HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the Union Army’s Michigan Brigade of Volunteers – nicknamed the Wolverines – from the U.S. Civil War. I’m focusing on them because, though not unknown, increasing numbers of people have taken to ignoring their contributions to the Union victory just because of the post-Civil War career of the Brigade’s commander – General George Armstrong Custer.
I’m no Custer fan myself, but the men who served under him in the Civil War don’t deserve to be thrown a figurative cold shoulder because of the ugliness later associated with the man leading them. The soldiers of the 1st, 5th, 6th and 7th Michigan Cavalry plus Artillery Battery M, the units in the Michigan Brigade, were crucial to victory.
The brigade was first being formed in December, 1862 and on June 29th, 1863 newly promoted General Custer assumed command.
BATTLE OF HANOVER – On June 30th the Michigan Brigade took part in this battle set in Hanover, PA. It was part of the leadup to the Battle of Gettysburg. The Union thwarted Confederate Cavalry General J.E.B. Stuart’s attempt to link up with the main Confederate Army under Robert E. Lee.
HUNTERSTOWN – With the Battle of Gettysburg having started the previous day, the Brigade fought in this July 2nd, 1863 clash along Beaverdam Creek near Hunterstown, PA. They forced Confederate General Wade Hampton’s cavalry to withdraw. Continue reading
Today, actor and director John Derek is remembered mostly because of his wives – Bo Derek, Ursula Andress, Linda Evans and Pati Behrs. 
ROGUES OF SHERWOOD FOREST (1950) – John starred as Robin, Earl of Huntington, the son of Robin Hood. When Richard the Lionheart passes away in 1199 A.D. King John (George Macready) returns to his old ways of oppressing and heavily taxing the citizens. He also imports an army of foreign mercenaries faithful only to him, not England. 
The Great Garloo was a two-feet tall remote controlled “monster” toy from Marx. Garloo could be controlled to walk, bend down and pick up things. For adults, boring, but for kids, it must have been the best gift they got that year. 
What Meet the Beatles was to the British Invasion, The Banqueters was to Attic Old Comedy. (Yes, I love silly comparisons) This play was the first comedy written by Aristophanes, the leading light of ancient Greek comedy, and was performed at the Lenaea festival of 427 BC when Aristophanes was nineteen years old. The Banqueters won second prize, making it a very auspicious debut for the man often considered the greatest political satirist of the ancient world. 
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