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The saying, “farmers never retire, they farm until they die,” is accurate for my paternal grandfather.
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The idea of an express delivery of letters carried by horse and rider, a “pony express,” was introduced to Congress by California Senator William Gwin in 1855. It was an idea before its time. Ocean delivery from New York around Cape Horn of South America to California was wholly acceptable at the time. The bill quietly expired in committee.
Read moreMemorial Day serves in my mind as the unofficial start of the summer, Independence Day the middle, and Labor Day the end. I am aware that this timeframe has inaccuracies, but this engrained set of time landmarks can’t be changed in my mind. I don’t think I am alone.
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“Wyatt Earp, Wyatt Earp, brave courageous and bold. Long live his fame and long live his glory and long may his story be told.”
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I talk a lot. If I’m comfortable enough with you, I have a natural talent for hijacking conversations or staring blankly at you, waiting for my turn to speak. Because of this, sometimes, I have a hard time listening.
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Editor’s note: Mark Inman Seitz worked for the Ellsworth County Independent-Reporter for many years. He was a journalist, sports writer and all round funny guy. He passed away May 12, 2022. In memory, the I-R is republishing excerpts of the popular HindSeitz columns, originally published in the I-R in 2007.
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In the fall of 1862 the U.S. fleet operated relatively unopposed in the Confederate-held territory on the Mississippi River, and the river’s larger tributaries. In response, Confederate Major General Theophiles H. Holmes, commander of the Department of the Trans-Mississippi, ordered the construction of fortifications at Arkansas Post near the confluence of the Arkansas and White Rivers. Arkansas Post had been a seat of commerce since being established for frontier trade by the French in 1686. Designated Fort Hindman, the installation suffered humiliating defeat when under heavy bombardment. Nearly a third of Confederate troops serving in Arkansas were captured when the post was surrendered on Jan. 11, 1863.
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