Tag: Home School

Hugh Glass – Left For Dead

Carolyn Torbett Johnson1 Comment

hugh glassIn 1823, Hugh Glass, in his forties, left with a nine person trapper expedition party, up the Missouri River to South Dakota. In August, while scouting, he surprised a grizzly with her two cubs. The bear attacked, picking Glass up and slamming him to the ground. He had been unable to get a shot off but he did have his knife and fought for his life. The other men, hearing his screams, ran to his aid. He was severely mauled and unconscious. The bear was dead.

HughGlassBearAttackMajor Andrew Henry was sure Glass was going to die and asked for volunteers to sit with him till the end came. Nineteen year old, Jim Bridger, (yes, the famous one) and twenty-three year old, John Fitzgerald agreed to stay. They dug a grave and sat to wait. They waited three days with Glass in and out of consciousness. After three days, Indians came into the area and Fitzgerald convinced Bridger they had to make a run for it. They moved Glass near water, took his equipment and gun and took off. They figured he was dead anyway and reported him dead when they caught up to the rest of the party.

Glass regained consciousness enough to realize he was alone and unarmed. Rage filled him at the men who would leave him in this state. His wounds were now severely infected. He had a broken leg and exposed ribs on his back. He set his leg and with one good leg and one good arm began crawling. He headed south toward the Cheyenne River about a hundred miles away. Maggots ate at the infected flesh on his back.

As he crawled he continued to pass out. When he was conscious he would eat berries and roots. At one point, he was able to gorge himself on the remains of a bison killed by wolves. As he grew stronger, he was able to stand and walk. Some Sioux, took pity on him, cleaned his back and gave him food. It took six weeks but he made it to the river. There he built a raft and traveled down to Fort Kiowa, approximately another hundred miles.

When he was healthy enough, he set off after the expedition party. They had continued on to Yellowstone. He caught up to them in 1824 and confronted a very shamed Jim Bridger. Glass let Bridger live, cause he was so young, and set out after Fitzgerald.

He eventually caught up with Fitzgerald but couldn’t kill him as planned. Fitzgerald had joined the Army and they wouldn’t let a civilian kill a soldier. He got his rifle back and a collection of money from the troops. He left knowing he had at least shamed Fitzgerald in the face of his other soldiers.

 

Angel Glow At The Battle Of Shiloh

Carolyn Torbett JohnsonLeave a comment

battle-of-shiloh_5At the battle of Shiloh, 16,000 men were wounded and 3,000 were killed. The medics could not care for this enormous need adequately, so many of the wounded and dying were left on the battlefield for two days. This was a swampy region and many were stuck lying in mud and stagnant water. To make matters worse, it happened to be raining off and on for those two days.

While waiting in the muck and mire, some of the wounds began to glow a faint blue color. When the soldiers were finally treated, the men who reported the glow had a higher survival rate than those who did not see a glow. The wounds that glowed had less infection and healed faster. They, also, seemed to scar less. The soldiers nicknamed it, Angel’s Glow.

These accounts were chalked up as forklore until 2001.

In 2001, two high school boys, William Martin and Jonathan Curtis did a science fair project. They wanted to prove there really was an Angel’s Glow.

They showed how tiny parasitic worms known as nematodes carry a bacteria called photorhabdus luminescens which glows in the dark. Luminous_BacteriaThe nematodes burrow into larvae then vomit out photorhabdus luminescens bacteria which causes the larvae to die. It also kills any bacteria in the larvae. The boys showed how this bacteria could also have gotten into the wounds of the soldiers killing the bad bacteria.

The problem with this theory is that photorhabdus luminescens bacteria can not survive in a warm human body. The boys explanation was simple. The battle of Shiloh took place in late April, which is a cool month. The men laid in water and were rained on causing hypothermia. Their body temperatures were at a point where photorhabdus luminescens bacteria could survive, killing the harmful bacteria. When the men were warmed up, the temperature killed the photorhabdus luminescens bacteria.

Bat Bombs Of World War II

Carolyn Torbett JohnsonLeave a comment

I have long been aware of bats being a gentle, beneficial part of our ecology. But I was amazed when I heard of a top secret unit in World War II working on developing a bat bomb.

The idea was conceived by a Pennsylvania dentist name Lytle S. Adams. He was a friend of Eleanor Roosevelt. He outlined a plan to arm bats with bombs that could be ignited to start fires. The plan was accepted and sent to the military under top secret status.

First, a container bomb was developed to house a thousand bats. This is a container bomb from Wikipedia. It had layers of trays inside to divide bats. Each bat was equipped with a small incendiary device strapped to it. Louie Fieser, inventor of the nepalm, designed half ounce and one ounce timed incendiary devices for the creatures.

Bat_Bomb_Canister

The plan was to drop the container bomb from 5000 feet. A parachute would be attached to the bomb. The bats would be released around 1000 feet. The bats would disperse to varies places. In the morning they would hide in the cracks of the highly flammable Japanese buildings. The timed devices would then be ignited, causing widespread fires.

Plans were made to have ten B-24 bombers from Alaska carry a hundred bat shells. This would release 1,040,000 bat incendiary bombs over the industrial cities of Osaka Bay.

Tests were done. Unfortunately in one test, some bats were accidentCarlsbad_AAF_Fire_after_Bat_Bomb_Accidently released and caused fires at the military base in New Mexico.  This is a picture of the devastation on the base.

Picture from Wikipedia

 

 

 

Another test in Utah included a fake Japanese village built for demonstration. Those watching felt the bombing was a success.

The program was cancelled in 1944 after spending two million on development. It was felt that the research was progressing too slow. It was reported that the founder of the idea made a statement saying we could have devastated Japan with the bat fires and sustained very little loss of life. Instead we sent an atom bomb.

 

Will Jesus Have A Tattoo?

Carolyn Torbett Johnson1 Comment

 

Jesus-Christ-Pics-2301Tattoos have never been a big deal to me. You can have them if you like, but I think I would be bored with it after a couple of years. Kind of like wearing the same piece of jewelry.

I had never heard of churches preaching against tattoos till I moved to the Midwest. I do understand the passage in the Old Testament concerning marking your body. But I believe, this  refers to the practice of cutting and heathen markings.

I ran across a scripture the other day, it caused me to really think about the subject. I’d like to get your opinion.

Rev. 19:16 “And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

So is ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’ actually written on His thigh or just on His garment? Let me know what you think.

Did Noah Really Save Two Of Every Animal?

Carolyn Torbett Johnson3 Comments

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Did Noah really gather the animals two by two? We learned this in Sunday School. But sometimes things in Sunday School have been simplified for children. Noah didn’t board two of every animal. The clean (acceptable for eating) Noah brought seven, the unclean (not acceptable for eating) he brought two. But was it seven, male and female mixed or seven pairs, which would make it fourteen. Also was it two, male and female or two pairs. This is the way my Bible reads in Genesis 7:2,3. This is New American Standard version.

“2You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female; 3also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.”

I’m starting to lean to the 7 pairs and 2 pairs. What do you think? Grab your favorite version of the Bible, and read Genesis 7:2,3, then let me know.

noah_and_the_ark_with_animals