Bunker Hill

TL;DR -- The Siege of Boston continues until March of next year. This past week, there was an effort by the British to dislodge the patriots (or provincials as known in London) which didn't work. We will have to look at what the next nine months entailed for both sides, in MA and elsewhere. Speaking of which, "Bunker Hill" has been used a lot in naming over the 250 years. We compare the MA one with that area in DTLA with the name, again. But, will look at some others, ,worldwide. 

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Right now, we are in the period that was associated with the Battle of Bunker Hill with a main skirmish happening on 17 Jun 1775 with the first piece of the action happening at the locale of Lexington & Concord in Apr of 1775. Bunker Hill Day is a regular holiday in Boston on Jun 17th. 

At this time, in 1775, the British were still surrounded. The Siege of Boston continued. The next day of commeration will be the Evacuation of Boston that happened on 17 Mar 1776. 

As we mentioned, the Massachusetts Magazine had an article on the troops that participated in this Siege with some information about the officers. There was an article in every issue, 1911 to 1918. 

And so, we will look at events and people over the coming years as the 250th lookback unfolds. 

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May we change gears? Bunker Hill is a little over 100 feet high and is in the Charlestown neighborhood. There is a monument for the event on Breed's Hill which has a lower elevation and where most of the activity took place.

At the time of the Battle, the British owned the waters as Boston was across the Charles River from where the Battle took place. The whole affair is quite strongly resident in the American mind. In fact, Bunker Hill has been used as a name in many places. We will look again at Bunker Hill West which is in Los Angeles and about which we have had several posts. Today, we look at the lay of the land. 

But first, here is a London map of the situation in 1775. 

Printed Aug 1775, London

Before transitioning to the west coast, we have to mention the last surviving veteran of the incident: Ralph Farnham (1756-1860). He is of the upper part of Massachusetts now known as Maine and is cuz as are many. We will look at him, again, as the whole of the Maine experience needs more attention partly due to the case of the southern entity, Boston, was more prevalent in historical accountings. 

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Now, Bunker Hill West? The name has been used in many places: the Wikipedia list. Notice that Los Angeles is on the top of the list. Our interest was first brought to the area as this is where the stage coach route from St. Louis arrived after an arduous trip down into Texas, across the souther border (wandering into Mexico), and then ending in Los Angeles. That was not the terminus, as with some refreshment of resources, the stage line then carried passengers and freight up to San Francisco. Where, the process started again on the way back to St. Louis. 

Mind you, folks, there are several things to consider: logistics (compared to the Pony Express, this was much more of an intricate maneuver; we are talking pre-Civil War however some of the western States had been defined (such as Missouri in 1820 - added along with Maine to balance the north-south  issues; in terms of Bunker Hill in DTLA (Downtown Los Angeles), though, the terrain was entirely different as we will be pointing out. 

The lowest point in DTLA was about 59 feet. The hightest was the hills to the west with Bunker Hill (BHW) topping 350 feet. DTLA is many miles from the ocean. In terms of survival, being in a sheltered, inland cove with fresh water from the mountains would be more appealing than the environment now associated with being encrusted by salty waters. 

In the latter part of last century (post the 1950s), there was an effort to knock BHW down which seems to have been successful. They flattened the basis for the high rises that rose and that are now photogenic against the background of Nature's display of mountains. 

Here is an example. I marked three things. 1) On the right, the line points to where City Hall pokes its head up proudly. This 1937 building was the limit for heights until later in the 1900s. We can be more specific. There are early photos from Bunker Hill showing the top of the spire of the City Hall. 

Now is the time to mention one other thing. In the center, the tannish (round) building behind the white (square) one was the first building to penetrate the old limit. The developers used the opportunity of the LA Library having experienced arson and selling its airspace to get funds to recover as a means to start the trend that gave us the high-rise look. 

So, speaking of the Central Library, they recovered physically and bought replacement books. But, there was another instance of arson later. To me, on any of these photos, I look for the bank building and figure out where the library is nestled (having spent many hours there; across the street; the base of the bank building is on higher ground along the elevation of BHW). 

2) and 3) These have to do with old DTLA from the time of New Spain onward. In the middle, the text says that if we jump (or fly like superman) over the buildings we would find the Old Plaza Church. Several of our posts have photos of this building from various time periods. Yes, it was there when Butterfield came in with his stage line. In terms of the beauty of DTLA, the Train Station which is a remarkable example of SoCal architecture is across the street. 

So, now we can consider another church. Not far from the Old Plaza Church and the City Hall is the structure that was St. Vibiana, a Catholic cathedral. That old building dates from the 1870s which is new from the west coast view point (reminder for those looking from the east). An earthquake caused some damage but not enough to destroy the building. It now is an event center of some note. 

The cathedral was moved to the left side of the photo where US 101 and the 10s intersect. We can figure out the lingo, but the area has been visited by tourists with many photos extant. This view shows the extent of the high-rise area. And, the larger buildings are clustered there at BHW. 

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There are early photos (1870s) showing that people started to try to tunnel from the getgo. Several tunnels were completed with many still operational. As well, there were steps put up for people having to go up to the buildings on the BHW or over to the other side. And, the Angel Flight configuration of a rail car exploited the arrival of electrical power. Fortunately, through many periods of reconfiguration such as the scraping down the elevation, people saved the old mechanism which is now more of a tourist event rather than operational. 

 

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What's next for looking at the namesakes of Bunker Hill? 

Remarks: Modified: 06/22/2025

06/22/2025 - 

Harvard, technology

TL;DR -- Harvard goes back 400 as does our focus. Of late, they have free courses that are pertinent to current technological events. We appreciate that. But, we also call attention to the 250th and remind of Rev. John Wise who was the inspiration of the Declaration of Independence. 

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I wonder how many students at Harvard know that the money to move the institution from a clergy-focused mode to work in the emerging senses of science and engineering came from a Loyalist who went over to the older realms and used his talents: thermodynamics; system engineering; ... Count Rumford (our blog post) will be in focus from time to time. Of course, Harvard did the legal side of things early, as well. 

And, early? We're involved since the beginning: The Hebraist. But, lots and lots of the family went to Harvard over the years; lots and lots did not. So, we will provide a balanced view of 400 years that led to that which we will be commemorating: The 250th.  

Now, technology will be a huge focus. The GenAI/LLM mischief of late is an example of things that could have been (were) forseen. How was it missed? We have a good story to tell there. Meanwhile, to change subject somewhat, Harvard is providing free access to courses dealing with AI and related. 

• CS50's Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python  

Now switching gears, of the 250th, we have not even reached the point of the real split, yet. That will happen next year where July 4th is one known day every year celebrated. That we have eight years to look at the turmoil and rhetoric and activities and more in a new vein, brought by the internet, is daunting to think about. 

We will look at parallel events, such as the 200th and 300th of New England (which was huge in impact on the culture) of the U.S. Here's an example, dealing with Rev. John Wise. His pamphlet was republished when the fever of independence was starting to grow after the French, Indian affair. 

Ipswich: John Wise

Disclosure: All kinfolk, directly. But, we will honor everyone of New England who was not given proper attention by history in the sense before technology. And, the sense means sources with known provenance as well as discussions about issues. And, technology? Can be tamed. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/21/2025

06/21/2025 - 

Lord Fairfax

TL;DR -- Little known facts are around and about upon the landscape of the U.S. Our normal attention is west (west is best; east is least - sort of thing ;>). However, there has been and will be attention to the eastern activities as the western part came about 150 years later where the Revolution became a central theme. This post touches upon the time that Braddock came over. Evidences abound due to preservation efforts. Otherwise, the landscape has been abused (data centers abound, for instance). 

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We had to mention the 400th (Jamestown, et al) so as to set a stage that will be permanent. We would not have had the 250th without the earlier phases. So, Fairfax? His name is all over northern Virginia as are others of the upper class (kin/cuz, as well). But, the main thread will be dual. For this post, let's use "French, Indian affair" which we have touched upon before. 

While researching people who went out west from the older east side of the country, we had to bring in other cultures, such as New France and New Spain. From each, the U.S.obtained land that had to be incorporated into the Union. Too, there had to be maps that to allow reasonable control of land use (or misuse). We looked at some of this in a post titled Practice for carving about the work that went on for decades, starting in St. Louis. 

Now, in the interior, we usually think about things that happened after Lewis & Clark and the War of 1812. However, there was earlier activity out there by Europeans, for the most part related to involvement as trapper, trader, and rancher. In that regard, prior to what we are now celebrating (the 250th anniversary), there was the conflict that trained colonists for the coming Revolution. 

Namely, we consider the French, Indian affair which seems to have been mostly forgotten. Dr. Frank wrote about this conflict in his series on the Regiments that were at the Boston Siege. But, stepping back, we have had posts on this affair.  A grandpappy kept a diary that was later published: Nathaniel Knapp's diary about his time with the Louisbourgh Expedition. Some who were involved participated in the later Revolution, many times in a leadership role. 

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With the French, Indian affair, we have taken a New England focus since Quebec was the principal establishment of New France. But, the conflict involved all of the colonies. An example is Virginia. 

Today while at a park, we read a historic sign. It mentioned Braddock. But, being in Virginia, there were two other names of note: George Washington; Daniel Boone. We last mentioned the former (Washington) here in this blog in a post on Col. John Glover who was featured in the series by Dr. Frank. But, Washington mapped and surveyed the Potomac River which we have to consider further. This post is a start as we have covered many of the rivers of the west. 

Now, the latter (Boone) has been mentioned many times in posts about the early settlement of the west. Boone, well-known explorer: opened a pass; served in the French, Indian affair and the Revolution; settled areas from the east to western Missouri; ventured out into the west.  

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Washington was also involved with a conflict between the British and the French. The resentments that led to the Revolution are thought to have resulted with the arrival of Edward Braddock  and the reaction of the colonists to his methods. One of Braddock's early campaigns involved a planned attack on Fort Duquesne, French facility, near the start of the Ohio River. This expedition did not go well which left lasting impressions on both Washington and Boone. Braddock was mortally wounded which meant that he had no say in subsequent matters nor in the trashing of his reputation. 

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Braddock arrival into Virginia was near Hampton Roads. After some meetings in Virginia, there was preparation for the attack on the Fort. Now, accomplishing this required going over a moutainous region that impeded traffic. Washington was familiar with the area due to his duties with the surveying crews that mapped the Potomac. 

But, let's look at the route that was set up for Braddock's forces by using a couple of images. 

Braddock's route from 
Alexandria, VA to Braddock, PA

Braddock's route from
Cumberland, MD to Braddock, PA

The first images shows the "approximate" route from Alexandria (on the coast) which is on the Potomac to the final destination near Fort Duquesne. It passes through the interior of Northern Virginia and climbs up into the Blue Ridge mountains. This map gives us the elevations. At Cumberland, the elevation is much higher, and we see the route through western Maryland into Pennsylvania. 

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Braddock's route went through the Keyes' Gap which is over 900-feet high. Formerly, that route from Alexandria to the mountains was called Vestal's Gap. Parts of the trail can be seen in eastern Loudoun County of Virginia. This area is near Dulles Airport outside of Washington, DC. 

The route follows an old Indian trail which is 65 miles in length from Alexandria to the  mountains. 

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In terms of historic preservation, Loudoun County has provided historical markers with notes in the area. Too, they have a website which is of interest. This is an example of the web/cloud being useful to education at several levels. One example (2019, LoudounNow): 

• In Our Backyard: Preserve the Vanishing Vestal’s Gap Road - property of Lord Fairfax, originally, almost 400 acres are preserved surrounded now by heavy residential and commercial development including Dulles International (and recently, the heavy foot of data centers trample the countryside). Pieces of the trail still exist (with an interest not unlike those remnants that we can see of the Santa Fe and Oregon trails in the middle of the country. 

We have written of New England (south) for several reasons, such as people from New England (north) going south. As well, the culture is the same. The south was more swashbuckling and plantation driven, not that the north was heaven on earth, let alone a beacon as desired by John Winthrop. 

Now, finally, for this post, the Native trail ran from the coast up into those things called the Blue Ridge mountains where we find things like the Shenandoah River and artifacts related to the Civil War that was mentioned on historical markers too. Right by the above-mentioned site runs a modern highway that was prototyped (real life) in the early 1800s since the traffic was heavy. It bears the name, in areas, realated to one of the early towns. 

• Leesburg, Virginia - county seat of Loudoun County. Town of the Carters, Lees, and Masons. was in an area that was good for farms and plantations. In the War of 1812, federal documents were brought from DC for safety. 

As we proceed being involved with the eight years of the 250th and then the long trek to 1820 and Boone's western influence taking hold, there is no end to the topics to cover. One theme will always relate to the influence of New England and it families that contributing to the establishment of the U.S.  

Remarks: Modified: 06/12/2025

06/12/2025 - 

250th, U.S. Army

TL;DR -- We have the 250th of the U.S. Army to celebrate this month. Later in the year, we will see the Navy and Marines feated with respect to their heritage. The Revolution was long going into 1783 so we have several more years to explore themes of Independence. 

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This month (soon) will be the 250th of the U.S. Army. "army mil" has information related to the anniversary that will be of interest over the next few years. An example, the presented timeline is wonderful. 

https://www.army.mil/1775/timeline.html  

• The first entry is from 24 Mar 1774 which was the Boston Port Act. Our post: Boston Tea Party. 
• The next entry from 20 May 1774 is for the Massachusetts Government Act. 
• Then,  there is an entry from 19 Apr 1775 for the Lexington & Concord incident. Our post: Where was Salem? 

The current entries are few and go up to 1789, but the site is undergoing updates. Hence, there will be lots of material to cover including those from this U.S. Army site. 

Other 250th sites:

https://www.navy.mil/Navy-250/ 

https://www.marines.mil/Marines250/   

We have been in the 250th mindset for a long while, from before this post on Real daughters who were children of Patriots and members of D.A.R. Also, D.A.R. had an initiative related to tracking lineage from a Patriot back to the Mayflower whose 400th was in 2020. We took that and adapted it to Cape Ann to Patriot. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/10/2025

06/10/2025 - 

Arkansas River

TL;DR -- The Arkansas River ought to get some attention. Hernando de Soto saw the river. The French saw it back in the 1500s on their journey out of the northern regions through the Great Lakes and then the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. Cattle drivers saw the river on their way from Texas to the railroad yards of Kansas for shipment of their product to the eastern markets. 

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The Arkansas River has been mentioned a few times so we need to look at it specifically. Hence, this post will spawn many others. One early mention was about the French crew who came down from the Great Lakes but turned around when they got close enough to the Gulf to see the Natives having goods from Spain. Then, we looked at Zebulon Pike's journey and work in the early 1800s with respect to him passing through the area of the Osage Mission of southeast Kansas. Jedediah Strong Smith was killed in the Arkansas River basin in southwest Kansas.  

As an aside, Hernando de Soto saw the river in his exploration of the area.   

Since we have more than 250 years to cover, we thought that we would look at cattle and its influence. The drives from Texas up to the rails had to cross the Arkansas River. Let's let the FB group, Be Texas Proud, be our source for material about things cattle, ranch, and more. 

Chisholm Trail (brown)
bifurcates, twice
courtesty of Be Texas Proud

They had recent posts on the Chisholm Trail that passed through Wichita, KS.

On This Day in Texas History – May 27, 1870

The Kansas Daily Commonwealth made the earliest known printed reference to the Chisholm Trail, the now-legendary cattle route that helped shape Texas and the American West.

 Named after trader Jesse Chisholm, who originally blazed parts of the route for wagons and trade—not cattle—the trail became the backbone of a booming cattle drive era. Between 1867 and the early 1880s, millions of Texas longhorns were herded up this trail to railheads in Abilene, Ellsworth, and Dodge City, where they were loaded onto trains bound for eastern cities.

There were several "ford" areas for the Arkansas River in or near Wichita, KS. Depending upon the weather, the water was low enough for easy crossing. However, storms could raise the water level very quickly. 

Quoting the The Chisholm Trail – Herding the Cattle: 

The long trips up the trail from Texas were hazardous for the cattle and the cowboys. The trip took two to three months as the drives crossed significant rivers, including the Arkansas and Red Rivers, and traveled through canyons and low mountain ranges. In addition, the drovers also had to be concerned about Indian attacks, outlaw cattle rustlers, and cattle stampedes.

Further posts will look at origins and the trail of this river as it runs from the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/03/2025

06/03/2025 - 

2021, time of the pandemic, II

TL;DR -- Continuation of the pandemic theme from before. We look at posts from the remainder of 2021 and at the themes covered which are of a wide variety. 

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Part 2 of 2 (Part 1). 

In 2020, restrictions changed our activity. Like most, we did computer work over the time of the pandemic but had been doing such work anyway. What was different was the focus. 

We looked more at local issues. But, we had anyway (to wit, our post of Flyover country). By 2021, we were rolling along and did more posts. Part 1 looks at those from Jan through Jun. Now, we'll pick up with posts from Jul through Dec.

The 250th came more into focus. We also spent a little time looking at S.A.R. which is the sons version of what the daughters did with D.A.R. But, AI started to come into focus after almost a decade of making headway (according to some views - the jury is still out) and claiming attention: Jeopardy win; Go win; modeling complicated lab work (Google had several of these); ... 

But, we had a post (Carving the land) which was motivated by our study of the activities out of St. Louis which was a hub for land management of the U.S and its west.  At the same time, Gloucester was approaching its 400th. We had an interest in that as the Dorchester crew came into that area in 1623. But, the great northwest? Michigan was approaching its 200th. 

Another twist was diving into the history of Harvard starting with an introduction to James Bryan Conant. He was a chemist and professor. He had wanted the Rumford chair. But, ended up in Europe and came back to become a Head of Harvard. At the same time, we decided that the long reach of New England was a theme of interest, as we had settled on All Things Gardner (22 Aug 1485) with respect to the many families with the name. 

Oh yes, AI was proposed for genealogy work. Again, that is an ongoing bit of study. But, we started to look at the genealogy of Harvard Heads. Many were of old New England families. D.A.R. found an interest in the 400th as well by starting work on identifying Patriot to Passenger (in this case, Mayflower) families. We took on Cape Ann to Patriot. 

Houses? While looking at the Dudley family, we got into houses of note. There were two in New Hampshire of interest. Both were built by relatives of descendants of Thomas and Margaret. One is now associated with the Society of Cincinatti. That brings up the other side of a coin. We honor the Loyalists of the family. Count Rumford mentioned above was a Loyalist who found success in Europe and left money to Harvard. 

The technology focus became more prominent. IEEE had an article: How dumb is AI? A few years later, we saw a general amount of interest. One observaton? Humans degradate themselves to make technology look good. Yes. Expect to see that theme periodically. 

A photo of the grandmother Dr. Frank (and 2nd great of Ann and her siblings) was found. We got that published. Generations? An eternal topic. Looking at this, we can say that the Revolution (250th now in progress) was done by the 5th generation. More on these. 

We picked up Dr. Frank's series on the Siege of Boston that were published in The Massachusetts Magazine, with issues four times a year for a decade. He started the series with Col. John Glover of Marble head. One of his vessels was the first vessel of the U.S. Navy. 

We continued our interest in rivers, as we mentioned in Part 1. The trails and railroads are always of interest, as well. But, jumping to technology now, we looked at John's favorite site dealing with the mathematics of physics. It was of the old style until a few years ago. The old stuff is still there and serves as the basis for the new. 

Aside, we are seeing lots of websites being done using new methods. Our prediction is that this method is not as stable as claimed and so have failures that are hugely visible and that will have negative repercussions. But, other than be aware, we have to wait and see. 

Why? If one looks at the whole campus of techies, there is no solution yet. Experiments have become a mainstay of life. But, take a plane, experiment types of these are not used to carry passengers. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/01/2025

06/01/2025 - 

2021, time of the pandemic, I

TL;DR -- The pandemic started. Life was restricted. We did local things. And, worked on the web/cloud in various modes. 2021 culminated in the most posts that we had since our start with topics that cover a very wide range. Knowing the U.S. and its history is one motivation. 

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Part 1 of 2 (Part 2). 

In 2020, we found out about the coming restrictions after being in one of the cities where the disease was reported and said to be related to someone returning from overseas. Then, we endured the restrictive period with access to the outdoors as well keeping busy with "web/cloud" activity along several lines of research. 

Our focus on technology was one line of study for the Thomas Gardner Society, Inc. The next year, 2021, had the most, 105, posts published since the start of our work. Below, we provide a list by month of the titles of the posts. As can be noted, the topics varied greatly which we will comment on below. 

First, here is a list of the topics for the first six months. 

A subject of lots of focus was the travel of folks from the east to the west through the middle. Of course, looking further at the west coast got our attention to New Spain. The rivers of the interior were of particular interest as the Missouri River starts out in the far western mountains, closer to the Pacific than to the Mississippi River which it joins at St. Louis. Not far from there, the Ohio River comes in from the distant east having started in Pennsylvania. But, there is more. The Arkansas is a little south of that area and had eastern visitors from (what became) Canada early on. That exploratory group from New France headed back up north when they started to see evidence of New Spain. 

Naturally, looking at the Missouri, we had to consider other rivers near its origin, such as the Gardner River (Yellowstone, plus) which flooded recently. We looked at several tales related to the area, including that which motivated the movie, The Revenant. Our earlier focus was there, namely Jedediah Strong Smith. 

Going back up north from the Arkansas on the Mississippi, we get to the Wisconsin River that joined above St. Louis. The French group had traveled over the Great Lakes to the mouth of the Fox River. About one-half way to the Mississippi River, there was a portage which was brief, comparatively, being only two miles or so between the Fox and the Wisconsin (on the western part of the trip).  

In work related to family history and genealogies, we decided that there was a frontier century which is observant now with respect to missing documents. St. Louis was a hub of movement. The U.S.Government was early there with land management. Think of the time of Daniel Boone who was out, with his family, to western  Missouri (Kansas City area) as a settler. But, he also ventured further out past the Rockies. Other federal activity was military: Fort Larned, KS. 

Speaking of which, there was a stage line that ran from St. Louis to San Francisco. Not across the middle of the country. No, this one went south and joined regular movement from Texas to Los Angeles through Tucson in Arizona. In Los Angeles, the activity was in the Bunker Hill West area which has a long history that we have written about (Mirror building). Of course, then we had to look at mail and freight. Too, newspapers were delivered. 

We didn't forget the sea as the California cities were largely populated by ship in the beginning. Once the internal trails were established there was a huge flow across the middle. The Pony Express carried mail and small material. Several stage lines carried people and freight. We looked closely at the Butterfield Express. 

Why? All of this activity was seriously associated with, or driven by, New England influences. In fact, Kansas was a Massachusetts project with its University being founded by a group that included women who came to set up a free State. We have a lot more to write of that. 

Everywhere in the unmapped territory, we had trappers. Some were even venturing down from New France and Canada. Then, the next phase was trader as folks moved across the country, many of them stopping at locations that exist today having been started by the pioneers. 

Along came the railroads which have a special interest due to family involvement. That facilitated one of the major memes of the west, driving cattle to the markets. So, rancher/farmer would be the next phase continuing today, in the flyover country (had to menton that - it's from an earlier post). 

Next up, we'll look at the second half of 2021 in terms of posts. These posts cover the U.S. and its history. Interspersed are posts on technology, which increased with the release of OpenAI's GenAI/LLM. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/03/2025

06/03/2025 - Clarify that the journey on the Fox to the Mississippi starts at the Great Lakes and runs upstream in IL to a point where the Fox is close enough to the Wisconsin for a reasonable portage. The Wisconsin then runs down, and connects, to the Mississippi. In the reverse, the journey goes up the Wisconsin to the portage and down the Fox to the Great Lakes. Modern technology has improved that route with locks allowing the height changes to be managed.