LUY-Development

Tag: military

  • The U.S.S. Constitution Museum in Boston has acquired more than 150 documents that shed light on the warship’s early years

    The U.S.S. Constitution Museum in Boston has acquired more than 150 documents that shed light on the warship’s early years

    The collection had been in private hands for more than 225 years.

    The U.S.S. Constitution Museum has acquired more than 150 documents, including correspondence from President George Washington’s secretary of war and the leader of the Haitian Revolution, that shed light on the warship’s early years and the young United States’ first international conflict.

    The collection acquired at auction had been in private hands for more than 225 years and will be unveiled during a Facebook Live celebration of the ship’s 223rd birthday Wednesday.  It is the largest acquisition the Boston-based U.S.S. Constitution Museum has made in nearly a decade.

    “I have been looking for collections for this museum for over 30 years and have never seen anything like it,” museum President and CEO Anne Grimes Rand said in a statement. “The U.S.S. Constitution Museum is actively pursuing its mission in tough times by acquiring these documents that shed light on previously unknown aspects of the construction, outfitting, and first movements of U.S.S. Constitution.”  The cost of the documents was not disclosed, but they were paid for by a group of museum supporters known as the Commodores, she said.  “We rallied them and we were able to bid aggressively and we landed the collection,” she said.

    The museum is the nonprofit that preserves the history of the ship known as Old Ironsides, which is still an active-duty U.S. Navy vessel berthed in the city’s Charlestown neighborhood.  The U.S.S Constitution is the world’s oldest commissioned warship afloat. It was undefeated in battle and earned its nickname during the War of 1812, when British cannonballs bounced off its wooden hull.

    The papers cover several topics, including the construction of the U.S. Navy’s first six frigates, which include the Constitution, and strategic plans for the undeclared Quasi-War with France from 1798 until 1800.  The collection belonged to Capt. James Sever, first commander of U.S.S. Congress, another frigate constructed at the same time as Constitution. It had been in his family ever since.  Sever supervised construction of Congress and was deployed with the ship to the Caribbean to protect U.S. merchant ships from French privateers. Old Ironsides served alongside Congress in the conflict.

    The collection includes handwritten correspondence and papers from the Constitution’s commander, Capt. Silas Talbot; Henry Knox, secretary of war under Washington, who oversaw the appropriations for the construction of the Constitution and its sister frigates; and Toussaint Louverture, the formerly enslaved leader of the Haitian Revolution, who corresponded with U.S. Navy commanders about U.S. support of his government.

    The documents will be archived at the museum and shared publicly via email newsletters and social media posts at first. They will also be digitized and made available on the museum’s website.

  • U.S. Army Recruiting Command Discredits Military Draft Text Messages

    U.S. Army Recruiting Command Discredits Military Draft Text Messages

    A number of fraudulent text messages informing individuals they have been selected for a military draft have circulated throughout the country this week.

    FORT KNOX – The U.S. Army Recruiting Command has received multiple calls and emails about these fake text messages and wants to ensure Americans understand these texts are false and were not initiated by this command or the U.S. Army.

    The decision to enact a draft is not made at or by the U.S. Army Recruiting Command. The Selective Service System, a separate agency outside of the Department of Defense, is the organization that manages registration for the Selective Service.

    “The Selective Service System is conducting business as usual,” according to the Selective Service System’s official Facebook page. “In the event that a national emergency necessitates a draft, Congress and the President would need to pass official legislation to authorize a draft.”

    The draft has not been in effect since 1973. The military has been an all-volunteer force since that time. Registering for the Selective Service does not enlist a person into the military.

    Army recruiting operations are proceeding as normal.

    For information about volunteering to serve in the U.S. Army, please contact a local Army recruiting office.