It’s been a bit of a wild ride in these parts lately. Multiple hard deadlines for major projects have demanded my attention and priority — which has put me behind on everything else, from podcasting to posting to reading. If you’ve sent me something to check out and haven’t heard back, I apologize for my lack of responsiveness. I’m getting there. In addition to the demands of the day job, Lady Marilyn got ambushed by the ’Rona. Round #2 for her. Sucks. She’s doing fine, but it’s not fun and it’s highly disruptive.
Anyhoo… I have the Jameson Raid podcast nearly ready to go. Under current conditions, I hesitate to say when I’ll get it uploaded, but I’m shooting for next weekend or the very beginning of next week. Then I’m gonna indulge in a little Once Upon A Time in Los Angeles theme, exploring some more of the lurid frontier history of the town of my birth. Blame Horace Bell.
LosAngeles Plaza —1869.
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U.S. Seminole Negro Scouts.
Got a message from H.P. at Hillbilly Highways this morning. Hot damn. He wrote:
The publication of a new David Hackett Fischer book is always an event, as far as I am concerned. His work Albion’s Seed is the founding inspiration for the Hillbilly Studies aspect of Hillbilly Highways. His new work, African Founders, is a companion piece of sorts to Albion’s Seed, focusing instead on the earliest Africans to come to America. I didn’t think of it as a frontier book, but of its three parts, one entire part is devoted to the frontier:
PART THREE – FRONTIER REGIONS
Chapter 7 WESTERN FRONTIERS
Fulani Herders, Carolina Cattlemen, Texas Mustangers
Chapter 8 MARITIME FRONTIERS
West African Boatmen, Atlantic Seamen, American Maritime Traditions
Chapter 9 SOUTHERN FRONTIERS
Angolan Soldiers, Afro-Spanish Militias, U.S. Seminole Negro Scouts
The book released on May 31, and my library has it on order. All over it.
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Took a sidetrail in my Jameson Raid reading into the Afrikaner response to World War I and World War II. In both conflicts, South Africa aligned with the Allies and specifically with Great Britain. But there were substantial minorities of Afrikaners who not only held a grudge from the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, but also felt a kinship with Germany. It led to shooting.
The hardline Boer commander Manie Maritz was prominent in the brawl that started over South African entry into the First World War — so prominent that it’s usually referred to as the Maritz Rebellion. Smuts and Botha managed to quell the rebellion in a matter of a few months and were able to turn their full attention to the conquest of German Southwest Africa.
Manie Maritz (seated) in 1914. The tough Boer fighter would be a leader in a Boer insurrection against the government of Louis Botha and Jan Smuts, who took South Africa into the Great War on the side of the Allies.
Maritz was an anti-semite and became a Nazi sympathizer in the 1930s. He died in 1940. There was a fairly robust faction of Nazi-sympathizers among the far right of the Afrikaner community. The Ossewabrandwag (Ox-Wagon Sentinel, a reference to the Great Trek) was anti-British, pro-German and opposed South Africa’s participation in World War II.
The Ossewabrandwag had a secret militant arm called Stormjaers, which is Afrikaans for (you guessed it (Stormtroopers). Here’s an interesting short doco on the outfit. Once again, poaching in Christopher Othen territory…
Paul McNamee says
I only learned about Afro-Spanish militias in recent years, when digging a little deeper on the battles of Mobile and Pensacola during American Revolution.
Speedy recovery to Marilyn.
Matthew says
Sorry to hear about Marilyn. I was sick with something a few weeks back. I don’t think it was covid, but I could be wrong. It’s actually the reason I sent you a piece on the Seven Samurai because I tend to just watch movies in the basement when I’m sick. Hope Marilyn gets better.
Speaking of Horace Bell I’ll probably be sending you a short review of Reminiscences of a Ranger soon.
Lynda A. Sanchez says
These are great images Jim, especially the Black Seminole scouts and Maritz. By the way, I just finished an article about Apache Scouts’ Last Hurrah…guess what that was?
Hope things continue to improve on the health situation. I think we just don’t know about these viruses as much as we think we do.
Lynda
JimC says
I’m gonna go with Punitive Expedition, 1916…
Lynda A Sanchez says
Good morning. You would be correct! Most folks have no idea we fielded Apache scouts, chosen by General Pershing himself to help chase Villa into Mexico.
Stay tuned.
Lynda
JimC says
Will do!
Jean says
I recently read Cecil B DeMille’s biography. He owned most of the canyon around us, when I was a kid and his Paradise ranch was just up the canyon a couple of miles. He will give you some very interesting and entertaining insight to the Los Angeles area if you read the book.
JimC says
That’s a great idea.
Jean says
Sorry, I goofed, that DeMille’s autobiography. He used to ride his horse to the Hollywood studio and he carried a sidearm. He was shot at and had other challenges in old LA.