Joe's Daily U.S. Histtory Lesson -- May 28

MAY 28 -- 1863 -- 54th Massachusetts regiment departs; 1946 Carter Glass dies (Federal Reserve); 1957 Dodgers and Giants move to West Coast

MAY 28

1863 – The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry departs for combat. …It was the first military unit consisting of black soldiers to be raised in the North during the civil War. Prior to 1863, black troops just weren’t accepted in the military. The adoption of the Emancipation Proclamation in December 1863 provided the impetus for the use of free black men as soldiers and, at a time when state governors were responsible for the raising of regiments for federal service, Massachusetts was the first to respond with the formation of the 54th.

It was a very controversial move. In those days, it was generally disputed whether or not African Americans were even capable of fighting a white man’s war. What was generally agreed upon, however, was that even if the blacks could fight, they couldn’t lead.

As a result, 90% of the officers were white. Recruiting began in February 1863, and in all, about 1000 black men were enlisted. The 54th saw their first action on James Island, losing 45 men. Two days later, after several days with little sleep, food or water, the regiment was instructed to lead the attack against Fort Wagner on Morris Island. It didn’t go well and the 54th suffered heavy damage, losing about half of the men present.

However, the unit showed exceptional bravery and honor, never retreating as they waited for the reinforcements which would never arrive. Nonetheless, the use of black soldiers in the 54th was viewed as a success and opened the way for numerous other black units in the Union Army for the remainder of the war.

1946 – Federal Reserve co-founder Carter Glass dies.

Born in 1858, Lynchburg VA to a prominent newspaper owner, young Carter began interning in the print shop for his family at age 13. Standing 5’4”, Glass would take over the family business as well as all the other newspapers in the area. Glass heard William Jennings Bryan speak in 1896, and from then on he became a permanent member of the Democratic Party. Throughout his political career, Carter Glass would serve as in the House of Representatives from 1902-1918, during which time he was chairman of the Banking and Currency Committee, along with Senator Robert Owen on a bill that would compete with the Aldrich Bill for the creation of the Federal Reserve.

The idea of having a private banking system is unconstitutional as it violates Article 10 Section 8. Andrew Jackson said to the banks before he dismantled them way back in 1833, “Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost you charged it to the bank.”  Meanwhile, as Carter Glass himself would admit I never thought the Federal Reserve System would prove such a failure. The Federal Reserve Act was passed to rein in the MoneyTrust, stabilize the economy and prevent depressions and it did the exact opposite. Before he spoke out against the Fed, he served as chairman from 1918-1920, just nine years before the Great Depression. Carter Glass would serve in the Senate from 1920-1946, where he would die of congestive heart failure, age 88.

1892 – John Muir establishes the Sierra Club … in San Francisco, CA. This was one of the first large-scale environmental preservation organizations in the world, and currently engages in lobbying politicians to promote green policies. These days it has hundreds of thousands of members in chapters located throughout the US.

It also has its share of scandal, according to Time magazine I doubt John Muir would be proud of, for instance the $26 million in gifts from the natural gas industry, mostly from Aubrey McClendon, CEO or Chesapeake Energy. Then there was the IRS claiming that the Sierra Club and its Foundation were not paying income taxes from sales of solar panels for their partners across the US according to the Energy and Environment Legal Institute. Then there are the continuous accusations for suing for profit, other questionable finances, and abuse of the endangered species act.

1957 – Giants and Dodgers move to the west coast. They were already rivals since the late 19th century. In 1957, the Dodgers were on a roll; they had won five pennants and one World Championship in eight years. There Brooklyn games were generally sell-outs, with 32,000 seats at Ebbets Field all taken.

Dodger’s owner Walter O’Malley managed to convince Giants owner Horace Stoneham, who was considering moving his team to Minnesota to reserve the rivalry by bringing his team to California as well.

The Giants hosted a farewell party at a game on September 29, and the Dodgers formally announced their move on October 8. West Coast baseball fans couldn’t wait, and New York fans were heartbroken. Even though the two teams face each other about 20 times each season, the rivalry just wasn’t the same when they came to California. Once just a subway ride away, the teams were now almost 400 miles apart.

Meanwhile New York got the Mets, an expansion team in 1962, and in 2000 the Yankees and Mets faced off in the World Series, the first subway series since the Dodgers and the Yankees met in 1956.