April 1, 1700

April Fools tradition popularized
On this day in 1700, English pranksters begin popularizing the annual tradition of April Fools' Day by playing practical jokes on each other.


Although the day, also called All Fools' Day, has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins remain a mystery. Some historians speculate that April Fools' Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes. These included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as "poisson d'avril" (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.


Historians have also linked April Fools' Day to ancient festivals such as Hilaria, which was celebrated in Rome at the end of March and involved people dressing up in disguises. There's also speculation that April Fools' Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled people with changing, unpredictable weather.


April Fools' Day spread throughout Britain during the 18th century. In Scotland, the tradition became a two-day event, starting with "hunting the gowk," in which people were sent on phony errands (gowk is a word for cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool) and followed by Tailie Day, which involved pranks played on people's derrieres, such as pinning fake tails or "kick me" signs on them.


In modern times, people have gone to great lengths to create elaborate April Fools' Day hoaxes. Newspapers, radio and TV stations and Web sites have participated in the April 1 tradition of reporting outrageous fictional claims that have fooled their audiences. In 1957, the BBC reported that Swiss farmers were experiencing a record spaghetti crop and showed footage of people harvesting noodles from trees; numerous viewers were fooled. In 1985, Sports Illustrated tricked many of its readers when it ran a made-up article about a rookie pitcher named Sidd Finch who could throw a fastball over 168 miles per hour. In 1996, Taco Bell, the fast-food restaurant chain, duped people when it announced it had agreed to purchase Philadelphia's Liberty Bell and intended to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell. In 1998, after Burger King advertised a "Left-Handed Whopper," scores of clueless customers requested the fake sandwich.




Tuesday, April 1 1862
POTOMAC PURSUES PENINSULAR PROGRESS

Gen. George McClellan was moving both his army and himself today, and moving is never an enjoyable process. The Army of the Potomac had to be transferred from its home base near Alexandria, just outside Washington, to Ft. Monroe, Va. This involved going down the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay. The general himself also had to move his headquarters, his staff and all their paperwork to a new site near Yorktown. The people of Richmond were donating the bells of their churches to be melted into cannon.



Wednesday, April 1 1863
COMMODORE CONQUERS CAVALRY CHARGE

This was the second day of a voyage of Lt. Cmdr. Gillis’ and USS Commodore Morris up the Ware River in Virginia. They had had a report that there was a large store of grain stashed at a particular plantation, and sure enough they found 22,000 bushels. This morning they were preparing to load it onto their ship when a party of Confederate cavalry swept down. The sailors formed up in ranks, the ship’s guns fired, and the Navy beat the Cavalry decisively. More grain was hastily loaded, and the remainder was burned.



Friday, April 1 1864
WANING WINTER WREAKS WAR WEARINESS

Gen. Grant was settling into his new command at the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac, which he had moved to as quickly as possible to get the heck out of Washington. There had been no large scale fighting since last fall, but both sides knew that the carnage of “63 was nowhere near to being over.



Saturday, April 1 1865
FIVE FORKS FAILURE FAULTED

Gen. Gouvernor Warren had been the hero of Gettysburg for saving Little Round Top. Today he came close to losing the climactic battle of Five Forks by failing to coordinate his attacks with Sheridan’s cavalry. He was relieved of command of the Fifth Corps on the spot by Gen. Grant. The attack was nevertheless sufficient to cut Gen. Pickett’s command off from the rest of the Confederate line, resulting in the capture of nearly half the Southern army, and the near-capture of the vital South Side Railroad. Shad anyone?

Florida Governor commits suicide
Worn down by the stresses of his office, Florida Governor John Milton commits suicide at his plantation, Sylvania. Milton was a capable governor who valiantly defended his state and supplied provisions to the Confederacy, but by the end of the war much of Florida was occupied by Union forces and the state's finances were depleted. Just before his death, Milton addressed the Florida legislature and said that Yankees "have developed a character so odious that death would be preferable to reunion with them." Milton was 57 when he put a pistol to his head.



Don't order any "left handed" Whoppers.

Quote :

GrumpyDave wrote : April 1, 1700 Saturday, April 1 1865 FIVE FORKS FAILURE FAULTED Gen. Gouvernor Warren had been the hero of Gettysburg for saving Little Round Top. Today he came close to losing the climactic battle of Five Forks by failing to coordinate his attacks with Sheridan’s cavalry. He was relieved of command of the Fifth Corps on the spot by Gen. Grant. The attack was nevertheless sufficient to cut Gen. Pickett’s command off from the rest of the Confederate line, resulting in the capture of nearly half the Southern army, and the near-capture of the vital South Side Railroad. Shad anyone?

Grumpy,

I thought is was Sheridan who sacked Warren?

Quote :

Bill wrote :   Grumpy, I thought is was Sheridan who sacked Warren?

If my old meemory serves me right is was Sheridan.