In April of 1862, the Confederate army was shoring up Fort Pulaski to keep the Savannah river open and to repel any river-borne assaults on Savannah. About a mile farther down the mouth of the river, known as Tybee Roads, lies Tybee Island. Here, the Union army was building batteries with which to assault Pulaski. They were also building batteries behind Pulaski, including the introduction of new, and mostly untested, “rifled guns.”

Early on April 10, 1862, the commander of the Union army at Tybee, General David Hunter, dispatched a letter to the commanding officer of Fort Pulaski, Charles Olmstead, demanding his immediate surrender. Here is the text of that letter. Notice how the decorum of the time required it to be so utterly polite.

To the Commanding Officer, Fort Pulaski:

Sir: I hereby demand of you the immediate surrender and restoration of Fort Pulaski to the authority and possession of the United States. This demand is made with a view to avoiding, if possible, the effusion of blood which must result from the bombardment and attack now in readiness to be opened. The number, caliber, and completeness of the batteries surrounding you leave no doubt as to what must result in case of your refusal, and as the defense, however obstinate, must succumb to the assailing force at my disposal, it is hoped that you may see fit to avert the useless waste of life. This communication will be carried to you under a flag of truce by Lieut. J. H. Wilson, United States Army, who is authorized to wait any period not exceeding thirty minutes from delivery for your answer.

I have the honor to be, Sir, very respectfully your most obedient servant,

David Hunter Maj-Gen. Com’g

There’s no record of how close to the thirty minute deadline Olmstead made Wilson wait, but here is Olmstead’s reply:

To Maj-Gen. David Hunter, Commanding on Tybee Island.

Sir: I have to acknowledge receipt of your communication of this date, demanding the unconditional surrender of Fort Pulaski. In reply, I can only say that I am here to defend the Fort, not to surrender it.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient Servant,

Chas H. Olmstead, Col. 1st Vol. Regt. Of Georgia, Com’g Post

Shelling began at 8:10 AM. At 2:00 PM the following day, unable to withstand the devastating damage done by the “rifled guns,” Olmstead had no choice but to surrender the fort.

What I thought was particularly interesting about these letter is that while they were pointed and deadly serious, they were coated in 19th Century manners. Compare that to General Anthony McAuliffe‘s response in WWII, when a German commander demanded that US forces surrender the town of Bastogne: “NUTS!“

I heard about this the other day, but SecDef Gates has mentioned it again, and I liked this quote

“Any soldier who goes into battle against the Taliban in pink boxers and flip-flops has a special kind of courage. I can only wonder about the impact on the Taliban. Just imagine seeing that – a guy in pink boxers and flip-flops has you in his crosshairs.”

via NPR: Gates Defends Soldier’s Pink Undies.

I hate that some police officers were killed, but it makes me smile to know that two mullahs, affectionately referred to as “prayer leaders” in the article, were killed when a suicide vest they were making went off prematurely. I’ll bet scores of people were saved by these two asshats getting blown to bits. And if you keep reading, you’ll see that two other “millitants” were killed while trying to plant a mine.

Khaleej Times Online – Police, bomb-makers among a dozen killed in Afghanistan.

According to this story, a short “anti-Koran” film has been taken offline due to death threats against the site hosting the film. On this Digg thread, there are lots of asinine comments about this story, and Islam in general, but also one gem. In response to the (probably facetious) question, “How could anyone feel threatened by someone who adheres to the religion of peace?”, one digger replied

“It’s the religion of peace and we will kill anyone who says it isn’t.”

That, friends, is becoming an axiom. Yes, I know there are billions of Muslims around the world who aren’t participating in violence. But there are increasing numbers who are threatening violence against anyone who says anything about their cult^H^H^H^H religion, and far too many willing to carry out those threats.

All I’ve ever heard about the Tet Offensive was that it was a massive failure for the Allies and that it signaled the beginning of the end for Allied forces in Vietnam. Over the past couple of years I’ve read several stories contradicting the conventional wisdom about Tet. From these readings, it seems that far from a defeat for Allied forces, it was actually a stunning, massive defeat for the Communists. Here’s the latest story from the Wall Street Journal explaining exactly that. Essentially, the media mis-reported what happened during Tet, and the American people swallowed it. Most still believe it. I believe the same thing is happening with media reporting in Iraq. Objective figures show the troop surge is working, but most Americans think we’re “in a quagmire.” Will it take 40 years before we see that the reporting on Iraq was wrong?

Members of the great and wonderful “Religion of Peace” have been spotted hanging posters lionizing the latest Islamic cult-fanatic suicide bomber. Dig the photo. Pay special attention to the kids looking at these photos. The Reuters text is

Palestinian men put up posters proclaiming 18-year-old suicide bomber Sami Salim Hamad as a martyr outside Hamad’s family’s house in the West Bank village of Arakah near Jenin April 18, 2006. Hamad killed nine people and wounded 60 others in a suicide attack in Tel Aviv, Israel on Monday.

Do you think if I went up to New Fallujah and slaughtered a bunch of Muslims sitting around a coffee shop (or wherever those people go for fun) I would be praised as a hero? That’s a rhetorical question. The answer, of course is “no.” Because, except to a few “kill ‘em all, let God sort ‘em out” type wackos, this sort of thing is anathema to us, with “us” defined as “those in the civilized non-Stone-age world.” But praising suicide bombers seems to be the favorite pastime in the Muslim world.

“Abdul Rahman must be killed. Islam demands it,” said senior Cleric Faiez Mohammed….

Read the story.

More evidence that practitioners of the so-called “religion of peace” are twisted, sadistic barbarians.

Malaysia’s de facto law minister has threatened to jail or fine non-Muslims who insult Islam, amid concern over recent articles perceived as attacking the religion.

Mohamad Nazri Abdul Aziz said the country’s sedition act could be used on non-Muslims who make comments construed as belittling Islam.

“We will not think twice about using this law against anybody who incites,” Mohamad Nazri, a minister in the prime minister’s department, was quoted as saying in the Star newspaper today.

The minister said he was concerned over recent articles written about Islam by non-Muslims, and warned there was a limit to what could be said in the Muslim-majority country.

Wow. Read the rest.

That wonderful, peace-loving religion known as Islam makes it, shall we say, rather difficult on anyone who decides to forsake the bloody sword and convert to Christianity. Details here. You need to read this.

From this Kuwait News Agency Story, comes this little gem

Abu Qatada, described as al-Qaeda’s spiritual ambassador in Europe, is believed to be among the ten held today, the British media said.

Don’t you just love the fact that worthless Muslim terrorists have a “spiritual ambassador?” Isn’t that sweet? I guess he gets to tell them that Allah loves it when a guy detonates a bomb and takes out as many innocent children as possible. The bloodier, the better, baby!

The British are finally getting tough on Islamic terrorism. They have recognized what lots of other people have recognized for some time now: the major threat to civilization is Islamic terrorism. While the British have had lots of trouble with the IRA, the Muslim threat is much worse. And they are doing things about it. The article linked above is about the first round of deportations of people who are considered supporters of the “cause” of Islamic bombers. These “people” may not be carrying out the attacks, but they are supporting them in other ways. They need to get rid of all of those weird beards that congregate at the big mosque in downtown London. That would solve quite a few of their problems.

I just have to say “Good on ‘em!” The Brits are doing what we should be doing. We also should be guarding our borders and profiling, but all the whiny liberals in this country won’t let us…