Whiskey Rebellion ahoy! It's another excursion into the rip-roarin' history of the go-it-alone and damn-the-torpedoes Yew Ess of Ay as we move into Year Two of the Wombat File quiz.
Shortly after his father died, he ran away from home in Tenessee and lived with Cherokee tribe members (though he was not one), taking the name Black Raven. He got mixed up in a number of military actions and uprisings, including at least one famous one, and wound up in the end a U.S. Senator for thirteen years -- which he might well have considered a kind of step down from a previously held position.
Who was this curious character?
The first correct answer posted to comments wins a vintage 1917 "Shush" Uncle Sam postcard, a memento of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt museum in Poughkeepsie, New York. No Googling allowed, and no collaborating. One guess per comment, but comment as often as you'd like.
Johnny Appleseed.
Posted by: boxjam on March 7, 2003 10:21 AMDaniel Boone?
Posted by: Sara on March 7, 2003 10:35 AM"Downtown" John Brown?
Posted by: bootsy on March 7, 2003 10:42 AMAl Gore Sr.
Posted by: boxjam on March 7, 2003 11:09 AMGuesses so far have run from the very good to the very funny. No winners yet.
Posted by: BT on March 7, 2003 11:10 AMI shouldn't know this, being a westerner and all. After all, this fella was probably born on a mountaintop in Tennessee. Senator of the wild frontier.
Posted by: Jonathan on March 7, 2003 11:19 AMSorry Jonathan -- it's not Davy Crockett.
Nor Sonny Crockett, for that matter...
Posted by: BT on March 7, 2003 11:21 AMThat's not collaborating. It's, uh, corroborating. Unless it's prevaricating. Maybe it's inciting to riot.
Posted by: Jonathan on March 7, 2003 11:22 AMHoo, swing and a miss. And I even thought of staying away today.
OK, now I'm in.
Teddy Roosevelt?
Posted by: on March 7, 2003 11:30 AMThat Tippecanoe guy. The one that ran with Tyler. Ransacking brain for actual name...
Estes Kefauver
Posted by: Soren Hatchjaw deSelby on March 7, 2003 11:34 AMThat sonofabitch William Henry Harrison?
Posted by: Soren Bassett deSelby on March 7, 2003 11:36 AMSam Houston.
Posted by: boxjam on March 7, 2003 11:37 AMI thought Harrison served for 13 days and died of pneumonia, which would preclude service in the Senate, but that's the name I keep coming up with.
Posted by: Jonathan on March 7, 2003 11:40 AMThere was a Strom Thurmond joke in there, but I think I missed it.
Posted by: Jonathan on March 7, 2003 11:47 AMYEE-HAW! (sound of six-gun being fired skyward). Boxjam gets his man. March 6th was, incidentally, the hundred-and-somethingth anniversary of the loss of the Alamo. Houston, of course, later led a successful rebellion against Mexican authorities, and served as President of the Republic of Texas before it became part of the U.S., after which Houston served as a Senator from the Lone Star State.
W.H. Harrison, a historic no-good from Virginia, served in damn near every high office available to a well-connected Whig in the early 19th Century, including U.S. Representative, Senator (Ohio), boss of an Indian Territory, and so forth. It was 30 days after taking office that he kicked the bucket -- and it wasn't until Reagan came along that we had a president that was older at his inauguration.
And Crockett served in the House, not the Senate. I think he protested the treatment of Indians.
Thanks for launching Friday in Pacific Standard Time. Now I suppose I should figure out what to do for the rest of the day.
Posted by: Jonathan on March 7, 2003 12:05 PMAnd with the wombatfile being unavailable (at least to my PC) Friday afternoon, a weekend of birthday for a 5-year old, and jury duty Monday, I learn of my victory Tuesday morning.
My relatives in Black Raven, Texas, will be proud.
Posted by: boxjam on March 11, 2003 10:14 AM