western Front in France in 1918 -- the last year of the First World War. He's buried in the family plot near his parents at Rose Hill Cemetery in York, South Carolina.

The grave of Colonel Asbury Coward and his wife Elise at
Rose Hill Cemetery in York, South Carolina.

This blogger would like to thank the good folks at the South Carolina State Department of Archives and Winthrop College in Rock Hill, South Carolina for providing the information for this article.

The Life And Death Of Patriot General Edward Lacey Jr. (1742 - 1813)

South Carolina Patriot militiaman.
Artwork by Dan Nance (2014).

 

Edward Lacey Jr. was born on Monday, September 13, 1742 in Shippen Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, the son of Edward Lacey Sr., a native of England who'd settled on the Chesapeake Bay and then later moved to Cumberland County.

Young Edward did not get along well with his father, who largely disapproved of his adventurous spirit and a childish infatuation for military life.

Lacey was just 13 years old when the French and Indian War (1754 - 1763) broke out and he ran away to join British Major General Edward Braddock in his disastrous expedition against the French-occupied Ohio River Valley and Fort Duquesne (modern-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) in 1755.

As he was too young to bear arms, Lacey served as a pack-horse rider and wagon driver on the Braddock expedition along with then 20 year-old future explorer Daniel Boone. He was a member of the American militia forces on the 1,300 man expedition commanded by then 23 year old Colonel George Washington.

Lacey received his very first bitter taste of battle on Sunday, July 9, 1755 at the Battle of the Monongahela (near modern-day Braddock, Pennsylvania) when Braddock's British and American forces were attacked by French and First Nations Indian forces after crossing the Monongahela River and the grueling retreat after Braddock himself was mortally wounded and died.

Young Edward Lacey endured the terrifying three hours of the battle surrounded by howling French and Indian enemies firing at the columns of redcoats from the woods surrounding the road. He was also a witness to General Braddock being shot from his horse, and Washington taking charge and leading the shattered column in retreat. Lacey helped drive a wagon full of wounded British and American provincials, which he helped tend to along the journey.

After two years of service as a pack-horse driver with the British army, his father found him and brought him home against his wishes. He remained there for a year and then, at age 16, Lacey again ran away to accompany Scottish immigrants Baron William Adair and his wife, Mary Moore Adair, joining the exodus of Scots-Irish immigrants to the Carolinas down the Great Wagon Road.

Baron Adair's son, John Adair, would be a life-long friend of Edward, later serving under him in his militia company during the Revolutionary War, and would survive the war to become a delegate to the South Carolina convention to ratify the U.S. Constitution, and then later on become Governor of Kentucky.

They settled in the southern portion of the New Acquisition's District Between The Broad and Catawba Rivers (later becoming York and Chester Counties). From William Adair, the lad received an excellent education as he served as an apprentice bricklayer.

According to family legend, when he was still a young man, Lacey went to Charleston, South Carolina to sell bees wax and hides. He visited a gypsy woman to get his fortune told. The woman told Lacey that he would become a great warrior and never shed any blood in battle, but that he would die by drowning. She also told him that he would marry a red-headed woman and have ten children, five with red hair and five who would be dark.

His father would eventually move to South Carolina with his son, settling in the New Acquisitions District (modern-day York County) along with the rest of his family. The two would make peace again for a time, but partisan politics would soon divide them yet again.

In the 1760s, the Laceys obtained several large land grants along Turkey and Fishing Creeks. Lacey himself built a farm along Sandy River in modern-day Chester County. Lacey married a redheaded woman, Miss Jane Harper of Chester District in 1766 and the couple would go on to have eleven children.

In person, Colonel Edward Lacey was an imposing figure. Reportedly, he was five feet eleven inches tall, weighed about 170 pounds, had black hair, dark eyes, and an unusually handsome and strongly intellectual face.

When the American Revolutionary War broke out in 1775, young Edward, a staunch Whig, took sides with the Patriot cause, becoming a captain in the local Turkey Creek Volunteer Militia company. Lacey used his own money in the war and he was never paid for his services.

His father, Edward Lacey Sr., remained an uncompromising British Loyalist (Tory) -- a fact which would come into play at the height of the American Revolutionary War's Southern Campaign in South Carolina's backcountry.

Captain Lacey's company served in Brigadier General Andrew Williamson's 1776 campaign during the Cherokee War. When the news of the Declaration of Independence reached his company he publicly read the patriotic document to the army.

Lacey would serve in various engagements over the next few years, including the Battle of Stono Ferry (Sunday, June 20, 1779) where his militia would fight with Major General Benjamin Lincoln against British and Hessian troops as they retreat from an aborted attempt to capture Charleston.

In 1780 he received his commission as colonel of militia for the Chester District. Him and his militia were on their way to help defend Charleston, before learning that the city fell to the British under General Sir Henry Clinton after a nearly two month siege on Friday, May 12th. They returned home, many of them content with sitting out the rest of the war, until it became apparent that the local Loyalists and the British were out for revenge.

During the late spring and summer of that year, British occupiers offered Lacey wealth and position to serve as a spy for the Loyalists, but he preferred to remain loyal to his Patriot neighbors.

Edward Lacey was also likely one of the 32 Patriot volunteers who took part in the engagement at Alexander's Old Fields in Chester District on Wednesday, June 7th and at Mobley's Meeting House in modern-day Fairfield County the next day on Thursday, June 8th when Colonel William Bratton of the New Acquisitions militia and Captain Richard Winn routed Loyalists attempting to recruit in the area. Both actions served as the first Patriot acts of defiance to British authority in the South Carolina backcountry.

Six weeks later, on July 12, 1780, Colonel Lacey and his militia took part in the decisive Battle of Williamson Plantation (better known locally as the Battle of Huck's Defeat) where Patriot militia defeated Loyalist militia and Provincials -- including members of Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton's dreaded British Legion under the notorious Captain Christian Huck.

An interest side note to this battle, the night before Edward Lacey was forced to tie his Loyalist father to his huge four-poster bed to keep him from warning Huck the night before during the preparing for the fighting the next morning.

Colonel Lacey continued to serve throughout the summer of 1780 with General Thomas "Gamecock" Sumter at the Battles of Rocky Mount (Tuesday, August 1st), Hanging Rock (Sunday, August 6th), Carey's Fort (Tuesday, August 15th), and at Fishing Creek (Friday, August 18th).

Throughout his service in the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War, Lacey would go on to fight in sixteen battles and engagements, never once being wounded. The closest he came was at the Battle of Kings Mountain (Saturday, October 7th) when a musket ball passed through his hat and cut the hair at the top of his head, but didn't touch him. He also has his horse shot out from under him that same afternoon.

Later that fall, Lacey and his militia would again serve under Sumter at the Battles of Fishdam Ford (Thursday, November 9th) and Blackstock's Farm (Monday, November 20th) where his militia would once again face and defeat the British Legion, this time under the command of Tarleton himself.

Lacey's last major military action took place at the Battle of Eutaw Springs (Saturday, September 8, 1781) where he served under Major General Nathaniel Greene and Colonel William Washington in the final campaign against the British in the Carolinas.

In 1782 he was sent to Edisto Island, South Carolina remaining on duty until December of that year. The American Revolutionary War formally less than a year later.

Soon after the end of the war, he was awarded the rank of Brigadier General in the militia for his service, and became one of the first county court judges in Chester District. He was sent to the General Assembly of South Carolina in Charleston, where he served Chester County in the State Legislature until 1793.

In October 1797 General Lacey moved his family west to Montgomery County, Tennessee, then the farthest frontier, to the west of Nashville where they remained for two years. The family then moved again permanently moved to Livingston County, Kentucky, near the Ohio River  in 1799 where Lacey soon became a county judge.

On Saturday, March 20, 1813, while crossing the flooded Deer Creek near Carrsville, Kentucky on horseback, Lacey was struck by a catalepsy seizure and fell from his horse, drowning in the rushing water -- just as the gypsy fortuneteller had allegedly foretold. He was 70 years old.

General Edward Lacey's widow, Jane, soon followed her husband to death two months later. Both are buried next to each other in the Carrsville Cemetery in Livingston County, Kentucky, USA.


Sources used for this article include the following:

The Road to Guilford Courthouse by John Buchanan, 1997, John Wiley and Sons, New York.Nothing but Blood and Slaughter - the Revolutionary War in the Carolinas, Volume Four, 1782 by Patrick O'Kelley, 2005.
The Day It Rained Militia: Huck's Defeat and the Revolution in the South Carolina Backcounty May - July 1780 by Michael C. Scoggins, 2005.

And a special thanks to the good folks at the Chester County (SC) Historical Society.

Night Sky Photography -- 08-01-2022 -- Mars & Uranus Close Conjunction

Good morning fellow stargazers!

Very early this morning -- or very last last night, depending on how y'all look at it -- after a couple of evenings of mostly cloudy skies, I was fortunate to capture a very close conjunction of the planets Mars and Uranus.

The first shot between the branches of the tree is the Red Planet, our closest planetary neighbor, with a very small, barely visible dot about one-degree to the left. That little faded dot is the elusive 7th planet of our solar system, Uranus. I only lightly highlighted Uranus in the first photo, but in the second close-up photo, you can just see the 5.8 magnitude distant planet just to the left of 0.2 magnitude bright Mars. 

 

Without a good lens, or pair or binoculars, spotting Uranus with the naked eye along is next to impossible unless you know exactly where to look. In this case we have Mars as an excellent starting point as the two planets will be close together for the next few nights.

Of course, by "close together" I'm only referring to how we view the two planets from here on the surface of the Earth. In reality, both Mars and Uranus are over 1.6 billion miles (or about 17.7 AU) apart at the moment in respect to their distance from the Sun.

Also, despite being more distant from our world, Uranus is actually much larger than either Earth, or Mars. With a diameter of 31,510 miles (or 50,723 kilometers), Uranus is four times larger than the Earth and the third largest planet in the Solar System. By contrast, Mars is much smaller at 4,212 miles (or 6.779 km) in diameter.

Uranus is also a ringed world like Saturn, although seeing these rings from Earth, even with a good telescope, is next to impossible. These rings were discovered by Cornell University astronomers James L. Elliot, Edward W. Dunham, and Jessica Mink on Thursday, March 10, 1977, although German astronomer William Herschel had also reportedly observed what he suspected were the rings in 1789. The rings were later photographed by the Voyager 2 spacecraft during its historic flyby on Friday, January 24, 1986.

In addition to its thin rings, Uranus has 15 known small moons orbiting the planet -- the largest of these is Titania, the eighth-largest moon in the Solar System at 891 miles (or 1,578 km) in diameter.

If you want to see Uranus (and please keep your minds out of the gutter folks, LOL!) the planet will start to move just above and past Mars in the early morning sky in the Northern Hemisphere over the next few days; but be advised you need a really got set of eyes and a good camera lens, telescope, or binoculars if you want to spot it.

Thanks again and I hope y'all enjoyed my photos and presentation. As always have a wonderful Dixie Day and be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all!

Photo taken by the Voyager 2 space probe of Uranus and its
rings during its flyby of the planet on January 24, 1986.