18

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The Rat Patrol is an American television program that aired on ABC during the 1966–1968 seasons. The show follows the exploits of four (three American and one British) Allied soldiers who are part of a long-range desert patrol group in the North African campaign during World War II. Their mission: "to attack, harass and wreak havoc on Field Marshal Rommel's vaunted Afrika Korps".

The show was inspired by and loosely modelled on the New Zealand/British/Rhodesian Long Range Desert Group, which used modified trucks armed with machine guns as their transport through the treacherous desert terrain, and Popski's Private Army. The title of the program refers to the nicknames given to some of the British Commonwealth forces in the North African campaign (Rats of Tobruk or Desert Rats). Consequently, at the time of original telecast many English viewers took offense at the dominance of American characters on the program, the result being that the show was pulled from British television.

A total of fifty-eight 30-minute episodes were produced by Mirisch-Rich Productions, a subsidiary of United Artists Television. Just as The Man From U.N.C.L.E. episode titles included the word "Affair", all Rat Patrol episodes titles had "Raid" e.g. "The Do or Die Raid" or "The Lighthouse Raid".

Part of the show's first season was filmed in Almería, Spain, with the rest in the United States.[1]

The three-part story arc "The Last Harbor Raid" was released theatrically in some venues under the title "Massacre Harbor".

As a leverage tool against the actors asking for raises, each major cast member was, after the first season, shown a separate prospective script in which he was killed in action.[citation needed]

Christopher George suffered a heart contusion when a jeep overturned on him during filming in January 1967. The injury contributed to his death in 1983.[2]

As was usual for low-cost productions, other equipment was substituted for original ones. The German vehicles were actually American Patton tanks, M7 Priest self-propelled guns, M3 Half-track and M35 2-1/2 ton cargo trucks painted in desert sand colors.

The submachine guns used by the squad were unusual. Because the first season had been filmed in Spain, the producers obtained several fixed wood-stock versions of the Spanish Star Z-45 (9x23mm Largo) submachine gun[3] from the Spanish Army, in an apparent attempt to imitate the look of the WWII .45 Thompson submachine gun. This was changed in later episodes when Thompsons were finally made available.

During the series, Sgt. Troy wore an Australian bush hat. When the show aired in Australia, veterans of both World Wars there were critical of an American actor wearing such an important symbol of Australian courage and sacrifice. It was seen to cheapen and sensationalize the memory and spirit of those ANZACs who died fighting fascism. George, a U.S. Marine Korean War veteran, and of Greek extraction, said he insisted his character wear the slouch hat to honor the Australians who fought in Greece.[4]

Episode guide
[edit] Season 1
Title Summary
The Chase Of Fire Raid

Pilot episode. The Rat Patrol reluctantly gains a new member in British sergeant Jack Moffitt and races to find and destroy a buried fuel supply before their nemesis, Hauptmann Hans Dietrich, can claim it for Germany.
(Airdate: 9-12-1966)
The Life Against Death Raid

Hitchcock is seriously wounded during an otherwise routine raid on a German convoy. Stuck more than 100 miles behind enemy lines and with Hitch fading fast, Troy has no choice but to risk sneaking him into a nearby German field hospital for the necessary life-saving treatment. Ed Asner guest stars. (Airdate: 9-19-1966)
The Wildest Raid Of All

Troy and Hitchcock allow themselves to be captured by Dietrich in order to kidnap his superior, a highly-decorated Nazi general. The plan: use him as a bargaining chip to gain access to a German ammunition depot and destroy supplies slated for use in a massive Wehrmacht offensive set for the following day. (Airdate: 9-26-1966)
Kill Or Be Killed Raid

Posing as a German archaeologist, Moffitt infiltrates enemy headquarters to translate and destroy an ancient Coptic scroll which details the location of a coveted source of water deep in the desert. But when his cover is blown and he is captured with little chance of rescue, Troy is faced with carrying out a difficult order to kill him before he falls into the brutal hands of the Gestapo. (Airdate: 10-03-1966)
The Chain Of Death Raid

The aftermath of a raid on a German column headed for a vital oasis results in both Troy and Dietrichs' capture by Arab slave-traders. Joined at the wrist by a length of heavy chain, they soon escape, only to find themselves lost in the desert and miles from help. Without food, water or shelter, the two bitter enemies have no choice but to rely on each other or face certain death under a blazing sun. (Airdate: 10-10-1966)
The Do Or Die Raid

A covert operation to plant false intelligence data in enemy headquarters is severely jeopardized when the special operative the Rat Patrol is escorting has a heart attack at a critical stage in the mission. With time running out and failure not an option, Troy must somehow ensure the success of the mission and still manage to get away before the Germans even know they were there, lest the deception be discovered. (Airdate: 10-17-1966)
The Blind Man's Bluff Raid

A surprise ambush near a minefield separates Troy from the rest of his unit. After passing-out in the desert, he awakens to find himself in an Allied field hospital, stricken with sun blindness. But things are not as they seem. Unbeknownst to Troy, he has been captured by the Germans and the field hospital, as well as his blindness, are an elaborate scheme by Dietrich to trick him into revealing where the rest of the Rat Patrol are hiding. James Philbrook guest starred in this episode as Dr. Keller. (Airdate: 10-24-1966)
The Fatal Chase Raid

After freeing two truckloads of P.O.W.'s from a German convoy, the Rat Patrol is forced to transport the obnoxious, self-serving Sgt. Archie Gribbs (Gavin MacLeod) back to headquarters. He claims to have information vital to Allied forces, but only seems interested in saving his own neck. With Gribbs' selfish attitude already grating on everyone's nerves, the situation is made worse by the loss of one of their jeeps and the presence of two bitter GI's who blame Gribbs for their capture. (Airdate: 10-31-1966)
The Blow Sky High Raid

The Rat Patrol transports an extremely volatile new explosive on a mission to destroy a vital German radar installation. At stake is an approaching flight of Allied bombers set to destroy Rommel's newest armoured division. With the lieutenant (Hamilton Camp) trained in the explosive's use killed, the enemy alerted to their presence, and time running out, the Patrol is forced to take a secret route through the mountains along the course of an ancient riverbed. Unfortunately for Troy, Dietrich has also learned of this secret route and lies in wait for them at their destination. (Airdate: 11-07-1966)
The Moment Of Truce Raid

The Rat Patrol, along with Dietrich and two of his men, become trapped in some desert ruins, held at bay by a sizable band of fanatical Arabs who are hell-bent on wiping them out as "infidels". Greatly outnumbered and with limited supplies of ammunition, the enemies find themselves forced into an uneasy truce for survival. (Airdate: 11-14-1966)
The Deadly Double Raid

Moffitt and Pettigrew allow themselves to be captured in order to rescue an Allied spy with vital information about a surprise German offensive from a P.O.W. camp. Upon learning that the operative has died, all seems lost, when both the camp doctor and an American sergeant suddenly claim to have been passed the information. The problem is, one of them is really a Gestapo agent and the Rat Patrol must discover which one is telling the truth before it is too late. (Airdate: 11-21-1966)
The Gun Runner Raid

The Rat Patrol is captured by Arab mercenaries disguised as an American convoy. Their employer, a decorated US flyer turned arms dealer and traitor, has a grudge against them; apparently the Patrol destroyed several of his shipments, thinking they were German. Rather than kill them, he makes Troy and Moffitt an offer they can't refuse: join him in his less-than-honorable racket or he turns them over to his biggest client, Hauptmann Dietrich. (Airdate: 11-28-1966)
The Lighthouse Raid

Tully and Moffitt transport a liberated French underground general to a rendezvous in a deserted lighthouse. Hitchcock stands lookout, disguised as a German guard. Troy, though, is held captive inside the lighthouse—betrayed by Mathias, the lighthouse keeper. Moffitt tries to reach him but ends up unconscious. In the ensuing fight, Mathias is killed and Troy manages to signal the trawler into the area to take the general to safety. (Airdate: 12-5-1966)
The Dare-Devil Rescue Raid

German artillery traps 2000 Allied soldiers and their only chance of rescue is an Allied armored attack. The necessary equipment, though, can only reach them in time via an ancient road which is now hidden by sand, a road only Moffitt's father can find. On the way to the landing site, Moffitt's father's plane crashes. Moffitt wants to go find him but Troy insists their first priority is to find the road themselves. Moffitt breaks away and goes to find his father but finds only the burned-out plane. Troy thinks the elder Moffitt must be dead. Moffitt says he was captured. Again Moffitt escapes the team and goes after his father—finally rescuing him. (Airdate: 12-12-1966)
The Last Harbor Raid - Episode 1

After each Allied bombing of their harbor, the Germans use Allied POWs to rebuild it. HQ sends the Rat Patrol to liberate the POWs and halt the harbor's usefulness. Troy must coordinate his plans with Major Indrus (John Anderson), an American who is inside the camp. They use an explosive-laden boat to get into the harbor but the Germans stop it halfway in. The captain, Bertaine (Will Kuluva), doesn't allow the Germans to board his boat. Troy and his men are able to fight off the boarding party and escape into town, but at the cost of Bertaine's life. They are followed by El Gamil (Stanley Adams), a sympathetic Arab merchant and black marketeer, who provides a car and uniforms for Moffitt and Hitchcock to go to the German Officer's Club in search of Bertaine's daughter Marianne (Claudine Longet). She is regarded as a traitor by locals because she performs at the club, but Troy has no choice but to seek out her help. The episode ends with Moffitt and Hitchcock entering the club. Airdate: 12-19-1966)
The Last Harbor Raid - Episode 2

Moffitt and Hitch (dressed as Germans) find Bertaine's daughter and tell her of her father's death. Then they take her home - after they tell her who they really are. They also tell her that they need to use the fishing fleet to accomplish their mission. Meanwhile, Troy secretly meets with American POW liaison officer Indrus. Troy then joins Moffitt at the house of El Gamil. Informed of the plan, El Gamil dispatches his men to the various harbor areas to alert the fishermen. Troy sets the action to begin at dawn. (Airdate: 12-26-1966)
The Last Harbor Raid - Episode 3

The plan is for the fishing fleet to bring out the prisoners, Dunkirk-fashion. However, a Nazi patrol boat has intercepted the boats. The fishermen believe that Marinanne is a collaborator. Sgt. Troy, though, disagrees and he's right. Marianne talks the fishermen into cooperating, and the prisoners make good their escape. (Airdate: 1-2-1967)
The One That Got Away Raid

Gustav Luden (Jack Colvin), a radio operator, wants to defect, so he sends secret information to the Americans on a frequency that the Rat Patrol listens to. The Patrol goes in after him. They get inside the German base and, once there, find that Luden is being questioned by the Gestapo. (Airdate: 1-9-1967)
Two For One Raid

Valuable German ammo has been dropped by parachute to an Arab farmhouse, and the Rat Patrol is sent to destroy it. On destroying the building, Troy discovers that there is no ammo—but there is a confused teenage boy. The boy proves out to be the son of a German commander. Troy is going to kill the commander, but when the boy pleads with him not to, Troy remembers what it felt like to lose his own father, who died when Troy was this boy's age. Troy arranges to capture the German instead of killing him. (Airdate: 1-16-1967)
The Last Chance Raid

The Patrol's radio is wrecked and Troy is unable to warn HQ of a large Nazi anti-tank outfit waiting in ambush. Troy knows that El Jebel has a huge radio broadcast unit and heads there. Troy, Moffitt and the others make their way into the radio room and prepare to broadcast their warning to the British. However, Captain Deitrich walks in on them and takes them prisoner. Troy and Moffitt manage to escape. They free Hitch and Pettigrew and get their message back to London. This prevents the Allies from losing a lot of tanks. (Airdate: 1-23-1967)
The B Negative Raid

Moffitt is seriously wounded in a raid on a German convoy. The Patrol is far from help and so Troy decides to obtain blood from a nearby German field camp. Dietrich is in charge of the base; Troy encounters him and orders him to help him find a donor. Dietrich sends for Corporal Pennell, a captured Yank deserter. Pennell refuses to cooperate but Troy takes him at gunpoint. On the way back to Moffitt, Dietrich catches up to them and it is up to Pennell to do the "impossible" to prevent them from all being recaptured. He rises to the occasion and they make it back to Moffitt and Tully in time to save Moffitt's life. (Airdate: 1-30-1967)
The Exhibit A Raid

Troy and Hitchcock capture Col Beckmann, an infamous Nazi POW camp commander. Beckmann denies that he is the man. In a fight Troy is knocked out and Hitch is wounded. Using Troy's gun, Beckmann kills the other German taken at the same time he was and then he exchanges dog tags with him—the places the gun in Troy's hand. Troy is thus accused of the murder. Moffitt and Tully do not arrive until after the deed is done. To prove to a court-martial board that Beckmann is Beckmann, the other Patrolers must break into a German HQ—at considerable risk to their own lives. (Airdate: 2-6-1967)
The Holy War Raid

Using a fake (German) Rat Patrol, Dietrich abducts an Arab holy man that he will then "rescue" so that the Arabs will give their help to the Germans. The real Patrol is captured by the Arabs, though, and when they convince the Arab leader—who is a friend of Moffitt's—that they aren't guilty, Troy and Moffitt go to find the holy man. To do so means a horse trip across the desert. (Airdate: 2-13-1967)
The Two Against Time Raid

Using a telephoto lens, Moffitt and Troy photograph a map inside Captain Dietrich's office from the roof of the adjoining Nazi HQ. It shows the location of a top secret German ammo dump. The Patrol must reach the site, enter it and destroy it before half of the German army arrives. The Patrol arrive to find the storage area—an old mine—surprisingly deserted. They go about planting the explosives but just before they blow it, Dietrich (who has laid this all out as a trap) turns up. Shots are exchanged and Dietrich and Troy are trapped inside. Meantime, outside the mine, assuming that in the cave-in Troy was killed, Moffitt and the Patrol prepare to finish blowing it up. Working together, Troy and Dietrich escape through a back entrance moments before the dump is blown up. (Airdate: 2-20-1967)
The Wild Goose Raid

The Brits and the Americans are planning a high-level meeting in a desert town. On the day prior to the event, the Patrol sights a German motorcyclist and chases him—but he gets away. Assuming that the Nazis must now know of the conference, Troy tries to talk the commanders out of the meeting. But, instead, they assign him to be in charge of the security. Troy gets jumped, while in town, by a knife-wielding Arab. Sgt Roberts, one of the other "security" men, rescues Troy. Unknown to them, though, Roberts is a double agent and is planning to blow up the meeting—a fact that Troy learns. (Airdate: 2-27-1967)
Bring 'Em Back Alive Raid

Troy raids German HQ and kidnaps Dr. Schneidermann. At the same time Moffitt, Tully and Hitch are captured by Captain Dietrich. Dietrich reveals that Troy is carrying a vial of deadly radium. He urges Moffitt to divulge Troy's destination, bargaining the Patrols' unconditional freedom for the return of Schneidermann. Moffitt, disbelieving the radium story, keeps quiet. However Troy is carrying the fatal vessel. The three Patrollers escape and trail Troy back to the rendezvous, with Dietrich trailing them. (Airdate: 3-13-1967)
Take Me To Your Leader Raid

The Patrol stumbles on a German staff car but before they can attack it, the driver and a guard are killed by a third man—who is apparently an American major. The major orders the Patrol to take him to where a high-level meeting is being held in secret. They do so, unaware that he is a German officer and that Dietrich is trailing them. However on the way they stumble on a unit of Italians who were badly injured and their officer—returning with the Patrol to get his men help—recognizes that the Major must be a German. Whereupon the German attempts to kill the Italian—arousing Troy's suspicion. (Airdate: 3-20-1967)
The Double Or Nothing Raid

Moffitt is about to be executed for "espionage against the Third Reich" when suddenly the Patrol comes to his rescue. A commandeered German truck unsuccessfully attempts to scoop up Moffitt, but manages to take a Nazi captain in his place—for exchange. Negotiations for a prisoner exchange are fruitful, but Troy doubts that the Germans will obey their own rules. Indeed, the Nazi's Colonel Voss wants to see the Patrol wiped out and uses the exchange as a trap. The captured captain tries to escape the Patrol and gets himself killed. Now Troy has no one to exchange for a seriously wounded Moffitt and must attempt to pass himself off as a German. (Airdate: 3-27-1967)
The Hour Glass Raid

After capturing Dr. Anderson, a skilled Allied physician, Dietrich ends up turning over his staff car in a ravine (during a blinding sand storm). Troy wants to attempt to rescue the doctor but can't because of the storm. He hears Dietrich's distress call but suspects it is a trick. In the end they do make the attempt as they hear that the Germans are going to do the same. They get Dr. Anderson—who is fine—but Dietrich is trapped under the car and badly injured. The doctor tells them that Dietrich is dead but the German groans just before the Patrol leaves. When Troy ends up saving Dietrich's life, the doctor was about to kill him with a murderous dose of morphine, Dietrich tells Troy that Anderson is a double agent. Anderson ends up getting killed just as the Germans arrive to help their captain. (Airdate: 4-3-1967)
Mask-A-Raid

Lieut. Klinger, a wounded Luftwaffe ace, is the only German who can ID the location of the Allied troops standing ready to invade Sicily. The Rat Patrol captures him and then Moffitt takes his place so that he can convince the Germans to watch in the wrong place for the upcoming attack. Troy, meanwhile, infiltrates the military hospital. Gestapo Major Bruder however suspects Moffitt and exposes him, but by the time he does, Moffitt manages to get Bruder killed in his place and escape. (Airdate: 4-10-1967)
The Fire And Brimstone Raid

Troy and his men plant explosives in a German ammo depot and while trying for a hasty getaway run into Dietrich, who orders them to surrender. Knowing they are safe surrounded by explosives, Troy and Moffitt defuse the charges and wait for nightfall to escape. Not wanting to blow the depot sky high, Dietrich's men use bows and arrows and end up shooting Hitch in the shoulder. The two are quickly taken care of by Troy. Moffitt tries to make it to a truck using smoke grenades, but is captured by Dietrich. With the help of the Arab winery owner, the Rat Patrol finally dash to safety. When the American grenade fails to blow up the ammo depot, the winery owner does it for them. (Airdate: 4-26-1967)
The Delilah Raid

Season Finale: A young French Resistance fighter—Michele—survives the Patrol's quick assault on a small German convoy. She explains that she was captured during her groups' attempt to stop the convoy which carries radar equipment. However Michele is a double agent and is going to deliver the Patrol to her lover—a German officer. She talks the Patrol into going to the radar base (supposedly to destroy it). She turns them over to him and, in the end, when the Patrol manages to escape—and blow up the radar base—he is killed. (Airdate: 5-1-1967)
[edit] Season 2
Title Summary
The Truce At Aburah Raid

Original Air Date: 11 September 1967. Captain Dietrich monitors a broadcast sent to the Patrol from HQ and then intercepts them on their way to meet and escort a supply convoy. With the odds decidedly against the Rats, Troy takes refuge in an oasis. A child, playing near by, runs away terrified of the noise and falls down an old well. The Allies and the Nazis agree to put the war on hold and work together to get the child (who is still alive) out. A second German unit appears and shoots Tully. In the end, they are able to rescue the child and, in the confusion, the Patrol escapes.
The David and Goliath Raid

Original Air Date: 18 September 1967. The Patrol ambushes a German courier and finds that his papers contain charts showing desert waterholes and some oases which are unknown to the Allies or the Germans. Suddenly a German patrol attacks, wounding Tully and destroying the Patrol's jeeps, water and weapons. Troy and crew strike out for a waterhole mentioned on the chart. Hours later, near their end, Troy and his men stagger toward an inviting waterhole to find it has been poisoned. On a distant dune they see Dietrich. Tully is near the end, because of his wound. It is up to Troy to negotiate with Dietrich.
The Trial By Fire Raid

Original Air Date: 25 September 1967. The Patrol attempts to destroy a small village that currently has a train in it that the Germans are loading with ammunition. However, there is a small group of Arabs (including women and children) being used to load the ammunition. One of the women stumbles upon Troy and offers to help by warning her people. But as Troy attempts to plant the explosives, Dietrich catches on to the plan and gives alarm. Troy ends up shot and captured. It is now up to the rest of the Patrol to cause enough diversion to get him free. The woman continues to plead with Dietrich to give Troy medical attention. As Dietrich is questioning Troy, though, Troy breaks free, shoots the German and is able—with the Arab woman's father's help—to get the explosives planted. The train goes up; the man is killed.
The Darers Go First Raid

Original Air Date: 2 October 1967. Troy determines that the Rat Patrol's only chance to destroy a supply depot inside an enemy-held fortress is by capturing a German tank and using it to get past the guards.
The Love Thine Enemy Raid

Original Air Date: 9 October 1967 When the patrol ambush an Afrika Korps supply column, Troy accidentally wounds a German nurse. Feeling guilty, Troy decides to take her to a German field hospital. The only problem is that on the way she overhears a piece of vital information.
The Darkest Raid

Original Air Date: 16 October 1967. Troy infiltrates a German H.Q. posing as a blinded Afrika Korps officer to steal vital information.
The Death Do Us Part Raid

Original Air Date: 30 October 1967. En route to a meeting with an Arab agent, the patrol is ambushed by Dietrich. With the exception of Troy, they're all captured and taken to Dietrich's desert base. Troy eventually meets up with the agent, who turns out to be a teenage boy, and a female Irish teacher, but will she allow the boy to help Troy?
The Do-Re-Mi Raid

Original Air Date: 6 November 1967 The Patrol is ordered to rescue pop star Mickey Roberts (singer Jack Jones), who is a P.O.W. in a small Afrika Korps compound, with the S.S. also turning up to make Roberts into a propaganda coup.
The Kingdom Come Raid

Original Air Date: 13 November 1967. Hitchcock is supervising a transport convoy of new anti-aircraft shell fuses when the convoy is attacked by a German unit. Hitchcock is wounded by a deserter.
The Hide and Go Seek Raid

Original Air Date: 20 November 1967 The young mute son of British General Simms is kidnapped in a commando raid by Dietrich and taken to Rhodes. The patrol must rescue the boy from the island's garrison with only the help of one Greek resistance fighter.
The Violent Truce Raid

Original Air Date: 27 November 1967 Lieutenant West is on his way to stop a medical supply convoy, when he's ambushed by an Afrika Korps patrol. Wounded and rescued by Moffatt and Pettigrew, before he dies he informs them that he's got to stop the medical supplies, as some are poisonous. When Moffatt destroys the deadly supplies he is put under arrest by a British Army Major.
The Life for a Life Raid

Original Air Date: 4 December 1967. Dietrich traps the Rat Patrol in a cellar. In the cellar are a pregnant woman who has a valuable map, and a resistance fighter who has a personal vendetta with the woman.
The Fifth Wheel Raid

Original Air Date: 11 December 1967. A British colonel is captured by the Germans after attending a staff meeting which centered on an upcoming Allied offensive . The Rat Patrol is ordered to either rescue or kill him before he can be interrogated. His Sikh aide insists on participating in the mission.
The Two If by Sea Raid

Original Air Date: 18 December 1967. Moffitt gets into a German-held lighthouse by posing as an electrician, to try to gain information about a German naval convoy headed for North Africa which is carrying Tiger tanks.
The Street Urchin Raid

Original Air Date: 25 December 1967. Troy hides aerial photographs of secret German installations before being captured by the Gestapo. Then a street urchin finds and tries to sell the photos.
The Pipeline to Disaster Raid

Original Air Date: 1 January 1968. A British general is rescued in the desert. He insists upon leading the Rat Patrol on a mission to disrupt a German oil pipeline, despite his deteriorated condition.
The Boomerang Raid

Original Air Date: 8 January 1968. A lieutenant is infiltrated by submarine to set up naval gunfire coordinates, however Troy gets suspicious when the officer appears more interested in mapping the Allied positions than the German ones.
The Fatal Reunion Raid

Original Air Date: 15 January 1968. The Rat Patrol uses Moffitt's old flame as a guide to rescue her husband, a French rocket scientist, from the Germans.
The Decoy Raid

Original Air Date: 22 January 1968. A village's typhus serum is confiscated by the S.S. in order to exchange it for capturing the Rat Patrol. Dietrich questions their methods.
The Touch-and-Go Raid

Original Air Date: 5 February 1968. Dietrich and his men capture the Rat Patrol and assume their identities, and thus are able to enter an Allied munitions dump.
The Field of Death Raid

Original Air Date: 12 February 1968. Troy's brother is captured by a German colonel who was injured in an earlier raid by the Rat Patrol.
The Double Jeopardy Raid

Original Air Date: 19 February 1968. A group of youthful partisans endanger the plans of an Allied offensive when they attack an SS camp.
Hickory Dickory Dock Raid

Original Air Date: 26 February 1968 From the DVD: On the Eve of a dangerous mission, Moffitt receives word that his younger brother has been killed by a German bomb in London.
The Tug of War Raid

Original Air Date: 4 March 1968. Troy goes undercover to get microfilm from a French Resistance fighter, but they are captured by Dietrich. After Troy refuses to give up the location of the microfilm, Dietrich sentences both to death. Troy must find a way to contact the Rat Patrol for rescue.
The Never-Say-Die Raid

Original Air Date: 11 March 1968. Troy and Hitchcock are captured by a German colonel who has a scheme to use them to radio false information back to their headquarters. Meanwhile, Moffitt and Pettigrew's rescue attempts are complicated by an Italian officer who wants to surrender to them.
The Kill at Koorlea Raid

Original Air Date: 18 March 1968. The Rat Patrol is ordered to go with a British sniper on a mission to kill a German general, but Troy decides to try to capture the general alive.

17

COMMENTS, PLEASE...

Melungeon (pronounced /məˈlʌndʒən/ or "muh'lun-jun" or "muh-lun'jun") is a term traditionally applied to one of a number of "tri-racial isolate" groups of the Southeastern United States, mainly in the Cumberland Gap area of central Appalachia, which includes portions of East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and East Kentucky. Tri-racial describes populations thought to be of mixed European, sub-Saharan African, and Native American ancestry.[citation needed] Although there is no consensus on how many such groups exist, estimates range as high as 200.[1][2]

DNA testing of Melungeon descendants has been limited, but the Melungeon DNA Project, which has made its results public, so far shows overwhelming mixed European and sub-Saharan African haplotypes of males in several families traditionally identified as Melungeon.

Definition

The ancestry and identity of Melungeons are highly controversial subjects. There is wide disagreement among secondary sources as to their ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and geographic origins and identity, as they were and are of mixed ancestry. They might accurately be described as a loose collection of families of diverse origins who migrated, settled nearby and intermarried with one another, mostly in Hancock County, Tennessee and nearby areas of Kentucky. Their ancestors could be traced back to North Carolina and Virginia. The U.S. census has a category for Melungeon, tabulated under "Some Other Race 600-999." Many scholars do not think Melungeons should be classified as a distinct ethnicity and describe them instead as one of numerous multiracial groups with origins in mixed unions, especially in colonial Virginia.

Melungeons are defined as having racially mixed ancestry; they do not exhibit characteristics that can be classified as of a single racial phenotype. Most modern-day descendants of Appalachian families traditionally regarded as Melungeon are generally European American in appearance, often, though not always, with dark hair and eyes, and a swarthy or olive complexion. Descriptions of Melungeons have varied widely over time; in the 19th and early 20th century, they were sometimes called "Portuguese" to "Native American" to "light-skinned African American." Other Melungeon individuals and families are accepted as white.[3]

A factor in the variation in descriptions is the lack of consensus on who should be included under the term Melungeon. Almost every contemporary author on this subject gives a slightly different list of Melungeon-associated surnames, but the British surnames Collins and Gibson appear most frequently; genealogist Pat Elder calls them "core" surnames.[citation needed] Other researchers include Atkins, Bowling, Bunch, Goins, Goodman, Heard, Minor, Mise, Mullins, and several others (although not all families with these surnames are Melungeon). Not all families of each surname were necessarily of the same racial background. Each line must be examined individually. The answer to the question "Who or what are Melungeons?" depends largely on which families are included under that designation.

The original meaning of the word "Melungeon" is not obscure (see Etymology below). From about the mid-19th to the late 20th centuries, it referred exclusively to one tri-racial isolate group, the descendants of the multiracial Collins, Gibson, and several other related families of Newman's Ridge, Vardy Valley, and other settlements in and around Hancock County, Tennessee.
[edit] Origins
[edit] A complex question

The likely background to the mixed-race families later to be called "Melungeons" was the emergence in the Chesapeake Bay region in the 17th century of what the historian Ira Berlin (1998) calls "Atlantic Creoles." These were the descendants of unions of freed slaves (sometimes of mixed race) and indentured servants, who were primarily of European and West African ancestry. Some of these "Atlantic Creoles" were culturally partly what today might be called "Hispanic" or "Latino", whose paternal ancestors had been Portuguese or Spanish men who had children with African women in African ports. Their mixed-race descendants bore names such as "Chavez," "Rodriguez," and "Francisco" and the men often worked in the slave trade, some coming to the American colonies. Some mixed-race creoles intermarried with their English neighbors, adopted English surnames, and owned slaves. To a lesser extent, some intermarried with Native Americans. Early colonial America was very much a "melting pot" of peoples, but not all of these early multiracial families were ancestral to the later Melungeons. Over the generations, most individuals were of European and African ancestries.

A commonly held myth about the Melungeons of east Tennessee was that they were an indigenous people of Appalachia who lived there before the arrival of the first white settlers. Instead, scholars have documented by a variety of historic records that the earliest Melungeon ancestors migrated from Virginia, as did their Anglo-American neighbors. Many of the mixed-race families on the frontier were descended from African Americans free in Virginia in colonial times, the families of white women and African men.[4]
[edit] Evidence

Mixed-race families, free people of color, are documented as migrating with European-American neighbors in the first half of the 18th century to the frontier of Virginia and to North and South Carolina. The Collins, Gibson, and Ridley (Riddle) families owned land adjacent to one another in Orange County, North Carolina, where they and the Bunch family were listed as "free Molatas (mulattos)", taxable on tithes in 1755. By settling in frontier areas, free people of color found more amenable living conditions and could escape some of the racial strictures of plantation areas.[5]

The historian Jack D. Forbes has noted:

"In 1719, South Carolina decided who should be an "Indian" for tax purposes since American [Indian] slaves were taxed at a lesser rate than African slaves. The act stated: "And for preventing all doubts and scruples that may arise what ought to be rated on mustees, mulattoes, etc. all such slaves as are not entirely Indian shall be accounted as negro." This is an extremely significant passage because it clearly asserts that "mustees" and "mulattoes" were persons of part American [Indian] ancestry. My judgment (to be discussed later) is that a mustee was primarily part-African and American [Indian] and that a mulatto was usually part-European and American [Indian]. The act is also significant because it asserts that part-American [Indians] with or without African ancestry could be counted as Negroes, thus having an implication for all later slave censuses."[6] (Note: This source applies only to South Carolina, not to Virginia or North Carolina, the main places of Melungeon origin.)

Beginning about 1767, some of the ancestors of the Melungeons moved from the Tidewater area northwest to the New River area of Virginia, where they are listed on tax lists of Montgomery County, Virginia, in the 1780s. From there they migrated south in the Appalachian Range to Wilkes County, North Carolina, where some are listed as "white" on the 1790 census. They resided in a part of that county which became Ashe County, where they are designated as "other free" in 1800.[citation needed]

Not long after, Collins and Gibson families (identified as Melungeon ancestors) were members of the Stony Creek Primitive Baptist Church in nearby Scott County, Virginia, where they appear to have been treated as social equals of the white members. The earliest documented use of the term "Melungeon" is found in the minutes of this church (see Etymology below).[7] While there are historical references to the documents, the originals have not been found, and evidence came from a transcribed copy.[citation needed]

From Virginia and North Carolina, the families crossed into Kentucky and Tennessee. The earliest known Melungeon in Northeast Tennessee was Millington Collins, who executed a deed in Hawkins County in 1802. Several Collins and Gibson households appeared in Floyd County, Kentucky, in 1820, when they are listed as "free persons of color". On the 1830 censuses of Hawkins and Grainger County, Tennessee, Collins and Gibson families are listed as "free-colored".[citation needed] Melungeons were residents of the part of Hawkins that became Hancock County in 1844.[8]

Contemporary accounts documented that Melungeon ancestors were considered to be mixed race by appearance. During the 18th and early 19th centuries, census enumerators designated them as "mulatto," "other free," or as "free persons of color." Sometimes they were listed as "white," sometimes as "black" or "negro", but almost never as "Indian." One family described as "Indian" was the Melungeon-related Ridley family, listed as such on a 1767 Pittsylvania County, Virginia, tax list,[9] though they had been designated "mulattos" in 1755.[10] During the 19th century, due to their intermarriage with white families, Melungeon-surnamed families began to be classified as white on census records with increasing frequency, a trend that has continued to the present. As recently as 1935, however, some members were described as "mulattoes" with "straight hair".[11]

"The historical and anthropological evidence ... suggests that in general a significant portion (though not necessarily all) of the ancestry of the Magoffin and Clark counties, Kentucky and Highland County, Ohio enclaves [of mixed-race people] originated principally from an admixture of Native American, African Americans and Whites in the early colonial period (from the late 17th century until about 1800) and secondarily from an admixture with presently known Native American groups in the mid-Atlantic coast region."[12] (Note: This source is specific to its definition; it does not refer to the ancestors of Melungeons who first settled in Hawkins County, Tennessee.)

[edit] Assimilation

Researchers have shown that the historical evidence through numerous court records demonstrates that the Melungeon families sought to identify as and to be accepted as white.[13] An example is the marriage patterns of the Joshua Perkins family of Johnson County, Tennessee, whose descendants Paul Heinegg traced. He showed that generations of the family had married white or mulatto people, which led to increasingly European-American or white appearance among descendants.[14]

As the scholar Ariela Gross has shown by analysis of court cases, the shift from "mulatto" to "white" was dependent upon appearance and community perception of a person's activities in life, who one associated with, and whether the person fulfilled the obligations of citizens. Census takers often were people of a community or classified individuals as known by the community[13] Definitions of racial categories were often imprecise and ambiguous, especially for "mulatto" and "free person of color." In the British North American colonies and the United States at various times in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, "mulatto" could mean a mixture of African and European, African and Native American, European and Native American, or all three, as documented by the historian Jack D. Forbes and others. At the same time, these groups did marry with each other, and there were questions about which culture took precedence, if any.

The loose terminology contributed to the disappearance from historical records of remnant non-reservation American Indians in the Upper South, who were generally not recorded separately as Indians. They were gradually reclassified as mulatto or free people of color, especially as generations intermarried with other populations. In the 20th century, Virginia and some other states passed more restrictive laws that required all persons to be classified only as white or black. After Virginia passed its Racial Integrity Act of 1924, officials went so far as to alter existing birth and marriage records to reclassify individuals or families from Indian to black. The historical documentation of continuity of self-identified Native American families was lost. This process appeared to have happened also with some of the Indians of Delaware.[15]
[edit] Acceptance

The families known as "Melungeons" in the 19th century were generally well integrated into the communities in which they lived, though this is not to say that racism was never a factor in their social interactions. Records show that on the whole they enjoyed the same rights as whites. For example, they held property, voted, and served in the Army; some, such as the Gibsons, owned slaves as early as the 18th century.[16]

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Tristan da Cunha (pronounced /ˈtrɪstən də ˈkuːnə/) is a remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean, and also the name of the main island of that group. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world,[1] lying 2,816 kilometres (1,750 mi) from the nearest land, South Africa, and 3,360 kilometres (2,088 mi) from South America. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha [2] which also includes Saint Helena 2,430 kilometres (1,510 mi) to its north, and equatorial Ascension Island even farther removed, grouping the British South Atlantic islands into one far-flung centrally administered aggregate. Tristan da Cunha is said to be the "most remote inhabited location on Earth."[3] It has a population of 275 (2009 figures).[4]

The territory consists of the main island of Tristan da Cunha itself, which measures about 11.27 kilometres (7.0 mi) across and has an area of 98 square kilometres (37.8 sq mi), along with the uninhabited Nightingale Islands and the wildlife reserves of Inaccessible Island and Gough Island.

The islands were first sighted in 1506 by Portuguese explorer Tristão da Cunha, although rough seas prevented a landing. He named the main island after himself, Ilha de Tristão da Cunha, which was later anglicised to Tristan da Cunha Island.

The first survey of the archipelago was made by the French frigate L'Heure du Berger in 1767. Soundings were taken and a rough survey of the coastline was made. The presence of water at the large waterfall of Big Watron and in a lake on the north coast were noted, and the results of the survey were published by a Royal Navy hydrographer in 1781. The first permanent settler was Jonathan Lambert, from Salem, Massachusetts, United States, who arrived at the islands in December 1810.[5] He declared the islands his property and named them the Islands of Refreshment. Lambert's rule was short-lived, as he died in a boating accident in 1812.

In 1816 the United Kingdom formally annexed the islands, ruling them from the Cape Colony in South Africa. This is reported to have primarily been a measure to ensure that the French would not be able to use the islands as a base for a rescue operation to free Napoleon Bonaparte from his prison on Saint Helena. The occupation also prevented the United States from using Tristan da Cunha as a base, as they had during the War of 1812. Attempts to colonise Inaccessible Island failed.

The islands were occupied by a garrison of British Marines, and a civilian population was gradually built up. Whalers also set up on the islands as a base for operations in the Southern Atlantic. However, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, together with the gradual move from sailing ships to coal-fired steam ships, increased the isolation of the islands, as they were no longer needed as a stopping port for journeys from Europe to the Far East.

In 1867, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and second son of Queen Victoria, visited the islands. The main settlement, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, was named in honour of his visit. Lewis Carroll's youngest brother, the Rev. Edwin H. Dodgson, served as an Anglican missionary and school teacher in Tristan da Cunha in the 1880s. The second Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, visited the islands in 1957 as part of a world tour onboard the royal yacht Britannia.

On 12 January 1938, by Letters Patent, the islands were declared a dependency of Saint Helena. Prior to this, passing ships stopped irregularly at the island for a period of mere hours.[6]

During World War II, the islands were used as a top secret Royal Navy weather and radio station codenamed HMS Atlantic Isle, to monitor U Boats (which needed to surface to maintain radio contact) and German shipping movements in the South Atlantic Ocean. The only currency in use on the island at this time was the potato,[citation needed] and islanders labouring to construct the station were paid in kind with naval supplies for their own use, such as wood, paint and tea. Money was introduced the following year, as was the island's first newspaper, The Tristan Times. The first Administrator was appointed by the British government during this time.

In 1958, as part of Operation Argus, the United States Navy exploded an atomic bomb 200 kilometres (124.3 mi) high in the upper atmosphere, 115 kilometres (71.5 mi) southeast of the main island.

In 1961, a volcanic eruption forced the evacuation of the entire population to wooden huts in the disused Pendell Army Camp in Merstham, Surrey, England, before moving to a more permanent site at a former Royal Air Force station in Calshot near Southampton, England, living mainly in a road called Tristan Close. In 1962, a Royal Society expedition went to the islands to assess the damage, and reported that the settlement Edinburgh of the Seven Seas had been only marginally affected. Most families returned in 1963 led by Willie Repetto (head of the ten-person island council) and Allan Crawford (the former island welfare officer).

In 2005, the islands were given a United Kingdom post code (TDCU 1ZZ) to make it easier for the residents to order goods online.

The St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Constitution Order 2009 was made by HM the Queen and the Privy Council on 8 July and is expected to come into operation shortly thereafter. The new Constitution replaces the 1988 version and among other changes limits the Governor's powers, includes a Bill of Rights, establishes independence of the judiciary and the public service and formally designates the Governor of St Helena as, concurrently, the Governor for Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. It also ends the "dependency" status of Ascension and Tristan da Cunha on St Helena
[edit] Recent events

On 4 December 2007 an outbreak of an acute virus-induced asthma was reported. This outbreak was compounded by Tristan's lack of suitable medical supplies.[7] The British coastguard in Falmouth co-ordinated international efforts to get appropriate medicines to Tristan in order to treat the virus. Tristan’s elderly population and the very young were most at risk; however, only four elderly people were hospitalised. Royal Fleet Auxiliary Vessel RFA Gold Rover upon reaching the island with the required medical supplies found no emergency and the islanders in good general health.

On February 13, 2008, fire destroyed the fishing factory and the two generators that supply power to the island. Backup generators were used to power the hospital and give power for part of the day to the rest of the island. Power was on during the day and early evening and candlelight was used the rest of the time. On March 14, 2008, new generators were installed and uninterrupted power was restored. This fire was devastating to the island because fishing is a mainstay of the economy. Royal Engineers from the British Army are working on the harbour to help maintain it as everything comes and goes by sea.

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Flavius Claudius Julianus (331/332[1] – 26 June 363), commonly known as Julian, Julian the Apostate or Julian the Philosopher, was Roman Emperor from 355 to 363. He is also a noted philosopher and Greek writer.[2] A member of the Constantinian dynasty, he was made Caesar by Constantius II in 355 and took command of the western provinces. During his reign he campaigned successfully against the Alamanni and Franks. Most notable was his crushing victory over the Alamanni in 357 at the Battle of Argentoratum - despite being outnumbered. In 360 he was acclaimed Augustus by his soldiers, sparking a civil war between Julian and Constantius. However, Constantius died before the two could face each other in battle, naming Julian as his rightful successor. In 363, Julian embarked on an ambitious campaign against the Sassanid Empire. Though initially successful, Julian was mortally wounded in battle and died shortly after.

Julian was a man of unusually complex character: he was "the military commander, the theosophist, the social reformer, and the man of letters".[3] He was the last non-Christian ruler of the Roman Empire and it was his desire to bring the empire back to its ancient Roman values in order to save it from "dissolution".[4] He purged the top-heavy state bureaucracy and attempted to revive traditional Roman religious practices at the cost of Christianity. His rejection of Christianity in favour of Neoplatonic paganism caused him to be called Julian the Apostate by the church.[5] Interestingly, he was also the last emperor of the Constantinian dynasty - the empire's first Christian dynasty.

Flavius Claudius Julianus, born in May or June 332[6] or 331 in Constantinople, was the son of Julius Constantius (consul in 335), half brother of Emperor Constantine I, and his second wife, Basilina, a woman of Greek origin,[7][8] both were Christians. His paternal grandparents were Western Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus and his second wife, Flavia Maximiana Theodora. His maternal grandfather was Julius Julianus, praetorian prefect of the East under emperor Licinius from 315 to 324 and consul after 325.[9] The name of Julian's maternal grandmother is unknown.

In the turmoil after the death of Constantine in 337, in order to establish himself as sole emperor, Julian's zealous Arian Christian cousin Constantius II led a massacre of Julian's family. Constantius II ordered the murders of many descendants from the second marriage of Constantius Chlorus and Theodora, leaving only Constantius and his brothers Constantine II and Constans I, and their cousins, Julian and Gallus (Julian's half-brother), as the surviving males related to Emperor Constantine. Constantius II, Constans I, and Constantine II were proclaimed joint emperors, each ruling a portion of Roman territory. Julian and Gallus were excluded from public life and given a strictly Arian Christian education.

Initially growing up in Bithynia, raised by his maternal grandmother, at the age of seven he was under the guardianship of Eusebius of Nicomedia, the semi-Arian Christian Bishop of Nicomedia, and taught by Mardonius, a Gothic eunuch, whom Julian wrote warmly of later. After Eusebius died in 342, both Julian and Gallus were exiled to the imperial estate of Macellum in Cappadocia. Here Julian met the Christian bishop George of Cappadocia, who lent him books from the classical tradition. At the age of 18, the exile was lifted and he dwelt briefly in Constantinople and Nicomedia.[10]

He became a lector, a minor office in the Christian church, and his later writings show a detailed knowledge of the Bible, likely acquired in his early life.[11] (Looking back on his life in 362, Julian wrote, in his thirty-first year, that he had spent twenty years in the way of Christianity and twelve in the true way (i.e. the way of Helios).[12])

Julian studied Neoplatonism in Asia Minor in 351, at first under Aedesius, the philosopher, and then Neoplatonic theurgy from Aedesius' student, Maximus of Ephesus. He was summoned to Constantius' court in Milan in 354 and kept there for a year; in the summer and fall of 355, he was permitted to study in Athens. While there, Julian became acquainted with two men who later became both bishops and saints: Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil the Great; in the same period, Julian was also initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries, which he would later try to restore.

Constantine II died in 340 when he attacked his brother Constans. Constans in turn fell in 350 in the war against the usurper Magnentius. This left Constantius II as the sole remaining emperor. In need of support, in 351 he made Julian's half-brother, Gallus, Caesar of the East, while Constantius II himself turned his attention westward to Magnentius, whom he defeated decisively that year. In 354 Gallus, who had imposed a rule of terror over the territories under his command, was executed. Julian was summoned to court, and held for a year, under suspicion of treasonable intrigue, first with his brother and then with Claudius Silvanus; he was cleared, in part because the Empress Eusebia intervened on his behalf, and he was sent to Athens. (Julian expresses his gratitude to the empress Eusebia in his third oration.[13])
[edit] Caesar in Gaul

After dealing with the rebellions of Magnentius and Sylvanus, Constantius felt he needed a permanent representative in Gaul. Julian was thus summoned to appear before the emperor in Mediolanum (Milan) and, on 6 November, 355, he was made Caesar of the West and married Constantius' sister, Helena. Constantius, after his experience with Gallus, intended his representative to be more a figurehead than an active participant in events, so he packed Julian off to Gaul with a small retinue and Constantius' prefects in Gaul would keep him in check. Julian, however, had other ideas, taking every opportunity to involve himself in the affairs of Gaul.[14] In the following years Julian learned how to lead and then run an army, through a series of campaigns against the Germanic tribes that had settled on both sides of the Rhine.

Campaigns against the Germanic tribes

In 356 during his first campaign he led an army to the Rhine, engaged the barbarians and won back several towns that had fallen into Frankish hands, including Colonia Agrippina (Cologne). With success under his belt he withdrew for the winter to Gaul, distributing his forces to protect various towns, and choosing the small town of Senon near Verdun to await the spring.[15] This turned out to be a tactical error, for he was left with insufficient forces to defend himself when a large contingent of Franks besieged the town and Julian was virtually held captive there for several months, until his general Marcellus deigned to lift the siege. Relations between Julian and Marcellus seem to have been poor. Constantius accepted Julian's report of events and Marcellus was replaced as magister equitum by Severus.[16][17]

The following year saw a combined operation planned by Constantius to regain control of the Rhine from the Germanic tribes that had spilt across the river onto the west bank. From the south his magister peditum Barbatio was to come from Milan and amass forces at Augst (near the Rhine bend), then set off north with 25,000 soldiers; Julian with 13,000 troops would move east from Reims. However, while Julian was in transit, a group of Laeti attacked Lyon ("Lugdunum") and Julian was delayed in order to deal with them. This left Barbatio unsupported and deep in Alamanni territory, so he felt obliged to withdraw, retracing his steps. Thus ended the coordinated operation against the Germanic tribes.[18][19]

With Barbatio safely out of the picture, King Chnodomarius led a confederation of Alamanni forces against Julian and Severus in a battle that took place in the vicinity of Strasbourg. The Romans were heavily outnumbered[20] and during the heat of battle a group of 600 horsemen on the right wing deserted,[21] yet, taking full advantage of the limitations of the terrain, the Romans were overwhelmingly victorious. The enemy was routed and driven into the river. King Chnodomarius was captured and later sent to Constantius in Milan.[22][23] Ammianus, who was a participant in the battle, portrays Julian in charge of events on the battlefield[24] and describes how the soldiers, because of this success, acclaimed Julian attempting to make him Augustus, an acclamation he rejected, rebuking them. He later rewarded them for their valor.[25]

Rather than chase the routed enemy across the Rhine, Julian now proceeded to follow the Rhine north, the route he followed the previous year on his way back to Gaul, but at the Mainz bridge he crossed over and made a sudden foray into Alamanni territory, where Roman forces had not been seen for many years, forcing three kings to submit. This action showed the Alamanni that Rome was once again present and active in the area. On his way back to winter quarters in Paris he dealt with a band of Franks that had taken control of some abandoned forts along the Meuse River.[23][26]

In 358, Julian gained victories over the Salian Franks on the Lower Rhine, settling them in Toxandria in the Roman Empire, north of today's city of Tongeren, and over the Chamavi, who were expelled back to Hamaland.
[edit] Taxation and administration

At the end of 357 Julian, with the prestige of his victory over the Alamanni to give him confidence, prevented a tax increase by the Gallic praetorian prefect Florentius and personally took charge of the province of Belgica Secunda. This was Julian's first experience with civil administration. Properly it was a role that belonged to the praetorian prefect. However, Florentius and Julian often clashed over the administration of Gaul. Julian's first priority, as Caesar and nominal ranking commander in Gaul, was to drive out the barbarians who had breached the Rhine frontier. However, he sought to win over the support of the civil population, which was necessary for his operations in Gaul and also to show his largely Germanic army the benefits of Imperial rule. He therefore felt it was necessary to rebuild stable and peaceful conditions in the devastated cities and countryside. For this reason, Julian clashed with Florentius over the latter's support of tax increases, as mentioned above, and Florentius's own corruption in the bureaucracy.

Constantius attempted to maintain some modicum of control over his Caesar, which explains his removal of Julian's close adviser Saturninius Secundus Salutius from Gaul. His departure stimulated the writing of Julian's oration, "Consolation Upon the Departure of Salutius"

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ONE WORD: COMMENTS


There seems to be an seemingly unending supply of music to keep us going and Numero Uno have certainly sustained us over the last year or so. Here they come again with a remarkable album from Boscoe.

Chicago’s South Side was the absolute epicenter of African-American creativity. In any other city, at any other time, they might’ve been a monstrously important band, but in the early 1970s, Boscoe was lost in the flurry of acts exploding musical genres to form “Great Black Music.” While the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Sun Ra’s Arkestra and Phil Cohran’s Artistic Heritage Ensemble led the charge away from mainstream culture, past the borders and boundaries of commercial music, Boscoe’s lone album was denied inclusion into the canon of Great Black Music only by its obscurity. An outsider even in an outsider subculture.

Their local pedigree was impressive. To the locals. The first incarnation of the band, known as From The Womb To The Tomb, backed a host of Chicago-based acts including Little Johnny Williams, Glenda Dove, the Five Wagers, Little Oscar, the Sequins, Johnny Moore, the Norfleets, and Ruby Andrews. In In addition to a lengthy residency at the Green Bunny Lounge, Boscoe gigged 3 to 4 nights a week at The Mark IV, The Burning Spear, Bill Street, Peyton Place, and Guys and Dolls. And whenever they played the High Chapparal, crowds could well expect cameos from the likes of Garland Green, Tyrone Davis, or Syl Johnson.

Thankfully, the band would finally commit to tapelive in the studio—the original material they had carefully honed in performance. A quick and thrifty approach, the result. Boscoe, is a vibrant document of an explosive live act at their peak. Boscoe’s raw immediacy is undiminished by studio polish or perfectionism, yet every bass run booms, every vocal rumbles in just the proper manner. Before Side A is half over, we’re witness to the invocation of death, a war for peace that black America is destined to fight, Malcolm X's violent passing, brains already in the grave, God's damning of us all, and a glib parody of "The Star Spangled Banner," all served up in a crawling funk fusion as eager to blast us awake with harsh words as it is with insistent horns.

The Art Ensemble Of Chicago and Sun Ra’s Arkestra continued performing and repackaging their music in America even after their members and leaders passed on. Boscoe’s fate, however, lay on the other side of the world. As copies of the LP trickled out to Japan, word of mouth spread, positioning Boscoe as a Holy Grail. But for the members of Boscoe, the renewed interest in their unique art comes as no surprise. They didn’t record an album for just one time or place, or even one skin color. Boscoe was intended as a wake up call, a ticking clock about to ring that can be ignored no longer. The rediscovery of Boscoe’s music was less simple than that of their peers.

Art Ensemble Of Chicago and Sun Ra’s Arkestra saw a major resurgence of interest in the 1990s and have continued performing and repackaging their music even as members and leaders have passed on. Across the Atlantic, the rare groove scene would embrace Phil Cohran’s Artistic Heritage Ensemble and the Pharaohs, sparking several high-profile reissues. Boscoe’s fate, however, lay on the other side of the Pacific. As copies of the LP trickled out to Japan, word of mouth spread, positioning Boscoe as a sort of Holy Grail for the genre. In 2001 Jamie Hodge began the process of researching the album for release on his Aestuarium label. Half a decade later, this reissue is built on the back of his work. For the members of Boscoe, the resurgent interest in their art comes as no surprise. They didn’t record an album for just one time or place, or even one skin color. Boscoe was intended as a wake up call, a ringing phone that can be ignored no longer.

One of the hippest records ever to come out of Chicago -- the sole recording by Boscoe, a group who was even more obscure and experimental than contemporaries like The Pharoahs or Artistic Heritage Ensemble! Like those groups, Boscoe has a very unique, very visionary approach -- one that's not content just to echo the standard post-Coltrane modes that other spiritual jazz groups around the country were hitting -- but which instead moves into territory that touches on the darker sides of funk, soul, and spoken word of the time -- all with a message that's incredibly powerful, and conception that's wonderfully fresh throughout! The group's lineup features tenor, trumpet, trombone, guitar, bass, and drums -- but they way they're put together is often far different than other funky combos -- and it's clear that the group had as much of a sensibility about the overall sound of their record as they did their freer grooves.

At times, there's a righteousness here that recalls the best of the early Westbound Records scene from Detroit -- but there's an even higher agenda too, which is more in keeping with the spiritual aspriations of their Chicago contemporaries, and which really show up in the lyrics. The whole album's a masterpiece from start to finish -- unlike anything that we can think of, still ripe for rediscovery today, and just the kind of set that makes us prouder than ever of our Chicago heritage! Titles include "We Ain't Free", "Money Won't Save You", "Now and Den", "He Keeps You", "I'm What You Need", and "Writin' On The Wall". (Amazing gatefold reissue -- heavy vinyl, heavy cover, and with all the notes of the CD!)

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George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was a major general during the American Civil War. He organized the famous Army of the Potomac and served briefly (November 1861 to March 1862) as the general-in-chief of the Union Army. Early in the war, McClellan played an important role in raising a well-trained and organized army for the Union. Although McClellan was meticulous in his planning and preparations, these characteristics may have hampered his ability to challenge aggressive opponents in a fast-moving battlefield environment. He chronically overestimated the strength of enemy units and was reluctant to apply principles of mass, frequently leaving large portions of his army unengaged at decisive points.

McClellan's Peninsula Campaign in 1862 ended in failure, with retreats from attacks by General Robert E. Lee's smaller Army of Virginia and an unfulfilled plan to seize the Confederate capital of Richmond. His performance at the bloody Battle of Antietam blunted Lee's invasion of Maryland, but allowed Lee to eke out a precarious tactical draw and avoid destruction, despite being outnumbered. As a result, McClellan's leadership skills during battles were questioned by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, who eventually removed him from command, first as general-in-chief, then from the Army of the Potomac. Lincoln offered this famous evaluation of McClellan: "If he can't fight himself, he excels in making others ready to fight."^[1] Indeed, McClellan was the most popular of that army's commanders with its soldiers, who felt that he had their morale and well-being as paramount concerns.

General McClellan also failed to maintain the trust of Lincoln, and proved to be frustratingly derisive of, and insubordinate to, his commander-in-chief. After he was relieved of command, McClellan became the unsuccessful Democratic nominee opposing Lincoln in the 1864 presidential election. His party had an anti-war platform, promising to end the war and negotiate with the Confederacy, which McClellan was forced to repudiate, damaging the effectiveness of his campaign. He served as the 24th Governor of New Jersey from 1878 to 1881. He eventually became a writer, defending his actions during the Peninsula Campaign and the Civil War.

Although the majority of modern authorities assess McClellan as a poor battlefield general, a small but vocal faction of historians maintain that he was a highly capable commander, but his reputation suffered unfairly at the hands of pro-Lincoln partisans who needed a scapegoat for the Union's setbacks. His legacy therefore defies easy categorization. After the war, Ulysses S. Grant was asked to evaluate McClellan as a general. He replied, "McClellan is to me one of the mysteries of the war."^[2]

Early life and career

McClellan was born in Philadelphia, the son of a prominent surgical ophthalmologist, Dr. George McClellan, the founder of Jefferson Medical College. His mother was Elizabeth Steinmetz Brinton McClellan, daughter of a leading Pennsylvania family, a woman noted for her "considerable grace and refinement".^[3] The couple produced five children: a daughter, Frederica; then three sons, John, George, and Arthur; and a second daughter, Mary. McClellan was the grandson of Revolutionary War general Samuel McClellan of Woodstock, Connecticut. He first attended the University of Pennsylvania in 1840 at age 13, resigning himself to the study of law. After two years, he changed his goal to military service. With the assistance of his father's letter to President John Tyler, young George was accepted at the United States Military Academy in 1842, the academy having waived its normal minimum age of 16.^[4]

At West Point, he was an energetic and ambitious cadet, deeply interested in the teachings of Dennis Hart Mahan and the theoretical strategic principles of Antoine-Henri Jomini. His closest friends were aristocratic Southerners such as James Stuart, Dabney Maury, Cadmus Wilcox, and A.P. Hill. These associations gave McClellan what he considered to be an appreciation of the Southern mind, an understanding of the political and military implications of the sectional differences in the United States that led to the Civil War.^[5] He graduated in 1846, second in his class of 59 cadets, losing the top position (to Charles Seaforth Stewart) only because of poor drawing skills.^[6] He was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.^[7]

Mexican-American War

McClellan's first assignment was with a company of engineers formed at West Point, but he quickly received orders to sail for the Mexican-American War. He arrived near the mouth of the Rio Grande in October 1846, well prepared for action with a double-barreled shotgun, two pistols, a saber, a dress sword, and a Bowie knife. He complained that he had arrived too late to take any part in the American victory at Monterrey in September. During a temporary armistice in which the forces of Gen. Zachary Taylor awaited action, McClellan was stricken with dysentery and malaria, which kept him in the hospital for nearly a month. The malaria would recur in later years—he called it his "Mexican disease."^[8] He served bravely as an engineering officer during the war, subjected to frequent enemy fire, and was appointed a brevet first lieutenant for Contreras and Churubusco and to captain for Chapultepec,^[7] He performed reconnaissance missions for Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott, a close friend of McClellan's father.^[9]

McClellan's experiences during the war developed various attitudes that affected his later military and political life. He learned to appreciate the value of flanking movements over frontal assaults (used by Scott at Cerro Gordo) and the value of siege operations (Vera Cruz). He witnessed Scott's success in balancing political with military affairs, and his good relations with the civil population as he invaded, enforcing strict discipline on his soldiers to minimize damage to their property. And he developed a disdain for volunteer soldiers and officers, particularly politicians who cared nothing for discipline and training.^[10]

Peacetime service

McClellan returned to West Point to command his engineering company, which was attached to the academy for the purpose of training cadets in engineering activities. He chafed at the boredom of peacetime garrison service, although he greatly enjoyed the social life. In June 1851 he was ordered to Fort Delaware, a masonry work under construction on an island in the Delaware River, 40 miles (64 km) downriver from Philadelphia. In March 1852 he was ordered to report to Capt. Randolph B. Marcy at Fort Smith, Arkansas, to serve as second-in-command on an expedition to discover the sources of the Red River. By June the expedition reached the source of the north fork of the river and Marcy named a small tributary McClellan's Creek. Upon their return to civilization on July 28, they were astonished to find that they had been given up for dead. A sensational story had reached the press, which McClellan blamed on "a set of scoundrels, who seek to keep up agitation on the frontier in order to get employment from the Govt. in one way or other," that the expedition had been ambushed by 2,000 Comanches and killed to the last man.^[11]

In the fall of 1852, McClellan published a manual on bayonet tactics that he had translated from the original French. He also received an assignment to the Department of Texas, with orders to perform a survey of Texas rivers and harbors. In 1853 he participated in the Pacific Railroad surveys, ordered by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, to select an appropriate route for the upcoming transcontinental railroad. McClellan surveyed the northern corridor along the 47th and 49th parallels from St. Paul to the Puget Sound. During this assignment, he demonstrated a tendency for insubordination toward senior political figures. Isaac Stevens, governor of the Washington Territory, became dissatisfied with McClellan's performance in scouting passes across the Cascade Range. (McClellan selected Yakima Pass without a thorough reconnaissance and refused the governor's order to lead a party through it in winter conditions, relying on faulty intelligence about the depth of snowpack in that area. He also neglected to find three greatly superior passes in the near vicinity, which would be the ones eventually used for railroads and interstate highways.) The governor ordered McClellan to turn over his expedition logbooks, but McClellan steadfastly refused, most likely because of embarrassing personal comments that he had made throughout.^[12]

Returning to the East, McClellan began courting Ellen Mary Marcy (1836–1915), the daughter of his former commander. Ellen, or Nelly, refused McClellan's first proposal of marriage, one of nine that she received from a variety of suitors, including his West Point friend, A.P. Hill. Ellen accepted Hill's proposal in 1856, but her family did not approve and he withdrew.^[13]

In June 1854, McClellan was sent on a secret reconnaissance mission to Santo Domingo at the behest of Jefferson Davis. McClellan assessed local defensive capabilities for the secretary. (The information was not used until 1870, when President Ulysses S. Grant unsuccessfully attempted to annex the Dominican Republic.) Davis was beginning to treat McClellan almost as a protégé, and his next assignment was to assess the logistical readiness of various railroads in the United States, once again with an eye toward planning for the transcontinental railroad.^[14] In March 1855, McClellan was promoted to captain and assigned to the 1st U.S. Cavalry regiment.^[7]

Because of his political connections and his mastery of French, McClellan received the assignment to be an official observer of the European armies in the Crimean War in 1855. Traveling widely, and interacting with the highest military commands and royal families, McClellan observed the siege of Sevastopol. Upon his return to the United States in 1856 he requested assignment in Philadelphia to prepare his report, which contained a critical analysis of the siege and a lengthy description of the organization of the European armies. He also wrote a manual on cavalry tactics that was based on Russian cavalry regulations. A notable failure of the observers, including McClellan, was that they neglected to explain the importance of the emergence of rifled muskets in the Crimean War, and how that would require fundamental changes in tactics for the coming Civil War.^[15]

The Army adopted McClellan's cavalry manual and also his design for a saddle, the "McClellan Saddle", which he claimed to have seen used by Hussars in Prussia and Hungary. It became standard issue for as long as the U.S. horse cavalry existed and is currently used for ceremonies.^[16]

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The Mountain Meadows massacre was a mass slaughter of the Fancher-Baker emigrant wagon train at Mountain Meadows, Utah Territory, by a local Mormon militia and members of the Paiute Indian tribe on September 11, 1857. The incident began as an attack, quickly turned into a siege, and eventually culminated in the murder of the unarmed emigrants after their surrender. All of the party except for seventeen children under eight years old were killed—about 120 men, women, and children were killed, but precise numbers have been debated.^[1] After the massacre, the corpses of the victims were left decomposing for two years on the open plain,^[2] the surviving children were distributed to local Mormon families, and many of the victims' possessions were auctioned off at the Latter-day Saint Cedar City tithing office.^[3]

The Arkansas emigrants were passing through the Utah Territory at a tense time in the Utah War when 2,500 troops sent by President James Buchanan were approaching with orders to restore US authority in the territory. Mormon leaders had been mustering militia and making defiant speeches stating their determination to mount a defense.^[4] The emigrants stopped to rest and regroup their approximately 800 head of cattle at Mountain Meadows, a valley within the Iron County Military District of the Nauvoo Legion (the popular designation for the Mormon militia of the Utah Territory).^[5]

Initially intending to encourage an Indian-led massacre,^[6] local militia leaders including Isaac C. Haight and John D. Lee conspired to lead militiamen disguised as Native Americans along with a contingent of Paiute tribesmen in an attack. The emigrants fought back and a siege ensued. When the Mormons discovered that they had been identified by the emigrants, Col. William H. Dame, head of the Iron County Brigade of the Utah militia, ordered their annihilation.^[7] Intending to leave no witnesses of Mormon complicity in the siege and also intending to prevent reprisals that would complicate the Utah War, militiamen induced the emigrants to surrender and give up their weapons. After escorting the emigrants out of their hasty fortification, the militiamen and their tribesmen auxiliaries executed the emigrants. Investigations, interrupted by the U.S. Civil War, resulted in nine indictments in 1874. Only John D. Lee was tried in a court of law, and after two trials, he was convicted. On March 23, 1877, a firing squad executed Lee at the massacre site.

Historians attribute the massacre to a combination of factors including war hysteria fueled by millennialism and strident Mormon teachings by senior LDS leaders including Brigham Young.^[8] These teachings included doctrines about God's vengeance against those who had killed Mormon prophets, some of whom were from Arkansas. Scholars debate whether the massacre was caused by any direct involvement by Brigham Young,^[9] who was never officially charged and denied any wrongdoing. However, the predominant position among scholars of the incident is that Young and other church leaders helped create the conditions which made the massacre possible.^[10]