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Battle of Puebla

Battle of Puebla

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Battle of Puebla
Part of the French intervention in Mexico
The Battle of Puebla marked one of the most significant episodes in Mexican military history.
Depictions of the battle showing Mexican cavalry taking over the French troops below the fort at Loreto.
Date May 5, 1862
Location Puebla, Mexico
Result Decisive Mexican republican victory
Belligerents
Mexico Mexican republicans France France
Commanders and leaders
Mexico Ignacio Zaragoza France Charles de Lorencez
Strength
4,000 soldiers[1] 8,000 soldiers[2]
Casualties and losses
83 killed,
131 wounded,
12 missing		 462 killed,
~300 wounded,
8 captured

The Battle of Puebla took place on May 5, 1862 near the city of Puebla during the French intervention in Mexico. The battle ended in a victory for the Mexican Army against the occupying French forces. The victory is celebrated today during the festivities of Cinco de Mayo, the 5th of May.

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[edit] Background

The 1857-60 civil war in Mexico had disorganised the country’s finances and the new President, Benito Juárez, was forced to suspend payments of foreign debts in 1861. In late 1861 Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, under the Treaty of London (1861) sent a joint expeditionary force to Mexico, alongside Spanish and English forces, to protect their interests and collect the debts owed by the previous Mexican government. The allied troops occupied the port city of Veracruz on December 8, 1861 and advanced to Orizaba. Napoleon III wanted to seize the opportunity presented by the U.S. involvement in the Civil War to set up a puppet Mexican regime. Napoleon’s intrigues led to the withdrawal of the Spanish and British troops in April 1862. At the same time French reinforcements arrived.

[edit] The battle

Map of the Battle’s terrain.

The Battle of Puebla, May 5, 1862, was a single, important victory for the Mexican people over the occupying French Army.
The French Army at the time was led by General Charles de Lorencez. The battle came about by a misunderstanding of the French forces’ agreement to withdraw to the coast. When the Mexican people saw these French soldiers wandering about with rifles, they took it that hostilities had recommenced and felt threatened. To add to the mounting concerns, it was discovered that political negotiations for the withdrawal had broken down. A vehement complaint was lodged by the Mexicans to General Lorencez who took the effrontery as a plan to assail his forces. Lorencez decided to hold up his withdrawal to the coast by occupying Orizaba instead, which prevented the Mexicans from being able to defend the passes between Orizaba and the landing port of Veracruz. The 33 year old Mexican Commander General, Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín, fell back to Alcuzingo Pass, where he and his army were badly beaten in a skirmish with Lorencez’s forces on April 28. Zaragoza retreated to Puebla, which was heavily fortified. Puebla had been held by the Mexican government since the Wars of Reform in 1860. To its north lie the forts Loreto and Guadalupe on opposite hilltops. Zaragoza had a trench dug to join the forts via the saddle.
Lorencez was led to believe that the people of Puebla were friendly to the French, and that the Mexican Republican garrison which kept the people in line would be overrun by the population once he made a show of force. This would prove to be a serious miscalculation on Lorencez’s part. On May 5, against all advice, Lorencez decided to attack Puebla from the north. However, he started his attack a little too late in the day, using his artillery just before noon and by noon advancing his infantry. By the third attack the French required the full engagement of all their reserves. The French artillery had run out of ammunition, so the third infantry attack went unsupported. The Mexican forces and the Republican Garrison both put up a stout defense and even took to the field to defend the positions between the hilltop forts.
As the French retreated from their final assault, Zaragoza had his cavalry attack them from the right and left while troops concealed along the road pivoted out to flank them badly. By 3 p.m. the daily rains had started, making a slippery quagmire of the battlefield. Lorencez withdrew to distant positions, counting 462 of his men killed against only 83 of the Mexicans. He waited a couple of days for Zaragoza to attack again, but Zaragoza held his ground. Lorencez then completely withdrew to Orizaba.

[edit] Follow up

Although the French intervention was slowed by their loss at Puebla, the invasion continued. In September 1862 an additional 30,000 French troops arrived in Mexico under General Elie F. Forey. The following year, the French captured Puebla (May 17) and the capital of Mexico City (June 7), forcing Juárez’s government into exile in northern Mexico, and the Austrian Archduke Maximilian became ruler of the short-lived Second Mexican Empire. “Some have argued that the true French occupation was a response to growing American power and to the Monroe Doctrine (America for the Americans). Napoleon III believed that if the United States was allowed to prosper indiscriminately, it would eventually become a power in and of itself.”[3]

Fort Guadalupe today

On September 16, 1862, President Juárez declared that the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla would be a national holiday[citation needed], regarded as “Battle of Puebla Day” or “Battle of Cinco de Mayo”. Although today it is recognized in some countries as a day of Mexican heritage celebration, it is not a federal holiday in Mexico.[4] A common misconception in the United States is that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico’s Independence Day,[5] the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico.[6] Grito de Dolores (Mexico’s Independence Day) falls on September 16 (dieciséis de septiembre in Spanish),[7]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Cinco De Mayo: Join In The Celebration On The Fifth Of May. The Bulletin. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By Cheryl VanBuskirk. May 7, 2009.
  2. ^ Cinco De Mayo: Join In The Celebration On The Fifth Of May. The Bulletin. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By Cheryl VanBuskirk. May 7, 2009.
  3. ^ Cinco de Mayo. Calendar Updates.
  4. ^ Statement by Mexican Consular official Accessed May 8, 2007.
  5. ^ Adam Brooks. “Is Cinco De Mayo Really Mexico’s Independence Day?”. NBC 11 News. http://www.nbc11.com/cincodemayo/2990178/detail.html. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 
  6. ^ [1] Retrieved February 6, 2009.
  7. ^ [2] Retrieved February 6, 2009.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cinco de Mayo

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Puebla“
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Bar and Bat Mitzvah [Bar (aramaic for son), Barr, Barbara]

Bar and Bat Mitzvah

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According to Jewish law, when Jewish children reach 13 years old for boys and 12 years old for girls they become responsible for their actions, and “become a Bar or Bat Mitzvah” (English: Daughter (Bat) or Son (Bar) of the commandments). In many Conservative and Reform synagogues, girls celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah at age 12[1], along with boys at 13. This also coincides with physical puberty.[2] Prior to this, the child’s parents hold the responsibility for the child’s adherence to Jewish law and tradition. After this age, children bear their own responsibility for Jewish ritual law, tradition, and ethics and are privileged to participate in all areas of Jewish community life.[3] Sometimes the ceremony itself is erroneously referred to as a Bar or Bat Mitzvah.
In Orthodox Jewish observance, the occasion of becoming a Bar Mitzvah involves the young man being called to read the Torah, a Haftarah portion, or both at a Shabbat or other service (Thursday morning, Monday morning or a festival) when the Torah is read, and may also involve giving a d’var Torah, a discussion of that week’s Torah portion. In non-Orthodox congregations a Bat Mitzvah may include a similar service for a woman. Precisely what the Bar/Bat Mitzvah may do during the service varies in Judaism’s different denominations and can also depend on the specific practices of various congregations. Regardless of the nature of the celebration, males become entirely culpable and responsible for following Jewish law once they reach the age of 13, and females once they reach the age of 12.

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[edit] Responsibilities

Whoever becomes Bar or Bat Mitzvah has the responsibilities of an adult Jew under Jewish law. These include:

  • Moral responsibility for own actions
  • Eligibility to be called to read from the Torah and participate in a Minyan (In Orthodox denominations, only males read from the Torah or participate in a Minyan)
  • May possess personal property
  • May be legally married according to Jewish law
  • Must follow the 613 laws of the Torah
  • At times the child boy or girl has to postpone if the father and mother think it necessary.

[edit] Modern practices

[edit] Jewish boys

Celebration of Bar Mitzvah in the Western Wall tunnel in Jerusalem.

[edit] Aliyah

Calling someone to say the Torah blessings during a service is called an Aliyah (from the Hebrew: עֲלִיָּה, from the verb la’alot, לעלות, meaning, “to rise, to ascend; to go up”). The widespread practice is that on the Shabbat one or more days after his 13th birthday, a boy may recite the

blessings for the Torah reading. He may also read the week’s portion from the Torah (five books of Moses) and Haftara (selections from the books of the Prophets), give a d’var Torah which may include a discussion of that week’s Torah portion, or both. He may also lead part or all of the morning prayer services. Precisely what the Bar Mitzvah should lead during the service varies from one congregation to another and is not fixed by Jewish law. Sometimes the celebration is during another service that includes reading from the Torah, such as a Monday or Thursday morning service, a Shabbat afternoon service, or a morning service on Rosh Chodesh, the New Moon.

[edit] Celebratory meal

The service often precedes a celebratory meal with family, friends, and members of the community. In some modern communities, most notably among affluent North American Jews, this celebratory meal can eclipse the religious ceremony itself, often rivaling a wedding celebration in extravagance.
Some communities may delay the celebration for reasons such as availability of a Shabbat during which no other celebration has been scheduled, or due to the desire to permit family to travel to the event. However, this does not delay the onset of rights and responsibilities of being a Jewish adult which comes about strictly by virtue of age.
After the celebratory bar mitzvah meal, it is traditional for the celebrant to lead the Birkat Hamazon, something he could not do as a minor.

[edit] Tefillin

In current practice, boys who belong to branches of Judaism that regularly wear tefillin do not start wearing tefillin until they are close to bar mitzvah. The most widespread custom in those branches involves starting to wear tefillin about 30 days before the thirteenth birthday, although others commence about three months in advance, and there is also a custom (prevalent among chasidim) for tefillin to be worn for the first time on the thirteenth birthday. For this reason a strong perceived correlation exists between the bar mitzvah ceremony and the commandment of tefillin.

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Benjamin Wade

Benjamin Wade

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This article is about the 19th century American politician. For the Major League pitcher, see Ben Wade. For the reality TV contestant on the US Reality TV series “Survivor”, see Benjamin Wade (Survivor contestant).
Benjamin Franklin Wade
In office
March 15, 1851 – March 3, 1869
Preceded by Thomas Ewing, Sr.
Succeeded by Allen G. Thurman
In office
March 2, 1867 – March 3, 1869
Preceded by Lafayette S. Foster
Succeeded by Henry B. Anthony
Born October 27, 1800(1800-10-27)
Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died March 2, 1878(1878-03-02) (aged 77)
Jefferson, Ohio, U.S.
Political party Whig, Republican
Profession Politician, Lawyer

Benjamin Franklin “Bluff” Wade (October 27, 1800 – March 2, 1878) was a U.S. lawyer and United States Senator. In the Senate, he was associated with the Radical Republicans of that time.

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[edit] Early life

Born in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts, on the 27th of October to Mary Wade and James Wade. Benjamin Wade’s first job was as a laborer on the Erie Canal. He also taught school before studying law in Ohio with Elisha Whittlesey. After being admitted to the bar in 1828, he began practicing law in Jefferson, Ohio.
Wade formed a partnership with Joshua Giddings, a prominent anti-slavery figure in 1831. He became the prosecuting attorney of Ashtabula County by 1836, and as a member of the Whig Party, Wade was elected to the Ohio State Senate, serving two two-year terms between 1837 and 1842. He established a new law practice with Rufs Ranney and was elected presiding judge of the third district in 1847. Between 1847 and 1851, Wade was a judge of common pleas in what is now Summit County (Ohio).
After th

e decline of the Whigs’ power, Wade joined the Republican Party, and in 1851 he was elected by his legislature to the United States Senate. There, he associated with such eventual Radical Republicans as Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner. He fought against the controversial Fugitive Slave Act and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He was one of the most radical politicians in America at that time, supporting women’s suffrage, trade union rights, and equality for African-Americans. He was also critical of capitalism.

[edit] Civil War

Wade’s home in Jefferson, Ohio.

In March 1861, he became chairman of the Committee on Territories, and in July 1861, Wade, along with other politicians, witnessed the defeat of the Union Army at the First Battle of Bull Run. There, he was almost captured by the Confederate Army. After arriving back at Washington, he was one of those who led the attack on the supposed incompetence of the leadership of the Union Army. From 1861 to 1862 he was chairman of the important Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, and in 1862, as chairman of the Senate Committee on Territories, was instrumental in abolishing slavery in the Federal Territories.
During the American Civil War, Wade was highly critical of President Abraham Lincoln; in a September 1861 letter, he privately wrote that Lincoln’s views on slavery “could only come of one born of poor white trash and educated in a slave State.” He was especially angry when Lincoln was slow to recruit African-Americans into the armies, and actively advocated for the bill that abolished slavery and had a direct hand in the passing of the Homestead Act of 1862 and the Morrill Land Grand Act of 1862.
Wade was also critical of Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan; in December 1863, he and Henry Winter Davis sponsored a bill that would run the South, when conquered, their way. The Wade-Davis Bill mandated that there be a fifty-percent White male Iron-Clad Loyalty Oath, Black male suffrage, and Military Governors that were to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. It passed in the lower chamber on May 4, 1864 by a margin of 73 ayes to 59 nays; in the upper chamber on July 2, 1864 it passed by a similar percentage of 18 ayes to 14 nays and was brought to Lincoln’s desk. Tradition has it that Zachariah Chandler asked him directly if ‘he plan on signing it or no?’ and Lincoln replied, ‘it was put before him with too little time to be signed in that way.’ On July 4, 1864, he pocket-vetoed the bill by refusing to sign it. Lincoln later said that he didn’t want to be held to one Reconstruction policy.[citation needed] This action drove Wade to sign, along with Davis, the Wade-Davis Manifesto, which accused the president of seeking reelection by the executive establishment of new state governments.
On July 28, 1866, the 39th Congress passed an act to adjust the peacetime establishment of the United States military. Wade proposed that two of the cavalry regiments should be composed of African American enlisted personnel. After strong opposition, the legislation was passed which provided for the first black contingent in the regular U.S. Army consisting of six regiments: 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st Infantry Regiments. These units made up of black enlisted personnel and white officers were not the first of such units to serve on the Western Frontier. During late 1865 through early 1866, companies from the 57th US Colored Infantry Regiment and the 125th United States Colored Infantry Regiment had been assigned to posts in New Mexico Territory to provide protection for settlers in the area, and escort those going further west.

[edit] Impeachment of Johnson

Wade in his elder years.

Wade, along with most other Radical Republicans, was highly critical of President Andrew Johnson (who became President after Lincoln’s assassination). Wade supported the Freedmen’s Bureau and Civil Rights Bills (which he succeeded in extending to the District of Columbia) and was a strong partisan of the Fourteenth Amendment. He also strengthened his party in Congress by forcefully advocating the admission of Nebraska and Kansas. These actions made him so prominent that at the beginning of the 40th Congress, Wade became the President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, which meant that under the law of that time he was next in line for the presidency (as Johnson had no vice president).
After many fallouts with the Republican-dominated Congress, the Judiciary Committee voted to impeach President Johnson (who had been a Democrat). When Johnson was impeached, Wade was sworn in as one of the senators sitting in judgement, but was greatly criticized because of his unseemly interest in the outcome of the trial. Although most senators believed that Johnson was guilty of the charges, they did not want the extremely radical Wade to become president. One newspaper wrote, “Andrew Johnson is innocent because Ben Wade is guilty of being his successor.”[1]

According to John Roy Lynch (R-MS, 1873–76, 1881–82), one of the twenty-two African Americans elected to Congress from the South during Reconstruction, in his book Facts Concerning Reconstruction:

It was believed by many at the time that some of the [moderate] Republican Senators that voted for acquittal [of Andrew Johnson] did so chiefly on account of their antipathy to the man who would succeed to the presidency in the event of the conviction of the [sitting] president. This man was Senator Benjamin Wade, of Ohio, President pro tempore of the Senate who as the law then stood, would have succeeded to the presidency in the event of a vacancy in the office from any cause. Senator Wade was an able man … He was a strong party man. He had no patience with those who claimed to be [Radical] Republicans and yet refused to abide by the decision of the majority of the party organization [as did Grimes, Johnson, Lincoln, Pratt, and Trumbull] … the sort of active and aggressive man that would be likely to make for himself enemies of men in his own organization who were afraid of his great power and influence, and jealous of him as a political rival. That some of his senatorial Republican associates should feel that the best service they could render their country would be to do all in their power to prevent such a man from being elevated to the Presidency … for while they knew he was an able man, they also knew that, according to his convictions of party duty and party obligations, he firmly believed he who served his party best served his country best…that he would have given the country an able administration is concurrent opinion of those who knew him best.[2]

In 1868, then-presidential candidate Ulysses S. Grant was urged by his fellow Republicans to choose Wade as his vice presidential running mate; but he refused, instead choosing another radical, Schuyler Colfax, who coincidentally married Wade’s niece, Ellen Maria Wade, shortly after the election. After being defeated in the 1868 elections, Wade returned to his Ohio law practice. Though no longer in politics, Wade continued to contribute to the world of law and politics. He became an agent of the Northern Pacific Railroad, continued his party activities, became a member of the commission researching the likelihood of the purchase of the Dominican Republic in 1871 and served as an elector for Rutherford Hayes in the election of 1876. He died on March 2, 1878, in Jefferson, Ohio, but left an everlasting legacy of a man who did not fear to speak out and stand on his often unpopular, but never ambiguous, principles.

[edit] See also

Acw bs 7a.png American Civil War portal

[edit] References

  1. ^ Trefousse, Hans L. Benjamin Franklin Wade: Radical Republican From Ohio. New York: Twayne Publishers Inc., 1963. p. 309.
  2. ^ Lynch, John R. (1913), The Facts of Reconstruction, New York: The Neale Publishing Co., http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16158/16158-h/16158-h.htm#CHAPTER_I, retrieved 2008-07-03 
  • Riddle, A.G. (1888). The life of Benjamin F. Wade. Cleveland: The Williams Publishing Company
  • Trefousse, H.L. (2000). Wade, Benjamin Franklin. American National Biography Online. Retrieved September, 2007, from http://www.anb/articles/04/04-01022.html
United States Senate
Preceded by
Thomas Ewing, Sr.		 United States Senator (Class 1) from Ohio
March 15, 1851 – March 3, 1869
Served alongside: Salmon P. Chase, George E. Pugh, Salmon P. Chase, John Sherman		 Succeeded by
Allen G. Thurman
Honorary titles
Preceded by
Lafayette S. Foster		 President pro tempore of the United States Senate
March 2, 1867 – March 3, 1869		 Succeeded by
Henry B. Anthony
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Wade“

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Black budget

Black budget

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“Black Budget” redirects here. For the New Zealand budget of 1958, see Black Budget (New Zealand).

A black budget is a budget that is secretly collected from the overall income of a country, a corporation, a society of any form, a national department, and so on. A black budget usually covers expenses related to military research. The budget is kept secret for national security reasons.

Philip Schneider claimed that the alleged “Dulce Base” in the U.S. state of New Mexico is run by such a budget. Many other programs such as Area 51 in Groom Lake, Nevada, and many experimental or covert military programs as well are said to be run by black budgets.[attribution needed]

The United States Department of Defense has a black budget it uses to fund expenditures, called black projects, it does not want to disclose publicly. The annual cost of the United States Department of Defense black budget was estimated at $32 billion in 2008[1] but was increased to an estimated $50 billion in 2009.[2]
It is claimed that the black budget can be determined by adding up all US government expenditure listed in the budget and subtracting that amount from the total budget. The inference is that the black budget is included in the total budget amount but is not listed in the budget breakdown.[citation needed]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Broad, William J. (2008-04-01). “Inside the Black Budget”. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/science/01patc.html?8dpc. Retrieved 2010-04-26. 
  2. ^ [1] Pentagon’s Black Budget Grows to More Than $50 Billion – Wired Magazine, May 2009

[edit] External links

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