Fort Macon, which guarded and protected the town of Beaufort, was situated on bluff on Bogue’s Bank, one mile and three quarters from the town. It commanded the entrance to the harbor, having a full sweep of fire over the main channel. Opposite the fort, at the entrance of the harbor, is Shackleford Bank, one mile and a half across. The fortification was of a hexagonal form, had two tiers of guns—one in casemated bombproof, and the other en barbette. Its armament consisted of twenty thirty two pounders, thirty twenty four pounders, two eighteen pounders, three field pieces for flanking defence, twelve flank howitzers, eight eight inch howitzers (light), eight eight inch howitzers (heavy), one thirteen inch mortar, three ten inch mortars, and two Coehorn mortars—making a total of eighty nine guns.
In this episode, what does the first pre-paid stamp have to do with contract shipping? Let’s connect the dots.
We start our journey in the historical maritime town of Newburyport, MA, center of shipbuilding and trade in the 19th century and home to a number of exceptional folk.
One of these lights of Newburyport was Jacob Perkins. He was one of those classic overachievers, being employed to make currency dies in his early 20’s, inventing a nail making machine shortly thereafter, and managing over his life to secure numerous US and British patents, invent the refrigerator, set up advanced and secure engraving for such things as official currency, and create high-powered, high-pressure steam devices. And a lot more.
Tradition That Has Lured Many Adventurers to Seek Hidden Gold.
From the New York Press.
Mexican tradition says that somewhere in the Central West are the ruins of a populous Aztec city, in which Guate Motzin stored the vast treasure which Cortez tried to find after the conquest of Mexico. Expeditions under Mexican and under foreign directions have tried in vain to find this city. The story of one attempt to locate the wonderful city made by Col. H. C. Haddington, a civil engineer In the employ of the Mexican government, certainly is curious. He says:
“The story of a lost city is familiar to all Mexicans, and believed in by most of them. When I visited Mexico for the first time in 1872 I became interested in the subject from associating with Mr. Early, an English engineer, who assured me of his belief in its existence. Before leaving the City of Mexico I inquired in government circles for information to substantiate the story told by Early. I found the officials in different departments ready to credit the reports, which they believed plausible, as at that time no complete survey had been made by the government of that district.
By far the greatest bully, braggart and brute in the Federal army is Gen. McCook. Whenever he had an opportunity, he proved his claims to these titles. A correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette, writing from Columbus, Tenn., gives another instance of the brutality of this man :
Late on Thursday afternoon, simultaneously with the landing of the Federal Gen. Butler in New Orleans, the 21st Indiana Regiment, under Col. McMillan, landed at the Opelousas Railroad Depot in…
So far our sharpshooters have supplied us with the greater part of the romance of this war. During Garibaldi's Italian campaign the adventures and exploits of a sharpshooting Englishman who…
The Second Afghan Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History has reported the discovery of a lost city in the Seistan Basin on the Afghan-Iraq border. Walter A. Fairservis, jr., leader of the exploring group, explains that the site seems to have been unoccupied for 5,000 years. The area yielded examples of pottery bearing designs never used today. Yet these markings are sophisticated and give evidence of an advanced stage of culture. The abandoned town unquestionably had been a settlement of considerable importance in its prime. It was a permanent, not a transient community. This was demonstrated by the durable character of the tombs which it had raised.
ANCIENT FLUTE: Dr. E. Wyllys Andrews, leader of the National Geographic Society’s Dzibilchaltun Expedition, examines an ancient Mayan clay flute, found in a deep natural well In Yucatan.—National Geographic Society Photo.
A lost city of the Maya Indians, which existed from prehistoric times until after the Spanish conquest of Yucatan, is being excavated in a thorny wilderness area by the National Geographic Society and Tulane University.
The city is Dzibilchaltun, a metropolis from which the Mayas vanished after becoming the most civilized peoples of pre-Columbian America.
Dzibilchaltun’s gray ruins cover an area of 20 square miles north of the Yucatan capital, Merida. The excavation project in Mexico is headed by Dr. E. Wyllys Andrews, an archeologist affiliated with Tulane’s Middle American Research Institute. Luis Marden of the Geographical Society’s foreign editorial staff, leads an underwater team that is exploring a huge cenote, or natural well, in the center of the city.
Largest in New World
The city apparently became the largest in the New World after its founding between 2000 and 1000 B. C., Dr. Andrews reports in the January issue of the magazine. He says it kept growing and thriving uninterruptedly through the crises of Mayan history and into Spanish colonial times.
In its heydey, Dzibilchaltun bristled with pyramidal temples, palaces and buildings of vaulted stone. The city’s size is significant because most Mayan cities formerly were thought to be only ceremonial centers.
Until now, the lost city has been overshadowed by other well-known Mayan centers, such as Chichen Itza and Uxmal. Among the city’s most striking features are a great white causeway paved with limestone and a rambling complex of buildings called the Palace. This covers a dozen acres and could hold most of the principal buildings at Chichen Itza.
On Saturday week, near South Mills above Elizabeth City, N. C., the 3d Georgia Regiment, Col. A. R Wright, attacked a strong force of the enemy, and fought them several hours. The Norfolk Say Book says:
Our force consisted of six companies of the 3d Georgia Regiment and McComas’ Artillery. The companies were not full and the whole number of men on our side may he set down at from three to five hundred.
The Union has lost one of its ablest defenders, and Pennsylvania a noble, upright citizen, ever zealous for the public good. General Charles Ferguson Smith died at Savannah, Tennessee, on Friday last, from an illness contracted at the time of his occupation of that town. The deceased officer was a son of Dr. Samuel B. Smith, of Philadelphia. From the date of his graduation at West Point, in 1825, his advancement, not only in rank, but in the esteem and confidence of his fellow officers, was merited and rapid. Commencing his military career as a second lieutenant of artillery, his distinguished merit on the fields of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, Monterey, Cherubusco, and Contreras, raised him in quick succession to the rank of Major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel. At the time of his death he was colonel of the Third Infantry—one of the best regiments in the service. Such worth as his could not lie dormant in the present struggle.—In August last he was made a brigadier general. At the taking of Fort Donelson his valor was conspicuous, alike to friend and foe, and won for him the rank of major general.
