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HISTORY: unwrapped – November 2006

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November 30, 2006 – Disaster at the Top of the World

On September 12, 1871, thirty-two captains of the most respected whale-hunting fleet in the world met in a ship’s cabin. The commanders decided to do the unthinkable—they were going to abandon their ships. Winter had arrived early in the Arctic and had surrounded their ships with miles of ice, crushing the ships’ hulls and sealing off their escape routes. Three ships had already been destroyed by the time the captains met. The independent leaders knew their only hope of survival was cooperation. They had provisions for three months to see them through a nine-month ordeal that would probably become a graveyard of ice. Top priority was saving the lives of the men, women, and children aboard the remaining vessels. One of the captains went south to get help and returned with news that there were two whaling ships in open water waiting for them. Men, women, and children boarded small wooden boats for the 70-mile journey to reach the rescue ships. All 1,219 survived the ordeal, but many later questioned the decision to abandon the ships. The ships’ owners and insurers back home debated the wisdom of abandoning the ships. The debate intensified with Eskimo reports stating that two weeks after the whalemen left the Arctic, a gale drove the ice away from the deserted ships. The ice returned and locked in the vessels, but some felt that the commanders could have gotten the vessels out safely if they had waited. History repeated itself in 1876, but this time those who chose to remain with the ships were never seen again.

November 29, 2006 – Up in Smoke

Telling the public that smoking is bad for you isn’t exactly headline news! As far back as the 17th century, tobacco was viewed as “loathsome and hurtful.” King James I of England wrote an essay against tobacco titled “A Counterblaste to Tobacco,” published in 1604. He didn’t have the research available today, but the king knew that tobacco smoking was a “vile custom.” James wrote, “We cannot be content unless we imitate every thing that our fellows do, and so prove ourselves capable of every thing whereof they are capable, like apes counterfeiting the manner of others to our own destruction. …a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume thereof nearest resembling the horrible stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.” Common sense told James that smoking was a harmful and nasty smelling activity—“In your abuse thereof sinning against God harming yourselves both in person and goods.” The Tsar of Russia hated the habit so much that he ordered that a first offense required the beating of the soles of the feet with a stick. A second offense brought the offender a slit nose, for the third offense, death. The Sultan of Turkey found the habit so offensive that he ordered snuff users to have their lips slit and pipe smokers were to be hanged with a pipe shoved through the nose. Long before there was a Surgeon General’s warning on tobacco products, smoking the dried leaves of the tobacco plant had few defenders.

November 28, 2006 – Typhoid Mary

Never did a woman create such health mayhem as Mary Mallon. She was born in Ireland and immigrated to the United States when she was 15. Mary worked as a domestic servant, which is where the problem began. In the summer of 1906, Mary worked as the family cook for a New York banker during his family’s vacation on Long Island. Two daughters became desperately ill with typhoid fever, along with his wife and two maids, the gardener, and eventually a third daughter. There were no antibiotics available at that time and buildings were burned to destroy the disease or quarantined and uninhabitable. This could bring financial disaster to the owner.

Health authorities were perplexed and hired a highly regarded epidemiologist to track down the origins of the life-threatening typhoid. Dr. George Soper’s investigation led him to Mary Mallon who had prepared the dessert that was eaten by the stricken individuals. Mary vanished after the outbreak, but Soper tracked her down upon discovering that typhoid outbreaks accompanied her from job to job. Mary herself was healthy, but she was a carrier of the typhoid bacteria due to her poor personal hygiene. Because of her uncooperative attitude and refusal to change health habits, Mary was eventually quarantined in a small cottage on the grounds of Riverside Hospital on North Brother Island, where she lived under close supervision for the rest of her life.

November 27, 2006 – Big Wheels Keep On Turning

When the Allied powers landed on the beaches of Normandy with the largest invasion forces ever assembled in what is known as D-Day, accompanying those forces was an impressive dispay of large machinery and equipment built by American businessman R.G. Latourneau. Latourneau’s company had built some of the most massive machinery, earth movers, missile launchers, and offshore oil rigs. If something needed to be built that was bigger and better, Latourneau’s company could handle it.  Latourneau’s philosophy of “…there are no big jobs, only small machines and small thinking” motivated him to build on a grand scale. Though he became an international industrialist, Latourneau attributed his success to God who had blessed the humble mechanic. His success did not come easily. He dropped out of school at 14 and worked at shoveling sand and dirt at an iron works factory. He was always thinking how he could do things more efficiently. Latourneau had many ups and downs along the way to success, including losing his first child in infancy. Even in debt, he refused to give up and began his earth-moving business. Through all of his success, Laturneau remained faithful to God, living on just 10% of his income and giving away 90%. He continued this practice even when his business was in jeopardy. Laturneau founded a university in Texas, which bears his name and formed a foundation that funds many ministries. Even in death, Laturneau’s legacy continues to live on.

November 24, 2006 – Sky Walkers

The construction of the Empire State Building began in March 1930 and was completed just 14 months later. It remained the tallest building in the world with 102 stories until 1972. It receives two and three million visitors every year and has played host to kings and queens. It has even scuffled with a giant ape and won. Built during the Great Depression, the building cost $40 million dollars. The workers who constructed the tall edifice were thrilled to have jobs. They put up the building in record time, faster and higher than anyone had ever imagined. Mohawk Indians worked on the high steel of the Empire State Building. Six generations of Mohawk Indians have helped shape the New York skyline. Known for their agile ability to work on the extremely high steel beams, the Mohawks commuted from their reservation in Canada to help construct the “Ambassador of New York.”  The Mohawk ironworkers operate in pairs in all kinds of weather at the dangerous windy heights above the city.  Fatal accidents are a constant concern, but the courageous sure-footed “sky walkers” continue to work the high steel in cities across the United States.

November 23, 2006 – Thanksgiving and a Prayer

The first Congress that convened after the adoption of the Constitution requested of the President that the people of the United States observe a day of thanksgiving and prayer:

That a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a Constitution of government for their safety and happiness.

This resolution was opposed by some as an infringement on the authority of the states: "It is a business with which Congress has nothing to do; it is a religious matter, and as such is proscribed to us."1 Nevertheless, the resolution was adopted. Washington then issued a proclamation setting aside November 26, 1789, as a national day of thanksgiving, calling everyone to "unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions."2 Washington called for days of prayer and thanksgiving on January 1 and February 19, 1795.

1 Quoted in Anson Phelps Stokes and Leo Pfeffer, Church and State in the United States (New York: Harper & Row, 1964), 87.

2 Quoted in Stokes and Pfeffer, Church and State in the United States, 87.

November 22, 2006 – Giving Thanks to God

On Thursday, September 24, 1789, the First House of Representatives recommended the First Amendment to the states for ratification. Congressman Elias Boudinot proposed that Congress jointly request that President Washington proclaim a day of thanksgiving for “the many signal favors of Almighty god.” He “could not think of letting the session pass over without offering an opportunity to all the citizens of the United States of joining, with one voice, in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the blessings he had poured down upon them.” The colonists of another era were aware of the many instances of thanksgiving found in “holy writ.” Thanksgiving, as it was practiced by the colonists, was a religious celebration that shared the sentiments of their biblical forerunners, giving thanks to God for His faithful provision. “Twice en route the passengers [aboard the Arabella] participated in a fast, and once a ‘thanksgiving.’”

One of the earliest recorded celebrations occurred a half century before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. “A small colony of French Huguenots established a settlement near present-day Jacksonville, Florida. On June 30, 1564, their leader, René de Laudonnière, recorded that ‘We sang a psalm of Thanksgiving unto God, beseeching Him that it would please Him to continue His accustomed goodness towards us.’” May we do likewise this day as we gather together with our families and thank God for continuing to bless our nation.

November 21, 2006 – Censorship in the Classroom

Public school textbooks are fertile ground for the seeds of willful historical deception. A careful analysis of 60 elementary textbooks showed that none of them contained one word referring to any religious activity in contemporary American life. The texts were examined in terms of their references to religion, either directly or indirectly. One social studies book devotes 30 pages to the Pilgrims but never refers to religion as even a part of their lives. It teaches that Thanksgiving was the time when the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians. There is no doubt that the Christian settlers were thankful for the Indian’s help, but the historical record shows that thanksgiving was ultimately made to God. In a booklet used in Seattle, Washington, children were told that “the Pilgrims were narrow-minded bigots who survived initially only with the Indians’ help, but turned on them when their help wasn’t needed anymore.” Not only are the books filled with obvious biases but they also contain numerous historical inaccuracies. Supposedly Increase Mather preached a sermon in 1623 where he “gave special thanks to God for the plague of smallpox which had wiped out the majority of Wampanoag Indians.” It would have been impossible for Increase Mather to have preached such a sermon. He was not born until 1639! The rewriting of history is producing historical dunces who have no knowledge or understanding of our rich religious heritage.

November 20, 2006 – Roosevelt's Christian America

Today, any elected official who makes the claim that the United States is a Christian nation is derided by a hostile press and mocked by the academic elite. In this highly charged atmosphere of political correctness, making such a claim is sure to bring gasps and outcries from those who would have us believe otherwise. In 1931, the United States Supreme Court noted that the United States is a Christian nation. In the darkest hours of World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt boldly made the claim. He was attending a mid-Atlantic summit with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Roosevelt had described the United States as “the lasting concord between men and nations, founded on the principles of Christianity.” He asked the crewmen of an American warship to join him in a chorus of “Onward Christian Soldiers.” In 1947, while writing to Pope Pius XII, President Truman said, “This is a Christian nation.” Woodrow Wilson gave an address in Denver on May 7, 1911 titled “The Bible and Progress.” He said that “America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture.” If these men dared utter such statements in today’s highly charged atmosphere of Political Correctness, they would be dragged into a savage debate.

November 17, 2006 – MGM's Roaring Lion

When Sam Goldfish started a film company, he realized the importance in a name, so he combined his name with Edgar Selwyn, his partner. Sam Goldwyn needed an image that would immediately make the company recognizable to the public, so he hired a promoter. The promoter found just the image at a Columbia University football game when the team’s mascot ran onto the field. A lion would be perfect. It was the king of beasts and would make a fine trademark. When a merger created Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Leo the lion won out over Metro’s parrot. MGM bought a real 350-pound lion and the live-action mascot would appear in the opening logo sequence in every movie produced by the studio. Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight was dominating the headlines, so MGM decided to take advantage of the excitement on everyone’s minds by sending Leo on his own well-publicized cross-country trip. Leo’s plane went down near the Grand Canyon, and a bring-him-back-alive lion hunt resulted. The hunt gave MGM plenty of its own exciting headlines to endear itself to the public. Fortunately, Leo survived to continue as the popular symbol for MGM.

February 20, 2006 – All for the Lord's Work

Stanley Tam read that the emulsion used on photographic film contained silver and that sixteen tons of the metal are washed down the drain every week. At the age of 20, Tam (1916-) was going to make a lot of money by marketing a method to recycle the silver from film development. He made a fifty-fifty deal with photographers and x-ray labs, who initially thought he was crazy and called him “Hi-Ho-Silver.” With 37 dollars, Tam set up a factory in his spare bedroom. Reminded of the failures of his early business ventures, Tam put his business under God’s control. He made God the senior partner, receiving 51 percent of stocks and profits. Finding a lawyer to draw up such a contract was difficult, but Tam did not regret the decision. As his business flourished, he gave up more control and eventually became a mere employee at his successful company, United States Plastics. Tam gave 100 per cent of all profits to the Lord’s work. At one point, a doctor told Tam that he had terminal cancer and only had months to live. Now in his 80s, Tam travels 25 weeks of the year giving talks to churches and missionaries.

November 15, 2006 – The President's Valuable Asset

Though her lack of formal schooling was an embarrassment to her, it did not prevent Abigail Adams from becoming an invaluable partner to her husband. As John Adams’ political career developed, Abigail became one of his most important assets. Her large collection of correspondence indicates that this intelligent woman was self-sufficient, resourceful, competent, and blessed with a sense of humor. Her letters are a witness to an individual who was principled and committed to the rights of women. She and John Adams viewed slavery as evil and a threat to the American democratic experience. Abigail managed the family farm and raised their family during her husband’s long absences while on the nation’s business. He remarked that things seemed to go much better when she was in charge. Abigail was concerned about education for women so they could better manage their households, families, and finances. Prior to the War of Independence, she reminded her husband of his duty to ensure the rights of women under the new government in a March 1776 letter in which she wrote “remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors…”  Abigail’s concern was that women would get more protection within the home. Her roles as the wife of a diplomat and president were performed with dignity and grace. Abigail Adams’s marriage to John Adams proved to be one of history’s great partnerships.

November 14, 2006 – A Wasted Life

A bullet to the heart outside a laundromat abruptly ended George Lincoln Rockwell’s leadership of the American Nazi Party. Born in 1918 to vaudeville comedians, Rockwell attended prep school and Brown University. He dropped out of college to become a Navy pilot during World War II. He later attended Pratt Institute of Art where he developed the drawing talent he would use to create Nazi propaganda. After his second marriage ended, Rockwell began the American Nazi Party and moved to the suburbs of Washington, DC. The six-foot-four charismatic Rockwell had the looks, talent, and speaking skills to succeed in almost anything he chose to do. Sadly, he chose the dark and derisive role of hatemonger. Rockwell used tactics that would garner publicity and spread the message of hate toward Jews and blacks. At its peak, the ANP had no more than 50 to 60 members, 200 at the most. But small as the group remained, the fallout from its hateful philosophy was felt years later. One of the members wrote a book that inspired Timothy McVeigh, perpetrator of the Oklahoma City bombing. Rockwell spent his days reading or sleeping while other Party members tried to seek work. In the end, Rockwell was murdered by one of his own men. A tragic ending for a gifted man who chose to waste his life promoting hatred.

November 13, 2006 – The Free City of New York

The secession of New York City has been proposed several times in history. One such time was on the eve of the Civil War. Mayor Fernando Wood, a powerful pro-Southern Democrat, made a proposal in an annual message to the city’s Common Council: if the Southern states seceded, the city should do so too and become “equally independent.” Wood believed that as a “free city,” New York would survive with the support of the South and the large income provided by import duties. Wood attacked the Republican-controlled state legislature: why may not New York disrupt the bands which bind her to a venal and corrupt master? Other Democrats on the council and many businessmen agreed and made secret plans for New York’s secession. But many more believed that the idea of leaving the United States was far too radical. When the war’s first shots were fired at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, New Yorkers remained staunchly pro-Union, and Mayor Wood had to find new employment.

As recently as 2003, a bill was introduced reviving secession. It was sponsored by 20 out of 51 City Council members. Like Mayor Wood, the councilman who introduced the bill emphasized the monetary benefits of secession. No action was taken on the bill, but that doesn’t mean that secession won’t come up again in New York City.

November 10, 2006 – World’s Oldest Practicing Pediatrician

Families all over Atlanta and beyond have taken their children to “see” Dr. Denmark. Leila Denmark was born in Georgia in 1898 and was the third woman to graduate from the Medical College of Georgia. Her specialty was pediatrics which she continued to practice after she married, became a mother, and turned 100. Mothers taking their children for a check-up, made no appointment, saw no receptionist or nurses, just Dr. Denmark. Her wisdom and experience were worth far more than the ten dollar fee. This doctor has seen it all; nothing surprises her. A big believer in proper nutrition, Dr. Denmark practices her own “medicine” by eating meals that include a protein, a couple of vegetables and a fruit. She turned down a slice of her own 100th birthday cake, saying too much sugar was unhealthy. She was among the first medical professionals to object to cigarette smoking around children and one of the first to speak out against alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, and drugs in pregnant women. Her 1971 book Every Child Deserves a Chance has helped countless new moms deal with that first baby. By her own estimation she has never worked a day in her life. She says that by its very definition, work is not fun and that what she does is fun. Dr. Denmark retired at 103 and is now 108 years old. Generations of patients have benefited from the wisdom of this truly remarkable woman.

November 9, 2006 – Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullets

In 1875, the idea of a specific medicine to cure an infectious disease was considered outlandish. Many doctors in the 19th century still held to the view that disease was a disharmony of natural forces in the body. In Germany, Paul Ehrlich began his experiments in a time when nearly all medicines were either useless or harmful. Ehrlich wanted to find a ‘magic bullet’ that attacked a specific disease without harming the body. At the age of eight, Ehrlich had devised a formula for cough drops which local pharmacists made and sold. During medical school, he explored ways in which dyes could be used to stain cells to make them easier to view under a microscope. His staining techniques were valuable in identifying bacteria and protozoa. Ehrlich was convinced that certain arsenic derivatives could be successfully used to treat specific diseases. His team of chemists began to test this theory on rabbits and mice infected with incurable diseases such as sleeping sickness and syphilis. Finally in 1909, after checking over 600 arsenic-containing compounds, one of them cured syphilis. At last, Paul Ehrlich had found his ‘magic bullet.’

November 8, 2006 – The Trail of Tears

After 1800, the Cherokee Indians had a representational form of government patterned after the United States’ government. They wore European-style clothing, built homes, and became farmers and cattle ranchers. They built roads, schools, and churches. The Cherokee culture continued to flourish with the creation of an alphabet which made possible their written constitution and the spread of Christianity. They printed the only Native American newspaper and established a seat of government.  But the discovery of gold in 1828 in North Georgia would turn the Cherokee world into a nightmare. Because the Cherokee controlled most of the land in the gold region, the Georgia legislature began to plan the removal of the Indians.

In 1830, the U.S. Congress passed the "Indian Removal Act." Tennessee Congressman Davy Crockett’s political career was destroyed because of his support of the Cherokee. Ironically the man the Cherokees had fought with in the Creek War, Andrew Jackson, now president, quickly signed the bill into law.  The Cherokee challenged the removal laws and in 1832, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in their favor. But a treaty signed in 1838 gave the United States the legal document to force the Cherokee from their land and send them on a 1,000-mile march to Oklahoma. Nearly 4,000 lost their lives along the way in what has become known as “The Trail of Tears.” The country that believed “that all men are created equal” had brutally uprooted a culture that had done no wrong.

November 7, 2006 – The Man Who Built Florida

Henry Flagler was a paradox. He was a ruthless businessman thrust into the world of the Rockefellers. The son of a poor minister, Flagler left school at 14 to become a merchant in Ohio. Through the grain and distillery business, he met John D. Rockefeller and later they would form what would become the Standard Oil Company. In 1877, Flagler and his family moved back to the state of his birth when Standard Oil made New York City its headquarters. But Flagler changed the direction of his life by distancing himself from the Standard Oil Company and spending less time at its headquarters. This began after his first wife died leaving Flagler with a ten-year-old son. After his second marriage, Flagler spent a good deal of time in Florida. He saw the potential the backward state had for attracting out-of-state-visitors. He also realized the inadequacies of hotel facilities and transportation. So Flagler had a new cause and took up the task of building both. His Florida East Coast Railroad stretched from St. Augustine to Key West and luxury hotels opened up all over the state. But railroads and hotels were not the limit of Flagler’s vision. He encouraged fruit farming and settlement along his railway line. His money helped to build hospitals, churches, and schools throughout Florida. Flagler became known as the Father of Miami as he helped to develop the city’s sanitation, streets, water and power systems, and financed its first newspaper. He built Whitehall, a 60,000 square foot winter retreat that established Palm Beach for the wealthy. The Sunshine state’s booming tourism industry is due in large part to the vision of Henry Flagler.

November 6, 2006 – More Than Blue-Eyed Barbarians

We typically think of the Vikings as brutish blue-eyed savages in horned helmets plundering and burning villages, taking captives for use as slaves. Just imagining a Viking chieftain and his men crossing the sea towards an unsuspecting country, can give you goose bumps. Archeological and other historical studies in the past twenty years have begun to provide us with new information that describes more than a barbaric people. The Vikings were farmers, merchants, and traders constantly opening up new avenues of commerce as far away as North America. They weren’t all blue-eyed blondes either—a diverse group of Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, French, and Russians were built around a core of Vikings from a region. The Vikings readily adopted Christianity as they came into contact with the faith during their raids. When Norway’s King Olav I gave up his pagan gods, he stopped raiding and assaulting Christians. His energies were re-directed against pagans. The mother of Christian explorer Leif Ericson, built the first church in the Western hemisphere in the year 1000. With further study of their history, we gain an appreciation of the Vikings, their exploration of new lands, and how they helped spread the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout Scandinavia and beyond.

November 3, 2006 – The Bizarre Schemes of Aaron Burr

The duel which resulted in the death of the popular Alexander Hamilton, made Aaron Burr a political pariah. After completing his term as vice president, Burr headed for the Mississippi Valley and grand schemes. Former colleagues wondered what Burr would do to mend his reputation. They could not have imagined. He intended to rule his own domain in the American West. Burr had a willing assistant in James Wilkinson, the commanding general of the U.S. Army, a man with no scruples who earned extra income by informing for Spain. The former vice president dreamed of conquering Mexico, uniting it with the frontier states, and setting up his own empire. Burr and his pitiful force of fewer than 100 men were thwarted in their grandiose scheme by Wilkinson, who informed President Thomas Jefferson about the plans. Jefferson called Burr’s scheme “the most extraordinary quest since the days of Don Quixote.” Burr was brought to trial for treason but was acquitted due to unimpressive testimony by the prosecution. Though a free man, Burr thought it wise to leave the country. While living in Europe, he wrote to Napoleon Bonaparte about his plan to re-conquer Louisiana and Canada if the French provided the funding for the venture. No deal. In 1812, Burr returned to New York where he lived until his death at 80. His large ego remained intact, even at death. When told of his impending death, Burr cried, “I can’t die!” The doctor responded, “Mr. Burr, you are already dying.”

November 2, 2006 – The Inca Engineers

Of all the urbanized people of the Americas, the Incas were the most brilliant engineers. They built massive forts with stone slabs so perfectly cut that they required no mortar and still stand today in near-perfect condition. They built aqueducts to their cities to provide water to the inhabitants as the Romans had. Agriculture was difficult in the Andes, but the Incas carved mountainsides into terraced farmland. So successful were they that in 1500 there was more cultivated land in the Andes than there is today. They built roads with tunnels and bridges through the mountains from Ecuador to Chile. The network of roads ran the length of the empire with the two main routes stretching 2500 miles and 3,250 miles respectively. Many modern-day engineers would be daunted by the task. Extraordinary rope suspension bridges were constructed over deep gorges looking like something out of a fairy tale. Soldiers and messengers were the main users of the roads. Government messengers stationed every two miles carried messages in relays to and from the court at Cuzco. The Incas did not have a system of writing and messages were carried as color-coded arrangements of knotted threads. The wheel was unknown to the Incas, but they still could bring fish from the coast to the Inca court 250 miles away within two days. As advanced as the Incas were, it took only a few hundred Spanish soldiers to bring down the massive empire.

November 1, 2006 – The Real William Wallace

The 1995 film Braveheart introduced William Wallace to many who otherwise had been clueless as to his place in history. The film rightfully portrays Wallace as a courageous 13th century Scots rebel who lost his life trying to keep Scotland free. Wallace was a son  of a knight and landowner. He wasn’t a noble, but he was part of the prosperous educated upper class. He probably wore clothing in keeping with contemporary fashions in England and France. Unlike the movie version, Wallace didn’t wear a kilt, and he certainly didn’t wear blue face paint. At 6 feet 7 inches and a physique to match, Wallace presented a menacing image to his enemies. His emergence as a leader was the result of his looks, intellect, strength, and his skill with the dagger and sword. As Scotland was descending into civil war and fighting the English occupation, Wallace left his studies to lead his countrymen becoming Guardian of Scotland. He eventually became a fugitive resigning his guardianship and was succeeded by Robert the Bruce. When Bruce reconciled with King Edward I of England, Wallace had no interest in peace with a people he hated. In 1305, Wallace was turned over to the English and tried in London for treason. At his execution, 33-year-old-Wallace was dragged by a horse, strangled to near death, disemboweled, drawn and quartered, and finally beheaded. With Wallace’s death, Edward thought he had put an end to his worthy enemy. In truth, he had martyred a popular Scots leader and fired the determination of the Scots to be free.