Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / Feb. 13, 1982, edition 1 / Page 17
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'i - Blacks in th&Milttary ; -:; ; ? "(Di? Blmi E&mnns Bsp 9 9 SAT., F2rJA3Y 1$. 1S32 THE CAT.CIKA TI"S -17 . f. ' t; ByLotsWhtley ;V ' BLACK SOLDIERS, -. iBtrodactioB ' - ' I Before language became more than just sound, . ..'anthropologists contend that mah, whose - bir-vrijipIace'Vwaaa.'Africa.-'was basically solitary and f nomadic in nature; taking from the-, land when his ? "needs so dictated. This dependence upon nature for ? j his sustenance probably : consumed much of his s J; energies and left little time for anything else. S - 4 As Ws reasoning powers- grew so too did his t : awareness S of nature's 7: bounties in specific ' geographical areas, and he began, to control nature 7 father than being controlled by her forces. A desire &f for ysorae isemblance" of permanence was then V; developed, and early man. united with others into clans or. tribes to overcome a hostile environment. ' These elemental governmental forms evolved into larger,' more complex units by benign or aggressive : Coercion; through the latter was born the military. S - , . - AFRICA AND ASIA . , tFor so long, the history of African with Egypt the exception, . acpicieu us innaouarus as un sophisticated, savage, hostile, and lacking in Culture. The writers of the legend were generally ' European, and their desire for the acquisition of the copious quantities of minerals (gold, salt, precious gems and the like) gave rise to the bropaganda. J- The reality is that much bf Africa had; had flourishing civilizations for centuries before Europe, was experimenting with rudimentary governments. John Henrick Clarke, the noted black historian, States, ''When Europe became known to history for the first time, Africa was already old and in ecline:;w,;v,,: ;,7-'4- ' Egypt escaped the denigration to7which the more ; 1 southerly area were subjected. Thi was due to the wide currency that Grecian and Roman traders had with northern Africa. Even so, current history books attribute only one dynasty? jis being black. Here again is more erroneous information, for most Of the dynasties were black: Sir E.A. Wallis Budge f f .V'1-' ' were so surprised by this brilliant, plan that the city' ' Clitus. Remorseful, hethen attempted suicide iut easily fell to Piankhy and his troops- . was thwarted by a guard; Alexander is said to have ' The news of this masterful stroke of military . died of alcoholism in 323 B.C. ' ht genius preceded him further, north so that little vUv? v Hioiilbtl (2471S3 . r. resistance, was met along the joute to Heliopolis. ?"r . Of all of the military geniuses throughot histtfry . Upon entering this holiest city of Egypt (about 725 ; the names of Hannibal of Carthage, Alexander the B.C.) where the temple of their. god Amerj-Ra was . ' Great and Napoleon are the most familiar to peoQ. located, maroan Osorkon III and his priests sur- today. Napoleon, the last born or the three, raiea term stretched for miles. With his finest warriors, he capr tured all of the towns along the mighty river until he reached Hermopolis. This well-fortified city ' fell before Piankhy's onslaught and tribute of precious , gems, cloth and other gifts were offered in an tempt to allay further destruction. However, he ig nored the gifts until the pleadings of the Her- cbntends that the earliest settlersof Egypt came : mopolis women to. the women in piankhy's camp irom me souin, generally m ine are oi aomana ana Pganda. An examination Of manyof the carvings 4nd sculptures from Egypt will reveal figures with distinct' black' fcatures.:;i'5;g;v:";;:i" :;;.;;-;'.-. .' 'v - - ! Du'.irku rnkk MM.n. art .-. litimiij lugiui . - . The dvnastv that history books allow blacks was rhe 25th that was founded by PiahkhV. For over 1800 yearti Egypt, bad 1een demanding . tribute from Nubia n the form of gold and.warrio.rs for her own arinyi As, sovereign of his Country for twenty-five years; he grew, tired 0 having his na tion's wealth' bled' by King Osorkon of Egypt and jecided to rebeL ' $'M -v'; - X He set ouf upon 'the Nile with; equipment that Booklet reached his ears. He then consented to listen to Namlot, the ruler of Hermopolis and was convinced to accept the diadem that crowned Piankhy King of Hermopolis. ' ; '"-""'t ' - Continuing on toward Heliopolis, the capital of Egypt, Piankhy next captured all of the small city-, stages along the Nile until he reached Memphis. Here, the massive fortifications along the northern and western sides of the city dictated that the east, with its natural water boundary, would be most easily vaulted by the Nubian forces. Directing that all enemy shipping be barricaded, captured and ar ranged side by side. Piankhy then used these, ships a$ a foot bridge for the assault. The Memphians rendered peacefully upon the steps of. the temple. , Piankhy founded the 25th or Ethiopian" dynas ty of, pharoahs. (The appellation "Ethiopian" is given by historians as a synonym for black.) Suc-A ceeding members of his family including a brother and sonf remained as rulers for over one hundred ; years i- . ' . v".,. ; i' jf Uitus (4th century B.C.) History books have glamorized the exploits of Alexander the Great of Macedonia (Greece) .who captured the world as it was then known. One jnust search dilieentlv to Find that he chose not to engage in battle with Queen Canda'ce, Em-, press jf- Ethiopia, whose skill in military strategy was legendary Alexander thus decided that it was better ctO end his conquests in Egypt in 332 B.C. rather than toisk defeat at the hands (or weapons) of a Woman, and a black one at that! . These same history books also neglect to mention that his commander of the cavalry was ClituS, his black footer brother, the son of Alexander's childhood nurse. Clitus Niger had been a general in the army of Alexander's father, Philip, King of Mace(fonia,Ynd he continued to serve under Alex ander wherKhe latter succeeded to the throne. So courageous and distinguished a soldier was Clitus during the campaign eastward through Asia that Alexander crowned him King of Bactria (roughly in the area now known as Afghanistan). Clitus took his mother's admonition to take care of Alexander very seriously and, unless it was deemed militarily necessary, he rarely left Alex ander's Side. This vigilance enabled him to save his foster brother's life. . During the battle of Arbela in what is now Iraq, the Greek army was opposed by a massive army of men led by King Darius of Persia. Although Alex ander's tactically superior forces soundly defeated the Persians, at one point he was attacked by a group of; Persians and his life was endangered. Clitus went to his aid and killed a general whose battle-ax was about to descend upon Alexander. The respect and love that the two men had for each other was very deep, but Clitus was quite troubled by Alexander's apparent adoption of the more luxuriant life style of the East. During a ban quet, Clitus yoked his concern. Outraged and resenting this familiarity before the foreign guests, Alexander seized a nearby weapon and killed Hannibal the greatest. So impressed was he by frls earlier militarist that he adopted many ? of Hannibal's strategies. Even now, two thousand' years later, Hannibal's techniques and tactics are' taught in military schools worldwide. " ; The son Of another great Cartheginian general, Hamilcar Barca, Hannibal, at the age of 26. $ifc-. tained and strengthened the hold upon Spain that' his father had begun, Rome did not like the idea of another military force on the continent, so the Se-r cond Punic War began. 1 ; At that, time, Rome had a stronger navy than did Carthage so that she was virtually unapproachable by sea; and to reach Rome by land from Spam, Hannibal would have to go through France and scale the "impregnable" Alps. It was not easyJ - At the beginning of his campaigns against Rome, ,he had 70,000 infantry, 20,000 cavalry, most if them fierce Numidians who were unequaleann -horsemanship ana swordsmanship, and; forty elephants trained for warfare. ' Marching through the ' unfamiliar terrain of France, he met resistance which he overcame wtth superior planning. He moved, southward until ,he! captured what is now Marseilles from Rome. Here the sea prevented him from completing the relative ly short distance to Rome. Returning northward, be decided to cross the Alps rather than to return to Spain. Over incredible odds, including hostile tribes; and wintry weather which these men, from ithe. tropics had never experienced, they crossea tne mountains in fifteen days. With less than half of his original force surviving, but with all ( of his elephants, he marched southward.;- , ; ;T. Rome was astounded! With its army of over one million men. however, it felt confident of victory. The Romans had failed to reckon with Hannibal's ability to correctly assess all factors r- terrain, iftan .power, weather, etc., and to devise tactics to defeat the might of his enemy. He overcame them firstiat Ticino, then in the Battle of Trebia. As he Con tinued his march southward,; winning battle after battle, more Italian troops joined him until he con trolled all of Northern Italy , Winter was not too far off, so that Hannibal began to use much of runtime and forces to gather stores foe the coming season. When Rome received this:ibtdligence its mostapte commander, Flamenuls, was dispatched with an (Continuea on rage i . 3 f 2f i nop tfUUUIIICO W Jt is'1862 .theUniort; Arms .is. occupying New; Bern ana. thousands of ' Jifarc finding themselves fvcrowding into a freed- i' i'man's camp On the Trent; J River, V What :i ; their: fr U.fitfiire? W'iV-.-x w TrT ' -r t .17- J- $,A newv booklet r-published by the i Depart ment, of Cultural Si Resource, outlines-1 the. Ki . 'perspectives of the camp t: ii lv- joc iviuuiey, researcher ; with t. the ar- ? . i -i i preservation i ; section, w chronicles the settlement ion the Trent River, nnin- n ling out the struggles and l i; triumphs Of society in an all-black community in ". ' t he volume entit led J ' Community Jn North v, -V tori ifw P The social, economic i and - , , ' political developments of this j. stronghold of black self l determination, accor- ding to Mobley, offer in- sightvinto. the adversities of black $ince the Civil fWate. Stru8Rlin to secure an economic and t ' t politicah foothold, their f i;tv primary goal was to own. i r'vt permanently the land on . which they resided as c tenants. jl James City began in 0 March, 1862, following V :v inc capiure oi rnew oern I i hw l Ininn . fnive ' . i The h , community grew 1 as North Carolina staves ? sought freedom r and a' safety within Union lines. U.S. Army 'M chaplain Horace James i established the camn for h. frecdmen, which became v :ev Trent River Camp and iS . ' ' , ,v laier James cuy, nonor ".a ins its founder James : U had a significant impact ' upon the settlement ana his ; career n i;ANorth a Carolina is part of the it James City narrative."-1; T Because blacks have If steadfastly remained in this cohesive black com p munity, James City pro Vt Vides a food model for vf.Vthe study of Afro- f.t American history on the ci local level, according to Mobley. '; " " The 1 1 3-page booklet (Continued on Page 18) v - c 4S l StS. I 1 M) OU ill UUH. I -.lit n'- 'itnif; "A hi- W-Vtfl i-ifih ' ' "' : . k Extro i V t tel' i Extva Org fl m:s: v -r " '1 I '4 H- 'Zri-S 4f vu-sr Sir:- $Mm " , 1 -4; i-;vr- 1 P- .vv i ;, . 7;.' 7?7.7' ;-X---;---' ' " ' f" k ( - ' '
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Feb. 13, 1982, edition 1
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