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Charles Lever

Charles James Lever (31 August 1806 – 1 June 1872) was an Irish novelist and raconteur, whose novels, according to Anthony Trollope, were just like his conversation.

Early life
Lever was born in Amiens Street, Dublin, the second son of James Lever, an architect and builder, and was educated in private schools. His escapades at Trinity College, Dublin (1823–1828), where he took the degree in medicine in 1831, are drawn on for the plots of some of his novels. The character Frank Webber in the novel Charles O'Malley was based on a college friend, Robert Boyle, who later became a clergyman. Lever and Boyle earned pocket-money singing ballads of their own composing in the streets of Dublin and played many other pranks which Lever embellished in the novels O'Malley, Con Cregan and Lord Kilgobbin. Before seriously embarking upon his medical studies, Lever visited Canada as an unqualified surgeon on an emigrant ship, and has drawn upon some of his experiences in Con Cregan, Arthur O'Leary and Roland Cashel. Arriving in Canada, he journeyed into the backwoods, where he was affiliated to a tribe of Native Americans but had to flee because his life was in danger, as later his character Bagenal Daly did in his novel The Knight of Gwynne.

Back in Europe, he pretended he was a student from the University of Göttingen and travelled to the University of Jena (where he saw Goethe), and then to Vienna. He loved German student life, and several of his songs, such as "The Pope He Loved a Merry Life", are based on student-song models. His medical degree earned him an appointment to the Board of Health in County Clare and then as a dispensary doctor in Portstewart, County Londonderry, but his conduct as a country doctor earned him the censure of the authorities.

Career
In 1833 he married his first love, Catherine Baker, and in February 1837, after varied experiences, he began publishing The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer in the recently established Dublin University Magazine. During the previous seven years, the popular taste had turned toward the "service novel", examples of which include Frank Mildmay (1829) by Frederick Marryat, Tom Cringle's Log (1829) by Michael Scott, The Subaltern (1825) by George Robert Gleig, Cyril Thornton (1827) by Thomas Hamilton, Stories of Waterloo (1833) by William Hamilton Maxwell, Ben Brace (1840) by Frederick Chamier and The Bivouac (1837), also by Maxwell. Lever had met William Hamilton Maxwell, the titular founder of the genre. Before Harry Lorrequer appeared in volume form (1839), Lever had settled - on the strength of a slight diplomatic connection - as a fashionable physician in Brussels (Hertogstraat 16).

Lorrequer was merely a string of Irish and other stories - good, bad and indifferent, but mostly rollicking. Lever, who strung together his anecdotes late at night after the serious business of his day, was astonished at its success. "If this sort of thing amuses them, I can go on for ever." Brussels was indeed a superb place for the observation of half-pay officers, such as Major Monsoon (Commissioner Meade), Captain Bubbleton and the like, who terrorised the taverns of the place with their endless Peninsular stories, and of English society a little damaged, which it became the speciality of Lever to depict. He sketched with a free hand, wrote, as he lived, from hand to mouth, and the chief difficulty he experienced was that of getting rid of his characters who "hung about him like those tiresome people who never can make up their minds to bid you good night". Lever had never taken part in a battle himself, but his next three books, Charles O'Malley (1841), Jack Hinton (1843), and Tom Burke of Ours (1844), written under the spur of the writer's chronic extravagance, contain some splendid military writing and some of the most animated battle-pieces on record. In pages of O'Malley and Tom Burke Lever anticipates not a few of the best effects of Marbot, Thibaut, Lejeune, Griois, Seruzier, Burgoyne and the like. His account of the Douro need hardly fear comparison, it has been said, with Napier's. Condemned by the critics, Lever had completely won the general reader - from  the Iron Duke himself downwards.

In 1842 he returned to Dublin to edit the Dublin University Magazine, and gathered round him a typical coterie of Irish wits (including one or two hornets) such as the O'Suilivans, Archer Butler, William Carleton, Sir William Wilde, Canon Hayman, DF McCarthy, McGlashan, Dr Kencaly and many others. In June 1842 he welcomed at Templeogue, four miles southwest of Dublin, the author of the Snob Papers on his Irish tour (the Sketch Book was, later, dedicated to Lever). Thackeray recognised the fund of Irish sadness beneath the surface merriment. "The author's character is not humour but sentiment. The spirits are mostly artificial, the fond is sadness, as appears to me to be that of most Irish writing and people." The Waterloo episode in Thackeray's Vanity Fair (1847-1848) was in part an outcome of the talk between the two novelists. But the "Galway pace", the display he found it necessary to maintain at Templeogue, the stable full of horses, the cards, the friends to entertain, the quarrels to compose and the enormous rapidity with which he had to complete Tom Burke, The O'Donoghue and Arthur O'Leary (1845) made his native land an impossible place for Lever to continue in. Templeogue would soon have proved another Abbotsford.

Thackeray suggested London, but Lever required a new field of literary observation and anecdote. His creative inspiration exhausted, he decided to renew it on the continent. In 1845 he resigned his editorship and went back to Brussels, whence he started upon an unlimited tour of central Europe in a family coach. Now and again he halted for a few months, and entertained to the limit of his resources in some ducal castle or other which he hired for an off-season. Thus at Riedenburg, near Bregenz, in August 1846, he entertained Charles Dickens and his wife and other well-known people. Dickens would later publish Lever's novel A Day's Ride in serial in his weekly journal All the Year Round, running parallel to Great Expectations for part of its run from 1860 to 1861. Like his own Daltons or Dodd Family Abroad he travelled continentally, from Karlsruhe to Como, from Como to Florence, from Florence to the Baths of Lucca and so on, and his letters home are the litany of the literary remittance-man, his ambition now limited to driving a pair of novels abreast without a diminution of his standard price for serial work ("twenty pounds a sheet"). In the Knight of Gwynne, a story of the Union (1847), The Confessions of Con Cregan (1849), Roland Cashel (1850) and Maurice Tiernay (1852) we still have traces of his old manner; but he was beginning to lose his original joy in composition. His innate sadness began to cloud the animal joyousness of his temperament. Formerly he had written for the happy world which is young and curly and merry; now he grew fat and bald and grave. "After 38 or so what has life to offer but one universal declension. Let the crew pump as hard as they like, the leak gains every hour." His son, Charles Sidney Lever, died in 1863 and is buried in Florence's English Cemetery.

Later life
Depressed in spirit as Lever was, his wit was unextinguished; he was still the delight of the salons with his stories, and in 1867, after a few years' experience of a similar kind at Spezia, he was cheered by a letter from Lord Derby offering him the more lucrative consulship of Trieste. "Here is six hundred a year for doing nothing, and you are just the man to do it." The six hundred could not atone to Lever for the lassitude of prolonged exile. Trieste, at first "all that I could desire", became with characteristic abruptness "detestable and damnable". "Nothing to eat, nothing to drink, no one to speak to." "Of all the dreary places it has been my lot to sojourn in this is the worst" (some references to Trieste will be found in That Boy of Norcott's, 1869). He could never be alone and was almost morbidly dependent upon literary encouragement. Fortunately, like Scott, he had unscrupulous friends who assured him that his last efforts were his best. They include The Fortunes of Glencore (1857), Tony Butler (1865), Luttrell of Arran (1865), Sir Brooke Fosbrooke (1866), Lord Kilgobbin (1872) and the table-talk of Cornelius O'Dowd, originally contributed to Blackwood's.

His depression, partly due to incipient heart disease, partly to the growing conviction that he was the victim of literary and critical conspiracy, was confirmed by the death of his wife (23 April 1870), to whom he was tenderly attached. He visited Ireland in the following year and seemed alternately in high and low spirits. Death had already given him one or two runaway knocks, and, after his return to Trieste, he failed gradually, dying suddenly, however, and almost painlessly, from heart failure on 1 June 1872 at his home, Villa Gasteiger. His daughters, one of whom, Sydney, is believed to have been the real author of A Rent in a Cloud (1869), were well provided for.

Assessments
Trollope praised Lever's novels highly when he said that they were just like his conversation. He was a born raconteur, and had in perfection that easy flow of light description which without tedium or hurry leads up to the point of the good stories of which in earlier days his supply seemed inexhaustible. With little respect for unity of action or conventional novel structure, his brightest books, such as Lorrequer, O'Malley and Tom Burke, are in fact little more than recitals of scenes in the life of a particular "hero", unconnected by any continuous intrigue. The type of character he depicted is for the most part elementary. His women are mostly roués, romps or Xanthippes; his heroes have too much of the Pickle temper about them and fall an easy prey to the serious attacks of Poe or to the more playful gibes of Thackeray in Phil Fogarty or Bret Harte in Terence Denville. This last is a perfect bit of burlesque. Terence exchanges nineteen shots with the Hon. Captain Henry Somerset in the glen. "At each fire I shot away a button from his uniform. As my last bullet shot off the last button from his sleeve, I remarked quietly, 'You seem now, my lord, to be almost as ragged as the gentry you sneered at,' and rode haughtily away." And yet these careless sketches contain such haunting creations as Frank Webber, Major Monsoon and Micky Free, "the Sam Weller of Ireland".

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition: "Superior, it is sometimes claimed, in construction and style, the later books lack the panache of Lever's untamed youth. Where else shall we find the equals of the military scenes in O'Malley and Tom Burke, or the military episodes in Jack Hinton, Arthur O'Leary (the story of Aubuisson) or Maurice Tiernay (nothing he ever did is finer than the chapter introducing 'A remnant of Fontenoy')? It is here that his true genius lies, even more than in his talent for conviviality and fun, which makes an early copy of an early Lever (with Phiz's illustrations) seem literally to exhale an atmosphere of past and present entertainment. It is here that he is a true romancist, not for boys only, but also for men.

Lever's lack of artistry and of sympathy with the deeper traits of the Irish character have been stumbling-blocks to his reputation among the critics. Except to some extent in The Martins of Cro' Martin (1856) it may be admitted that his portraits of Irish are drawn too exclusively from the type, depicted in Sir Jonah Barrington's Memoirs and already well known on the English stage. He certainly had no deliberate intention of 'lowering the national character'. Quite the reverse. Yet his posthumous reputation seems to have suffered in consequence, in spite of all his Gallic sympathies and not unsuccessful endeavours to apotheosize the 'Irish Brigade'."

A library edition of the novels in 37 volumes appeared from 1897 to 1899 under the superintendence of Lever's daughter, Julie Kate Neville. Henry Hawley Smart is said to have taken Lever's work as one of his models when he set out on his career as a sporting novelist. Eugene O'Neill lists Lever as one of the authors represented on the family bookshelf in Long Day's Journey into Night, along with Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Gibbon, et al.

Select bibliography

 * The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer Dublin, W. Curry, (1839)
 * Charles O'Malley, the Irish Dragoon Dublin, William Curry, Jun. and Co. (1841)
 * Jack Hinton, the Guardsman (1843)
 * Tom Burke of "Ours" Dublin, William Curry, Jun. and Co. (1844)
 * The O'Donoghue: a tale of Ireland fifty years ago Dublin, W. Curry, (1845)
 *  Nuts and Nutcrackers.  London, W. S. Orr, (1845)
 * Arthur O'Leary: His wanderings and ponderings in many lands London, H. Colburn, (1845)
 * The Knight of Gwynne; a tale of the time of the union London, Chapman and Hall, (1847)
 * Confessions of Con Cregan: the Irish Gil Blas London, W. S. Orr, (1849)
 * Roland Cashel London, Chapman and Hall, (1850)
 *  The Daltons, or, Three roads in life London, Chapman and Hall, (1852)
 * The Dodd Family Abroad London, Chapman and Hall, (1854)
 * The Martins of Cro'Martin London, Chapman and Hall, (1856)
 * The Fortunes of Glencore London, Chapman and Hall, (1857)
 * Davenport Dunn : a man of our day London, Chapman and Hall, (1859)
 * One of Them London, Chapman and Hall, (1861)
 * Barrington London, Chapman and Hall, (1863)
 * Luttrell of Arran London, Chapman and Hall, (1865)
 * Sir Brook Fossbrooke Edinburgh, W. Blackwood, (1866)
 * The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly Vol. 1, London Smith, Elder and Co. (1868)
 * A Rent in a Cloud London, Chapman & Hall, (1869)
 * That Boy of Norcott's London, Smith, Elder, (1869)
 * Lord Kilgobbin New York, Harper & Bros., (1872)
 * The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly London, Chapman and Hall, (1872)

title: Charles Lever


text:
Battle of Resaca de la Palma

The Battle of Resaca de la Palma was one of the early engagements of the Mexican–American War, where the United States Army under General Zachary Taylor engaged the retreating forces of the Mexican Ejército del Norte ("Army of the North") under General Mariano Arista on May 9, 1846. The United States emerged victorious and forced the Mexicans out of Texas.

Background
Following the Mexican defeat at the Battle of Palo Alto the previous day, Arista on the morning of May 9 moved his forces to a more defensible position along a resaca, known as Resaca de Guerrero to the Mexicans but as Resaca de la Palma to the Americans. Recalling his experiences at the Siege of Fort Texas, he positioned his forces along the twelve foot deep and two hundred foot wide resaca, three miles from the Rio Grande, by 10 a.m. Arista placed most of his infantry in the ravine, thickly forested on either side, to negate the effectiveness of Taylor's artillery, with the 6th and 10th Infantry, Sappers, 2nd Light Infantry and 1st Infantry being placed east of the road, and the 2nd Infantry, Tampico Battalion and 4th Infantry west of the road. Covering the flanks in the rear were the Presidiales, the light cavalry, and the 7th and 8th Regiments, and two artillery batteries on the south bank.

Taylor reached the area about 3 p.m. and ordered Captain William W. Mackall's skirmishers and Captain Randolph Ridgely's battery along the road, with the 4th and 5th Infantry to the left and the remaining 4th and 3rd Infantry on the right.

Battle
American forces began to encounter the Mexican lines at around three in the afternoon. The advance party of skirmishers under Captain Mackall had been pursuing Arista's army throughout the morning and early afternoon, and as they reached the brush around the resaca the group came under heavy rifle and artillery fire. Mackall attempted to press further in order to gain a clearer view of the Mexican position, but, lacking the firepower of Taylor's main body, was ultimately forced to retreat and await reinforcements.

By four, General Taylor had linked with Captain Mackall and had begun to deploy his army to assault Arista's position. First, he moved to destroy the Mexican skirmish line which was harassing his movements. Two infantry regiments, supported by Ridgely's artillery battery, were able to converge on Arista's skirmishers and force them back into the Mexican main line with heavy casualties. With his immediate front clear, Taylor began to press his attacks on Arista's flanks.

Fighting was disorganized and uncoordinated due to the dense chaparral and the intense Mexican artillery fire, although Ridgely did repulse a Mexican cavalry charge. As regiments entered the heavy underbrush unit cohesion broke down, as smaller and smaller groups became visibly separated from each other; many of these groups were led by non-commissioned officers as the regular officers became cut off from the rest of their men. However, this same issue plagued the Mexican defenders, as the chaparral hampered the lines of communication as well as lines of sight. As a result, the majority of the fighting occurred simultaneously but also independently within these small, separate groups, as each lacked information on the battle as a whole. This breakup of unit integrity effectively negated many of the defensive and numerical advantages the Mexican Army would have ordinarily enjoyed.

Due to the low visibility of the chaparral, Ridgely's artillery battery was unable to provide much support to the American assaults on the flanks. Rather, they concentrated on neutralizing Arista's artillery; the resulting artillery duel proved inconclusive. Taylor ordered a charge by Captain Charles A. May's dragoon squadron with the objective of clearing the Mexican battery. Supposedly, May said, "Hello Ridgely, where is that Battery? I am ordered to charge it", and Ridgely replied "Hold on Charley, 'till I draw their fire and you will see where they are." May's charge however carried them well past the Mexican artillery and although he managed to capture General Romulo Diaz de la Vega, he could not hold the guns. Taylor then ordered William G. Belknap's 5th and 8th Infantry to secure the guns, which they did. The Mexicans forces east of the road then retreated from their positions.

Up until this point of the engagement, General Arista had not taken the field to command, but rather had been in his tent performing his administrative duties. Though he had received word of the American assault, he believed it to be minor given the late hour and the assumed superiority of his position. Only when his line had begun to seriously crumble did Arista acknowledge the severity of the battle. After failing to rally his retreating infantry, Arista personally led a cavalry charge to try and break up American gains on the southern bank of the resaca. Though initially finding some success, the rough terrain quickly broke up the charge before it could deal any major damage to Taylor's forces.

West of the road, Captain Robert C. Buchanan and men of the 4th Infantry found a trail which turned towards the Mexican left flank, enabling them to take and hold the battery located there. They held the position against General Pedro de Ampudia's counterattacks, and the entire Mexican force panicked and fled across the Rio Grande, with many Mexican soldiers drowning in the attempt.

Aftermath
The victory at Resaca de la Palma quickly rose to great renown among the American military and public. Personal documents from soldiers attached to General Taylor's army highlight tremendous joy and excitement from the Mexican rout, boosting an already confident morale. For the American public, the victory was among the first news they had heard of the war. In fact, Mexico's declaration of war against the United States did not even reach President James Polk in Washington D.C. until May 9, the very day that the Battle of Resaca de la Palma was fought. As a result of this delay, a majority of American citizens received the news of the outbreak of hostilities and the victory at Resaca de la Palma simultaneously. The overwhelming success of General Taylor against the Mexican forces colored the American perception of the war, and Congress' call for the raising of new regiments (ratified prior to the news of the victory) was quickly overfilled by thousands of eager volunteers.

The Battle of Resaca de la Palma blunted the Mexican offensive into Texan territory and opened an opportunity for General Taylor to invade Mexico. Strategically, the battle cemented American tactics that they would use throughout the war to great effect; in particular, Resaca de la Palma highlighted the power of American artillery against their Mexican counterparts and the ways in which Mexican commanders sought to neutralize that advantage. The mix of different types of shot used by Ridgely's gunners also proved to be quite potent and allowed them to respond to a variety of battlefield situations much more rapidly than the Mexican artillery, especially when confronting cavalry charges.

The Mexican Army left behind a number of artillery pieces, the colors of Mexico's lauded Tampico Battalion, and other baggage which included Arista's writing desk and silver service. One of the most important finds among the documents was General Arista's personal map of the Eastern Interior Department, which provided a detailed, up-to-date view of the surrounding regions of Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, and Coahuila. This comprehensive map proved to be much more reliable than General Taylor's maps, which, having been made in the early 1830's, were over a decade old. The capture of this map provided Taylor with an invaluable resource in planning the next phase of his campaign, especially now that the fighting had moved to the opposite side of the Rio Grande, where American intelligence was less reliable. Among the several captured Mexican artillery pieces were two 8-pounder bronze guns, two 6-pounder bronze guns, and four 4-pounder bronze guns.

The rout of General Arista's army at Resaca de la Palma also relieved the Mexican siege of Fort Texas, where a garrison had been left following Taylor's move to Point Isabel prior to the Battle of Palo Alto. Only eight miles from Palo Alto and four miles from Resaca de la Palma, the garrison was well within earshot of the fighting and the noise of the battles proved a great boost to the morale of the besieged men. As the Mexican lines deteriorated, the batteries at Fort Texas were able to contribute to the rout, joining with Taylor's advance troops in forcing Arista's army back across the Rio Grande.

Taylor's army settled into their Fort Texas campsite as Taylor considered his next move, although he did exchange prisoners with Arista. Taylor crossed the Rio Grande on 18 May, Arista's army having abandoned their artillery, sick and wounded at Linares, Nuevo Leon during their retreat to Monterrey.

Before accepting a prisoner exchange with General Arista, Taylor was noted for his humane treatment of the abandoned Mexican wounded, giving them the same care as was given to the American wounded. After tending to the wounded he performed the last rites for the dead of both the American and Mexican soldiers killed during the battle. General Arista was also recognized for his care of captured American soldiers, especially pertaining to the men belonging to Captain Seth Thornton's cavalry patrol which had been ambushed within the first days of the conflict.

The Resaca De La Palma Battlefield is in the city limits of present-day Brownsville, Texas, but is part of the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park.

The Battle of Resaca de la Palma inspired the name of Resaca, Georgia, a community that later became the site of the Battle of Resaca.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Battle of Resaca de la Palma


text:
William Archer Butler

William Archer Butler (c. 1814 – 5 July 1848) was an Irish historian of philosophy.

Life
He was born at Annerville, near Clonmel in Ireland. His father was a Protestant, his mother a Roman Catholic, and he was brought up as a Catholic. As a boy he was imaginative and poetical, and some of his early verses were remarkable. While yet at Clonmel school he became a Protestant. Later he entered and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. where he had a brilliant career. He specially devoted himself to literature and metaphysics, and was noted for the beauty of his style. In 1834 he gained the ethical moderatorship, newly instituted by Provost Lloyd, and continued in residence at college. In 1837 he decided to enter the Church, and in the same year he was elected to the professorship of moral philosophy, specially founded for him through Lloyd's exertions.

About the same time he was presented to the prebend of Clondahorky, Donegal, and resided there when not called by his professorial duties to Dublin. In 1842 he was promoted to the rectory of Raymochy. He died on 5 July 1848.

Works
His Sermons (2 vols., 1849) were brilliant and forceful. The Lectures on the History of Ancient Philosophy, edited by W. Hepworth Thompson (2 vols., 5856; 2nd ed., 1 vol. 1875) were among the few British works on the history of philosophy. These works include introductory lectures, the early Greek thinkers, and lectures on Plato.

Among his other writings were papers in the Dublin University Magazine (1834–1837); and "Letters on Development" (in the Irish Ecclesiastical Journal, 1845), a reply to Newman's famous Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine.

title: William Archer Butler


text:
ISO 3166-2:GB

ISO 3166-2:GB is the entry for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions (e.g., provinces or states) of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1. The codes and structures used are provided to the ISO by British Standards and the Office for National Statistics.

Currently for the United Kingdom, ISO 3166-2 codes are defined for the following subdivisions:
 * 3 countries and 1 province
 * 25 two-tier counties, 36 metropolitan districts, 58 unitary authorities, 32 London boroughs and 1 city corporation (England)
 * 11 districts (Northern Ireland)
 * 32 council areas (Scotland)
 * 22 unitary authorities (Wales)

Each code consists of two parts, separated by a hyphen. The first part is GB, the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code of the United Kingdom. The second part is three letters, which is the British Standard BS 6879 three-letter code of the subdivision.

Though GB is the United Kingdom's ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code, UK is exceptionally reserved for the United Kingdom on the request of the country. Its main usage is the .uk internet ccTLD and, on 28 September 2021, UK replaced GB as the official country code on car registration plates.

Current codes
Subdivision names are listed as in the ISO 3166-2 standard published by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency (ISO 3166/MA).

BS 6879 gives alternative name forms in Welsh (cy) for some of the Welsh unitary authorities (together with alternative code elements). Since this part of ISO 3166 does not allow for duplicate coding of identical subdivisions, such alternative names in Welsh and code elements are shown for information purposes only in square brackets after the English name of the subdivision.

Countries and province
Wales was changed from being described as a principality to being described as a country in the December 2011 update to the standard. England and Scotland were maintained as country and Northern Ireland was maintained as province.

Included for completeness
The codes GB-EAW, GB-GBN, and GB-UKM are only mentioned in remark part 2 in the ISO website where they are "included for completeness".

Changes
The following changes to the entry have been announced in newsletters by the ISO 3166/MA since the first publication of ISO 3166-2 in 1998. ISO stopped issuing newsletters in 2013.

The following changes to the entry are listed on ISO's online catalogue, the Online Browsing Platform:

title: ISO 3166-2:GB


text:
Departments of the Continental Army

In the American Revolutionary War units of the Continental Army were assigned to any one of seven regional or territorial departments to decentralize their command and administration. This was necessary because the regiment was the largest permanent unit in the Continental Army. A superior headquarters, above regiment, was needed if more than a few regiments were stationed in the same department. Although brigades, divisions, and field armies existed, they were temporary units which did not necessarily include all the units assigned to a department. Nor did field armies include establishments of the staff, such as magazines (supply depots) of the Quartermaster General's Department, or hospitals of the Hospital Department. The militia in a department was usually at the disposal of the department commander.

Departmental organization
The Continental troops in a department constituted its garrison. If the garrison was sufficiently large, the units might be assembled into a field army. In this case the commander of the territorial department and the commander of the field army would be one and the same officer. Thus, the commanding general of the Northern Department was also commanding general of the Northern Army, and the commanding general of the Southern Department was also commanding general of the Southern Army. Armies did not, however, invariably receive a geographical designation. Because the field army under Washington's personal command contained the majority of Continental Army units it was designated the Main Army. Each department had a semi-autonomous commanding officer, usually a commanding general, under the overall command of Washington as General and Commander-in-Chief. The Continental Congress dealt with and through the department commanders.

Appointment of department commanders
Throughout the war, the Continental Congress retained exclusive authority to appoint or remove department commanders. In practice, when an urgent need arose, a temporary commander was just as frequently appointed by George Washington or the executive power of one of the states, pending the approval of the Continental Congress. Many of these temporary department commanders were then confirmed and formally appointed by the Congress. This practice, along with control of the Continental Army and Navy through the war and marine committees of the Continental Congress, established the precedent for civil control of military affairs later embodied in the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution.

Relations between the departments and the states
The department commanders and their staffs also worked directly with the governments of the states within their department. At first these were the ad hoc provisional governments developed in 1774 and 1775, but the practice continued after 1776 when the states replaced their Provincial Congresses and Conventions with permanent governments operating under written constitutions. Ordinarily departments were commanded by major generals. Washington as a full general was the ranking general officer in the Continental Army throughout the war.

Departments
In general there were seven territorial departments, although their boundaries were subject to change and they were not all in existence throughout the war.

Canadian Department
The establishment of the Canadian Department reflected the aspirations of the Continental Congress and some Americans to annex the British province of Quebec, then often referred to as "Canada", but the effort was ultimately unsuccessful. Although the Americans captured Montreal in November 1775, and established their headquarters at Château Ramezay, the region was never entirely under the control of the Continental Army. The Canadian Department was formally established from the New York Department on January 17, 1776. After the Invasion of Canada failed, all troops were withdrawn to Fort Ticonderoga, New York. The Canadian Department was officially discontinued on July 8, 1776.

Eastern Department
The Eastern Department was formed around those states that had originally sent troops to support the Siege of Boston, and in that sense it even existed before the Continental Army. This was essentially the New England department, and included the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts (including the present state of Maine), Rhode Island, and Connecticut. For the first year of the war, the field army associated with this department, under the command of General Washington, was variously designated as the Continental Army, Grand Army, or Main Army. The Eastern Department was formally established on April 4, 1776 when the Main Army under Washington moved from Boston to New York City. Important operations in this department included the Siege of Boston in 1775–1776 and the Battle of Rhode Island in 1779. The department was discontinued in November 1779.

Northern Department
The predecessor of the Northern Department was the New York Department, which was established on June 25, 1775. This department was sometimes described as the Separate Department and the troops stationed in it were known as the Separate Army. The original New York Department was coextensive with the Province of New York. The department's boundaries were extended to include Canada in the initial phase of the Invasion of Canada, but Canada was established as a separate department on January 17, 1776. When the Middle Department was created on February 27, 1776 the New York Department was merged into it. The Middle Department, as originally organized, included all of the colonies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The inclusion of New York in the Middle Department continued for less than two months, however. In April 1776 the Main Army moved from Boston to New York City and Washington assumed command of the Middle Department. The Northern Department was formally established from the Middle Department on April 14, 1776. The reorganized Northern Department included only that portion of the colony of New York north of the Hudson Highlands, and the present state of Vermont. The field army associated with the Northern Department was known as the Northern Army. Operations in this department did not end with Saratoga. Fighting continued in the Northern Department until the end of the war. The department was discontinued upon the death of its last commander, General Alexander, at Albany on January 15, 1783.

Highlands Department
The Highlands Department was the smallest in area. Strictly speaking, it was part of the Middle Department, but because of its importance it was virtually a separate department. The Highlands Department was formed around the defenses on the Hudson River about 50 mi north of New York City, where the Appalachians and the Hudson intersect. After the British occupied New York City in 1776 the defenses just north of there became critically important. The presence of British naval forces at New York emphasized the importance of the Hudson River, and both sides in the war recognized the importance of controlling that waterway. The Americans created fortifications, including West Point with its chain across the river. Washington assigned Continental troops under General Heath to the Highlands on November 12, 1776 and there was a Continental Army garrison in the Highlands from then until the end of the war. Heath's assignment thus created a de facto military department. The British sought to gain control with the Saratoga campaign in 1777, and frequently raided into the southern reaches of the department to interfere with the movement of military goods and personnel. One of the most notable incidents in the history of this department was the defection of Benedict Arnold in September 1780.

Middle Department
The Middle Department was established on February 27, 1776. Originally it included all of the colonies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. In April 1776, the Main Army moved from Boston to New York, and became the field army associated with the Middle Department for the remainder of the war. On April 14, 1776 that portion of New York north of the Hudson Highlands, and the present state of Vermont were separated from the Middle Department and organized as the Northern Department. The Middle Department then comprised the Hudson Highlands in the state of New York, the rest of New York south of the Highlands, and the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland.

The term Main Army had come into use during the Siege of Boston, because the majority of Continental Army regiments were assigned to it. The term was retained throughout the war. Most units in the Middle Department were assigned to the Main Army, under George Washington, or to the Highlands Department, which was under Washington's close supervision. A few regiments and independent companies were assigned to the Middle Department from time to time, but were not assigned to Washington's army or to the Highlands. These units were simply said to have been assigned to the Middle Department.

Some of the Continental Army's most important campaigns were fought in this department. These included the New York campaign and the New Jersey campaign which ended with the battles of Trenton and Princeton. The Philadelphia campaign was fought in this department, after which the Continental Army went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. In 1778 this department was the scene of the Monmouth campaign. After Monmouth, on June 28, 1778, major military operations in the United States shifted to the Southern Department. The department existed until the close of the war. It was the scene of one of the war's last episodes when the British Army evacuated New York City on November 25, 1783.

Western Department
The Western Department covered the frontier territories west and northwest of Virginia and Pennsylvania, including the present states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. It extended from Pittsburgh all the way to the Illinois country and as far north as the southern peninsula of Michigan. The department was established in 1777. Its first commander was Edward Hand. George Rogers Clark's Illinois campaign of 1779 was one of the most notable operations in this department. This department was the only one to remain after the war. The last elements of the Continental Army, stationed at Fort Pitt, were kept to guard the western frontier outposts.

Southern Department
The Southern Department was formally established on February 27, 1776. The department included Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia and the western frontiers of those colonies, from which were created the present states of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. The field army associated with this department was known as the Southern Army. The Southern Department was the most independent of the commands due to geography and the need for year-round operations. Most of the territorial departments to the north of this department suspended offensive operations for the winter and early spring. The Southern Department was also the only one in which the troops assigned were destroyed twice. The first time was at the surrender of Charleston on May 12, 1780. The second was at the Battle of Camden on August 16, 1780. Despite these two catastrophic defeats, however, this department was the location of the Siege of Yorktown, in 1781, which effectively decided the outcome of the war. Important events in the Southern Department after Yorktown were the evacuation of Savannah and Charleston in July and December 1782. The Southern Department existed until the close of the war.

title: Departments of the Continental Army


text:
Albert Schwegler

Albert Schwegler (10 February 1819 – 5 January 1857) was a German philosopher and Protestant theologian.

Biography
Schwegler was born at Michelbach in Württemberg, the son of a country pastor. He entered the University of Tübingen in 1836, and was one of the earliest pupils of F. C. Baur, under whose influence he devoted himself to church history. His first work was Der Montanismus und die christliche Kirche des Zweiten Jahrhunderts (1841), in which he pointed out for the first time that Montanism was much more than an isolated outbreak of eccentric fanaticism in the early church, though he himself introduced fresh misconceptions by connecting it with Ebionitism as he conceived the latter. This work, with other essays, brought him into conflict with the authorities of the church, in consequence of which he gave up theology as his professional study and chose that of philosophy.

In 1843 he founded the Jahrbücher der Gegenwart, and became privatdozent of philosophy and classical philology at Tübingen University. In 1848 he was made an associate professor of Roman literature and archaeology, and soon afterwards a full professor of history.

He died in Tübingen.

Work
His principal theological work was Das nachapostolische Zeitalter in den Hauptmomenten seiner Entwicklung (The Post-Apostolic Age in the Principal Moments of its Development) (2 volumes, 1846). It was this book which first put before the world, with Schwegler's characteristic boldness and clearness, the results of the critical labours of the earlier representatives of the new Tübingen school in relation to the first development of Christianity.

Schwegler published also an edition of the Clementine Homilies (1847), and of Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History (1852). His work on the history of philosophy includes his excellent Geschichte der Philosophie im Umriß (History of Philosophy in Epitome, 1846–1847, 14th ed. 1887; 1st edition of English translation by James Hutchison Stirling titled Handbook of the History of Philosophy, 1867; 5th edition of English translation by Julius Hawley Seelye titled History of Philosophy in Epitome, 1877), his Übersetzung und Erläuterung der aristotelischen Metaphysik (4 volumes, 1847–48), and a posthumous Geschichte der griechischen Philosophie (History of Greek Philosophy; 1859).

In history he began a Römische Geschichte (vols. i.–iii., 1853–58, 2nd edition 1867–72), which he brought down only to the laws of Licinius.

title: Albert Schwegler


text:
Emil Cioran

Emil Mihai Cioran (, ; 8 April 1911 – 20 June 1995) was a Romanian philosopher, aphorist and essayist, who published works in both Romanian and French. His work has been noted for its pervasive philosophical pessimism, style, and aphorisms. His works frequently engaged with issues of suffering, decay, and nihilism. In 1937, Cioran moved to the Latin Quarter of Paris, which became his permanent residence, wherein he lived in seclusion with his partner, Simone Boué, until his death in 1995.

Early life

Cioran was born in Resinár, Szeben County, Kingdom of Hungary (today Rășinari, Sibiu County, Romania). His father, Emilian Cioran, was an Orthodox priest, and his mother, Elvira, was the head of the Christian Women's League.

At 10, Cioran moved to Sibiu to attend school, and at 17, he was enrolled in the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy at the University of Bucharest, where he met Eugène Ionesco and Mircea Eliade, who became his friends. Future Romanian philosopher Constantin Noica and future Romanian thinker Petre Țuțea became his closest academic colleagues; all three studied under Tudor Vianu and Nae Ionescu. Cioran, Eliade, and Țuțea became supporters of Ionescu's ideas, known as Trăirism.

Cioran had a good command of German, learning the language at an early age, and proceeded to read philosophy that was available in German, but not in Romanian. Notes from Cioran's adolescence indicated a study of Friedrich Nietzsche, Honoré de Balzac, Arthur Schopenhauer and Fyodor Dostoevsky, among others. He became an agnostic, taking as an axiom "the inconvenience of existence". While at the university, he was influenced by Georg Simmel, Ludwig Klages and Martin Heidegger, but also by the Russian philosopher Lev Shestov, whose contribution to Cioran's central system of thought was the belief that life is arbitrary. Cioran's graduation thesis was on Henri Bergson, whom he later rejected, claiming Bergson did not comprehend the tragedy of life.

From the age of 20, Cioran began to suffer from insomnia, a condition which he suffered from for the rest of his life, and permeated his writings. Cioran's decision to write about his experiences in his first book, On the Heights of Despair, came from an episode of insomnia.

Berlin and Romania
In 1933, he received a scholarship to the University of Berlin, where he studied Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Hegel, Edmund Husserl, Immanuel Kant, Georg Simmel, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche. Here, he came into contact with Klages and Nicolai Hartmann. While in Berlin, he became interested in the policies of the Nazi regime, contributed a column to Vremea dealing with the topic (in which Cioran confessed that "there is no present-day politician that I see as more sympathetic and admirable than Hitler", while expressing his approval for the Night of the Long Knives—"what has humanity lost if the lives of a few imbeciles were taken"), and, in a letter written to Petru Comarnescu, described himself as "a Hitlerist". He held similar views about Italian fascism, welcoming victories in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, arguing that: "Fascism is a shock, without which Italy is a compromise comparable to today's Romania".

Cioran's first book,  Pe culmile disperării (literally translated: "On the Heights of Despair"), was published in Romania in 1934. It was awarded the Commission's Prize and the Young Writers Prize for one of the best books written by an unpublished young writer. Regardless, Cioran later spoke negatively of it, saying "it is a very poorly written book, without any style."

Successively, The Book of Delusions (1935), The Transfiguration of Romania (1936) and Tears and Saints (1937) were also published in Romania. Tears and Saints was "incredibly poorly received", and after it was published, Cioran's mother wrote him asking him to retract the book because it was causing her public embarrassment.

Although Cioran was never a member of the group, it was during this time in Romania that he began taking an interest in the ideas put forth by the Iron Guard—a far right organization whose nationalist ideology he supported until the early years of World War II, despite allegedly disapproving of their violent methods. Cioran would later denounce fascism, describing it in 1970 as "the worst folly of my youth. If I am cured of one sickness, it is surely that one."

Cioran revised The Transfiguration of Romania heavily in its second edition released in the 1990s, eliminating numerous passages he considered extremist or "pretentious and stupid". In its original form, the book expressed sympathy for totalitarianism, a view which was also present in various articles Cioran wrote at the time, and which aimed to establish "urbanization and industrialization" as "the two obsessions of a rising people".

His early call for modernization was, however, hard to reconcile with the traditionalism of the Iron Guard. In 1934, he wrote, "I find that in Romania the sole fertile, creative, and invigorating nationalism can only be one which does not just dismiss tradition, but also denies and defeats it". Disapproval of what he viewed as specifically Romanian traits had been present in his works ("In any maxim, in any proverb, in any reflection, our people expresses the same shyness in front of life, the same hesitation and resignation... [...] Everyday Romanian [truisms] are dumbfounding."), which led to criticism from the far-right Gândirea (its editor, Nichifor Crainic, had called The Transfiguration of Romania "a bloody, merciless, massacre of today's Romania, without even [the fear] of matricide and sacrilege"), as well as from various Iron Guard papers.

France
After returning from Berlin in 1936, Cioran taught philosophy at the Andrei Șaguna High School in Brașov for a year. His classes were marked by confusion and he quit in a year.

In 1937, he first applied for a fellowship at the Spanish Embassy in Bucharest but then the Spanish Civil War started. Then he left for Paris with a scholarship from the French Institute branch in Bucharest, which was then prolonged until 1944. He was supposedly working towards a doctoral thesis in the Sorbonne University, but he had no intention to actually work towards it, as the identity of being a student gave him access to cheap meals at the university cafeteria. This he continued until 1951 when a law passed that forbade enrollment of students older than 27.

After a short stay in his home country (November 1940 – February 1941), Cioran never returned again. This last period in Romania was the one in which he exhibited a closer relationship with the Iron Guard, which by then had taken power (see National Legionary State). On 28 November, for the state-owned Romanian Radio, Cioran recorded a speech centered on the portrait of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, former leader of the movement, praising him and the Guard for, among other things, "having given Romanians a purpose".

He later renounced not only his support for the Iron Guard, but also their nationalist ideas, and frequently expressed regret and repentance for his emotional implication in it. For example, in a 1972 interview, he condemned it as "a complex of movements; more than this, a demented sect and a party", saying, "I found out then [...] what it means to be carried by the wave without the faintest trace of conviction. [...] I am now immune to it".

Cioran started writing The Passionate Handbook in 1940 and finished it by 1945. It was the last book he wrote in Romanian, though not the last to deal with pessimism and misanthropy through lyrical aphorisms. Cioran published books only in French thereafter. It was at this point that Cioran's apparent contempt for the Romanian people emerged. He told a friend that he "wanted to write a Philosophy of Failure, with the subtitle For the exclusive use of the Romanian People". Furthermore, he described his move to Paris as "by far the most intelligent thing" he had ever done, and in The Trouble with Being Born he says, "In continual rebellion against my ancestry, I have spent my whole life wanting to be something else: Spanish, Russian, cannibal—anything, except what I was."

In 1942, Cioran met Simone Boué, another insomniac, whom he lived with for the rest of his life. Cioran kept their relationship entirely private, and never spoke of his relationship with Boué in his writings or interviews.

In 1949, his first French book, A Short History of Decay, was published by Gallimard and was awarded the Prix Rivarol in 1950 for the best book written by a non-French author. Throughout his career, Cioran refused most literary prizes awarded to him.

Later life and death

The Latin Quarter of Paris became Cioran's permanent residence. He lived most of his life in seclusion, avoiding the public, but still maintained contact with numerous friends, including Mircea Eliade, Eugène Ionesco, Paul Celan, Samuel Beckett, Henri Michaux and Fernando Savater.

In a 1986 interview, Cioran said he no longer smoked or drank coffee or alcohol, citing health reasons.

In 1995, Cioran died of Alzheimer's disease and was buried at the Montparnasse Cemetery.

Major themes and style
Professing a lack of interest in conventional philosophy in his early youth, Cioran dismissed abstract speculation in favor of personal reflection and passionate lyricism. "I invented nothing. I've been the one and only secretary of my own sensations", he later said.

Aphorisms make up a large portion of Cioran's bibliography, and some of his books, such as The Trouble with Being Born, are composed entirely of aphorisms. Speaking about this decision, Cioran said:

"I only write this kind of stuff, because explaining bores me terribly. That's why I say when I've written aphorisms it's that I've sunk back into fatigue, why bother. And so, the aphorism is scorned by "serious" people, the professors look down upon it. When they read a book of aphorisms, they say, "Oh, look what this fellow said ten pages back, now he's saying the contrary. He's not serious." Me, I can put two aphorisms that are contradictory right next to each other. Aphorisms are also momentary truths. They're not decrees. And I could tell you in nearly every case why I wrote this or that phrase, and when. It's always set in motion by an encounter, an incident, a fit of temper, but they all have a cause. It's not at all gratuitous."

Philosophical pessimism characterizes all of his works, which many critics trace back to events of his childhood (in 1935 his mother is reputed to have told him that if she had known he was going to be so unhappy she would have aborted him). However, Cioran's pessimism (in fact, his skepticism, even nihilism) remains both inexhaustible and, in its own particular manner, joyful; it is not the sort of pessimism which can be traced back to simple origins, single origins themselves being questionable. When Cioran's mother spoke to him of abortion, he confessed that it did not disturb him, but made an extraordinary impression which led to an insight about the nature of existence ("I'm simply an accident. Why take it all so seriously?" is what he later said in reference to the incident).

His works often depict an atmosphere of torment, a state that Cioran himself experienced, and came to be dominated by lyricism and, often, the expression of intense and even violent feeling. The books he wrote in Romanian especially display this latter characteristic. Preoccupied with the problems of death and suffering, he was attracted to the idea of suicide, believing it to be an idea that could help one go on living, an idea which he fully explored in On the Heights of Despair. He revisits suicide in depth in The New Gods, which contains a section of aphorisms devoted to the subject. The theme of human alienation, the most prominent existentialist theme, presented by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, is thus formulated, in 1932, by young Cioran: "Is it possible that existence is our exile and nothingness our home?" in On the Heights of Despair.

Cioran's works encompass many other themes as well: original sin, the tragic sense of history, the end of civilization, the refusal of consolation through faith, the obsession with the absolute, life as an expression of man's metaphysical exile, etc. He was a thinker passionate about history; widely reading the writers that were associated with the "Decadent movement". One of these writers was Oswald Spengler who influenced Cioran's political philosophy in that he offered Gnostic reflections on the destiny of man and civilization. According to Cioran, as long as man has kept in touch with his origins and hasn't cut himself off from himself, he has resisted decadence. Today, he is on his way to his own destruction through self-objectification, impeccable production and reproduction, excess of self-analysis and transparency, and artificial triumph.

Regarding God, Cioran has noted that "without Bach, God would be a complete second-rate figure" and that "Bach's music is the only argument proving the creation of the Universe cannot be regarded as a complete failure". Cioran went on to say "Bach, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Dostoevsky and Nietzsche are the only arguments against monotheism."

William H. Gass called Cioran's The Temptation to Exist "a philosophical romance on the modern themes of alienation, absurdity, boredom, futility, decay, the tyranny of history, the vulgarities of change, awareness as agony, reason as disease".

According to Susan Sontag, Cioran's subject is "on being a mind, a consciousness tuned to the highest pitch of refinement" and "[i]n Cioran's writings... the mind is a voyeur. But not upon 'the world.' Upon itself. Cioran is, to a degree reminiscent of Beckett, concerned with the absolute integrity of thought. That is, with the reduction or circumscription of thought to thinking about thinking."

Cioran became most famous while writing not in Romanian but French, a language with which he had struggled since his youth. During Cioran's lifetime, Saint-John Perse called him "the greatest French writer to honor our language since the death of Paul Valéry." Cioran's tone and usage in his adopted language were seldom as harsh as in Romanian (though his use of Romanian is said to be more original).

Legacy
After the death of Cioran's long-term companion, Simone Boué, a collection of Cioran's manuscripts (over 30 notebooks) were found in the couple's apartment by a manager who tried to auction them in 2005. A decision taken by the Court of Appeal of Paris stopped the commercial sale of the collection. However, in March 2011, the Court of Appeal ruled that the seller was the legitimate owner of the manuscripts. The manuscripts were purchased by Romanian businessman George Brăiloiu for €405,000.

An aged Cioran is the main character in a play by Romanian dramatist-actor Matei Vișniec, Mansardă la Paris cu vedere spre moarte ("A Paris Loft with a View on Death"). The play, depicting an imaginary meeting between Vișniec and Cioran, was first brought to the stage in 2007, under the direction of Radu Afrim and with a cast of Romanian and Luxembourgian actors; Cioran was played by Constantin Cojocaru. Stagings were organized in the Romanian city of Sibiu and in Luxembourg, at Esch-sur-Alzette (both Sibiu and Luxembourg City were the year's European Capital of Culture). In 2009, the Romanian Academy granted posthumous membership to Cioran.

Susan Sontag was a great admirer of Cioran, calling him "one of the most delicate minds of real power writing today." She wrote an essay on his work that served as the introduction to the English translation of The Temptation to Exist, published in 1967. The essay was included in Sontag's 1969 collection Styles of Radical Will.

Under the rule of Nicolae Ceaușescu, Cioran's works were banned. In 1974, Francoist Spain banned The Evil Demiurge for being "atheist, blasphemous, and anti-Christian", which Cioran considered "one of the greatest jokes in his absurd existence."

American electronic musician Oneohtrix Point Never named a song for Emil on their 2009 release Zones Without People.

Danish neofolk musician Kim Larsen re-enacted Cioran's choking arms photograph on the cover of the 2021 album Your Love Can't Hold This Wreath of Sorrow.

In the 2023 Mexican/US English-language film Rotting in the Sun actor and character (and director) Sebastián Silva is seen reading Cioran's book, The Trouble with Being Born, at the beach and quotes passages from it.

Romanian

 * Pe culmile disperării (translated "On the Heights of Despair"), Editura "Fundația pentru Literatură și Artă", Bucharest 1934
 * Cartea amăgirilor ("The Book of Delusions"), Bucharest 1936
 * Schimbarea la față a României ("The Transfiguration of Romania"), Bucharest 1936
 * Lacrimi și Sfinți ("Tears and Saints"), "Editura autorului" 1937
 * Îndreptar pătimaș ("The Passionate Handbook"), Humanitas, Bucharest 1991

French
All of Cioran's major works in French have been translated into English by Richard Howard.

 * Précis de décomposition ("A Short History of Decay"), Gallimard 1949
 * Syllogismes de l'amertume (tr. "All Gall Is Divided"), Gallimard 1952
 * La Tentation d'exister ("The Temptation to Exist"), Gallimard 1956 | English edition: ISBN 978-0-226-10675-5
 * Histoire et utopie ("History and Utopia"), Gallimard 1960
 * La Chute dans le temps ("The Fall into Time"), Gallimard 1964
 * Le Mauvais démiurge (literally The Evil Demiurge; tr. "The New Gods"), Gallimard 1969
 * De l'inconvénient d'être né ("The Trouble with Being Born"), Gallimard 1973
 * Écartèlement (tr. "Drawn and Quartered"), Gallimard 1979
 * Exercices d'admiration 1986, and Aveux et anathèmes 1987 (tr. and grouped as "Anathemas and Admirations")
 * Œuvres (Collected works), Gallimard-Quatro 1995
 * Mon pays/Țara mea ("My country", written in French, the book was first published in Romania in a bilingual volume), Humanitas, Bucharest, 1996
 * Cahiers 1957–1972 ("Notebooks"), Gallimard 1997
 * Des larmes et des saints, L'Herne | English edition: ISBN 978-0-226-10672-4
 * Sur les cimes du désespoir, L'Herne, | English edition: ISBN 978-0-226-10670-0
 * Le Crépuscule des pensées, L'Herne,
 * Jadis et naguère, L'Herne
 * Valéry face à ses idoles, L'Herne, 1970, 2006
 * De la France, L'Herne, 2009
 * Transfiguration de la Roumanie, L'Herne, 2009
 * Cahier Cioran, L'Herne, 2009 (Several unpublished documents, letters and photographs).

title: Emil Cioran


text:
Gamla Uppsala

Gamla Uppsala (, Old Uppsala) is a parish and a village outside Uppsala in Sweden. It had 17,973 inhabitants in 2016.

As early as the 3rd century AD and the 4th century AD and onwards, it was an important religious, economic and political centre. Early written sources show that already during prehistory, Gamla Uppsala was widely famous in Northern Europe as the residence of Swedish kings of the legendary Yngling dynasty. In fact, the oldest Scandinavian sources, such as Ynglingatal, the Westrogothic law and the Gutasaga talk of the King of the Swedes (Suiones) as the "King at Uppsala". It was the main centre of the Swedes.

During the Middle Ages, it was the largest village of Uppland, the eastern part of which probably originally formed the core of the complex of properties belonging to the Swedish Crown, the so-called Uppsala öd, of which the western part consisted of the royal estate itself, kungsgården.

It was also the location of the Thing of all Swedes which was a thing (general assembly) held from prehistoric times to the Middle Ages, at the end of February or early March. It was held in conjunction with a great fair called Disting, and a Norse religious celebration called Dísablót. The Law of Uppland says that it was at this assembly that the king proclaimed that the fleet levy would be summoned for warfare during the summer, and all the crews, rowers, commanders and ships were decided.

It was not only the Norse cultic centre, it also became Sweden's archbishopric in 1164.

Geographical description
Gamla Uppsala lies on Fyris Wolds, a cultivated plain in the valley of the River Fyris which is densely populated in its southern part, while the northern part consists of farms.

Religious importance
Medieval Scandinavians held Gamla Uppsala as one of the oldest and most important locations in Scandinavia. The Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus held Odin himself to have resided in Gamla Uppsala far back in the mists of time:

"At this time there was one Odin, who was credited over all Europe with the honour, which was false, of godhead, but used more continually to sojourn at Uppsala; and in this spot, either from the sloth of the inhabitants or from its own pleasantness, he vouchsafed to dwell with somewhat especial constancy."

This tradition was also known by the Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, who, however had Odin reside in nearby Fornsigtuna, whereas the god Freyr lived in Gamla Uppsala. Freyr is also said to have founded two of the central institutions of Iron Age Sweden, the Uppsala öd and the Temple at Uppsala: "Frey took the kingdom after Njord, and was called drot by the Swedes, and they paid taxes to him. He was, like his father, fortunate in friends and in good seasons. Frey built a great temple at Uppsala, made it his chief seat, and gave it all his taxes, his land, and goods. Then began the Upsal domains, which have remained ever since."

Saxo Grammaticus adds that Freyr began the human sacrifices at Gamla Uppsala:

"Also Frey, the regent of the gods, took his abode not far from Uppsala, where he exchanged for a ghastly and infamous sin-offering the old custom of prayer by sacrifice, which had been used by so many ages and generations. For he paid to the gods abominable offerings, by beginning to slaughter human victims."

The sacrifices at the Temple at Uppsala are described by Adam of Bremen:

At this point I shall say a few words about the religious beliefs of the Swedes. That nation has a magnificent temple, which is called Uppsala, located not far from the city of Sigtuna. In this temple, built entirely of gold, the people worship the statues of three gods.

A general festival for all the provinces of Sweden is customarily held at Uppsala every nine years. Participation in this festival is required of everyone. Kings and their subjects, collectively and individually, send their gifts to Uppsala; and – a thing more cruel than any punishment – those who have already adopted Christianity buy themselves off from these ceremonies. The sacrifice is as follows: Of every kind of male creature, nine victims are offered. By the blood of these creatures it is the custom to appease the gods.

Their bodies, moreover, are hanged in a grove which is adjacent to the temple. This grove is so sacred to the people that the separate trees in it are believed to be holy because of the death or putrefaction of the sacrificial victims. There even dogs and horses hang beside human beings. (A certain Christian told me that he had seen seventy-two of their bodies hanging up together.) The incantations, however, which are usually sung in the performance of a libation of this kind are numerous and disgraceful, and it is better not to speak of them.

In the scolia, there is an additional description: "Near that temple is a very large tree with widespread branches which are always green both in winter and summer. What kind of tree it is nobody knows. There is also a spring there where the pagan are accustomed to perform sacrifices and to immerse a human being alive. As long as his body is not found, the request of the people will be fulfilled. A golden chain encircles that temple and hangs over the gables of the building. Those who approach see its gleam from afar off because the shrine, which is located on a plain, is encircled by mountains so situated as to give the effect of a theatre. For nine days feasts and sacrifices of this kind are celebrated. Every day they sacrifice one human being in addition to other animals, so that in nine days there are 72 victims which are sacrificed. This sacrifice takes place about the time of the vernal equinox."

The 16th century Johannes Magnus, the Archbishop of Uppsala, asserted that the city was anciently founded by, and named for, an early Swedish king named Ubbo (Uppsala = Ubbo's Hall), who would have supposedly reigned c. 2300 BCE. However, in the absence of any corroborating evidence, Magnus' accounts no longer enjoy widespread acceptance among scholars today.

It was a symbolic moment when Pope John Paul II visited Scandinavia in 1989 and held an open-air mass at the royal mounds in Gamla Uppsala, as this was a Norse religion cultic centre, which became Sweden's first archbishopric in 1164.

In 2000, the Swedish AsatruSociety restarted the tradition of holding blóts at Gamla Uppsala.

History
It is a testimony to the sanctity of the location in the mindset of followers of medieval Norse religion that Gamla Uppsala was the last stronghold of pre-Christian, Norse Germanic kingship. During the 1070s and 1080s there appears to have been a renaissance of Norse religion with the magnificent Temple at Uppsala described in a contested account through an eye-witness by Adam of Bremen. Adam of Bremen relates of the Uppsala of the 1070s and describes it as a pagan cult centre with the enormous Temple at Uppsala containing wooden statues of Odin, Thor and Freyr.

Sometime in the 1080s the Christian king Ingi was exiled for refusing to perform the sacrifices. Instead Blot-Sweyn was elected, but he was killed by Ingi who could then reclaim his throne.

Its great importance in Swedish tradition led to the location of Sweden's first Archbishopric in Gamla Uppsala in 1164. In practice, however, it had lost its strategic importance when it gradually lost ready access to navigable waters as the land rose owing to the constant post-glacial rebound.

Archaeology
People have been buried in Gamla Uppsala for 2,000 years, since the area rose above water. Originally there were between 2,000 and 3,000 mounds in the area but most have become farmland, gardens and quarries. Today only 250 barrows remain.

In the parish there are more than 1,000 preserved archaeological remains, but many more have been removed by agriculture. There are cairns of splintered stone that reveal that the area was settled during the Nordic Bronze Age, but most of the grave fields are from the Iron Age and the Viking Age.

The great grave field south of the Royal Mounds is from the Roman Iron Age and the Germanic Iron Age. Near the vicarage, a few unburnt graves from the Viking Age have been excavated.

Under the present church in Gamla Uppsala have been found the remains of one or several large wooden buildings. Some archaeologists believe that they are the remains of the Temple of Uppsala, while others hold that comes from an early Christian wooden church. Churches were often built on pre-Christian sacred sites, though.

Adjacent to the present church there is a plateau of clay, the Plateau of the Royal Estate (Kungsgårdsplatån), on which archaeologists have found the remains of a large hall.

The Royal Mounds
The Royal Mounds (Swedish: Kungshögarna) is the name of the three large barrows located in Gamla Uppsala. According to folklore, the three gods Thor, Odin and Freyr would be at rest in Kungshögarna or Uppsala högar (from the Old Norse word Haugr meaning mound or barrow; cognate English Howe). In the 19th and 20th centuries, they were speculated to hold the remains of three kings of the semi-legendary House of Ynglings and were thus known as Aun's Mound, Adils's Mound and Egil's Mound. Today their geographical locations are used instead and they are called the Eastern mound, Middle Mound and Western Mound.

They are dated to the 5th and 6th centuries. As Sweden's oldest national symbols they are even depicted on the covers of books about the Swedish national identity. In the 6th century, Gamla Uppsala was the location of royal burials. The location was chosen carefully and in order to make them majestic. The tumuli were constructed on top of the ridge.

By burning the dead king and his armour, he was moved to Valhalla by the consuming force of the fire. The fire could reach temperatures of 1500 °C. The remains were covered with cobblestones and then a layer of gravel and sand and finally a thin layer of turf.

Thus he (Odin) established by law that all dead men should be burned, and their belongings laid with them upon the pile, and the ashes be cast into the sea or buried in the earth. Thus, said he, every one will come to Valhalla with the riches he had with him upon the pile; and he would also enjoy whatever he himself had buried in the earth. For men of consequence a mound should be raised to their memory, and for all other warriors who had been distinguished for manhood a standing stone; which custom remained long after Odin's time. [...] It was their faith that the higher the smoke arose in the air, the higher he would be raised whose pile it was; and the richer he would be, the more property that was consumed with him.
 * —Ynglinga saga

An old controversy and its solution
In the 1830s, some scholars claimed that the mounds were pure natural formations and not barrows. This affront to ancient Swedish national symbols could not be accepted by the future Swedish king Karl XV and in order to remove any doubt, he decided to start an excavation.

The task was given to Bror Emil Hildebrand, the director-general of the National Archives. In 1846, he undertook the excavation of the nine-metres-tall (30 ft) Eastern mound with the hope of finding the grave of a Swedish king of old.

The eastern mound
The excavation was complex and generated a lot of publicity. A 25-metre-long (82 ft) tunnel was dug into the mound, where they found a pot of clay filled with burnt bones and around it there were the remains of the charred grave offerings.

Among the most important finds in the eastern mound were many fragments of decorated bronze panels with a dancing warrior carrying a spear. These panels have probably adorned a helmet of the Vendel Age type, common in Uppland (the only foreign examples being the Sutton Hoo and Staffordshire helmets). There were also finds of gold which probably had adorned a scramasax, but according to another interpretation, they were part of a belt. The dead was also given several glass beakers, a tafl game, a comb and a hone.

Most scholars agree that the mound was either raised for a woman or for a young man and a woman as the remains of a woman and boy were found. Hildebrand reburied most of the remains, so a new excavation will need to be undertaken before the controversy can be settled. What is quite certain is that the dead belonged to a royal dynasty.

The western mound
In 1874, Hildebrand started an excavation of the western mound and opened an enormous shaft right into the cairn in the centre of the mound. Under the cobble stones, there were the charred remains of the funeral fire.

In the western mound were found the remains of a man and animals, probably for food during the journey. The remains of a warrior's equipment were found. Luxurious weapons and other objects, both domestic and imported, show that the buried man was very powerful. These remains include a Frankish sword adorned with gold and garnets and a board game with Roman pawns of ivory. He was dressed in a costly suit made of Frankish cloth with golden threads, and he wore a belt with a sumptuous buckle. There were four cameos from the Middle East which were probably part of a casket. The finds show the distant contacts of the people of Uppland in the 6th century.

Gamla Uppsala Church
Gamla Uppsala Church (Gamla Uppsala kyrka) was the seat of the Archbishopric of Sweden prior to 1273, when the seat was moved to Östra Aros (Östra Aros was then renamed Uppsala due to a papal request). The old cathedral was probably built in the 11th century, but finished in the 12th century. The stone building may have been preceded by a wooden church and probably by the large Temple at Uppsala. After a fire in 1240, the nave and transepts of the cathedral were removed, leaving only the choir and central tower, and with the addition of the sacristy and the porch gave the church its present outer appearance. In the 15th century, vaults were added as well as chalk paintings. Among the medieval wooden sculptures there are three crucifixes from the 12th, 13th and 15th centuries.

Archbishop Valerius was buried here. King Eric IX of Sweden was as well, before being moved to Uppsala Cathedral. Astronomer, physicist and mathematician Anders Celsius (1701–1744) was also buried at Gamla Uppsala Church next to his grandfather Magnus Celsius (1621–1679).

title: Gamla Uppsala


text:
Battle of Monterrey

In the Battle of Monterrey (September 21–24, 1846) during the Mexican–American War, General Pedro de Ampudia and the Mexican Army of the North was defeated by the Army of Occupation, a force of United States Regulars, Volunteers, and Texas Rangers under the command of General Zachary Taylor.

The hard-fought urban combat led to heavy casualties on both sides. The battle ended with both sides negotiating a two-month armistice and the Mexican forces being allowed to make an orderly evacuation in return for the surrender of the city.

Background

Following the Battle of Resaca de la Palma, Taylor crossed the Rio Grande on 18 May, while in early June, Mariano Arista turned over command of what remained of his army, 2,638 men, to Francisco Mejia, who led them to Monterrey. On 8 June, United States Secretary of War William L. Marcy ordered Taylor to continue command of operations in northern Mexico, suggested taking Monterrey, and defined his objective to "dispose the enemy to desire an end to the war." On 8 August, Taylor established the headquarters for his Army of Occupation in Camargo, Tamaulipas and then in Cerralvo on 9 September with 6,640 men. Taylor resumed the march to Monterrey on 11 September, reaching Marin on 15 September and departing on 18 September

In early July, General Tomas Requena garrisoned Monterrey with 1,800 men, with the remnants of Arista's army and additional forces from Mexico City arriving by the end of August such that the Mexican forces totaled 7,303 men. General Pedro de Ampudia received orders from Antonio López de Santa Anna to retreat further to the city of Saltillo, where Ampudia was to establish a defensive line, but Ampudia disagreed, sensing glory if he could stop Taylor's advance. Ampudia's forces included reinforcements from Mexico City totaling 3,140 men: 1,080 men of the Garcia-Conde Brigade (Gen. Jose Garcia Conde) (Aguascalientes and Querétaro Battalions, two squadrons of the 3d Line Cavalry, three guns (3-8 lbs)), a thousand men of the Azpeitia Brigade (Col. Florencio Azpeitia) (3d Line, two squadrons of the Jalisco lancers, two squadrons of the Guanajuato Cavalry Regiment, six guns (8 and 12 lbs.) and an ambulance), 1,060 men of the Simeon Ramirez Brigade (Acting Gen. Ramirez) (3d and 4th Light, three guns (1-8 lbs, 2-12 lbs) and 3 howitzers 7" (Capt. P. Gutierrez and Comdte. A. Nieto)) and an artillery unit, the largely Irish-American volunteers called San Patricios (or the Saint Patrick's Battalion), in their first major engagement against U.S. forces.

Battle
Taylor's army, with the Texas Division leading under the command of Major General and Texas Governor James Pinckney Henderson, reached the plain in front of Monterrey at 9am on the morning of 19 September, when they were fired upon by Col. José López Uraga's 4th Infantry guns, located at San Patricio Battery atop the citadel. Taylor ordered the army to camp at Bosque de San Domingo while engineers under the command of Major Joseph K. Mansfield reconnoitered.

Besides the citadel, Mexican strong points within the city included the "Black Fort" (Col. Jose Lopez Uraga, 3d & 4th Line and 9 guns – incl. "San Patricio" Battery); "the Tannery," La Teneria, (2d Ligero under Col. José M. Carrasco and part of the Querétaro Battalion, and 2 guns & 1 mountain howitzer – Lt (?) J. Espejo) El Fortín del Rincón del Diablo (Lt. Col. Calisto Bravo and 3 guns- Capt. Ignacio Joaquin del Arenal); La Purísima bridge and tete-de-pont (Activos of Aguascalientes under Col. Jose Ferro and the Querétaro under Comdte. José María Herrera 3 guns – Capt. P. Gutierez). West of the city atop Independencia stood Ft. Libertad ( 4 guns) and the Obispado (bishop's place) with the Activos of Mexico commanded by Lt. Col. Francisco de Berra and 3 guns and 1 howitzer, and atop Federacion was a redan(2 guns) and Fort Soldado. In reserve at la Plaza was the 3d Ligero under Lt. Col. Juan Castro and 1 gun – Lt. Agustín Espinosa.

General Zachary Taylor decided to attack western Monterrey using William J. Worth's Division in a giant north and west "hook" movement while simultaneously attacking with his main body from the east. Worth started at 2pm on 20 September with Col. John Coffee Hays's Texas Mounted Riflemen Regiment screening the advance, but camped for the night three miles from the Saltillo road.

By 6am on 21 September, Worth continued his advance, repulsing a Jalisco cavalry charge by Col. Juan Nájera, killing the latter and an advance guard consisting of General Manuel Romero's brigade and Lt. Col. Mariano Moret's Guanajuato Regiment. By 8:15am, Worth had severed the Saltillo road from Monterrey and sent Capt. Charles F. Smith with 300 infantry and Texans, plus Capt. Dixon Miles's 7th Infantry and Persifor Smith's 2nd Brigade to take Federacion and Fort Soldado, which they quickly did.

In the meantime, Taylor launched a diversion against eastern Monterrey with Col. John Garland's 1st and 3d Infantry plus Lt. Col. William H. Watson's Maryland and District of Columbia Battalion, which quickly grew into an assault. By 8am, Capt. Electus Backus's company of the 1st Infantry had taken the tannery and by noon, with Col. William B. Campbell's 1st Tennessee and Mississippi Rifles, had taken Fort de La Teneria.

No attacks or sorties occurred on 22 September.

At 3am on 23 September, Worth sent the Texas Rangers and the 4th and 8th Infantry, under Lt. Col. Thomas Childs, to take Fort Libertad on Independencia, which they did by daybreak. With the help of James Duncan's battery, they soon took the Obispado and had control of western Monterrey. By then, the Mexicans had abandoned their outer defenses on the east side of Monterrey, concentrating in the Plaza Mayor, and John A. Quitman's brigade held eastern Monterrey by 11am.

During the exchange of fire, a young Mexican woman named María Josefa Zozaya wandered into the crossfire to tend to the wounds of injured soldiers of both armies. Maria would survive the battle and go on to marry and have six children. Maria would die in 1860 at the age of 38.

By 2pm on 23 September, General Worth advanced into the city from the west, burrowing house to house, supported in the late afternoon by a mortar set up in Plaza de la Capella, and were within a block west of the plaza by 11pm. The Texan volunteers taught the U.S. regulars new techniques for fighting in the city, techniques that they did not employ on 21 September, which led to staggering casualties. Armed with these new urban warfare skills, the U.S. Army, along with Texan, Mississippian, and Tennessee volunteers moved house to house, rooting out Mexican soldiers hiding on rooftops and inside the thick, adobe-walled houses of northern Mexico. By 2pm, Taylor and Quitman were within two blocks east of the plaza when Taylor ordered a withdrawal before nightfall.

General Ampudia decided to negotiate on 24 September. Taylor negotiated a two-month armistice, along the line Rinconada Pass-Linares-San Fernando de Parras, in return for the surrender of the city. The Mexican Army was allowed to march from the city from 26 to 28 September, with their personal arms and one field battery of six guns.

Aftermath
Ampudia had moved beyond the armistice line by 30 September and San Luis Potosi by early November.

The resulting armistice signed between Taylor and Ampudia had major effects upon the outcome of the war. Taylor was lambasted by some in the federal government, where President James K. Polk insisted that the U.S. Army had no authority to negotiate truces, only to "kill the enemy." In addition, his terms of armistice, which allowed Ampudia's forces to retreat with battle honors and all of their weapons, were seen as foolish and short-sighted by some U.S. observers. For his part, some have argued that Ampudia had begun the defeat of Mexico. Many Mexican soldiers became disenchanted with the war. In a well-fortified, well-supplied position, an army of ten thousand Mexican soldiers had resisted the U.S. Army for three days, only to be forced into surrender by American urban battle tactics, heavy artillery and possibly further division in the Mexican ranks.

The invading army occupied the city and remained until June 18, 1848. As soon as the occupation occurred, the U.S. Army committed several executions of civilians and several women were raped. Among the most memorable massacres is the one reported by the Houston Telegraph and Register on January 4, 1847 when Texas volunteers blamed the Mexicans for the death of several of their companions in Monterrey. Consequently, Americans began to shoot all civilians they encountered. The newspaper, citing military sources reported more than fifty civilians killed in Monterrey in a single event. Similar acts of violence occurred in other surrounding occupied towns such as Marín (which was destroyed and set on fire), Apodaca as well as other towns between the Rio Grande and Monterrey. In most cases those attacks were perpetrated by the Texas Rangers. Several American volunteers condemned the attacks, and blamed the Texas Rangers for committing hate crimes on civilians allegedly for revenge of the former Mexican campaigns in Texas. Before and after the US occupation, a large number of civilians fled the city. In response to the occupation several local guerrilla groups emerged such as those led by Antonio Canales Rosillo and José Urrea, the latter widely repudiated by the Texans because of his leadership participation in the campaigns of the Texas War ten years earlier. Taylor admitted the atrocities committed by his men, but took no action to punish them.

United States

 * Army of Occupation

Mexico
Army of the North

 * Gen. div. Pedro de Ampudia, Commanding
 * Chief of Staff: Gen. J. Garcia Conde
 * Chief Engineer: Capt. Luis Robles
 * Zapadores Battalion: Lt. Col. Mariano Reyes

 * Chief of Artillery: Gen. Tomas Requena
 * Battery: Comdte Luis Nieto (3 howitzers)
 * Battery: Capt. Ignacio J. del Arana (3-8 lbs.)
 * Battery: Capt. Patricio Gutierrez  (2-12 lbs & 1-8 lbs.)
 * Battery: Capt. Jacinto Dominquez (?)
 * Battery: San Patricios (John Riley)

 * 1st Infantry Brigade: Acting gen. Simeon Ramirez
 * 3d & 4th Ligero (Light) Aguascalientes Activos

 * 2d Infantry Brigade: Act.gen. Francisco Mejia
 * 2d Ligero, 6th & 10th Line, Querétaro Activos

 * 3d Infantry Brigade: Col. Jose Lopez Uraga
 * 3d & 4th Line, Mexico 1st Activos

 * 1st Cavalry Brigade: Act. gen. Anastasio Torrejon
 * 1st, 7th & 8th Cavalry, Mexico Light Mounted

 * 2d Cavalry Brigade: Act.gen. Manuel Romerro
 * 3d Cavalry, Jalisco Lancers, Guanajauto & San Luis Potosi Activos

title: Battle of Monterrey