| Before and after Shakespeare, others had the same idea:
Life's like a play: it's not the length, but the
excellence of the acting that matters.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
The Comedian Mel Brooks said: "Hope for the
Best. Expect the worst. Life is a play. We're unrehearsed."
-- Mel Brooks
"Life is a stage ..............." said
Shakespeare. Well, it really is.
On a stage people get dressed up in costumes, change their
appearance, suppress their true character and take on the
part of another character. They then act the stage part
using what they learned and practiced in preparation for
the play.
So it is in spiritual life because each life is a play
wherein we dress up as a character, change appearance,
suppress our true character, take on the part of a new
character and act out what we learned in the period/s
between other lives.
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NOTE: Is that a coincidence or not?
|
Israel Regardie
In
consulting the works of the ancient Kabalists and Medieval
Hermetic Philosophers, we find the phrase "The Microcosm
of the Macrocosm" being applied continually to man. These
spiritual scientists conceived man to be a smaller world,
fashioned in miniature exactly along the lines of the
greater world, the Universe, the Macrocosm. They further
postulated that "That which is above is like unto that
which is below." Consequently the laws that are seen and
known to operate in the Universe, correspondingly must
work in man. Therefore, in first considering this subject
of Reincarnation, let us examine the world around us and
endeavor to place it on the basis of one law, observed to
prevail in Cosmos - the Great Law of Periodicity. Occult
Philosophy lays down the postulate of the Eternity of the
Universe in toto as a boundless plane, that is, as space,
periodically the playground of numberless universes
incessantly manifesting and disappearing. The Absolute
Universality of this Law of cycles, of flux and reflux, of
ebb and flow, which physical science has recorded in all
department of nature, and alterations such as those of day
and night, life and death, sleeping and waking, summer and
winter, are facts so common, so perfectly Universal and
without exception, that it is easy to comprehend that in
then we see one of the absolutely fundamental laws of the
Universe, for these two are the world's eternal ways.
Our earth in the spring discards its white blanket of snow
and emerges forth from its period of rest - its winter
sleep. All activities are exerted to bring forth new life
everywhere. Time passes. The corn and vegetation are
ripened and harvested, and again the busy summer fades
gradually into the silence and inactivity of the winter;
again the snowy coverlet enwraps the earth, but her sleep
is not forever, for she will reawaken to the song of the
new spring, which will mark for her a little further
progress along the pathway of time. So with the life of
man. Is it conceivable that this law, so perfectly
universal, so cosmic in its scope should be inoperative in
the life of Man? Shall the earth wake each year from its
winter sleep; shall the tree and the flower live again;
shall all these examples of this great law continue to be
observed and man die? It is inconceivable and impossible.
It cannot be. The same law that impels wakefulness in the
plant, and stirs it to new growth will wake the human
being to new experiences to the distant goal of
perfection. Therefore under this same Universal and
therefore Spiritual Law of Periodicity, operating on and
through man, he faithfully follows the similar
fluctuations of being, Birth, Youth, Maturity, Decadence,
and Death, to enter Birth again, to be moulded to a better
purpose, perhaps, than has been possible in the old one.
"If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my
appointed time, will I wait until my change comes." This
appeal was uttered by the Prophet Job of the Old
Dispensation, and his very cry "If a man dies, shall he
live again" is indicative of the dissatisfaction of
mankind, then, as well as now, with the biblical allotment
of three score years and ten for the expression of
consciousness. To all appearances, man flits like a
firefly out of an eternal past, only to be extinguished
for an eternal future, after a life of expression that in
comparison, in these latter days of science, with even our
materialistic concepts of space and time, is actually of
shorter duration than the spark of an electrical
discharge.
Nature requires millions of years to produce a grain of
sand - when we review all the processes that have lead up
to its present state as such. The California Redwoods are
silent but eloquent symbols of nature's creative
handiwork, enduring for centuries and in the estimation of
some of our modern biologists for even thousands of years.
And yet Man, the epitome of all the creative forces in
Nature is assumed in the cold estimate of materialistic
science to be merely the evolution of a speck of
protoplasm, growing like an artificial laboratory culture
until after reaching maturity, it is annihilated - to be
seen no more for ever. In the lifetime of a single man,
thousands of animals, fowl and fish, hundreds of thousands
of vegetables have given their lives in the support of his
existence. Thousands of animals have given their lives in
the work of experimental scientists in their endeavors to
improve man's physical condition. Multiply this in the
case of one man by the countless myriads of individuals
that have trod the surface of this earth since the dawn of
the human races. What a prodigious waste of energy? What a
crime against the lower kingdoms? - if 35 to 65 years is
to be the average life of an individual and the only
expression that he is to be permitted to have after the
whole earth has given of its best to train and to equip
him for constructive work. It is unthinkable to those who
stop to think of it at all. There must be some
compensatory condition, and since the beginning of the
human kingdom, its thinking members have sought that
compensation. It is found in Reincarnation.
From the Totem Pole our American Indians to the hideous
effigies of Deity in Asia; from the Chinese Joss to the
beautiful Altar in the Christian Cathedral, the same fact
is in evidence, that from somewhere down through the
remote and obscure ages, humanity has been invested with
the truth - the truth that there is another life, and
another opportunity beyond this present life, and those
millions who have delved deepest into truth have found
beyond doubt this truth of reincarnation.
Now, being forced to admit that reincarnation is a
necessity in nature, and granting we admit of the
existence, and immortality of the human soul, we find that
this doctrine of pre-existence and rebirth is the only one
yielding a logical and self satisfying explanation of the
phenomena of life. This doctrine, which is an extremely
simple doctrine, rooted in the assurance of the soul's
indestructibility and immortality, implies a persisting
and expanding intelligence, through all changes of
embodiment, the latter being but a means towards the great
aim and purpose of the Intelligent man within, the gaining
of what the ancients called All-Knowledge. It teaches that
the soul enters this life, not as a flesh creation, but
after a long course of previous existences on this earth,
in which it acquired its present inhering peculiarities,
and that it is on the way to future transformations, now
being shaped by the soul. It claims that infancy brings to
this earth, not a blank scroll for the beginning of an
earthly record - nor a mere cohesion of atomic forces into
a brief personality that is destined by its own nature to
dissolve again into the elements - but a definite immortal
character that is its own, due to long experiences,
acquired through self induced and self devised efforts
throughout long series of incarnations.
What is the Universe for, and for what final purpose is
Man, the Immortal Thinker here in evolution? Centuries
ago, the Fraters Rosae Crucis stated that it is all for
the experience and emancipation of the Spirit, for the
growth of the soul, as well as for the purpose of raising
the entire mass of manifested matter up to the stature,
dignity, and position of conscious godhood. The aim for
present man, and also the three kingdoms below him, in his
evolution and initiation into complete knowledge, and in
this Rosicrucian concept is evolution carried to its
highest power, and to its logical conclusion. It makes of
man a God, and gives to every part of nature the
possibility of being the same one day; there is strength
and nobility in it, for by this scheme, no man is so
originally sinful that he can not rise above all sin and
attain to the highest.
Men, in general, accept evolution as a proven law of
growth, the evidence being drawn solely from observed
changes in physical forms and species, but this general
view considers only external evidence of the operation
without any understanding of the inner and actuating
cause. The word "Evolution" really means an unfolding from
within outwards, and had not our scientists been so
materially inclined they might long ago have arrived at a
knowledge of the truth. The Rosicrucian doctrines make
clear the operation of evolution and carry it to its
highest point of logic by showing that the impelling force
is Intelligence, which itself at the same time is evolving
to greater and greater heights by means of temporary forms
of expression. Thus we find that Rosicrucianism postulates
a dual evolution, a physical line - that of the evolution
of form - and a spiritual line, that of the evolution of
Intelligence and Consciousness, and from this, we have to
admit that this double line of evolution can only be
carried on through reincarnation, for what happens to the
spiritual element in Man after death. To dwell in a
monotonous heaven - as postulated by Theology - is
illogical, therefore after a period of rest, in accordance
with that law of Periodicity or Rhythm - previously
mentioned - the Spirit returns to earth to resume its
further progress.
The object of life, then, is the gaining of all knowledge,
and the acquirement of experience, the scale of which we
find to be enormous. Knowledge infinite in scope and
diversity lies before us, and we have much more than a
mere suspicion that the extent of the field of truth is
vastly greater than the narrow circle in which we are
confined. We also perceive that we have high aspirations
with little or no time to reach up to their measure while
the great troop of passions, desires and selfish motives
war with us and even among themselves. All these have to
be conquered, and subdued, and as we know that one life
expression is insufficient to do this, and to acquire all
that we know we must acquire, we must conclude then that a
series of lives has led to our present condition, and that
the process of coming here again and again must go on for
the purpose of affording us the opportunities needed.
Through some process of reasoning, some persons have
arrived at the conclusion that reincarnation is injust
because we suffer for the wrong deeds performed by another
in some previous incarnation. But this is based on the
incorrect notion that the person in the other life was
someone else, but in every life, it is the same person.
When we return to earth life, we do not take up the body
of someone else, nor another's deeds, but are like an
actor who plays many parts, the same actor inside, though
all the costumes and lines differ in each play.
Shakespeare was correct in asserting that Life is a Play,
for the great life of each Ego is an Immense Drama in the
Scheme of Things, and Nature is the great stage on which
this drama is played, and thus each new life and each new
rebirth is but another act in which we assume our part and
put on another dress, but through it all, we are still the
self same, Immortal Ego.
While this doctrine - coupled with its twin - Karma - may
seem stern and implacable to some, they are not really so,
for they are essentially optimistic, and give us a great
deal of encouragement. Reincarnation gives man an
opportunity to try, try again with the assurance that each
sincere and earnest attempt brings its reward in time. So
those who sit despairing in the dark places may take
courage. Those who are perplexed and filled with doubt may
know that there is a solution to all their troubles and
difficulties. The mother bereft of her child; the husband
or wife left desolately alone, may find consolation for
they will meet again to take up the broken threats of
affection and weave them into new and fairer looms of
progress. Thus the heart finds complete satisfaction and
the intellect more than its fullest scope in these
teachings of the Ancient Fraters of the Rosae Rubeae et
Aureae Crucis. |
FROM:
http://altreligion.about.com/library/texts/bl_reincarnationir.htm
But spiritual people say that Life is a
Dream and the reason for that is that physical life ends like dreams do,
thus we are not really living in reality. To us, it seems real, but
those of us who dream vividly swear that the dream was too real not to be
real. Which is true?
“Life is a challenge, meet it!
Life is a dream, realize it! Life is a game, play it!
Life is Love, enjoy it!”
|
|
 Sri
Sathya Sai Baba quotes
|
The
worst mistake you can make is to think you're alive
when you're really asleep in life's waiting room.
How do you know waking life isn't just a shared
dream with 6 billion people? The only difference is that one
person out of 6 billion people perceiving the same things has very
little influence on reality. Whereas in a dream you are the only
person perceiving it so you have total control over it.
just something to ponder....
If life is a dream, whose dream is it? Will we
awake when our life end?
"It would be easy to reduce 'Life Is a
Dream' to its fatalism versus free will paradox, but Cruz's
translation strikes the chord of an even more reverberant and
often-ignored theme: in the spiritual battle between destiny and
self-determination, forgiveness, not willfulness or witchery, is
man's only hope.
Mia Leonin, drama critic for the Miami Herald
|
Waking life is a dream controlled!
George Satanyana |
|
Dreams are true while they last , and do we not live
in dreams?
Alfred L. Tennyson
Dreams are the touchstone of our character...
Henry D.
Thoreau |
| How can you determine whether at this moment we are
sleeping and all our thoughts are dreams, or whether we are awake and
talking to one another in the waking state....
Plato
In the allegory of the chariot and winged steeds,
given in the Phaedrus, he represents the psychical
nature as composite and two-fold; the thumos, or
epithumetic part, formed from the substances of the world
of phenomena; and the thumoeides, the essence of which is
linked to the eternal world. The present earth-life is a fall and
punishment. The soul dwells in "the grave which we call the body,"
and in its incorporate state, and previous to the discipline of
education, the noetic or spiritual element is "asleep." Life is thus a
dream, rather than a reality. Like the captives in the subterranean cave,
described in The Republic, the back is turned to the
light, we perceive only the shadows of objects, and think them the actual
realities. Is not this the idea of Maya, or the illusion
of the senses in physical life, which is so marked a feature in
Buddhistical philosophy? But these shadows, if we have not given ourselves
up absolutely to the sensuous nature, arouse in us the reminiscence of
that higher world that we once inhabited. "The interior spirit has some
dim and shadowy recollection of its ante-natal state of bliss, and some
instinctive and proleptic yearnings for its return." It is the province of
the discipline of philosophy to disinthrall it from the bondage of sense,
and raise it into the empyrean of pure thought, to the vision of eternal
truth, goodness, and beauty. "The soul," says Plato, in the
Theaetetus, "cannot come into the form of a man if it has
never seen the truth. This is a recollection of those things which our
soul formerly saw when journeying with Deity, despising the things which
we now say are, and looking up to that which REALLY is. Wherefore
the nous, or spirit, of the philosopher (or student of the
higher truth) alone is furnished with wings; because he, to the best of
his ability, keeps these things in mind, of which the contemplation
renders even Deity itself divine. By making the right use of these things
remembered from the former life, by constantly perfecting himself in the
perfect mysteries, a man becomes truly perfect -- an initiate into the
diviner wisdom."
Hence we may understand why the sublimer scenes in
the Mysteries were always in the night. The life of the interior spirit is
the death of the external nature; and the night of the physical world
denotes the day of the spiritual. Dionysus, the night-sun, is, therefore,
worshipped rather than Helios, orb of day. In the Mysteries were
symbolized the preexistent condition of the spirit and soul, and the lapse
of the latter into earth-life and Hades, the miseries of that life, the
purification of the soul, and its restoration to divine bliss, or reunion
with spirit. Theon, of Smyrna, aptly compares the philosophical discipline
to the mystic rites: "Philosophy," says he, "may be called the initiation
into the true arcana, and the instruction in the genuine Mysteries. There
are five parts of this initiation: I., the previous purification; II., the
admission to participation in the arcane rites; III., the epoptic
revelation; IV., the investiture or enthroning; V. -- the fifth, which is
produced from all these, is friendship and interior communion with God,
and the enjoyment of that felicity which arises from intimate converse
with divine beings. . . . Plato denominates the epopteia,
or personal view, the perfect contemplation of things which are
apprehended intuitively, absolute truths and ideas. He also considers the
binding of the head and crowning as analogous to the authority which any
one receives from his instructors, of leading others into the same
contemplation. The fifth gradation is the most perfect felicity arising
from hence, and, according to Plato, an assimilation to divinity as far as
is possible to human beings." (See Thomas Taylor: "Eleusinian and Bacchic
Mysteries," p. 47. New York: J. W. Bouton, 1875.)
MORE PLATONIC PHILOSOPHY AT:
http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/world/med/rel-hpb1.htm
|
The Battle at King's Mountain, South Carolina
Revolutionary War
The Battle of Kings Mountain, on 7th October 1780, was an
important Patriot victory in the Southern campaign of the
American Revolutionary War. Frontier militia overwhelmed the
loyalist militia led by British Major Patrick Ferguson.
NOTE: This is an ancestor of Joe Mason of which we are very proud of
his contribution to bring the United States into being. We had always been
told that the Henry family line were descendants of Patrick Henry, but
recent DNA testing of males in the family have proven that the rumour was
always incorrect.
Robert Henry in the Revolutionary war
"...in July, 1802, on motion of Joseph Spencer and the production of his
county court license, Robert Henry, Esq., became an attorney of the court.
This singular, versatile and able man has left his impress upon Buncombe
County and Western North Carolina.
Born in Tryon (afterward Lincoln) County,
North Carolina on Feb. 10, 1765 in a rail pen, he was the son of Thomas Henry,
an emigrant from the north of Ireland. When Robert was a school boy, at the age
of 15, he fought
on the American side at King's Mountain, and was badly wounded in the hand
by a bayonet thrust. Later [Henry] was in the heat of the fight at Cowan's
Ford, and was very near Gen. William Davidson when [Davidson] was killed.
After the war he removed to Buncombe County and on the Swannanoa taught the
first school ever held in that county. He then became a surveyor, and after
a long and extensive experience, in which he surveyed many of the large grants
in all the counties of Western North Carolina, and even in Middle Tennessee,
and participated in 1799...in locating and marking the line between the State
of North Carolina and the State of Tennessee, he turned his attention to
the study of law. In 1806, he was made solicitor of Buncombe County. He it
was who opened up and for years conducted as a public resort the Sulphur
Springs, near Asheville, later known as Deaver's Spring and still more recently
as Carriers' Springs. On Jan. 6, 1863 he died in Clay County, North Carolina
as the age of 98 years, and was "undoubtedly one of the last of the heroes of Kings
Mountain." To him we are indebted for the preservation, and in part, authorship
of the most graphic and detailed accounts of the fights at Kings Mountain
and Cowan's Ford which now exist. He was the first resident lawyer of Buncombe
County. (1922. Sondley, F. A. Asheville and Buncombe County, pp. 124, 125.)
The last living survivor of the King's Mountain Battle was Isaac Thrasher.
http://www.tcarden.com/tree/ensor/KingsMtRoster2.html
"The late John P. Arthur, author of the History of Western North Carolina
and the History of Watauga County, was a grandson of Robert Henry. (1922.
Sondley, F. A. Asheville and Buncombe County, pp. 124, 125.)
The South Fork boys marched to their position with quick step, Major Chronicle
ten paces in advance, and heading the column were Enock Gilmer, Hugh Ewin,
Adam Barry, and Robert Henry. Arriving at the end of the mountain, Major
Chronicle cried, "Face to the Hill!" The words were scarcely uttered when
they were fired upon by the enemy's sharp-shooters, and Major Chronicle and
William Rabb fell dead. But they pressed up the hill under the leadership
of Lieutenant-Colonel Hambright, Maj. Jos. Dixon, Capts. James Johnson, Samuel
Espy, Samuel Martin, and James White. Before they reached the crest, the
enemy charged bayonets, first , however, discharging their guns, killing
Captain Mattocks and John Boyd and wounding Gilmer and John Chittim. As Robert
Henry, a lad of sixteen, raised his gun to fire, a bayonet glanced along
the barrel, through his hand and into his thigh. Henry discharged his gun,
killing the Briton and both fell to the ground.
Henry observed that many of his comrades were not more than a gun's length
in front of the bayonets and the farthest not more than twenty feet. Reaching
the foot of the hill, they reloaded, and fired with deadly effect upon their
pursuers, in turn chasing their enemies up the mountain. William Caldwell,
seeing Henry's condition, pulled the bayonet out of his thigh, kicked his
hand from the bloody instrument and passed on. Thus the battle raged on all
sides. No regiment, no man failed to do his duty. The unerring aim of the
mountain men from behind every tree and every rock was rapidly diminishing
the brave fighters under Ferguson, who began to despair. At the end of an
hour Ferguson was killed and a white flag was hoisted in token of surrender.
Three hundred of his men were dead and wounded, and six hundred prisoners.
The Americans suffered a loss of twenty-eight killed and seventy-four wounded.
The Lincoln County men, considering their small number, suffered considerably
in the engagement: Maj. William Chronicle, Capt. John Mattocks, William Rabb,
John Boyd and Arthur Patterson were killed; Moses Henry died soon thereafter
in the hospital at Charlotte of the wound he received in the battle; Capt.
Samuel Espey, Robert Henry, William Gilmer, John Chittim, and William Bradley
were wounded. The Tories, shooting down the steep mountain side, much of
their aim was too high. Lieutenant-Colonel Hambright's hat was perforated
with three bullet holes, and he received a shot through the thigh, his boot
filled and ran over with blood, but he remained in the fight till the end,
gallantly encouraging his men.
Lincoln County Pension Roll
On the pension roll as late as 1834, more than fifty years after the Revolution,
the following is the Lincoln County list of soldiers yet living and drawing
pension: Robert Abernathy, Vincent Allen, Christian Arny, Matthew Armstrong,
Robert Berry, Jonas Bradshaw, Caspar Bolick, Alexander Brevard, Samuel Caldwell,
William Carroll, John Chittim, Michael Cline, Samuel Collins, Martin Coulter,
Thomas Costner, George Dameron, Joseph Dixon, Peter Eddlemon, William Elmore,
Samuel Espey, James Farewell, Abraham Forney, Robinson Goodwin, Joseph Graham,
William Gregory, Nathan Gwaltney, Nicholas Hafner, Simon Hager, John Harman,
John Helm, James Henry, James Hill, John Kidd,
John Kincaid, Robert Knox, Shadrack Lefcy, Tapley Mahannas, Marmaduke Maples,
Samuel Martin, Thomas Mason, William Mayes, William McCarthy, William McLean,
Nathan Mendenhall, Alexander Moore, John Moore, William Moore, Jeremiah Mundy,
Humphrey Parker, Hiram Pendleton, Jacob Plonk, William Potter, William Rankin,
Charlie Regan, Adam Reep, Joshua Roberts, James Robinson, Henry Rumfeldt,
Peter Schrum, John Stamey, Bartholomew Thompson, Charles Thompson, Phillip
Tillman, Conrad Tippong, Robert Tucker, John Turbyfill, Charles Whit, John
Wilfong, Joseph Willis, James Wilkinson, and Elisha Withers.
FROM:
ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/nc/lincoln/history/nixon.txt
P. 380 - Robert
Henry
In July, 1802, on motion of Joseph Spencer, and the production of his county
court license, Robert Henry, Esq. became an attorney of the court. This singular,
versatile and able man has left his impress upon Buncombe county and Western
North Carolina. Born in Tryon (afterward Lincoln) county, North Carolina,
on February 10, 1765, in a rail pen, he was the sn of Thomas Henry, an emigrant
from the north of Ireland. When Robert was a schoolboy, he fought on the
American side of Kings Mountain and was badly wounded in the hand by a bayonet
thrust. Later he was in the heat of the fight at Cowan's Ford and was very
near Gen. William Davidson when the latter was killed. After the war he removed
to Buncombe county and on the Swannanoa taught the first school ever held
in that county. He then became a surveyor, and after a long and extensive
experience,, in which he surveyed many of the large grants in all the counties
of western North Carolina and even in middle Tennessee, and participated
in 1799, as such, in locating and marking the line between the State of North
Carolina and the State of Tennessee, he turned his attention to the study
of law. In January, 1806, he was made solicitor of Buncombe county. He it
was who opened up and for years conducted as a public resort the Sulphur
Springs near Asheville, later known as Deaver's Springs and still more recently
as Carrier's Springs. On January 6, 1863, he died in Clay County, N.C. at
the age of 98 years, and undoubtedly the last of the heroes of Kings
Mountain. "To him we are indebted for the preservation and, in part,
authorship of the most graphic and detailed accounts of the fights at Kings
Mountain and Cowan's ford which now exist. He was the first resident lawher
of Buncombe county."
Colonel Davidson's Recollections of Robert Henry.
"I must not omit ... to mention Robert Henry, who lived, owned and settled
the Sulphur Springs. He was an old man when I first knew him, say fifty years
ago (that as 1891); he had then retired from the profession of the law wihch
he had practiced many years. This was before I knew him well. He was tedious
and slow in conversation, but always interesting to the student. He had been
a fine lawyer, and remarkable in criminal cases. He could recite his experiences
of cases in most minute detail. He insisted that, underlying all, there was
invariably a principle which settled every rule of evidence and point of
law. I chanced to get some of his old criminal law books, such as Foster's
Crown Law, Hale's Pleas of the Crown, etc. and I found them well annotated
with accurate marginal notes, showing great industry and thought in their
perusal. He had a grand history in our struggle for independence' was at
Charlotte when the Declaration of Independence was made, but, being a boy
at this time, he did not understand the character of the resolutions; but
said he heard the crowd shout and declared themselves freed from the British
government. He afterwards fought at the battle of Kings Mountain and was
severely wounded in the hand and thigh, by a bayonet in the charge of Ferguson's
men.
"...it being again found 'impracticable to take horses from this place
[Nolichucky River] to the Bald mountain, Mr. Henry, the chain-bearers and
markers, took provisions on their backs and proceeded on the line and the
horses went round by the Greasy Cove and met the rest of the company on Sunday
on the top of the Bald mountain where we tarried till Tuesday morning." (1914.
Arthur, John Preston. Western North Carolina, A History...pp.44, 45.)
"The white occupation of North Carolina had extended only to the Blue Ridge
when the Revolution began; but at its close Gen. Charles McDowell, Col. David
Vance and Private Robert Henry were among the first to cross the Blue Ridge
and settle in the new county of Buncombe. As a reward for their services...they
were appointed to run and mark the line between North Carolina and Tennessee
in 1799. While on this work they wrote and left in the care of Robert Henry
their narratives of the battle of Kings Mountain and the fight at Cowan's
ford. After his death Robert Henry's son, William...,furnished the manuscript
to...Dr. Lyman C. Draper of Wisconsin. On it is largely based his 'King's
Mountain and its Heroes' (1880) (1914. Arthur, John P. Western North Carolina,
A History... p. 98.)
"From Robert Henry's diary we learn that 'in the summer of 1815 no rain fell
from the 8th of July till the 8th of September. Trees died.' Also that, 'on
the 28th day of Aug. 1830, Caney branch (which runs by Sulphur spring five
miles west of Asheville) ceased to run. Tom Moore's creek and Ragsdale's
creek had ceased to run some days before; the corn died from the drough {sic}.
This has been the driest summer in sixty years to my knowledge. Our spring
ceased to run for some weeks previous to the above date.' Again: 'The summer
of 1836 was the wettest summer in seventy years in my remembrance.' This
is the climax: 'Thursday, Friday and Saturday next before Christmas 1794,
were the coldest days in seventy years,' though as he had been born in 1765
he could not then have been quite thirty years of age himself. (1914. Arthur,
John Preston. Western North Carolina, A History...p.296.)
"Col. [Allen T.] Davidson's Recollections of Robert Henry. 'I must not omit...to
mention Robert Henry, who lived, owned and settled the Sulphur springs. He
was an old man when I first knew him, say fifty years ago [1891]; he had
then retired from the profession of the law which he had practiced many years.
This was before I knew him well. He was tedious and slow in conversation,
but always interesting to the student. He had been a fine lawyer ,and remarkable
in criminal cases. He could recite his experiences of cases in most minute
detail. He insisted that, underlying all, there was invariably a principle
which settled every rule of evidence and point of law. I chanced to get some
of his old criminal law books, such as Foster's Crown Law, Hale's Pleas of
the Crown, etc, and I found them well annotated with accurate marginal notes,
showing great industry and thought in their perusal. He had a grand history
in our struggle for independence; was at Charlotte when the declaration of
Independence was made; but, being a boy at this time, he did not understand
the character of the resolutions; but said he heard the corwd shout and declared
themselves freed from the British government. He afterwards fought at the
battle of Kings Mountain and was severely wounded in the and and thigh, by
a bayonet in the charge of Ferguson's men. (1914. Arthur, John P. Western
North Carolina, A History..,. p.381.)
"Soon after the Swannanoa settlement was established in 1782, a school was
started in accordance with the principles of the Presbyterians. Robert Henry
taught the first school in North Carolina west of the Blue Ridge.'" (1914.
Arthur, John P. Western North Carolina, A History..., p. 421.)
|
WWII
Posted by Yan Mann on July 28, 2007
Born a
soldier?
Erich was born in
Berlin on 24 November, 1887. On this day the parents Eduard
and Helene von Lewinski Immediately sent a telegraph to the
sister of Helene, Hedwig von Manstein and her husband Georg:
”Today a son was born to you”. Both families had a special
agreement: The tenth son of the Lewinskis, Erich, would be
given to the von Mansteins and raised as their son, because
they had no children at all.
Most of little
Erich’s male ancestors - of both families - had been soldiers,
both his fathers made the rank of General -
Fieldmarshall and
later Reichspräsident
von Hindenburg was his uncle. In his autobiography Erich
states that it was his wish also to become a soldier, but
maybe he had simply no choice at all. By the age of 13 he went
to the Kadettenanstalt
in Berlin Lichterfelde.
Erich liked the life there very much and stated that he was
made a “Herr” by the education there. In contrast the captain
of his class also wrote about the
Kadettenanstalt in
bitter words and called it a school for slaves.
On the 1st January
in 1920 Erich went on a hunting holiday to Silesia, were he
met the nineteen year old Jutta Sybille von Loesch. Nine days
later they became en-gaged and six months later they married.
Their daughter Gisela was born in 1921, the eldest son Gero
one year later. He lived only 20 years and died on the eastern
front. The youngest son Rüdiger was born in 1929 and so was
barely too young to go to war.
After a brief time
as company and battalion CO Erich rotated back to staff
positions. In 1934, when von Manstein was Chief of Staff of
the Wehrkreis III, the
first cruel laws were passed which segregated and
discriminated the Jews in Germany. Now every officer had to
get a “Ariernachweis”
(proof of Aryan origin) and those officers who had Jewish
ancestors had to leave the
Reichswehr. Much more important for all soldiers was
the law which forbade all Jewish soldiers to wear their war
decorations. Ten thousands of them had fought, bled and died
bravely for Germany in WWI and now they would not even be
allowed to display the proof of their service for their
country. Even the dumbest racist must wonder about the
accusations that the Jews wished harm to Germany but went to
war and gave their lives to defend the same country. But
incredibly no one wondered about or questioned this philosophy
of hatred.
Because one of his
friends discovered that his mother was half Jewish and he had
to leave the Reichswehr,
Erich wrote a letter to General Walther von Reichenau and
asked to made exceptions for those officers whose parents were
half Jewish and who were already in the
Reichswehr. He did not
oppose the exclusion of future aspirants with Jewish
ancestors. In the years after the war the existence of the
letter was often used to show von Manstein’s attitude against
racism and even von Manstein mentions the letter in his
autobiography to draw attention to his bravery. But only the
second part of the letter was quoted. Here is the beginning:
“There is no doubt
that we [meaning all officers] affirm the national socialism
and the race thought [Rassegedanke,
meaning the that there are differences in races and the German
race is the superior and the Jewish race the inferior ]…
It should be
mentioned first that of course the Aryan ancestry and marriage
in the Wehrmacht are
naturally since 30.01.1933…
No one denies that
the occupations of judges, lawyers, doctors were flooded by
Jews and Half-Jews…
There is no doubt
that a rigorous cleansing was necessary…”
Only after writing
this, and similar statements, did he try to convince von
Reichenau that he should leave officers who have Half-Jews as
parents at their positions. Von Manstein was mistaken in his
assumptions that because he was a rising star in the staff
officer corps and had relatives in high rank he would be
untouchable. He did manage to preserve his military career,
but very barely escaped a disciplinary rebuke, which would
have seriously affected it.
In 1935 von Manstein
received the Promotion to
Generalmajor and became Chief of the 1st Operations
Department in the General Staff (not to be confused with the
Chief of Staff of Operations). He invented a plan to secretly
triple the Infantry- Divisions in the
Reichswehr – in
violation of the Treaty of Versailles. His superior General
von Hammerstein-Equord gave him the task of creating all the
war games and exams for the staff officers.
In this position
Erich von Manstein made some enemies. After the conclusion of
the war games he insisted on his solution and refused to
consider the different approaches of others, which had
traditionally been common. When he explained his solution his
comrades usually felt his arrogance hard to bear. Though his
rank was not higher than theirs he acted as if that were the
case. He always had the better position because his immediate
superior gave the marks for the participants of the war-game
and relied on his opinion.
One year later von
Manstein became Quartermaster I and as such deputy of the
Chief of Staff. He expected to become a very young Chief of
Staff soon.
Unexpectedly for von
Manstein, he was rotated to command the 18th ID in 1938 in the
wake of the Blomberg/Fritsch crisis. He described himself as a
martyr because of his loyalty to von Fritsch and named this as
the reason for changing his assignment from General staff to
the command of an Infantry-Division. The truth is he was
over-due for a field command.
A year later von
Manstein was informed that “Case White”, the invasion of
Poland, would be imminent in the near future. Because of this
he transferred as Chief of Staff to the
Heeresgruppe Süd (Army
Group South) ,commanded by
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt. Von Manstein
had no problems with the attack on Poland be-cause he thought
“the Polish mentality made us no hope to reverse the
unreasonable borders drawn by the treaty of Versailles”. After
the defeat of Poland, Hitler visited the HQ of the
Heeresgruppe Süd. When
he saw the pompous decorations and mass of food in the
officers hall he turned around, sat outside with the troops
and shared their field kitchen soup. As a former enlisted man
Hitler gave a clear demonstration of his opinion that the
higher staff members too often focused on their perks and
privileges. In his book “Lost Victories” von Manstein in the
typical staffer’s manner often describes his accommodations -
usually castles or large mansions - in the smallest details.
We rarely read the same level of detail from his visits of the
front lines.
The Attack
on the Soviet Union, the Holocaust and the Defense of the
Kertsch Peninsula
For the invasion of
the Soviet Union von Manstein got the 56th
Panzer-Korps, which
attacked north-east in the direction of Leningrad. When the CG
of the Eleventh Army died in a plan crash in September, von
Manstein went to command this army, which was tasked with the
invasion of the Crimean peninsula. In the wake of this army
the infamous Einsatzgruppe
D killed 90.000 people, mostly Jews. The direct contact to the
Einsatzgruppe was the
Chief of Staff of the 11. Army, the operations officer
pro-vided them with transport and supply and the intelligence
officer with “targets”. Though Manstein of course denied
having known what his staff knew, this is hardly possible.
Otto Ohlendorf - leader of the
Einsatzgruppe -
confirmed during the war crime trials that the commanders of
the armies and army groups where he operated were fully
briefed on his actions and no one ever complained. The leader
of the Einsatzgruppe
was in regular contact with von Manstein’s staff. Today we
know not only that Ohlendorf spoke the truth but there are
numerous orders and documents that link the staff and CG of
Eleventh Army directly and indirectly to the mass murder of
Jews and other people.
The Eleventh Army
was able to clear the peninsula, but many Red Army units
escaped to the harbor of Sevastopol, a heavily fortified city.
In the middle of the preparations for the attack of the city
von Manstein got disturbing news. The Red Army was landing in
strength on two places on the eastern part of the peninsula.
The defense laid in the responsibility of General Count
Sponeck. He had only one division at his disposal which was
even understrength to boot. Threatened from two directions,
Sponeck radioed to Army HQ that he had to withdraw or he would
be cut off and annihilated. Von Manstein ordered him to stay
put. In all his publications von Manstein has lamented that
Hitler and his staffers would never listen to the commander on
the spot and how much would have been different if they had;
yet at this point Manstein didn’t listen to his commander on
the spot. As an officer responsible for the welfare of his
men, von Sponeck ordered the withdrawal against direct orders.
Again von Manstein tried to countermand this action but the
Division was already on its way back. Just in time the unit
slipped away from two Red Army pincers. On his forced march to
safety von Sponeck lost much of his remaining equipment. A
reinforced regiment and a Romanian division, in addition to
Sponeck’s division, were necessary to defend against the
Russians at the bottleneck of the peninsula. Three and a half
new divisions were necessary to clear them out. Von Manstein
nevertheless immediately relieved Sponeck from his command.
Not because he didn’t obey an order or because he withdrew,
but because “he was not the man to hold out such a situation”.
It sounds like a weak excuse for a fatal decision. Had
Manstein allowed his subordinate to withdraw, when the first
request came, the division might have come home with most of
its badly needed equipment. Because of the withdrawal von
Manstein had to call off the attack on Sevastopol - an attack
eagerly awaited by the High Command. The anger about this
might have led von Manstein to overreact in a dangerous way.
He not only relieved Sponeck but informed his superior, the
cruel Walther von Reichenau. He in turn informed the OKH and
that put Sponeck in the deepest trouble. A seasoned field
commander would never directly impose a public disciplinary
measure. It would have been easy to relieve Sponeck because of
an injury or illness, and deal with him without letting other
commanders know. Hitler immediately demanded Sponeck should be
shot. Sponeck asked for a trial to explain his decision and
was backed by other field commanders. Judges could only be
found who would take part in the trial if the death sentence
was removed from the possible penalties. Hitler agreed and
Sponeck was officially dishonored and got six years
imprisonment. A year later, at the anniversary of the
occupation of Sevastopol, Manstein made a half-hearted attempt
to put forward a memorandum to Hitler asking for mercy
regarding the prisoner. The memo never made it to Hitler but
was caught by officers surrounding the Chief of OKW, or by
Wilhelm Keitel himself.
Generalfeldmarschall (Fieldmarshall)
and awarded to all soldiers who took part at the siege the
Krim-Shield which they wore now as a badge on their sleeves.
After that von
Manstein was tasked with the siege of Leningrad which was
bypassed in the first weeks of the war and never taken
thereafter – one of the many great strategic mistakes on the
German side. The big city with its weapons industry posed a
constant threat to the left flank of the
Wehrmacht in Russia.
Von Manstein battled various relieving forces around
Leningrad, but before he was able to attempt to take the city
– a task much more difficult than Sevastopol – the crisis
around Stalingrad developed. The Sixth Army had advanced too
far with insufficient supplies. Its units were stretched too
thin to defend its lines. As former Quartermaster I of the
General Staff of the Army
Generaloberst Friedrich Paulus was perfectly aware of
this, but had advanced nevertheless. The setting resembled an
invitation for the Red Army to en-circle the Sixth Army. In
November the Red Army broke through the Romanian Divisions -
which had pleaded for anti-tank weapons and artillery but
never got them - and isolated the Sixth Army in Stalingrad. At
this time von Manstein got command of
Heeresgruppe Don,
which now included the encircled Army. Despite the claims in
his book “Verlorene Siege”
(Lost Victories) von Manstein never ordered Paulus to break
out. Paulus himself was a typical staffer all his life,
possessed a weak personality and had never led large units in
battle. He waited so long with his decision to break out that
the Sixth Army became immobile because of lack of gas and
death of horses. The later half-hearted attempt to break
through from the outside with the Fourth
Panzer-Army can be
described as too little too late.
On a rare occasion
when Hitler visited von Manstein’s HQ in February, he became
so frightened by a Russian spearhead which advanced on the
town where he stayed that he gave von Manstein a free hand for
his plans. The CG of army group south evacuated the southern
bulge of his front line and used the freed units for a
devastating counterattack to the north that not only shattered
the Russian advance but also recaptured the city of Charkov.
Erich von Manstein,
however, saw the only future solution in further “operating”
and since Hitler did not permit him “to strike from the back
hand” he supported the ill conceived Operation
Zitadelle (discussed
below), which ended in a disaster. The men and tanks lost in
this operation would be bitterly needed in the weeks to come
when the whole eastern front struggled for survival.
Like many of his
comrades von Manstein dreamed that when the situation became
even more desperate Hitler would listen to them and hand them
sole power to lead the
Wehrmacht as they wanted. The commanders of the
Heeresgruppen however
quarreled with each other about the best conduct of the war,
while their soldiers where beaten back by the Read Army, step
by step.
After repeatedly
getting on Hitler’s nerves by writing letters and stating
during briefings that his units needed to withdraw, von
Manstein was relieved by the dictator. Von Manstein apparently
welcomed that decision and was awarded with the swords to the
Knight’s Cross at the end of March 1944. Seeing himself as the
only possible savior of the Reich, von Manstein expected to be
recalled and still dreamed of a military remiss that would
allow a political solution. Both dreams were impossible to
come true; the former because the
Wehrmacht was already
ruined and the latter because of the Holocaust.
End of
active Duty, Trial and Rearmament
When the few German
officers who conspired against Hitler got closer to an attempt
at his assassination, many of the highest ranking commanders
were informed. Like his fellow commanders von Manstein adopted
a “wait and see” attitude and did not support the overthrow.
During the Nuremberg
Trials von Manstein together with the lawyers devised a
strategy that the officers would volunteer no information and
only admit actions that were clearly proven, declare evident
crimes as misdeeds of single persons, and in general display
very poor memories. They got away with that strategy which
laid the foundation for the myth of the clean General Staff
that persists until to the present.
Great Britain
intended to have her own major war crimes trial and as von
Manstein was the only POW in good health in her possession,
the ‘Manstein-Trial” began in 1949. By that time the political
landscape had already changed, Berlin was under siege and many
people did not think that a man who had portrayed himself as
the savior of the civilization from the Bolshevik hordes
should then stand trial. Even Winston Churchill contributed
money to his defense. Von Manstein expected to get away as
easy as the first time, but was to be disappointed. The
prosecution was much better prepared than the first time,
because there were more documents and eyewitness accounts
available. His British defense attorney Lord Paget, who
despite the fact that he had a Jewish assistant harbored
racist sentiments, could apparently not believe that a fellow
nobleman could possibly be involved in crimes of that extent.
He had also not the faintest idea about the internal structure
of the Wehrmacht and
thus portrayed von Manstein as a heroic figure. The
prosecution listed one and half dozen crimes with various sub
topics ranging from ‘General Violation of the Rules of War’ to
‘Murder of Jews by the
Einsatzgruppen‘. During the trials von Manstein re-vealed
his true face. He was very eloquent when reading prepared
statements, but - not at all accustomed to being questioned –
lost his wit when the prosecutor interrogated him. After
simple questions like “Did you know about the crimes committed
by the Einsatzgruppen
in the wake of your Army?”, von Manstein’s otherwise erect
body would slump forward, his eyebrows began to fight each
other and he would stutter a monologue of contradictions in a
squeaky voice. To any onlooker, even without considering the
evidence, it was clear: here is someone obviously telling
lies.
The presentation of
von Manstein’s secret army order issued at the end of 1941 in
which he calls for the “atonement on the Jews”, the “rooting
out of Jewish-Bolshevism” and similar phrases of hatred and
racism caught him off guard. He claimed never to have seen it
before. When the prosecutor revealed von Manstein’s signature
under the order, the former commander of Eleventh Army stuck
to his tale and speculated that his Ic (Intelligence Officer)
might have drawn up the paper and he might simply have signed
it without reading; this would have been an unprecedented
action on his part.
There are two
possible solutions which might have motivated von Manstein to
issue such an order. From his earliest days as an officer he
always had his eyes on the position of Chief of Staff. At the
end of 1941 the Wehrmacht
experienced the ‘winter crisis’ and von Manstein sensed that
there would soon be scapegoats and open slots. The highest
positions, however, would only be filled with people who were
thought as being firm in their belief in National Socialism.
With this secret army order he intended to demonstrate his
devotion.
Of course, the other
possible reason might have been that he simply believed what
he wrote.
Von Manstein was
found guilty in about half of the 17 charges against him and
sentenced to 18 years imprisonment. Had today’s research been
available to the judges, the sentence might well have been
harsher.
The sentence was
reduced to 12 years and Erich von Manstein was paroled in
1953, when the German Rearmament was already planned. By that
time any eastern front expert was urgently needed and the past
easily forgotten.
Only two years later
von Manstein published his “Verlorene
Siege” (Lost Victories), which would become one of the
most influential books about the war and established with
enormous eloquence the “Manstein-Myth” of the great captain
who could have saved Germany if he only had gotten a free
hand. Many outright lies and falsehoods in this book haven
already been uncovered and a critical approach is called for
when using it.
Erich von Manstein
wrote various papers and memorandums for the German Department
of Defense and was especially courted by the new Secretary of
Defense Franz Josef Strauß. At von Manstein’s 80th and 85th
birthdays the Inspector General and a formation of the
Bundeswehr showed up
to honor him, actions that rest heavily on the young army ever
since. Only in recent years has the
Bundeswehr been able
to successfully claim a tradition of its own without referring
to the Wehrmacht.
In the night of June
9, 1973, Erich von Manstein, called von Lewinski, died age 85
by a cerebral apoplexy. He was buried with military honors.
FROM:
http://militaryhistoryblog.wordpress.com/category/world-war-ii/ |