Battle of Guttstadt-Deppen

In the Battle of Guttstadt-Deppen on 5 and 6 June 1807, troops of the Russian Empire led by General Levin August, Count von Bennigsen attacked the First French Empire corps of Marshal Michel Ney. The Russians pressed back their opponents in an action that saw Ney fight a brilliant rearguard action with his heavily outnumbered forces. During the 6th, Ney successfully disengaged his troops and pulled back to the west side of the Pasłęka (Passarge) River. The action occurred during the War of the Fourth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Dobre Miasto (Guttstadt) is on Route 51 about southwest of Lidzbark Warmiński (Heilsberg) and north of Olsztyn (Allenstein). The fighting occurred along Route 580 which runs southwest from Guttstadt to Kalisty (Deppen) on the Pasłęka.
At the beginning of June, Bennigsen launched an offensive against the forces of Emperor Napoleon I in East Prussia. The Russian commander planned to trap Ney's corps between several converging columns. To occupy the French troops on Ney's left, Bennigsen sent General-Leutnant Anton Wilhelm von L'Estocq's Prussians to attack Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's troops at Spędy (Spanden) and ordered Lieutenant General Dmitry Dokhturov's Russians to assault Marshal Nicolas Soult's men at (Lomitten). Although all three French marshals saw sharp fighting, the Russian plan failed to put significant numbers of French troops out of action. Afraid of being cut off in his turn, Bennigsen ordered a retreat on the night of the 7th as Napoleon instructed his forces to counterattack the Russians. The decisive Battle of Friedland was fought a week later on 14 June.
Background.
After the bloody Battle of Eylau on 7 and 8 February 1807, Napoleon's forces lingered in the vicinity so that the emperor could claim a victory. However, his soldiers clamored for an end to the fighting. Instead of the usual shouts of "Vive l'Empereur" (long live the emperor), cries of "Vive la paix" (long live peace) were heard in the bivouacs when the emperor passed by. On 17 February the French began their withdrawal westward into winter quarters. By the 23rd the French reached their cantonments, with Maréchal Bernadotte's I on the left, Maréchal Soult's IV Corps in the center, and Maréchal Davout's III Corps on the right. Maréchal Ney's VI Corps occupied an advanced position at Guttstadt, while the Imperial Guard and the Reserve Cavalry occupied the rear area around Ostróda (Osterode). Napoleon stationed Maréchal Lannes V Corps in a position to cover Warsaw. Maréchal Augereau's decimated VII Corps was broken up and its survivors were allotted to the other corps.
L'Estocq's attempt to pursue the French came to grief at Braniewo (Braunsberg) on 26 February, when Bernadotte's corps drubbed his advance guard. In this action, the Russian-Prussian force lost 100 killed and wounded, with 700 soldiers and six guns captured. French losses were not reported but were probably light. Meanwhile, to the northeast of Warsaw, General of Division Anne Jean Marie René Savary's V Corps defeated Lieutenant General Ivan Essen at the Battle of Ostroleka on 16 February. The French lost 1,171 casualties including one general killed. Russian losses were 2,500 soldiers, seven guns, and two colors.
At the end of March 1807, Marshal Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier withdrew many of his troops from the Siege of Stralsund with the intention of using them for the Siege of Kolberg. His Swedish opponent, General-Leutnant Hans Henric von Essen immediately pushed back the outnumbered besiegers. Quickly returning with the bulk of his soldiers, Mortier drove the Swedes north of the Peene River and the two sides concluded an armistice on 29 April. This freed many of Mortier's troops for other duties and allowed Napoleon to concentrate on reducing Gdańsk (Danzig).
Marshal François Joseph Lefebvre invested the fortress of Danzig on 10 March 1807. After a prolonged defense in the Siege of Danzig, General of Infantry Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth surrendered on 24 May. Of the 370 officers and 15,287 men of the garrison, 3,000 were killed, wounded, or died of disease. French losses numbered about 6,000 killed, wounded, or died of sickness. French officer casualties were 28 killed and 105 wounded. On the 27th, the garrison marched out with the honors of war and were escorted to Baltiysk (Pillau). The paroled Prussians promised not to fight against France for one year.
Battle.
Plans.
With Danzig secured in his rear, Napoleon planned to launch an offensive around 10 June. When he received intelligence that the Russians intended to attack him, the emperor thought the enemy move "ridiculous" since they had done little to trouble him while Danzig was under siege. By this time, Napoleon massed 220,000 troops in Poland against only 115,000 Russians and Prussians. Napoleon had 190,000 men under his direct command while Marshal André Masséna commanded the rest. Masséna's instructions were to cover Warsaw, guard the right wing, and threaten the Russian strategic left flank.
On 2 June Bennigsen concentrated his army at Heilsberg and advanced on Napoleon's lines. The Russian commander planned to destroy Ney's exposed corps in an overly complex operation involving six advancing columns. He sent the 1st Column with 24 battalions and 4 batteries through Orneta (Wormditt), then south, to drive the French troops from the east bank of the Pasłęka. The Russians would then move south and take position near Eldyty Wielkie (Elditten), thus preventing Soult from supporting Ney. Dokhturov commanded the 1st Column, which included his own 4,653-man 7th Division and Lieutenant General Peter Kirillovich Essen's 5,670-strong 8th Division.
Lieutenant General Fabian Gottlieb von Osten-Sacken led the 2nd Column, which consisted of 42 battalions, 140 squadrons, and nine batteries. Bennigsen desired the 2nd Column to strike Ney's left flank while supporting the adjacent 1st and 3rd Columns. Osten-Sacken commanded his own 6,432-man 3rd Division, Lieutenant General Alexander Ivanovich Ostermann-Tolstoy's 9,615-strong 2nd and 14th Divisions, the 3,836 troopers of Major General Fedor Petrovich Uvarov's right wing cavalry, and the 2,982 horsemen of Lieutenant General Dmitry Golitsyn's left wing cavalry. Lieutenant General Pyotr Bagration directed the 3rd Column of 42 battalions, 10 squadrons, and six regiments of cossacks. This column, which was composed of the army Advance Guard, would attack north of Guttstadt with the aim of cutting off some of Ney's troops. Bagration's 3rd Column numbered 12,537 troops.
Lieutenant General Aleksey Gorchakov exercised authority over the 4th Column, a body made up of the 6th Division with 12 battalions, 20 squadrons, and three regiments of cossacks. Gorchakov was ordered to cross the Łyna (Alle) River south of Guttstadt and attack Ney's right flank. The 6th Division was 10,873 strong. The 6,347-man 5th Column was entrusted to Major General Matvei Platov. Supported by Major General Bogdan von Knorring's 6th Division brigade, this column would cross the Łyna at Bergfried (Barkweda) and try to envelop Ney's right flank. Platov led three battalions, 10 squadrons, and nine regiments of cossacks. Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia directed the 6th Column, consisting of the 1st Imperial Guard Division. Constantine's force, which constituted the army reserve, included 28 battalions, 28 squadrons, and three batteries, a total of 17,000 soldiers.
Bennigsen instructed L'Estocq to move against the French I Corps, which deployed along the lower reaches of the Pasłęka. While guarding the road to Königsberg, the Prussian general would drive Bernadotte's men onto the west bank and pin them there. L'Estocq commanded about 20,000 men and 78 guns, of whom 15,000 were Prussians. The Russian contingent was led by Lieutenant General Nikolay Kamensky. Finally, Lieutenant General Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tolstoy with 15,800 soldiers kept Masséna's right wing under observation northeast of Warsaw.
Because Ney's front was screened by forests, Bennigsen had a reasonable hope that he could fall on the Frenchman's troops before his opponent could take effective countermeasures. In the event, French scouts picked up enough information for Ney to order a concentration between Guttstadt and Deppen. He also sent a message to Soult asking him to hold Elditten on his left and another to Davout requesting him to defend Bergfried on his right.
Spanden.
Bennigsen's original orders called for the attack to begin on 4 June. Accordingly, L'Estocq assembled General-Major Michael Szabszinski von Rembow's division at Pieniężno (Mehlsack). On the morning of the 4th, Rembow moved to southwest to Spanden where he began to attack Bernadotte's bridgehead. Unknown to the Prussian general, Bennigsen had postponed the offensive by one day and the new orders had not been properly transmitted. Dokhturov at Wormditt heard cannon fire and sent Rembow a note asking the reason. Apprised of his error, the Prussian withdrew his division, but Bernadotte was thoroughly alerted by the day's events.
At 10:00 AM on 5 June, Rembow attacked General of Division Eugene-Casimir Villatte's division at Spanden. The Prussian general commanded as few as 3,000 infantry and 1,500 cavalry, or as many as 6,000 troops. He had three battalions each of the "Sievsk" and "Perm" Russian Infantry Regiments, ten squadrons of the "Ziethen" Dragoon Regiment Nr. 6, five squadrons of the "Baczko" Dragoon Regiment Nr. 7, 29 cannons, and two howitzers. Villatte directed General of Brigade Bernard-Georges-François Frère's brigade, two battalions each of the 27th Light and the 63rd Line Infantry Regiments, plus three squadrons each of the 17th and 19th Dragoon Regiments. The 63rd was one of the units transferred from the VII Corps.
The French fortified a loop in the Pasłęka that formed a re-entrant toward the west bank of the stream. By closing off the east end of the loop with a central redoubt connected by earthworks to the river banks on each side, the French held a well-protected east bank bridgehead. A second redoubt near the bridge provided a back up position. Villatte deployed the 27th Light in the bridgehead, with the 63rd Line and 17th Dragoons in direct support on the west bank. His second brigade under General of Brigade Jean-Baptiste Girard held the line of the Pasłęka farther north with the 94th and 95th Line Infantry Regiments. The 18th, 19th, and 20th Dragoon Regiments were with Girard.
L'Estocq's instructions called for him to mount a demonstration against Bernadotte's position. However, his adjutant Major Saint-Paul convinced him to order a full-scale assault. After the Spanden bridgehead was pounded by artillery for two hours, Rembow's Russian infantry advanced to the attack. The 27th Light Infantry, supported by four cannons and one howitzer, waited until the Russians were within close range before blasting them with a series of volleys. Shattered by the deadly fire, the Russians ran away, chased by the 17th Dragoons. L'Estocq admitted losing 500 killed and wounded, while the French claimed to have inflicted 700 to 800 casualties. The only French loss of consequence was Bernadotte, who was wounded in the head by a bullet and had to hand over command of the I Corps to General of Division Claude Perrin Victor. Also on the 5th, General of Division Pierre Dupont de l'Étang repelled a Prussian probe near Braunsberg.
Lomitten.
At 6:00 AM on the 5th, Dokhturov began driving in Soult's outposts after marching southwest from Wormditt via Wojciechowo (Albrechtsdorf). General of Division Claude Carra Saint-Cyr's division of the IV Corps defended the Lomitten bridgehead. Two redoubts which stood on the east bank of the Pasłęka were connected by a line of breastworks. These fieldworks were defended by the 1st Battalion of the 57th Line Infantry Regiment and four cannons. Off to the left, the 2nd Battalion of the 57th defended a wooded area surrounded by abatis. One battalion of the 24th Light Infantry Regiment held the west bank in direct support, while a second battalion of the 24th Light watched the river farther north at Podągi (Sporthenen) and Olkowo (Alken). Carra Saint-Cyr posted the rest of his division to the rear near Miłakowo (Liebstadt)
Dokhturov launched three attack columns at the French works at 8:00 AM on 5 June. At about the same time, a detachment of Russian cavalry crossed the Pasłęka near Sporthenen and a force of infantry and artillery probed at Alken. The battalion of the 24th Light charged the Russians at Sporthenen and drove them back to the east bank. Meanwhile, at Lomitten, Dokhturov's troops fought their way through the abatis in their initial rush only to be thrown back. They charged again and nearly captured the wood when Carra Saint-Cyr's reinforcements arrived and restored the line. The 2nd/57th reoccupied the wood and held it for four hours.
By this time, single battalions of the 46th Line and 24th Light were committed to defend the Lomitten bridgehead. The action lasted eight hours, at the end of which, the Russians attempted to storm the position in one massive column. This assault came to naught when two French battalions counterattacked. Orders arrived from Soult permitting Carra Saint-Cyr to evacuate the bridgehead. Since the Russian artillery had nearly leveled the earthworks and set the village of Lomitten on fire, the division commander exercised his discretion and pulled back. Even so, the French still blocked the bridge and the Russians fell back toward Wormditt at 8:00 PM.
The French reported losing 106 killed and 1,079 wounded, and claimed that they inflicted 800 killed and 2,000 wounded on the Russians. Historian Digby Smith called the action a Russian victory. While part of his command battered at Lomitten, Dokhturov took the rest south to the bridge near Elditten. The local French commander, General of Division Louis-Vincent-Joseph Le Blond de Saint-Hilaire defended the crossing in strength and the Russian leader did not try to attack.
Guttstadt-Deppen.
Ney deployed General of Division Jean Gabriel Marchand's division at Guttstadt and Praslity (Altkirch) to the north, with one infantry and one cavalry regiment in the woods near Smolajny (Schmolainen). The French marshal posted General of Division Baptiste Pierre Bisson's division to the south and west in the villages of Głotowo (Glottau), Knopin (Knopen), Łęgno (Lingnau), and Kwiecewo (Queetz). Marchand commanded the 6th Light, 39th Line, 69th Line, and 76th Line Infantry Regiments. Bisson led the 25th Light, 27th Line, 50th Line, and 59th Line Infantry Regiments. All regiments were made up of two battalions. A powerful cavalry contingent supported VI Corps, including the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 8th Hussar Regiments, the 14th and 24th Chasseurs a Cheval Regiments, and the 12th Dragoon Regiment. All cavalry regiments had three squadrons except the dragoons, which had four. Bennigsen's 63,000 troops massively outnumbered Ney, who counted only 17,000 men.
At 6:00 AM on 5 June, Bagration advanced on Altkirch and quickly captured it. At Altkirch, the Advance Guard commander hesitated because the 2nd and 4th Columns were lagging behind schedule. Ney used the chance to pull back the troops at Schmolainen, while launching a powerful riposte on Bagration. The Russians lost 500 casualties in the encounter, while French losses are not stated. As Osten-Sacken's strong 2nd Column began to make itself felt on his left, Ney made a fighting withdrawal, making maximum use of skirmishers.
Gorchakov seized Guttstadt after the French evacuated it. Platov got across the Łyna at Barkweda and joined the Russian left wing. By 3:00 PM, Ney took up a position facing northeast near Jankowo (Ankendorf) and Świątki (Heiligenthal). The right flank was protected by the Queetz Lake, the center by a small watercourse, and the left flank by a small forest north of Deppen. The day's action ended along this line.
The morning of 6 June found Ney still defiantly in position. The Russian attacks began at 5:00 AM with Golitsyn attacking the French left, hoping to seize the bridge at Deppen and cut off Ney's retreat. Osten-Sacken assaulted the French center while Gorchakov struck his opponents' right flank. Bennigsen held Bagration's Advanced Guard and Constantine's Guard in reserve. Ney's defense completely baffled Gorchakov, but his left and center were relentlessly pressed back. Hoping to flank Ney out of position, Gorchakov moved south of Queetz Lake which is about south of Queetz. and took his soldiers out of the battle for a few hours. This blunder relieved the pressure on the French right and the marshal used the respite to shift troops to shore up his left and center. Neatly withdrawing his corps across the bridge at Deppen, Ney escaped with little further loss.
Result.
Digby Smith credited the Russians with a victory at Guttstadt and Deppen. However, Bennigsen became so enraged at his failure to crush Ney that he vented his anger on Osten-Sacken, who he claimed, had ignored repeated orders to attack. Smarting from his ill-treatment, Osten-Sacken left the army for a short time. According to their official bulletins, the French lost 400 killed or wounded and 250 captured, along with two guns and the VI Corps baggage train. The Russians captured 73 officers and 1,568 men, including General of Brigade François Roguet; 2,000 French were claimed to have been killed. Bennigsen lost some 2,000 men killed or wounded, including Ostermann-Tolstoy and Lieutenant General Andrei Andreievich Somov among the wounded.
That evening, Bennigsen set up his headquarters at Heilingenthal with the bulk of his army nearby. Gorchakov took position at Guttstadt, while L'Estocq and Kamensky hovered in the vicinity of Mehlsack. According to historian Francis Loraine Petre, the Russian "offensive had expended its force and come to a standstill". Napoleon immediately began assembling his forces for a counteroffensive. Bennigsen ordered his army to retreat on the evening of 7 June. The Russian commander repulsed Napoleon at the Battle of Heilsberg on 10 June. But at Friedland the French emperor won the decisive battle of the war on 14 June 1807, which led to the Peace of Tilsit.
External links.
"The following websites are good sources for the full names of French, Russian, and Prussian generals."


Party of Independents (South Tyrol)

The Party of Independents (, PdU) was a regionalist political party active in South Tyrol from 1972 to 1988.
Ideology.
Initially considered liberal, the party defined itself as committed to Christian values but not subscribing to any ideology. In its later period, it became a right-wing conservative party with populist tendencies and was perceived as a vehicle of protest against "the powers that be".
History.
The party was launched in 1972 under the name of "Electoral committee of Independents" "(Wahlverband der Unabhängigen)" in support of the candidacy of Hans Dietl, a member of the Chamber of Deputies for the South Tyrolean People's Party who had been expelled from that party in 1971 for having taken a hard line over an agreement between the provincial and the national government known as "il Pacchetto" ("the package"). In the 1972 general election Dietl won 20.8% of the vote in the single-seat constituency of Brixen, the largest defection from SVP so far. After the election, Dietl launched the Social Democratic Party of South Tyrol, while others formed the PdU.
The PdU won 1.3% of the vote in the 1978 provincial election and 2.4% in 1983, electing Hans Lunger and Gerold Meraner respectively to the Provincial Council. Meraner later transformed the party into the Freedom Party of South Tyrol, which was launched in 1988.


Loftus William Otway

General Sir Loftus William Otway, CB (28 April 1775 – 7 June 1854) was an experienced and professional cavalry commander of British forces during the Peninsula War who saw extensive service under Sir John Moore in the Corunna Campaign and Wellington in the remainder of the campaign. He also worked training Portuguese troops and spent time serving in Ireland during the 1798 rebellion and Canada. Otway retired after the Peninsula War and was honoured several times for his war service by both the British and Spanish royal families.
Early career.
Otway was born the fourth of five sons to Cooke and Elizabeth Otway of Castle Otway, Tipperary. The family had a strong military tradition, Cooke Otway was an officer in the local militia and Loftus's elder brother Robert Waller Otway later became an admiral and baronet. Otway joined the army aged 21 in 1796 during the French Revolutionary Wars, taking a post in the 5th Dragoon Guards as a cornet. Within months he had purchased advancement to lieutenant and was with the regiment when they were posted to Ireland in October 1796, prior to the outbreak of the 1798 Rebellion. Otway's service in quelling the uprising is not clear, but he was certainly present at the Battle of Vinegar Hill on 21 June 1798, when his unit was employed in riding down the panicking rebels at the collapse of the rebellion.
Napoleonic Wars.
Otway continued to use family and financial influence to climb the ranks, becoming a captain in October 1798 and major in 1803 after the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars. In 1804, Otway transferred to the 8th Dragoons and spent time in Canada in the adjutant-generals office. Returning to Europe in 1807, Otway volunteered for service in Portugal and Spain with the 18th Light Dragoons and was attached to Sir Arthur Wellesley's army, although he did not see any action before the temporary peace treaty. Joining Sir John Moore's forces in Galicia, Otway's regiment was instrumental in covering its retreat to Corunna and was engaged in several cavalry engagements at Rueda, Valladolid, Sahagún and Benavente. In the course of these operations, Otway distinguished himself and captured a large quantity of enemy troops, including a French general.
Evacuated from Corunna on 16 January 1809, Otway's regiment was stationed in England and Otway took leave, returning to Wellesley's army in the Peninsula to command a Portuguese cavalry brigade under William Beresford. With this force, Otway was repeatedly engaged, including service at the Battle of Busaco in 1810 and a victory at Campo Mayor in 1811 which was wasted by the profligacy of his senior officer Robert Ballard Long. However, Long was of the opinion, and was subsequently supported in this by the historian William Napier, that it was Beresford's refusal to release the British brigade of heavy dragoons that led to the escape of the French force.
At the Battle of Albuera which followed the Campo Mayor action, Otway performed capably on the left flank although his forces were not heavily engaged. The same day, Otway was placed on half-pay in reserve by Horse Guards as he was officially detached from his regiment. In 1812, Otway had returned to England but continued service, formulating a plan to raise a cavalry regiment of non-French prisoners of war which was ultimately rejected. Frustrated, Otway returned to Portugal and was employed for the remainder of the Peninsula War training Portuguese and Spanish cavalry regiments. In 1813 he was promoted to full colonel.
Retirement.
Following the conclusion of the war, Otway retired from active military service although he remained a figure in military planning for the remainder of his life. In 1815 he was knighted by the Prince Regent in London. At the reformation of the Order of the Bath in June of the same year, Otway was made a companion. In 1819 he was promoted to major-general and in 1822 was made a Spanish Knight of the Order of Charles III. During this period he married Frances Blicke and had two children. In 1837 Otway was again promoted, to lieutenant general, and in 1840 became Colonel of the 84th Regiment of Foot. In 1851 he was given a final promotion, to the rank of full general. He died in his home at 17 Grosvenor Square in London in 1854 and was interred at Highgate Cemetery in North London.


Amir Taaki

Amir Taaki (; born 6 February 1988) is a British-Iranian anarchist revolutionary, hacktivist, and programmer who is known for his leading role in the bitcoin project, and for pioneering many open source projects. Forbes listed Taaki in their 30 Under 30 listing of 2014. Driven by the political philosophy of the Rojava revolution, Taaki traveled to Syria, served in the YPG military, and worked in Rojava's civil society on various economic projects for a year and a half.
Biography.
Amir Taaki was born 6 February 1988 in London, the eldest of three children of a Scottish-English mother and an Iranian father who is a property developer. From an early age Taaki took an interest in computer technology, teaching himself computer programming.
After briefly attending two British universities, Taaki gravitated to the free software movement. Taaki assisted in the creation of SDL Collide, an extension of Simple DirectMedia Layer, an open source library used by video game developers.
In 2006, Taaki became heavily involved in Crystal Space development under the pseudonym of genjix. He also developed a number of video games making use of free software, including the adventure game "Crystal Core" and the futuristic racer game "Ecksdee". Taaki was also a participant in the Blender project "Yo Frankie!."
Taaki was a speaker at the 2007 Games Convention in Leipzig.
In 2009 and 2010, Taaki made his living as a professional poker player. His experience with online gambling attracted him to the bitcoin project. He founded a UK bitcoin exchange called "Britcoin", which was succeeded in 2011 by a new British exchange called Intersango, in which he was a principal developer, which was closed after their UK bank account was restricted following an investigation by Metro Bank.
In 2014, together with Cody Wilson, he launched the Dark Wallet project after a crowdfunding run on IndieGoGo which raised over $50,000. Taaki, along with other developers from Airbitz, a bitcoin software company, created a prototype for a decentralised marketplace called "DarkMarket" in 2014, at a hackathon in Toronto, which was forked into the OpenBazaar project.
As of 2013, he resided in an anarchist squat in the former anti-G8 HQ building in London, England.
In 2015, Taaki went to Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) to offer his skills to the revolution, and served the YPG military. He had no training, but spent three and a half months in the YPG military fighting on the front. He was then discharged and worked in the civil society for over a year on various projects for Rojava's economics committee.
In February 2018, Taaki created a group in Catalonia dedicated to leveraging blockchain technology to help national liberation causes such as the Catalan independence movement.


Camden Battlefield

The Camden Battlefield is the site of the Battle of Camden on 16 August 1780, a British victory by General Charles Cornwallis over a mixed force of Continental Army regulars and state militia forces led by General Horatio Gates. The battlefield sprawls over an area estimated to be about north of Camden, South Carolina, bounded on the north by Lake Shamokin, and extending south. Flat Rock Rd (S-28-58) passes roughly through the center of the battlefield, and United States Route 521 marks its eastern boundary. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961.
Description and history.
British General Charles Cornwallis, had encamped at Camden in the summer of 1780 to secure northern South Carolina against the threat of Continental Army forces in North Carolina. These forces, only recently placed under the command of General Horatio Gates, advanced to Rugeley's Mill, about north of Camden on August 15. Both commanders then ordered a night march to attack the other. These forces met in the dark at 2:00 AM on the morning of August 16. After a brief clash, both sides formed lines, and resumed the battle at daybreak. The battle was a rout, as the militia forces under Gates' command threw down their weapons and fled at the first gunfire, and his Continental forces were eventually surrounded and forced to surrender, with their commander, Baron Johann de Kalb suffering mortal injuries. The defeat marked a low point in the battle for American independence.
The area where this battle took place is roughly defined by Gum Swamp Creek and another further to its east, both of which drain into Lake Shamokin to the north. This area is roughly bisected by Flat Rock Rd, along which a marker has been placed where Baron de Kalb fell. The battlefield area measures about east-west and north-south. The area is largely composed of grasslands and forest, much as it would have been at the time of the battle.


Club Breton

The Club Breton was a group of Bretons representatives attending the Estates General of 1789 in France.
They usually met in the "café Amaury" at the corner of the Saint-Cloud avenue and the Carnot street at Versailles, to debate of the Estates General subjects before the constituency debates concerning Brittany of other subjects. Its influence was much greater than its size, and it became later the "Société des amis de la constitution", which finally became the Club des Jacobins.
Brittany constituency composition.
The Brittany situation differed from the rest of France, because related to the absence of agreement between the different estates, only the Third Estate and the Minor orders were represented in the Estates General.
The Britany nobility sent delegates to Versailles to obtain that the election would conform to the old Brittany constitution electoral rules, which stipulated that the delegates would be nominated by the 47 representatives of the 42 towns of the province, excluding small cities and rural areas, without any representatives for the Minor orders.
However, the Brittany Third Estate sent its own delegation and was allowed to send its own delegates.
The nobility and the Major orders answer was to refuse to elect representatives on 16 April 1789 at Saint-Brieuc. The Minor orders then took their place, and the Third Estate ensured that no nobility could be part of its own representatives.
Extension of the club.
The representatives from Brittany were the first to encourage the reunion of the three orders in the Legislative Assembly, arguing that the Third Estate was the only Nation representative, which was agreed on the 17 June 1789.
Just before the 20 June 1789, the number of the club personnel was almost 200 people.
After the Tennis Court Oath, the Brittany priests joined the club.
Toward the Club des Jacobins.
After the transfer of the March on Versailles in October 1789, the club reverted to being a provincial caucus for National Constituent Assembly deputies from Brittany. As of October 1789, the group rented for its meetings the refectory of the monastery of the Jacobins in the Rue Saint-Honoré, adjacent to the seat of the Assembly. The name "Jacobins", given in France to the Dominicans (because their first house in Paris was in the Rue Saint-Jacques), was first applied to the club in ridicule by its enemies.


Marina Schuster

Marina Schuster (born 23 September 1975) is a German politician of the liberal Free Democratic Party.
Political career.
Schuster was a member of the Deutscher Bundestag for two consecutive terms, from 2005 to 2013. In the 17th Legislative Term of the Bundestag she was spokeswoman on human rights and humanitarian aid for the Free Democratic Party (FDP) parliamentary group. Her current committee assignments included the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid, both providing oversight on all activities of the German Foreign Office. During her first term, between 2005 and 2009, Schuster also served as a deputy member of the committees on consumer protection and home affairs.
Schuster also served as deputy chair of the German-Egyptian Parliamentary Friendship Group. An expert on African politics, she regularly accompanied chancellor Angela Merkel as well as cabinet ministers Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Guido Westerwelle, and Dirk Niebel on official trips to the continent.
Schuster was also active in the Council of Europe. From 2009 she was member of the German delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, succeeding Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger who went on to become minister of justice in the Second Merkel cabinet. In this capacity, Schuster also held the position of First Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and was a member of the Monitoring Committee. In 2010, she was elected Vice-Chairperson of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. She was part of an observer mission during the 2011 election for a constituent assembly following the Tunisian revolution. In 2013, she was named General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty.
During her tenure as parliamentarian, Schuster served on the boards of several organizations, including the German Foundation for Peace Research and the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval). Today, she sits on the boards of the Hirschfeld Eddy Foundation, an organization focused on human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people; the United Nations Association of Germany (UNA-Germany); and the German Africa Foundation. She is a member of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik.
Political positions.
Human rights.
During her tenure as parliamentarian, Schuster has been particularly vocal about the importance of adhering to the international human rights treaties and has repeatedly coauthored parliamentary motions condemning human rights abuses in Russia, Belarus, and Iran, among others. Along with Bernard Kouchner and Bill Richardson, Schuster was among the signatories of an open letter to Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, published on 14 December 2010 in the "Financial Times", urging him to end the persecution of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev as well as to find justice for Sergey Magnitsky, Anna Politkovskaya, Natalya Estemirova, Stanislav Markelov, among others. In 2012, she joined the Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Interparliamentary Group, an international network including parliamentarians from Britain, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. In the discussion on a European version of the Magnitsky Act, Schuster believes that "targeted travel sanctions against officials who are proven to have played a role" could be helpful if the Magnitsky case remains unresolved. On various occasions, Schuster has publicly denounced prominent cases of political prisoners, including former Belarus presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov; Russian punk-rock band Pussy Riot; Turkish pianist and composer Fazıl Say; and Ukrainian politicians Heorhiy Filipchuk, Yuriy Lutsenko, and Yulia Tymoshenko. Schuster supports same-sex marriage and has in the past voiced criticism against countries that fail to sufficiently protect their LGBT communities, such as in Uganda, Cameroon, and Russia.
Under the umbrella of the German parliaments’ godparenthood program for human rights activists, Schuster has been raising awareness for the work of persecuted Zimbabwean activists Jestina Mukoko, Jenni Williams, and Farai Maguwu since 2011. Also in 2011, she took on a prisoner’s godparenthood for Belarusian youth activist Pavel Vinahradau.
Africa.
Schuster’s views on the relationship between Europe and Africa reflect her party’s critical stance toward traditional development aid as a means of sustainable growth. She opposes budget support to African governments and favors unfettered access by African exports to the European market. Schuster aims at improving ties with the African Union. She has in the past voted for United Nations peacekeeping missions on the continent as well as increased support measures regarding police and military training in order to help African efforts to build up their own security structures, such as in Somalia (2008 and 2009), Sudan (2009), Darfur/Sudan (2007, 2008 and 2011), Democratic Republic of Congo (2011), South Sudan (2012), and Mali (2013). She was one of the initiators of the German government’s coordinated concept for African policies with a focus on topics rather than on regions.
Arms control.
Schuster has been supportive of the Control Arms Campaign's efforts to create an Arms Trade Treaty as well as of Handicap International's fight against land mine. She supported the move by Germany and other nations to place disarmament high in the strategic concept agreed upon during NATO's 2010 Lisbon summit.


Warren Tavern

The Warren Tavern is reportedly one of the oldest taverns in the state of Massachusetts and one of the most historic watering holes in America. The Warren Tavern was founded in 1780 in Charlestown, Massachusetts and still stands in that block of land today. In the early years of the Warren Tavern it was frequented by many American Revolutionary War heroes such as Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin , Sergeant David Turner and George Washington.
History.
The Tavern was named after Dr. Joseph Warren, one of the revolutionary leaders killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The Warren Tavern, whose main business has always been a tavern, has only been closed for short periods of time since 1780.
Current operation.
Today, the Warren Tavern is a staple for local Charlestown residents as well as a popular location for tourists who want to understand American Colonial history and culture. It is located at the intersection of Pleasant Street and Main Street in Charlestown Massachusetts across the Charles River from downtown Boston.
In popular culture.
The Boston private eye Spenser has dinner at the Warren Tavern in the 1982 Robert B. Parker novel "Ceremony."


Suri Ratnapala

Suri Ratnapala is an Australian academic. He is Emeritus Professor of Public Law of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.
Biography.
Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Suri Ratnapala attended the Royal College, Colombo and the University of Colombo, where he gained his first law degree. His father Amaradasa Ratnapala was a medical doctor of repute, a brilliant schoolboy cricketer, a member of Parliament and renowned scholar of Buddhist Philosophy, whose book on "Abhidharmartha Pradeepeka" is a highly regarded commentary on the doctrine. His mother Ancy Samarasinha was member of a prominent family in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka. Ratnapala is married to Rusri, née Gunasekera a member of a prominent Colombo family. Their son Dr Adrian Ratnapala is a scientist working Germany.
Ratnapala served as a Senior State Counsel, and represented the Sri Lankan State in landmark constitutional cases. He migrated to Australia in 1983. In 1988 he was appointed as Lecturer at the T C Beirne School of Law and, in 2001, was appointed to the Chair of Public Law. He retired at the end of 2014 and was appointed Emeritus Professor.
In 1990, his book "Welfare State or Constitutional State?" was awarded a Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Prize by a panel chaired by James Buchanan. In 2000, he received a John Templeton Foundation award for inter-disciplinary teaching spanning legal, political, economic and social theory. In 2003 he was awarded a Centenary of Australian Federation Medal for his contribution to Australian society through research in law and economics. He is a Fellow of the International Centre for Economic Research and a Visiting Fellow of the Social Philosophy and Policy Centre at the Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He is also a member of the Editorial Advisory Council of the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS). He has been a member of the Mont Pelerin Society since 1998.


George Birkbeck Norman Hill

George Birkbeck Norman Hill (7 June 1835 – 24 February 1903) was an English editor and author.
Life.
He was the son of Arthur Hill, headmaster of Bruce Castle School, and was born at Bruce Castle, Tottenham, Middlesex. He dropped his third name, Norman, publishing as just George Birkbeck Hill; to family and friends he was known as Birkbeck, not as George. His mother died when he was four years old; on her father's side, she was related to Frederick Denison Maurice.
Arthur Hill, with his brothers Rowland Hill, the postal reformer and Matthew Davenport Hill, afterwards recorder of Birmingham had worked out a system of education which was to exclude compulsion of any kind. The school at Bruce Castle, of which Arthur Hill was head master, was founded to carry into execution their theories, known as the Hazelwood system, after Hazelwood School, Birmingham, that preceded it. George Birkbeck Hill was educated in his father's school and at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he made lasting friendships with Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris. It was also at Oxford that he began his writing career, contributing articles to William Fulford's "Oxford and Cambridge Magazine". Hill suffered a serious attack of typhoid fever in 1856 which left him in a delicate state of health. Consequently, he only received an 'honorary' fourth class degree in 1858, although he was later awarded a Bachelor of Civil Law in 1866 and a Doctor of Civil Law in 1871 in recognition of his contribution to English letters.
In 1858, Hill began to teach at Bruce Castle School, and from 1868 to 1877 was headmaster, succeeding his father. He married Annie Scott, daughter of Edward Scott and the sister of a friend from his schooldays, on 29 December 1858. Partly to relieve what he felt to be the tedium of running the school, Hill returned to writing and reviewing. In 1869, he became a regular contributor to the Saturday Review, with which he remained in connection until 1884.
On his retirement from teaching he devoted himself to the study of English 18th century literature, and established his reputation as the most learned commentator on the works of Samuel Johnson.
Remaining true to his family's radical roots, Hill was a strong supporter of the Liberal Party and actively campaigned on behalf of Gladstone in the mid-1880s. He settled at Oxford in 1887, and in 1889 made a trip retracing the footsteps of Johnson and Boswell's Scottish trip, but from 1891 onwards his winters were usually spent abroad for his health.
George Birkbeck Hill was editor of the published letters (1874-1879) of Charles George Gordon; this editorial role arose from a family connection. Birkbeck Hill's wife Annie was the sister of Sir John Scott (1841-1904), who was judicial advisor to the Khedive from 1891 to 1898 and a close personal friend of Charles George Gordon. Birkbeck Hill's sister Laura was the second wife of Sir John Scott's father.
His wife Annie died in Aspley Guise on 30 October 1902, and he died shortly thereafter, at Hampstead, London, on 27 February 1903.
Hill and his wife are buried at Aspley Guise, and he bequeathed his Johnsonian library to Pembroke College, Oxford.
They had five sons and two daughters; all seven children were born at Tottenham.
One son died in 1882. Three of their five sons were knighted: Sir Maurice Hill, a judge on the High Court, Sir Norman Hill, a well-known legal authority on shipping, and Sir Leonard Erskine Hill, a physiologist made F.R.S. Their elder Margaret daughter married Sir William James Ashley.
Works.
George Birkbeck Hill's works include:
See a memoir by his nephew, Harold Spencer Scott, in the edition of the "Lives of the English Poets" (1905), and the "Letters" edited by his younger daughter, Lucy Crump, in 1903.


Jimmy Murphy (song)

Jimmy Murphy also known as 'Little Jimmy Murphy' is a song, possibly of music-hall origin, referencing the 1798 rebellion, which occurred largely in Wexford.
According to research by Roly Brown: 'There are three versions; from Jack Barnard and a Mr J Thomas, both noted by Cecil Sharp; and a version sent to Sharp which was supplied by a Dr John Taylor who recorded it from 'a soldier'.
Each version is quite different, some not referencing the rebellion at all, but all versions sharing the distinctive Irish lilting refrain and a final verse stating that Jimmy Murphy was hung for courting ladies as opposed to sheep stealing.
According to Frank Harte '...it has been suggested to me that the reference in the last verse to Kate Whelan:
Now Jimmy Murphy was hanged not for sheep stealing
But for courting a pretty girl and her name was Kate Whelan
could be interpreted as a reference to Ireland as Cathleen ni Houlihan.'
'When I first heard this song, sung by Sean Óg O'Thuama many years ago, it had only three verses and that most peculiar chorus. A friend of mine, Luke Cheevers, in true traditional fashion wrote several verses, which I believe enhance the song, and expand the story.'Frank Harte


Amanda Bouldin

Amanda Bouldin (born December 27, 1984) is an American politician from Manchester, New Hampshire who has served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives since January 2015. Bouldin, a Democrat, represents Hillsborough County's 12th district. She was a Free State Project participant.
Early life and education.
Bouldin moved to New Hampshire from Carrollton, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, in 2009.
Career.
Politics.
Bouldin was briefly a member of a Tea Party group in Texas, but she left that group when she realized they did not share her values. Bouldin's ideals led her to become a Free State Project participant and move to New Hampshire.
As a freshman representative, she introduced two bills addressing increasing heroin use in New Hampshire. HB 270 provided legal protection against arrest and prosecution for individuals calling for medical assistance for someone with an opiate-related medical problem. HB 271 relaxed restrictions on prescribing naloxone, granting authorized health care professionals the power to write a prescription for anyone at risk of an opiate overdose or for a person who knows someone at risk of an opiate overdose. The bills were passed by the legislature, signed by the governor, and became key planks of the state's response.
In December 2015, Bouldin commented on Facebook that a proposed change in New Hampshire's public nudity law that would have allowed men to expose their nipples in public while prohibiting women from exposing their breasts while not breastfeeding was sexist. The comment drew crude comments about Bouldin's breasts from two Republican representatives, Josh Moore and Al Baldasaro.


Syed Kamall

Syed Salah Kamall, Baron Kamall (born 15 February 1967) is a Professor of Politics and International Relations at St Mary’s University, Twickenham and the Academic & Research Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, a classical liberal think tank in London. He writes on politics, foreign affairs and international trade.
He is a former British politician who represented London as a Member of the European Parliament for the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2019. He served on the International Trade and Economic and Monetary Affairs Committees.
From 2013 to 2014 he served as Leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament. In June 2014, Kamall was elected Leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists in the European Parliament.
In December 2020, it was announced he would be conferred a Life Peerage after a nomination by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Biography.
Kamall was born in Hornsey and brought up in Edmonton, London. He is a Muslim, and of Indo-Guyanese descent; his father migrated to London from Guyana in the 1950s.
He was educated at The Latymer School in Edmonton and holds a BEng from the University of Liverpool, a MSc degree from the London School of Economics and a PhD from City, University of London.
Early career.
Kamall started his career as a business systems analyst for NatWest Overseas Department (1989–91). He was a Management Fellow, University of Bath School of Management (1994–96), Management Research Fellow, Leeds University Business School (1996–97), Associate Director/Consultant, Omega Partners (1997–2001), and a Consultant at SSK Consulting (2001–05). Since 2004 he has been a Visiting Fellow at Leeds University Business School where he has lectured MBA students on international business and strategy, and supervised doctoral students' research.
Before entering the European Parliament, Kamall worked as a consultant to companies on marketing, strategy and public affairs. In 2003, he started a diversity recruitment business. He is a co-founder of the Global Business Research Institute (GBRI), an educational body conducting outreach to business executives, journalists and civil servants, promoting a greater understanding of globalisation and its consequences.
Publications.
In 1996, Kamall wrote a book on EU telecommunications policy, and has written on multinational business and telecommunications policy for such books as "Management in China: The Experience of Foreign Businesses"; "Trade and Investment in China: The European Experience"; "Political and Economic Relations Between Asia and Europe: New Challenges in Economics and Management", and in such journals as "Management International Review" and "Transnational Corporations".
Political career.
Kamall has been a member of the Conservatives since 1987 and has held various positions in the party since then: Chairman, Stockwell Ward, Vauxhall Conservative Association; Hon. Secretary, Bath Conservative Association CPC; Chairman, Eccleston Ward, and Chairman, Eccleston/Churchill CPC, Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Association; Executive Member, London Eastern Area Committee.
In May 2000, Kamall was a Conservative Candidate for the London Assembly. The following year, he was Conservative candidate for West Ham in the June 2001 General Election. He was placed fourth on the Conservative list in London for the 2004 European Parliament elections. The Conservatives won three seats and Kamall became a Member of the European Parliament in May 2005, after Theresa Villiers stepped down on being elected as an MP to the UK Parliament. In the European Parliament, he was a member of the Economic and Monetary Affairs, Legal Affairs and International Trade committees.
Kamall was placed on the "A-list" of Conservative parliamentary candidates ahead of the 2010 election and was again returned to Brussels in 2014 representing London as an MEP.
He is also a contributor at the free market public policy think tank The Cobden Centre, one of Europe's think tanks based around the Austrian School of economics.
In October 2018, during a debate in which Udo Bullman, the German leader of the Socialists and Democrats Group linked the political right to extremism, Kamall responded by saying that Nazis were National Socialists who followed left wing policies. There was an angry reaction from the left and he apologised for the offence caused. However, he was angered himself when Udo Bullmann, issued a press release which falsely accused Kamall of calling the S&D Nazis.
In the 2019 European Parliament election, Syed Kamall lost his seat in the European Parliament.
In December 2020, it was announced he would be conferred a Life Peerage after a nomination by Prime Minister Boris Johnson as part of the 2020 Political Honours list. In January 2021, he was elevated to the Lords as Baron Kamall, of Edmonton in the London Borough of Enfield.
Personal life.
Kamall follows Islam. He is married to Sandira Beekoo.
After leaving the European Parliament, Syed Kamall became the Academic and Research Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs and Professor of International Relations and Politics at St Mary%27s University, Twickenham.
Kamall plays bass guitar and sings in a blues band called Exiled in Brussels. The lead guitarist is Latvian MEP Roberts Zīle; the drummer who also plays other instruments is Kārlis Būmeisters, who represented Latvia in the Eurovision song contest in 2005. Bumeisters is a well known musician in Latvia, who worked as Roberts Zile’s press officer.


British Columbia Liberal Party

The British Columbia Liberal Party (also referred to as the BC Liberals) is a centre-right provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party currently forms the Official Opposition. The leader of the Liberal Party, and Leader of the Official Opposition of British Columbia, is Andrew Wilkinson. Subsequent to the 2020 British Columbia general election, Wilkinson announced his resignation as party leader on October 26, 2020 but remained as interim leader until Shirley Bond was chosen as the new interim leader on November 23; the party will begin the process of organizing a leadership convention.
Until the 1940s, British Columbia politics were dominated by the Liberal Party and rival British Columbia Conservative Party. The Liberals formed government from 1916 to 1928 and again from 1933 to 1941. From 1941 to 1952, the two parties governed in a coalition (led by a Liberal leader) opposed to the ascendant Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. The coalition was defeated in 1952 and the Liberal Party went into decline, with its rump caucus merging into the Social Credit Party of British Columbia for the 1975 election. It returned to the legislature as Official Opposition in the 1991 election, through the efforts of leader Gordon Wilson. At this time, the Social Credit Party had collapsed, leaving a window for the BC Liberals able to become the dominant centre to centre-right party. Wilson lost a leadership challenge to Gordon Campbell in 1994. In the 2001 election, the BC Liberals won an overwhelming majority, which they held under Campbell and his successor Christy Clark until the 2017 election. This election resulted in a hung parliament, with the caretaker Liberal government soon losing a confidence vote to the NDP. Following this defeat, Clark resigned as Liberal leader and Rich Coleman was selected as the interim leader. Andrew Wilkinson was elected leader in the 2018 leadership election, and in the 2020 election lost to incumbent BC Premier John Horgan. After that, he resigned as leader and the caucus of the BC Liberals selected Shirley Bond as the current interim leader.
Once formally affiliated with the Liberal Party of Canada, the British Columbia Liberal Party became independent in 1987. In British Columbia's current party system, the BC Liberals are the main centre-right opposition to the centre-left NDP. The party commonly describes itself as a "free enterprise coalition," and party members typically support both the Liberal and Conservative parties in federal elections.
Eight Liberal leaders have served as Premier of British Columbia: Harlan Brewster, John Oliver, John MacLean, Duff Pattullo, John Hart, Boss Johnson, Gordon Campbell, and Christy Clark.
History.
1916–1928: First government.
The divided Conservatives faced the Liberals in the election of 1916 and lost. The Liberals formed a government under Harlan Carey Brewster. Brewster had become leader of the Opposition, and was elected party leader in March 1912. He lost his seat a few weeks later in the 1912 election, which returned no Liberals at all.
In 1916, he won election to the legislature again through a by-election, and led his party to victory in a general election later that year by campaigning on a reform platform. Brewster promised to end patronage in the civil service, end political machines, improve workman's compensation and labor laws, bring in votes for women, and other progressive reforms.
The government brought in women's suffrage, instituted prohibition, and combated political corruption before his unexpected death in 1918. He is interred in the Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria, British Columbia.
John Oliver succeeded Brewster as Premier when Brewster died in 1918. Oliver's government developed the produce industry in the Nanook Valley, and tried to persuade the federal government to lower the freight rate for rail transport. The party managed a bare majority win in the 1920 election and only managed to govern after the 1924 election with the support of the 2 Independent Liberals.
1928–1933: Opposition and the Great Depression.
The Liberals managed to increase their vote in the 1928 election but lost close to half their seats. With the onset of the Great Depression and the implosion of the government of Simon Fraser Tolmie, the Liberals won the 1933 election.
1933–1941: Duff Pattullo.
The 1933 election brought into power Duff Pattullo and introduced into the Legislature the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), a new social-democratic and democratic socialist opposition party.
Pattullo wanted an activist government to try to deal with the depression through social programs and support of the unemployed. Canada has been recognized as the hardest hit by the Great Depression, and western Canada the hardest hit within Canada. Pattullo's attempts were often at odds with the federal government in Ottawa.
Pattullo was also an advocate for British Columbia, and suggested the annexation of Yukon by BC, and the construction of the Alaska Highway to reduce the power of eastern Canada over BC. In the 1937 general election, his government was re-elected running on the slogan of "socialized capitalism".
1941–1951: "The Coalition".
The alternating government with the Conservatives came to an end with the rise of the CCF who managed to be Official Opposition from 1933 to 1937 and were one seat less than the Conservatives in the 1937 election. In the 1941 election the CCF came second. The election did not give the Liberals the majority they hoped for.
John Hart became the Premier and Liberal leader in 1941 when Pattullo refused to go into coalition with the Conservatives. The Liberal members removed Patullo as leader and Hart formed a Liberal-Conservative coalition government, known in BC history as "The Coalition ". From 1941 to 1945, Hart governed at a time of wartime scarcity, when all major government projects were postponed. The coalition government was re-elected in the 1945 election. In that contest, Liberals and Conservatives ran under the same banner.
After 1945, Hart undertook an ambitious program of rural electrification, hydroelectric and highway construction. Hart's most significant projects were the construction of Highway 97 to northern British Columbia (which is now named in his honour) and the Bridge River Power Project, which was the first major hydroelectric development in British Columbia. He established the BC Power Commission, a forerunner of BC Hydro, to provide power to smaller communities that were not serviced by private utilities. In December 1947, Hart retired as Premier. The Conservative Party agitated for its leader, Herbert Anscomb, to succeed Hart as Premier but the Liberals outnumbered the Tories in the coalition caucus and Hart was followed by another Liberal, Byron Johnson, known as "Boss" Johnson, with Anscomb as Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance.
Johnson's government introduced universal hospital insurance and a 3% provincial sales tax to pay for it. It expanded the highway system, extended the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, and negotiated the Alcan Agreement, which facilitated construction of the Kenny Dam. The government also coped with the 1948 flooding of the Fraser River, declaring a state of emergency and beginning a program of diking the river's banks through the Fraser Valley. Johnson is also noted for appointing Nancy Hodges as the first female Speaker in the Commonwealth.
The Liberal-Conservative coalition government won the 1949 election – at 61% the greatest percentage of the popular vote in BC history. Tensions had grown between the coalition partners and within both parties. The Liberal Party executive voted to terminate the coalition and Johnson dropped his Conservative ministers in October 1951 resulting in a short lived minority government which soon collapsed.
1952 election.
In order to prevent the CCF from winning in a three party competition, the government introduced instant-runoff voting, with the expectation that Conservative voters would list the Liberals as their second choice and vice versa. Voters however, were looking for alternatives. More voters chose British Columbia Social Credit League ahead of any other party as their second choice. Social Credit went on to emerge as the largest party when the ballots were counted in the 1952 general election. Social Credit's "de facto" leader during the election, W. A. C. Bennett, formerly a Conservative, was formally named party leader after the election.
At the 1953 general election, the Liberals were reduced to 4 seats, taking 23.36% of the vote. Arthur Laing defeated Tilly Rolston in Vancouver Point Grey. Although Social Credit won a majority of seats in the legislature, their finance minister Einar Gunderson was defeated in Oak Bay by Archie Gibbs of the Liberals. Gordon Gibson Sr, a millionaire timber baron, nicknamed the "Bull of the Woods," was elected for Lillooet as a Liberal.
1953–1975: Third party status.
During the early period of this time, the Liberals' most prominent member was Gordon Gibson, Sr. He was a cigar-smoking and gregarious logging contractor who could have been Premier but for a major political error. He was elected in 1953 for the Lillooet riding. In 1955, the Sommers scandal surfaced and he was the only leader in the legislature to make an issue of it. W. A. C. Bennett and his attorney general tried many tactics to stop the information from coming out.
In frustration, Gordon Gibson Sr. resigned his seat and forced a by-election, hoping to make the Sommers scandal the issue. The voting system had changed, and he came a close second after Social Credit.
In the 1956 election, with the Sommers scandal still not resolved, the Liberals fared worse than in 1953. Arthur Laing lost his seat, and the party was reduced to two MLAs and 20.9% of the vote. In the 1960 election, the party won four seats with the same 20.9% of the popular vote as in 1956. In the 1963 election, the party's caucus increased by one more MLA to five, but their share of the popular vote fell to 19.98%. The 1966 election, the party won another seat, bringing its caucus to six, and had an increase in the vote to 20.24%. In the 1969 vote, the party lost one seat, and its share of the vote fell to 19.03%.
In 1972, the party was led into the election by a new leader, David Anderson, who had been elected in the 1968 federal election as an MP for the Liberal Party of Canada. He and four others managed to be elected to the legislature, but with the lowest vote in party history at 16.4%.
After the British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP) won the 1972 election, many supporters of the Liberal and Conservative parties defected to the Social Credit League. This coalition was able to keep the New Democrats out of power from 1975 until the 1990s. MLAs Garde Gardom, Pat McGeer and Allan Williams left the Liberals for Social Credit along with Hugh Curtis of the suddenly rejuvenated Tories. All of them became members of Social Credit Cabinets after 1975.
In the 1975 election, the only Liberal to be elected was Gordon Gibson Jr. as the party scored a dismal 7.24%. David Anderson was badly defeated in his Victoria riding, placing behind the New Democrats and Social Credit.
1979–1991.
The 1979 election was the party's lowest point. For the first time in party history, it was shut out of the legislature. Only five candidates ran, none were elected, and the party got 0.5% of the vote.
The 1983 election saw a small recovery as the party came close to a full slate of candidates, but won 2.69% of the vote. The 1986 vote was the third and last election in which the party was shut out. Its share of the popular vote improved to 6.74%.
In 1987, Gordon Wilson became the leader of the provincial Liberal Party when no one else was interested. Wilson severed formal links between the provincial Liberal party and its federal counterpart. Since the mid-1970s, most federal Liberals in BC had chosen to support the British Columbia Social Credit Party at the provincial level. For the provincial party, the intent of this separation was to reduce the influence of Social Credit members of federal party. From the federal party's perspective, this move was equally beneficial to them, as the provincial party was heavily in debt.
Wilson set about to rebuild the provincial party as a credible third party in British Columbia politics. During the same period, the ruling Social Credit party was beset by controversy under the leadership of Bill Vander Zalm. As a result, multiple Social Credit scandals caused many voters to look for an alternative.
By the time of the 1991 election, Wilson lobbied to be included in the televised Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) debate between Vander Zalm's successor, Premier Rita Johnston and BC NDP Leader Michael Harcourt. The CBC agreed, and Wilson impressed many voters with his performance. The Liberal campaign gained momentum, and siphoned off much support from the Social Credit campaign. While the BC NDP won the election, the Liberals came in second with 17 seats. Wilson became Leader of the Opposition.
Official Opposition under Wilson: 1991–1994.
Wilson's policies did not coincide with many other Liberals both in the legislature and in the party who wanted to fill the vacuum left by the collapse of Social Credit. The Liberals also proved themselves to be inexperienced, both in the legislature and in building a broad-based political movement. They had a difficult time to build a disciplined organization that could mount an effective opposition against the New Democratic Party provincial government.
In 1993, Wilson's leadership was further damaged by revelations of his affair with fellow Liberal MLA Judi Tyabji. By this time, most of the caucus was in open revolt against his leadership. Wilson agreed to call for a leadership convention, at which he would be a candidate. Delta South MLA Fred Gingell became the Leader of the Opposition while the Liberal leadership race took place.
Soon, former party leader Gordon Gibson and Vancouver Mayor Gordon Campbell entered the leadership race. Campbell won decisively on the first ballot, with former party leader Gordon Gibson placing second and Wilson third. The leadership election was decided on a one-member, one vote system through which Liberals voted for their choices by telephone.
Wilson and Tyabji then left the Liberals and formed their own party, the Progressive Democratic Alliance.
Official Opposition under Campbell: 1994–2001.
Once Campbell became leader, the Liberals adopted the moniker "BC Liberals" for the first time, and soon introduced a new logo and new party colours (red and blue, instead of the usual "Liberal red" and accompanying maple leaf). The revised name and logo was an attempt to distinguish itself more clearly in the minds of voters from the federal Liberal Party of Canada.
In early 1994, Campbell was elected to the legislature in a by-election. Under his leadership, the party began moving to the right. Some supporters of the federal Reform Party of Canada and former Social Credit members became attracted to the BC Liberals. Some moderate Socreds had begun voting Liberal as far back as the Vander Zalm era. The Liberals won two former Socred seats in by-elections held in the Fraser Valley region, solidifying their claim to be the clear alternative to the existing BC NDP government. The Liberal party also filled the vacuum created on the centre-right of the BC political spectrum by Social Credit's collapse.
In the 1996 election, the BC Liberals won the popular vote. However, much of the Liberal margin was wasted on large margins in the outer regions of the province; they only won eight seats in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. In rural British Columbia, particularly in the Interior where the railway was the lifeblood of the local economy – the BC Liberals lost several contests because of discomfort that the electorate had with some of Campbell's policies, principally his promise to sell BC Rail. The net result was to consign the Liberals to opposition again, though they managed to slash the NDP's majority from 13 to three.
After the election, the BC Liberals set about making sure that there would be no repeat of 1996. Campbell jettisoned some of the less popular policy planks in his 1996 platform, most notably a promise to sell BC Rail, as the prospect of the sale's consequences had alienated supporters in the Northern Interior ridings.
Campbell government: 2001–2011.
After a scandal-filled second term for the BC NDP government, the BC Liberals won the 2001 election with the biggest landslide in BC history, taking 77 of 79 seats. They even managed to unseat Premier Ujjal Dosanjh in his own riding. Gordon Campbell became the seventh premier in ten years, and the first Liberal premier in almost 50 years.
Campbell introduced a 25% cut in all provincial income taxes on the first day he was installed to office. The BC Liberals also reduced the corporate income tax and abolished the corporate capital tax for most businesses (a tax on investment and employment that had been introduced by the New Democrats).
Campbell's first term was also noted for fiscal austerity, including reductions in welfare rolls and some social services, deregulation, the sale of some government assets (in particular the "Fast ferries" built by the previous government, which were sold off for a fraction of their price). Campbell also initiated the privatization of BC Rail, which the Liberals had promised not to sell in order to win northern ridings which had rejected the party in 1996 but reversed this promise after election, with criminal investigations connected with the bidding process resulting in the BC Legislature Raids of 2003 and the ensuing and still-pending court case. There were several significant labour disputes, some of which were settled through government legislation but which included confrontations with the province's doctors. Campbell also downsized the civil service, with staff cutbacks of more than fifty percent in some government departments, and despite promises of smaller government the size of cabinet was nearly doubled and parliamentary salaries raised. Governance was also re-arranged such that Deputy Ministers were now to report to the Chief of Staff in the Premier's office, rather than to their respective ministers. In the course of the cuts, hospitals, courthouses and extended care facilities around the province were shut down, particularly in smaller communities, and enforcement staff such as the BC Conservation Service were reduced to marginal levels. Various provincial parks created during the previous NDP regime were also downgraded to protected area status, meaning they could be opened for resource exploitation, and fees for use of parks were raised.
In 2003, a drug investigation known as Operation Everwhichway led to raids on government offices in the British Columbia Parliament Buildings in relation to suspect dealings concerning the sale of BC Rail to CN in a scandal which has since become known as Railgate and the trial of four former ministerial aides for influence peddling, breach of trust and accepting bribes.
The Liberals were re-elected in the 2005 election with a reduced majority of 7 seats (46–33). The Liberals were again re-elected in the 2009 election.
Shortly after this election the introduction of the HST was announced, contrary to promises made during the election campaign.
On November 3, 2010, facing an imminent caucus revolt over his management style and the political backlash against the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) and the controversial end to the BC Rail corruption trial and with his approval rating as low as 9% in polls, Gordon Campbell announced his resignation.
Clark government: 2011–2017.
The party's 2011 leadership convention was prompted by Gordon Campbell's request to the party to hold a leadership convention "at the earliest possible date." The convention elected Christy Clark as its new leader of the party on February 26, 2011. Clark and her new Cabinet were sworn in on March 14.
Under Clark, the party charted a more centrist outlook while continuing its recent tradition of being a coalition of federal Liberal and federal Conservative supporters. She immediately raised the minimum wage from $8/hour to $10.25/hour and introduced a province-wide Family Day similar to Ontario's. Clark became Premier during the aftermath of the 2008-09 recession, and continued to hold the line on government spending, introducing two deficit budgets before a balanced one for the 2013-14 fiscal year, which included a tax hike on high-income British Columbians. She also sought to take advantage of BC's liquified natural gas (LNG) reserves, positioning the budding LNG industry as a major economic development opportunity over the next decade. While the final years of Gordon Campbell's administration had seen far-reaching and progressive environmental legislation enacted, Clark was more measured in her approach to environmental policy. While continuing with BC's first-in-North-America carbon tax, she promised to freeze the rate during the 2013 election and her LNG development aspirations seemed to contradict greenhouse gas emissions targets set by the Campbell government in 2007. She also announced in 2012 that any future pipeline that crosses BC would have to meet five conditions that included environmental requirements and Aboriginal consultation. Controversially, she indicated that one of her five conditions would be that BC receives its "fair share" of any revenues that accrue from increased pipeline and tanker traffic. This has put her in direct conflict with the province of Alberta, who sought increased market access for its bitumen through BC ports, yet adamantly refuse any arrangement which would see BC receive any royalties.
During the 2013 election, Clark entered the campaign low in public opinion polls and trailing her main rival, Adrian Dix of the NDP, by as much as 20 points. The BC Liberals campaign slogan was "Strong Economy, Secure Tomorrow" and highlighted a balanced budget and strong development opportunities in the LNG sector as a reason for voters to elect them for a fourth term in office. Clark brought in strategists affiliated with the Ontario Liberal Party, such as Don Guy and Laura Miller, and federal Liberal figures, such as Mike McDonald, to run her office and campaign. The BC Liberals came from behind to secure a fourth term in office, however Clark was defeated in her Vancouver riding, but won a subsequent by-election in the Okanagan riding of Westside-Kelowna. After the election, she sought a thawing of relations between BC and Alberta over future pipeline projects, signing onto former Alberta Premier Alison Redford's National Energy Strategy. In early 2014, the Liberals brought down a second straight balanced budget and introduced legislation to change BC's liquor laws to allow liquor sales in some grocery stores and allow children to sit with adults in pubs and restaurants where liquor is served.
In the 2017 election, the BC Liberals reduced their seat count to 43, one seat short of a majority. On May 29, 2017, after final vote counting had completed, the BC NDP and the BC Green Party agreed to a confidence and supply agreement to ensure a stable minority government. Their combined 44 seats give them an advantage over the BC Liberals' 43 which was sufficient to defeat Clark's government on a confidence vote on June 29, 2017, after which Clark resigned as premier (effective July 18, 2017) and the lieutenant-governor asked NDP leader John Horgan to form a government.
Rich Coleman became the party's interim leader following Clark's resignation.
Official Opposition under Wilkinson: 2018–2020.
Andrew Wilkinson was elected party leader on February 3, 2018. He served as leader of the Opposition for two years. After the party was defeated in the 2020 general election, he resigned. Shirley Bond will serve as the party's interim leader until a 2022 leadership contest is held.
Election results.
Sources: Elections BC
British Columbia Young Liberals.
The British Columbia Young Liberals Commission serves as the leadership element of the youth wing of the party. The executive board is composed of five elected youth members: the President, Vice President Communications, Vice President Events, Vice President Operations, and Vice President Outreach. As of November 2018, these positions are held by Olivia Rosazza-Pela (President), Corbin Kelly (Vice President Communications), Alex Taneda (Vice President Outreach) and Sam Wankling (Vice President Operations) respectively.


Alfred Eriksen

Alfred Eriksen (nicknamed "Karlsøypresten", 30 August 1864 – 4 May 1934) was a Norwegian priest, politician, newspaper editor and non-fiction writer.
Personal life.
He was born as Alfred Eriksen in Christiania as the son of the watchmaker Henrik Erichsen (1825–1870) and Emilie Kathrine Christoffersen (1825–1902). He married the vicar's daughter Sigrid Marie Wexelsen (1866–1960) in August 1890. He was the father of the journalist and author Solvejg Eriksen.
Career.
Eriksen finished his secondary education at Kristiania Cathedral School in 1883. He then studied theology, graduating with the cand.theol. degree in theology in 1888. After working one year as a teacher in Ålesund he was appointer vicar in Karlsøy in 1891, and held this position until 1910, when he became vicar in Vålerengen Church. While being a priest he wrote his doctoral thesis, titled "Vilje. En psykologisk afhandling". He was founder and first editor of the newspaper "Nordlys" from 1902, and edited "Nordlys" until 1911. In 1913 he founded the publication "Dagens Liv", and edited it, but it soon became defunct. He published a popular book on the history of religion, "Religionsbilleder og kulturskildringer", in 1901, and a book on jurisprudence for ordinary people, "Lovbok for folket", in 1903.
He also became involved in politics, was elected mayor of Karlsøy for the Liberal Party in 1898, and re-elected in 1901 and 1904. He was a failed candidate for the 1900 general election; although his party swept the vote in Karlsøy, this was not enough to win the constituency Tromsø Amt. In 1903 he was elected to the Parliament of Norway, representing the Norwegian Labour Party. This was the first time members of the organized labour movement were represented in Parliament. The Labour Party went from 0 to 4 seats after the 1903 election, all representatives of Northern Norway. In addition to Lind Johansen, they were Meyer Foshaug, John Lind Johansen and Jørg Berge; also, Adam Egede-Nissen was elected on the Liberal Party ballot. He was re-elected to Parliament in 1906 and in 1909 for the constituency Tromsøsundet. He became known as one of the greatest speakers at the Parliament during this period, and his nickname "Karlsøypresten" became a well-known concept among the general public.
He was awarded the Medal for Outstanding Civic Service for his role as mediator in the 1911 lockout. Eriksen did not want to subordinate himself to the party discipline, and was eventually expelled from the Labour Party in 1912. Contributing to his downfall was his actions in the position as chairman of the society Riksmålsforbundet from 1911 to 1912. From then he was not politically active, but wrote numerous newspaper articles on cultural topics.


Battle of Oulart Hill

The Battle of Oulart Hill took place on 27 May 1798 when a rebel gathering of between 4,000 and 5,000 annihilated a detachment of 110 militia sent from Wexford town to stamp out the spreading rebellion in County Wexford.
Background.
When news of the long expected rising on 23 May of the United Irishmen in the midlands reached county Wexford, it was already in an unsettled condition due to fears brought by the recently instituted anti-insurgent disarmament campaign in the county. The measures used included pitchcapping, half-hanging, and house burnings to uncover rebel conspirators. The recent arrival in Wexford of the North Cork Militia who were notorious for their brutality in the "pacification" of Ulster, terror raids by local yeomen and finally news of the massacres at Dunlavin Green, Carlow and Carnew, had the effect of drawing people together in large groups for security, especially at night.
One such group of one hundred or so had gathered on the evening of 26 May at The Harrow, near the parish of Boolavogue under the tutelage of Fr. John Murphy when they encountered a patrol of about 20 yeomen on their way to the house of a suspected rebel. They burned the suspect's dwelling but, returning empty-handed, they encountered Fr. Murphy's band again. The patrol were pushing their way through when a skirmish began in which they lost two of their number, the rest fleeing with news of the killings.
Night of 26 May.
The reaction on both sides was rapid; vengeful yeomanry patrols roamed, burning and killing indiscriminately. While the rebels roused the countryside and made several raids on manors and other houses holding arms, killing more loyalists and yeomen. News of the skirmish and raids had by now reached Wexford town and, on the morning of 27 May, the bulk of its garrison, 110 of the North Cork militia under Colonel Foote, were ordered north to crush the nascent rebellion. They were joined "en route" by some 16 yeomen cavalry under Colonel Le Hunt. However, these yeomanry were of doubtful loyalty, many (including their sergeant) having joined the rebels that morning.
The Battle of Oulart Hill.
The militia reached the village of Oulart at 2 p.m. on 27 May. Finding a mass of "from four to five thousand combatants" occupying the high ground of Oulart hill, they rashly advanced and pursued the rebels to the summit. The rebel leaders mistakenly believed a large body of yeoman cavalry was waiting to intercept their flight, so their forces desperately turned to face their enemy and "killed the whole detachment in an instant", leaving only the commanding officer, Colonel Foote, and four other survivors to escape to their base at Wexford
Foote reported that, contrary to his orders, the militia had advanced incautiously and were surrounded and overpowered by the overwhelming rebel numbers, mostly armed with pikes, and that "great numbers" of the rebels were killed.
Following the rebel victory, almost all of North Wexford joined the rebellion. Crown forces and loyalist civilians ceded control of the countryside, withdrawing to towns such as Enniscorthy, Gorey and Wexford.


William Henry Egle

William Henry Egle was a physician, author and historian who served as the State Librarian of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1887 to 1889. A practicing physician at the dawn of the American Civil War, he was initially commissioned as an assistant surgeon, and then served as a surgeon with several different Union Army regiments during the course of the conflict, including the 116th Regiment Infantry, U.S. Colored Troops (USCT).
Post-war, he garnered the respect of colleagues in his respective fields of endeavor, particularly so for his body of work which documented Pennsylvania's history from its founding through the late 19th century – excerpts of which continued to be reprinted in newspapers following his death in 1901 and are still cited as references by present-day historians and professional genealogists. His death was "deeply mourned" by many, according to historian Luther Reily Kelker, who said of Egle, "few brighter, nobler types of manhood have ever adorned the generations of men in the Keystone State."
Formative years.
Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on September 17, 1830, William Henry Egle was a son of Pennsylvania natives John Egle (1798–1834) and Elizabeth (von Treupel) Egle (1810–1841). Reared in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, he was compelled to relocate to the home of his paternal grandmother in 1834, following the sudden death of his father. Educated initially in the county's public schools, he then spent two years at the Harrisburg Military Institute.
As a 20-year-old during the summer of 1850, he was one of several young men working as a printer for, and living with, master printer Theophilus Ferne in Harrisburg's West Ward. During his three years with the "Pennsylvania Telegraph", he worked his way up to become foreman and then state printer. He then began his medical studies under the training of Harrisburg physician Charles D. Bombaugh, M.D. Supporting his training through employment as a teacher and mail clerk, he enrolled in 1857 for formal studies with the medical department at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating from there in March 1859. Once back home in Harrisburg, he opened a private medical practice.
In 1860, he wed Eliza Beatty (1833–1923). The following year, they welcomed the birth of a son, Beverly Waugh Egle (1861–1882).
Civil War.
 On September 12, 1862, William H. Egle, M.D. enrolled for Civil War military service at Bakersville, Maryland, and was commissioned as an assistant surgeon with the field and staff officers' corps of the 96th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, a position he held until resigning his commission roughly six months later. Stationed in Virginia with his regiment throughout the fall of 1862, he experienced his first true taste of life as a combat surgeon with the 96th Pennsylvania's participation in the Battle of Fredericksburg. Involved in engagements ranging from light skirmishes to intense battles under heavy rifle and artillery fire beginning on December 12, 1862, he and his fellow 96th Pennsylvanians finally found relief three days later when they were ordered back across the Rappahannock River and made camp near White Oak Church. Caring for men who were primarily assigned to fatigue duty from January through March 1863, he resigned his commission on March 9 of that year.
He was then commissioned as a surgeon at the age of 32, and enrolled on July 10, 1863 with the field and staff officers' corps of the 47th Pennsylvania Militia, Emergency of 1863. (Not to be confused with the 47th Pennsylvania Infantry, the 47th Pennsylvania Militia, Emergency of 1863 was one of a group of temporary volunteer militia units which were formed in response to the threatened invasion of Pennsylvania by Confederate troops during the summer of 1863. When the threat was deemed over by Pennsylvania's governor and senior military leaders, these units were disbanded, and their men were sent back to their respective communities.) A resident of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania at the time of his enrollment, Egle officially mustered in at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg the next day, but remained in that position only until August 14 when the entire regiment honorably mustered out. During this phase of service, the 47th Pennsylvania Militia, Emergency of 1863 was assigned to duty stations in Williamsport, Lycoming County; Reading, Berks County; and Schuylkill County, where it was ordered to dampen the rising tension between miners and Union Army recruiters.
 He then enrolled for a third term of military service. Commissioned again as a surgeon, he mustered in at Camp Nelson, Kentucky on 12 July 1864 with Company S of the 116th Regiment Infantry, U.S. Colored Troops (USCT). On August 12, 1864, he was promoted to the rank of major. Attached to the Military District of Kentucky, Department of Ohio until September 1864, he and the other members of his regiment then served with the U.S. Army's X Corps (Army of the James) until November of that same year when the regiment became part of the X Corps' 1st Brigade, 3rd Division.
Transferred with his regiment to the U.S. Army's XXV Corps, 1st Brigade, 2nd Division in December 1864, he and his fellow 116th USCT members remained part of that command until April 1865, when the regiment was reassigned to the XXV Corps' 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, and saw service with the Department of Texas.
After mustering out of the 116th USCT on November 9, 1865, he was appointed as the executive medical officer for the U.S. Army's XXIV Corps, serving under General William Birney at Petersburg and Appomattox before being transferred to General Jackson's division and service near Roma, Texas from June through December 1865 when he again resigned.
Post-war life.
Following his resignation from the military, Egle returned home to his wife and medical practice in Pennsylvania. He also embarked on what would become a prolific career as a chronicler of Pennsylvania history. Before the decade was over, he and his wife welcomed the births of daughters, Sarah Beatty (1866–1939) and Catharine Irwin (1869–1943), on July 13, 1866 and January 19, 1869, respectively. A federal census taker in 1870 confirmed that Egle was employed as a physician, and noted that he had amassed real estate and personal property valued at $15,000, , while the 1880 federal census taker described him as a "druggist". The latter census also noted that the Egle household included son Beverly, a 19-year-old medical student; daughters "Sallie" and "Kittie", who were both still in school; and Mary Williams (aged 45) and Mary Jones (aged 30), who were employed as domestic workers in the Egle home.
The 1870s and 1880s were productive for Egle, as he became increasingly known and respected for his historical research and writing. In 1878, Lafayette College presented him with an "honorary degree [an A.M.] for his service in American history." This triumph was soon followed by tragedy, however, when Egle learned that his only son, Beverly, had died suddenly in Cook County, Illinois on June 21, 1882.
In addition to his work as an author and historian during the early to mid-1880s, William Egle was also employed as the physician for Dauphin County's prison. By 1887, he had been appointed as State Librarian for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a position he held for the next twelve years. According to the Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania newspaper, "The Columbian", Egle secured the position after Pennsylvania's Republican-controlled Senate failed to approve the governor's first choice for the post, "York Press" editor Edward Stuck. As a result, Egle's "term was lengthened and his salary increased in direct contravention of the provisions of the Constitution."
On June 4, 1896, he was one of the featured presenters at the Congress of the Scotch-Irish Society of America. Newspapers as far away as Honolulu Hawaii, reported that he spoke about "Landmarks of Early Scotch-Irish Settlements in Pennsylvania."
Succeeded in early 1899 in his appointment as State Librarian by the Rev. Dr. George Edward Reed, the head of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Egle was described as a physician shortly after the turn of the century, when a federal government employee arrived at his Harrisburg home to interview him for the 1900 U.S. Census. Still residing with him were his wife, and his daughter Catharine.
Death and interment.
Sometime during the winter of 1901, Egle contracted the grippe, which then turned into pneumonia. He died from related complications in Harrisburg on February 10, 1901. Following funeral services at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church which were well attended by friends and colleagues, he was laid to rest at the Harrisburg Cemetery. John Peter Shindel Gobin, Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor at the time, served as one of his pallbearers. A 32nd degree Mason, Egle had been a member of the Robert Burns Masonic Lodge, as well as a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and past president of the YMCA
In the days following his death, "The Harrisburg Patriot" described him as "a noted physician, historian and genealogist and the author of a large number of valuable works of local and national interest." Additionally, for several years after his death, his name continued to appear in newspapers across the country. In a "this day in history" chronology presented in its September 17, 1908 edition, the daily newspaper of Palestine, Texas listed the birth of "William Henry Egle, historian" as its noteworthy event for the year 1830. Two years later, a newspaper in South Dakota published "The Blacksmith of the Revolution", an excerpt from his "address at the unveiling of a monument erected by the state of Pennsylvania at Newville, to William Denning, the blacksmith of the revolution, October 6, 1890."


Thomas de Treil de Pardailhan

Thomas-François de Treil de Pardailhan (1754, Paris – 2 August 1822, Pardailhan) was the eldest of an ennobled Languedocien family, originating in the Saint-Pons-de-Thomières region. At first an officer in the Maison Militaire du Roi, baron Thomas de Treil de Pardailhan was Maître d'hôtel du Roi at the Court of Versailles at the end of the Ancien Régime. His writings, however, show him as an opponent of the privileges of aristocracy and in favor of the new ideas. The French Revolution marks a rupture with his milieu: in support of deep social reform, he was elected député for Paris in 1791 to the Legislative Assembly, but always remained attached to the idea of a constitutional monarchy and was imprisoned as a suspect during the Reign of Terror. Ruined by bad business dealings under the Directory and by sources of income he had lost in the Revolution, he ended his life at his château at Pardailhan in 1822.
Life.
From his earliest youth Thomas de Treil de Pardailhan embarked on a military career, being made a "gendarme de la garde du roi" aged 10, then a "musketeer", and finally becoming an ensign in the Swiss Guards of Monsieur frère du roi, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. After 20 years of service, he was made a knight of the Order of St Louis.
After his 1782 marriage to Charlotte Gautier de Vinfrais, he became seigneur of Pardailhan (Hérault) and took the title baron de Pardailhan.
In 1785, he served Louis XVI at Versailles in the essentially honorific role of Conseiller Maître d'hôtel du roi.
As early as the first events of 1789 Thomas-François engaged with passion in political life - he was made a delegate in March that year by the representatives of the Three Estates of Saint-Pons, to support the writing of a constitution.
In 1790, he was elector of the canton of Villejuif, and in 1791 the administrator of the département of Paris (conseiller général). In September 1791, he was elected to be the député for the département of Paris in the Legislative Assembly, and got himself known for legal propositions on the organisation of France's armies (especially a proposition condemning émigré officers to death). He is known to have proposed the creation of a military decoration to the Legislative Assembly, and this is taken as the precedent for the Légion d'honneur. Treil-Pardailhan was the member of the diplomatic committee, implicated in triggering war with the European powers
In 1794, during the Terror, he was imprisoned as a moderate in the prison Saint-Lazare in Paris, only just escaping the guillotine, when he was questioned about conspiracy in the prisons.
Under the Directory, he founded a company charged with provisioning the armies of the Republic. This and other hazardous investments put him in a more and more difficult financial situation. In 1800, ruined, he rallied to Napoleon's new regime but, pursued by his creditors, in 1806 he went into self-imposed exile in Milan in Italy, from where he learnt of the expropriation of domaine of Pardailhan by his own brother Alexandre. Returning to France, he definitively installed himself at the château at Pardailhan, repurchased by his wife Charlotte.
On the Bourbon Restoration in 1815 he was named mayor of the commune of Pardailhan. He died on 2 August 1822 at the château de Pardailhan, and the commune still holds his tomb, in a state of disrepair.