Soul Cakes: A Halloween Tradition and the start of Trick or Treating

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Soul cakes
Malikhpur / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)


We all know that Trick or Treating has been around for many years. But have you ever thought how it started. In early Britain, many pagan ways were part of Christian traditions. One such was "Samhain, which was the beginning of the dark half of the year and was celebrated on what later became known as All Soul's Day. The name of this holiday has undergone many changes over the centuries, being All Hallow's Evening, All Hallow's Even, All Hallow's Eve and finally Halloween."

This pagan...

John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry

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Harpers Ferry on the Potomac
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The Potomac River seen from The Point where the Shenandoah flows in from the right; Maryland Heights is at left.

October 15 - 18 marks the 155th anniversary of a seminal event in the coming of the Civil War, the raid by abolitionist John Brown and his tiny so-called Provisional Army of the United States on the small manufacturing community of Harpers Ferry, ( then ) Virginia. Their targets were the United States Armory and Arsenal and nearby Hall Rifle Works in order to seize weapons with which to arm the slave revolt Brown believed would occur once his presence and purpose became known.

Harpers Ferry had been...

The Little Engine that Could; and the Man who knew it Would

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Sylvester Marsh

The Marsh family farm near Campton Hollow was rejoicing on September 30, 1803 when a son was born to John (1763-1846) and Mehitable (1765-1823). Sylvester joined a older brother also named John (1792-1857). The family home was located 15 miles from the famous New Hampshire Landmark “The Old Man of the Mountain” and when he wasn’t expected to do his share of work around the farm he attended a one-room schoolhouse where he learned “reading, writing and arithmetic”. Marsh was not going to stay down on the farm and at the age of twenty and with $3 (less than $100 today) in his pocket he...

A quick stop at Cedar Mountain site.

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In August, my son and I tried to see as many of the Valley Campaign sites as we could manage . I think I’ve posted Antietam, Burnside Creek, Fredericksburg, a few on Harper’s Ferry, Winchester and Kernstown.
Here’s a few of Cedar Mountain.
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Literally knew nothing about this battle. When I got home, I dug around in my library and realized I had this book:
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Detailed and intriguing. Now I wonder what happened to poor Rev. Slaughter and his “Slaughter” House?...:+))

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 ★ ★   Buford, John

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John Buford Jr.
:us34stars:
Buford.jpg

Born: March 4, 1826
Birthplace: Woodford County, Kentucky
Father: Colonel John Buford Sr. 1778 – 1847
Mother: Ann B. Watson
Wife: Martha McDowell “Pattie” Duke 1830 – 1903

Children:
James Duke Buford 1855 – 1874​
(Buried: Georgetown Cemetery, Georgetown, Kentucky)​
Pattie McDowell Duke Buford 1857 – 1863​
(Buried: Georgetown Cemetery, Georgetown, Kentucky)​

Education:
1848: Graduated from West Point Military...​

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