Category Archives: New

Pompeii was destroyed on 24 August 79 AD. The last several years before Pompeii’s destruction were volatile in the Roman Empire. Just two months and one day before Pompeii was destroyed, Emperor Vespasian died. Six years before, the First Jewish War ended with the fall of Masada after a siege of several months. In 69 AD, Emperor Nero committed suicide plunging Rome into a yearlong civil war, which the Romans called “The Year of Four Emperors.” Most telling was an earlier eruption of Vesuvius in 63 AD, which caused extensive damage in Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum.

Pompeii was a city of 20,000, including the suburbs outside the city walls. A small city, right? But the world population is 35 times larger today. That is the relative equivalent of a city of 700,000 today. If Pompeii were a modern city in the United States with the same relative population, it would be a city of 700,000, and the 19^th largest city in the United States. Pompeii would be larger than El Paso, Boston, Seattle, Denver, Baltimore, Portland, Atlanta, Cleveland and many more cities in the United States.

Pompeii was actually a large seaport city the Roman Empire. Pompeii was also a resort city where many wealthy Romans had second homes, even Nero had a villa in Pompeii (his wife was from Pompeii). Rome is about 150 miles from Pompeii. Goods were shipped all over the Roman Empire from Pompeii, and Rome had a major naval base in Misenum on the other side of the Bay of Naples, across from Pompeii. Pliny the Elder was a senior Roman official, the commander of the naval fleet in Misenum and had his own villa nearby.

Pompeii had many of the amenities of a medium to large size city; market places (grocery and retail stores) laundries (dry cleaners), amphitheaters (sports and entertainment), public baths (spa’s), palestra’s (gym), livery (transportation), restaurants, bars, bakeries, family owned and run businesses, hotels, and of course there was the forum (mall) as well as brothels (over 40 in Pompeii), and many more businesses we would recognize today. They also had many of the same problems of our modern cities including crime and graffiti.

On the morning of 24 August, Pliny the Elder saw a mushroom cloud rise over the mountains and decided to investigate. But before he could leave his villa he received a message asking for help in evacuating the danger zone. He immediately ordered the fleet to help in a rescue attempt and left with his ships. The eruption had been preceded by earthquakes, but thay had been so numerous no one gave them much thought. The volcano put so much debris into the sky that it blocked all sunlight. That night a pyroclastic cloud descended Vesuvius with such speed and heat that the people of Herculaneum died instantly, the flesh melting from their bodies. Pompeii was a few more miles away and by the time the pyroclastic cloud reached the city, the temperature had gone down enough that the people survived, this time.

The next day the people of Pompeii were not so lucky. The fourth pyroclastic cloud to descend the mountain was hot enough to kill the people instantly, but it left their bodies and even their clothes intact. Altogether six pyroclastic clouds rolled down Vesuvius. Today the volcano is still active. If the next eruption is strong enough it could even threaten Naples.

I spent much of the 1980’s submerged under the ocean. When you do that you learn a new appreciation for things you used to take for granted.  One of the things I took for granted, and never will again, is sunrise and sunset. Back on 21 February 2014, I was up before dawn waiting with anticipation for the sunrise. I wrote down my thoughts as I watched the day break, and shared those thoughts with some of my friends. They thought I should share those same thoughts with you, so here they are. I hope you enjoy them.

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This is my favorite time of the day.
The sun has not made its appearance, and Venus is alone with the moon. My mind wanders back to Ponte Vedra Beach. I would stand and look to the eastern horizon, the beach all to myself. As the light would begin to break, the fishing boats just becoming faintly visible as they set their nets. It is as if all time stands still, if only for a moment. This time of day is a miracle of beauty and tranquility.
This time of day reminds me of the miracle. Don’t believe in miracles?
I stand here on a tiny piece of soil watching dawn break. A tiny piece of soil spinning around an axis at 1,000 miles an hour. I look into the sky at worlds thousands of miles away.
No miracles? Oh my dear friend, all of life is a miracle, every breath, every moment.
May your miracle be a beautiful one.

There are many web sites that cover parts of Civil War not taught in our public schools. One of those parts of our history covers the participation of blacks in the Confederate Army. Many of these sites link to, and cite as a source, the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) as well as books that may be purchased on the SCV web site. In short the “pro” side of argument over whether blacks fought for the South use numbers of 2000 to 65000 for the estimated number of freedmen and slaves who fought for the Confederacy.

The “con” side of this argument would have you believe that the SCV is a group of racist, ignorant, armchair wannabe historians bent on changing American history. However, upon investigating the claims of the SCV you discover that there are many credentialed historians that the SCV and its supporters quote and a smaller number of credential historians that support many, if not all, of the claims of the SCV.

Dr. Ed Bearss, National Park Service Historian Emeritus, and one of the foremost Civil War historians once stated, “I don’t want to call it a conspiracy to ignore the role of blacks, both above and below the Mason-Dixon Line, but it was definitely a tendency that began around 1910.” Many other historians including Roland Young (an African-American) and Edwin Kennedy Lt Col. US Army retired have researched, written about, and given talks about blacks who fought for the South.

Some of the reasons given for their service are:

1)Patriotism. The South was the only home these men had ever known, and it was being invaded. They did not agree with everything in the South, but it was their home.

2)The expectation of receiving their freedom. Some men were promised to be given their freedom if they served.

3)Some of the freedmen, were not just former slaves. They had economic ties to the south, some owned businesses and some owned slaves themselves.

4)Some were forced to serve, and some served in the hopes it would make it easier to escape to the north.

The SCV also points to pensions where the applicant wrote “soldier” and it was crossed out and replaced with “servant.” The pro side of the argument also points to family verbal and written histories. Sometimes in the form of diaries.

There are descendents of black confederates who are members of the SCV and speak proudly of their ancestor’s service.

Oral histories are not known for their accuracy, and often the sources cited by the pro side are modern books written on the Civil War. Though, those books may be accurate, they are not primary source material (though they may have used primary source material).

Both sides of this argument are very ardent, with individuals on both sides resorting to name calling and personal attacks at times.

Part three will be my analysis of the two sides of the argument.