Tag: ShermanBicentennial

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Culture and Value US History

California Wild Fires

By Inklein - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org
CZU LIghtning Complex Fire August 19, 2020 By Inklein – https://commons.wikimedia.org

On the next day we crossed over the Santa Cruz Mountains from which we had sublime views of the scenery, first looking east toward the lower Bay of San Francisco, with the bright plains of Santa Clara and San Jose and then to the west upon the ocean, the town of Monterey being visible sixty miles off

Memoirs of W.T. Sherman

Sherman wrote in the late spring or early summer 1848 of his rides on mounted horseback from Monterey to San Jose and San Francisco.

Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains, 19th Century John Ross Key https://americangallery19th.wordpress.com/tag/john-ross-key/

The Santa Cruz mountains form part of the Pacific Coast Ranges along the ridge south of San Francisco and north of Monterey CA.   To avoid summer beach traffic when I’m returning from the coast side I’ve taken the back roads through the mountains. The roads snake through a dense magical redwood forest. At times coastal fog obscure where the road borders a significant vertical drop.  The vista of the plains Sherman speaks of is at the ridge’s crest.  Except now the vast horizon of fruited plains is replaced by the suburban sprawl of  Silicon Valley. These mountains are the site of the CZU Lightning Complex Fires that erupted in Northern California early in the morning August 16, 2020 after an extraordinary storm.  Four weeks later the CZU fires have been declared fully contained but not before destroying more than 300,00 mostly wooded acres. Big Basin Redwoods, California’s oldest state park (established in 1902) lost its historic headquarters and lodge. It’s yet to be confirmed to what extent old growth redwoods affected by the fires will remain intact.  On the other hand, Skyline ridge to the north remains unscathed as well as heavily populated communities of the valleys below. Until recently many of the state’s national forest parks including Yosemite and Sequoia National Forest were closed due to lingering smoke and unhealthy air quality. Still the world’s largest giant sequoia, the General Sherman Tree, stands tall—for now.

General Sherman Tree, Sequoia National Forest, CA USA

Seasonal wildfires are a regular pattern of summer and fall in California. With over 7,000 wildfires consuming more than 3 million acres, the fires of 2020 break all previous records. More than 19,000 firefighters are deployed in areas throughout California. Words can’t express our gratitude for heroic efforts of first responders in saving lives, homes and containing further spread of destruction.

Climate change contributes to the intensity and perhaps frequency of wildfires. But there are other factors to consider. Large land mass of forests, shrubs and grasslands all could benefit from managed burns to reduce the undergrowth of tinder fueling rapid spreads of fire and in some cases destruction and loss of life. Indigenous peoples of California practiced intentional fire burns to protect forests and grasslands. It’s generally agreed that controlled burns are effective in reducing brush and undergrowth which when coupled with hot dry wind cause erratic wild fires. Why managed fires are not implemented more often could be linked to logistical and political complications. Creating a strategy that satisfies all constituents as well as allocating the funds necessary to better manage forests seems like a utopian dream amidst the larger crisis wreaked by COVID-19. Yet maybe these two ongoing events shouldn’t be view as entirely isolated. Both crises require intelligent, innovative and persistent attention.

Sherman who was acutely interested in terrain and topography used his knowledge to shape logistical solutions applied to allocation of resources and movement of supplies. He had little tolerance if any for lack of due diligence or ineptitude due to government irresponsibility and political infighting.  I’d like to think that for the most part various government agencies work together to spend our tax dollars judiciously to develop solutions for the common good.  Often it proves to be otherwise.

W. T. Sherman, G. P. E. Healey, 1866

We can wait and even pray for rain, which hopefully will come by the end of October. We should continue to expect accountability and transparency on management of lands both public and privately held. The U.S. Department of the Interior/Bureau of Land Management restrictions provides accessible information concerning policies. Similarly Cal Fire https://www.fire.ca.gov posts daily updates.Would it be too much to hope for equitable, efficient and strategic collaboration between federal, and state government and stakeholders of privately owned lands to work together to implement solutions for at risk lands?

Smokey the Bear 1944 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokey_Bear

In either case now would be California’s opportunity to implement and improve strategies for wildfire management. Local, state and federal government partnering with urban, neighborhood and rural communities, businesses and other stakeholders need to work together. For over seven decades Smokey the Bear has reminded us that care will prevent 9 out of 10 wildfires. Extreme weather patterns and climate changes still lie beyond our understanding and control. But the future of California’s forests,  coast,  desert and grasslands is entirely weighted and measured by care of each and everyone of us who is blessed to call this beautiful land our home.

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Culture and Value US History

Let Freedom Ring

Photo by frank mckenna on Unsplash

And now that, in these notes, I have fairly reached the period of the civil war, which ravaged our country from 1861-1865—an event involving a conflict of passion, of prejudice and of arms, that has developed results which, for better or for worse, have left their mark on the world’s history—I feel that I tread on delicate ground.

Memoirs of General W.T. Sherman Volume I

So, Sherman begins his accounts of the war and military campaigns for which he is remembered; honored or damned depending on one’s point of view. Clearly it constituted a lifetime achievement since he dedicates more than half of his entire memoir to the war years. Or perhaps the was an editor’s call.

Sherman continues; “it is not his intent—he claims to write a history of the war, but rather group some of [his personal] reflections about historic persons and events of the day.”

In March of 1861 he bid farewell to the Louisiana Military Academy where he was happily setting up operations of the new school educating the elite of the south.  Secession was in motion and after declining to serve under the Confederacy, he resigned from his post. Sherman was aware that military conflict was rapidly approaching. He traveled to Washington where his brother an Ohio senator, introduced him to President Lincoln.

Sherman was not impressed with his first meeting with Lincoln.  For when he shared his concern that northern states seemed oblivious to the fact the south was preparing for war the president replied  “Oh well—I  guess we’ll manage to keep house”.  Sherman angrily told his brother John “You [politicians] got things in a hell of a fix, and you may get them out as best you can.” He thought that the “country was sleeping on a volcano”. He left Washington DC and moved his growing family to St. Louis where he had found a new job to support them.

But by the beginning of April war talk and preparations were escalating and Missouri was an epicenter of mounting violence; the sleeping volcanic activity Sherman feared. He commiserated with a colleague “deploring the sad conditions of our country, and the seeming drift toward dissolution and anarchy”. Then there was the bombardment of Fort Sumter, April 12-14 that signaled the start of the war.

Memoirs of Gen. W.T. Sherman Vol. I Louisiana, Missouri, Bull Run

In rereading Sherman’s recollections I find it interesting that he was reluctant to accept two seemingly high positions in the US War Department. He claims he turned them down because he already made the decision to take care of his family with  his new job  in St. Louis. But it may also be the case that he was not going to take on a contract position for three months which is what most politicians in Washington thought would be the duration of the war. He knew it would be longer because he was well aware of the resolve of the Confederacy. After more civil unrest and violence broke in St. Louis, where Sherman and his young son were caught in a mob stampede amidst gunfire he quickly changed his mind and accepted an appointment as a colonel of the Thirteenth Regular Infantry. By mid May Sherman was returning to Washington to report for duty.

By Kurz & Allison – Library of Congress, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org

Sherman gives his eyewitness account and participation in the Battle of Bull Run/Manassas again, depending on one’s perspective–which happened July 21, 1861.  He sums up the weeks before of training young eager recruits. They were far from ready physically and mentally for war. The Confederates weren’t either but they were better organized, more in number and by July 4th were already outside of in Manassas just outside of Washington.  His summary of the battle—”one of the best planned and worse fought”.

Our men had been told so often at home that all they do to do was to make a bold appearance, and the rebels would run; and nearly all of us for the first time then heard the sound of cannon and muskets in anger, and saw the bloody scenes common to all battles, with which were soon to be familiar. We had good organization, good men but no cohesion, no real discipline, no respect for authority, no real knowledge of war.

Sherman doesn’t admit defeat. It’s now generally agreed that it was victory for the south. In either case, it was a sad and shameful day. It was also a public spectacle; people came from nearby areas, bringing children and picnics to watch the event as if it was a parade. Within moments they were shocked and traumatized with chaos, terror and the stench of death. Both armies were in disarray, and suffered casualties. After Bull Run, Sherman was assigned to training new regiments. He continues:

I organized a system of drills, embracing the evolutions of the line, all of which was new to me, and I had learned the tactics from the book; but I was convinced that we had a long hard war before us, and made up my mind to begin at the very beginning to prepare for it.

Conflict of passion, prejudice and of even of arms is still true today.  Added to that is the continued pandemic. The Battle of Bull Run/Manassas  confirmed that the conflict would not end anytime soon. It would be years.  Efforts to find a vaccine for Covid-19 look promising but are still months away from testing. In the meantime we each have to struggle with mitigating risks while working together to save lives and an economy that make social stability possible. Added to those battles and one which concern each and everyone of us, is the ongoing struggle for justice and liberty for all. And in case we tire of these battles or worse are tempted to be complacent and ignore them we have our ‘marching orders’ from John  Lewis, the civil rights leader and congressmen who desired his dying thoughts be shared on the day of his funeral:

Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/opinion/john-lewis-civil-rights-america.html
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Culture and Value

A Winter Day in Monterey

hills of Monterey –https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ord

“The intervals between rains give the finest weather possible”

Memoirs of W.T. Sherman Volume I

So writes W. T. Sherman of his first stay in Monterey, California in February of 1847.  Recently I spent a few days close to the Carmel River just south of Monterey.  While gazing along the Carmel valley, river, mountains and sea I thought about how it could have been like for my grandfather Sherman mounted on horseback exploring these very same places.

As in Sherman’s time this year’s winter rains marked their recent visit with “bright green grass with endless flowers”.  While Sherman experienced something of a warmer tropical climate in Florida his growing years included winters in Ohio and later New York. Thus, a February of flowers and green fields remained vivid enough in his memory to write of it in detail years later in his memoirs.

Having grown up in New England I recall my initial disbelief of green hills and flowers typical in northern California in February after five days of precipitation. Similarly, I was shocked at the dryness and barren shrubbery of August. The hills of the ‘Golden State’ seemed highly over rated.  But now like rain water I store expansive vistas of green hills and flowers for the arid dusty days of summer. I’ve now come to think of the hills that have turned a dreary brown as golden.

Before reaching Carmel I drove past the artichoke fields of Castroville and Salinas Valley.  Then on through Seaside and Sand City the “pretty valley and sandy country covered by oak bushes and scrub” that Sherman writes of. Closer to the Monterey shoreline, dilapidated buildings of old Fort Ord, strip malls and parking lots have replaced oak bushes and scrub that Sherman once traversed with his horse.

However, once closer to Carmel the valley and river bird, fish and foul life resemble in kind if not in numbers what Sherman would have seen. Birds of all sorts were gathering for nesting, ducks and mallards were busy fishing for their breakfast, deer emerged from thickets  and walked by their intruder (that would be me) towards the river’s edge to quench their morning thirst.  A flock of geese flew overhead. “The Carmel is a lovely little river –John Steinbeck writes in Cannery Row—It isn’t very long but in its course it has everything a river should have.”

“It’s everything a river should be “

John Steinbeck Cannery Row Viking Press-Compass Book Edition, 1963

The river adroitly reflects the rainy and dry seasons of Carmel. Accordingly during rainy season it floods even violently and then subsides to what can seem a little more than a large stream as meanders through the valley and on to the Pacific a dozen miles or so  to the west. This time the river was burbling with excitement as if its fresh waters knew the course would soon end-or begin in a vast ocean on the horizon.

Carmel River and Lagoon, photography by H.McKay

Curious, I went with a friend to the Carmel River beach north of Point Lobos where the river shifts into a lagoon before flowing to the Pacific. When overtaken by high tide the seemingly small pool of water merges with the ocean. We learned that the hard way. We parked our car and enchanted with the afternoon sunlight and migratory birds in the lagoon we quickly walked over a sandbar to continue along the beach toward the southeast. However once the sun was setting we started heading back only to find that river waters of the lagoon and surf waters of the Pacific swallowed our little land bridge. Wading through the waters didn’t seem to be an option given the incrementally growing relentless surf of the Pacific.

Perhaps Sherman camped on this very beach, as the Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola did while running low on food supplies in 1769 as did the Ohlone-Esselen. But I had no desire for such similar adventures.

The parking lot was within sight.  But access was not. Immediately surrounding us was beach, water and no clear way of returning to the car without a ten-mile hike.  Thankfully we encountered a local resident out for an evening stroll. She led us up the pathway from the otherwise isolated beach into adjacent streets and drove us along the coastal highway.  Following the north side of the river we past the legendary Carmel mission, a turn of last century ranch now a restaurant-resort and made a quick turn through quaint neighborhood streets.  With the sun setting over the Pacific, We reached the beach parking lot shortly before its closing.   

With Steinbeck’s and Sherman’s descriptions of Carmel river and valley in mind, the river’s final egress to the Pacific emphatically declared as it were of convergence of memories of time and place flowing back into the sea.

“ When the wind blows – the grass whistles and whispers in myths and riddles and not in our language–the sea is always the sea”

Mary Oliver The Oak Tree Loves Patience Collection Blue Horses, Penguin Books 2014

And so it is.

Carmel River and Beach at dusk
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