Wednesday, March 26, 2008

The Rifleman's Son


While you're watching reruns of The Rifleman on the Western channel, take a moment to wish Johnny Crawford (above) a birthday. Man, did I have a crush on him! Born this day in 1946, the multi-talented Crawford now leads a band in southern California. Read more on Tom's blog: http://wildwestblogcom.blogspot.com/2007/12/good-kid.html
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More Graves for
William Clarke Quantrill

Kudos to the good folks who have placed a memorial stone on William Clarke Quantrill's original grave in Louisville, Kentucky. Thanks to Don Gilmore, Rick Mack, Nancy Hitt, Patrick Marquis and Emory Canty, Jr., the guerrilla's first grave has a marker bearing a poem written by Quantrill himself:

Here's a sigh to those who love me
and a smile for those who hate
and whatever sky's above me
here's a heart for every fate.

Quantrill, arguably the most notable of the Civil War guerrillas, died in a Louisville hospital on June 6, 1865. He was buried, but his grave not marked, and his remains were later moved. And moved. And moved. It's a long, oft-told story, but Quantrill also has graves in his hometown of Dover, Ohio, and the Confederate Cemetery in Higginsville, Missouri. (left, actor Tom Leahy as Quantrill in Bloody Dawn)

1 comment:

R.Brooks said...

I hate to be one of those annoying know-it-alls but that poem was written by Lord Byron, not Quantrill. It probably reminded whoever placed the marker there of Quantrill and how polarizing he is.