Geronimo was a prominent leader from the Bedonkohe band of the Chiricahua Apache tribe. He led his people’s defense of their homeland against the United States military. Born on June 16, 1829 in Mexico, Geronimo continued the tradition of the Apaches resisting white colonization of their homeland in the Southwest, participating in raids in the northern Mexico states of Chihuahua and Sonora. Geronimo’s raids and related combat actions were a part of the prolonged period of the Apache-American conflict, that started with American settlement in Apache lands following the end of the war with Mexico in 1848. After years of war Geronimo finally surrendered to U.S. troops in 1886. While he became a celebrity, he spent the last two decades of his life as a prisoner of war. He died of pneumonia on February 17, 1909, as a prisoner at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
Billy the Kid, also known as William H. Bonney, was born William Henry McCarty Jr. (November 23, 1859 – July 14, 1881). He was an American frontier gunfighter, thief and murderer who participated in New Mexico’s Lincoln County War. Bonney is known to have killed eight men. After murdering a blacksmith during an altercation in 1877, Bonney became a wanted man in Arizona Territory and joined a group of cattle rustlers in New Mexico. He took part in the Lincoln County War and joined the Regulators, making him a well-known outlaw in the region. After one of many prison escapes, Bonney was ultimately shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner in 1881. Over the next several decades, legends grew that Bonney had not died that night, and a number of men claimed to be him.
Jesse James (September 5, 1847 – April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, guerrilla, gang leader, bank robber, train robber and murderer from the state of Missouri. He was the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang, who were Confederate guerrillas or bushwhackers during the Civil War. They were accused of participating in atrocities committed against Union soldiers, including the Centralia Massacre. After the war, as members of various gangs of outlaws, they robbed banks, stagecoaches and trains. The James brothers were most active as members of their own gang from about 1866 until 1876. In 1882, Jesse James was killed by a member of his own gang who hoped to collect a reward. Already a celebrity when he was alive, James became a legendary figure of the Wild West after his death.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cloudesley Shovell was an English naval officer. Rising through the ranks and fighting in many of the important battles of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, he became a popular British hero, whose celebrated career was brought to an end in a disastrous shipwreck in the Isles of Scilly. He also served as MP for Rochester from 1695 until his death. He died on this day in 1707.
Last February, a friend introduced me to this magnificent name (also spelled “Cloudisley” and “Shovel” by some sources). I managed to wait all year, until this very day of his untimely death, to make an Admiral Cloudesley Shovell pixel art character. On October 22, 1707, Shovell’s British Naval fleet became lost in stormy weather and steered into the uninhabited Isles of Scilly, off Cornwall. Four large ships were dashed against the rocks and sunk, killing at least 1,400 to 2,000 sailors. One legend is that Shovell himself made it to shore, only to be murdered by locals hoping to pillage the wreckage. Naturally, there is a psychedelic heavy metal band named in his honor. On that note, Sir Cloudesley is quite likely the name of my next cat. And I’m not ruling it out as a future son’s name.
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States (1869-1877) following his successful role as a general in the second half of the Civil War. Under Grant, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military, ending with the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox. As president, Grant led the Radical Republicans in their effort to eliminate all vestiges of Confederate nationalism and slavery. Upset over uncontrolled violence in the South and wanting to protect African-American citizenship, Grant effectively destroyed the Ku Klux Klan in 1871. Grant’s two terms as president stabilized the nation after the Civil War and during the turbulent Reconstruction Era that followed. Historians until recently have rated Grant’s presidency poorly, but his reputation has significantly improved because of greater appreciation for his foreign policy and civil rights achievements. His presidential accomplishments include avoiding war with Britain and Spain, the Fifteenth Amendment, prosecution of the Ku Klux Klan, enforcement of voting rights and his Native American Peace Policy.
Robert E. Lee was an American career military officer best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the Civil War. When Virginia declared its secession from the Union in April 1861, Lee chose to follow his home state, despite his personal desire for the country to remain intact and despite the fact that President Abraham Lincoln had offered Lee command of a Union army. During the Civil War, Lee originally served as a senior military adviser to President Jefferson Davis. He soon emerged as a shrewd tactician and battlefield commander, winning numerous battles against far superior Union armies. Lee would ultimately surrender to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox in 1865. Other Confederate forces swiftly capitulated after Lee’s surrender. Lee became a great Southern hero of the Civil War and remains one of the most revered, iconic figures of American military leadership. He died on October 12, 1870.
Kublai Khan was the fifth Khagan (Great Khan) of the Mongol Empire, reigning from 1260 to 1294. He was the grandson of Genghis Khan. If one counts the Mongol Empire at that time as a whole, Kublai’s realm reached from the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea, from Siberia to modern-day Afghanistan – one-fifth of the world’s inhabited land area. However, Kublai’s real power was limited to China and Mongolia. In 1271, he founded the Yuan Dynasty, which ruled over present-day Mongolia, China and Korea, and assumed the role of Emperor of China. Kublai was born on this day in 1215.
Note: Due to incredibly unlucky timing, Kublai failed to gain power over Japan, despite two Mongol invasion attempts. In 1268, Kublai demanded tribute from Japan, but Kyoto refused. The Mongols invaded Japan in 1274 with 700-800 ships, but a typhoon destroyed their armada. An even larger invasion was attempted in 1281, with a fleet of more than 4,000 ships and 140,000 troops. Stunningly, they met the same disastrous fate, losing up to 75% of their troops and supplies both times. The failed invasions marked the first use of the Japanese word kamikaze (“divine wind”). The massive typhoons also helped perpetuate the Japanese belief that they could not be defeated, which persisted until the end of World War II.
Subcomandante Marcos is the nom de guerre used by Rafael Guillén Vicente, the main ideologist, spokesperson and de facto leader of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), a Mexican rebel movement fighting for the rights of the indigenous peoples of Mexico. The EZLN group takes its name from agrarian reformer Emiliano Zapata. On January 1, 1994, when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) became effective, Marcos led an army of Mayan farmers into eastern Chiapas state, to protest the Mexican federal government’s mistreatment of the nation’s indigenous peoples. Marcos is also a writer, a political poet and an anti-capitalist. He wears a black ski mask, often with a tobacco pipe sticking out, and a watch on each wrist. Nearly all EZLN villages have murals featuring Zapata, Che Guevara and Subcomandante Marcos. According to the Mexican government, Guillén was born on June 19, 1957.
My wife Heidi has a particular fascination with the mystery and mythology of Subcomandante Marcos. This pixel art character was suggested by her. Also, I am now dropping my publishing schedule to two 8-bit characters per week, usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Frederick William Voedisch was a manufacturer, American Civil War soldier and artist. He was born in Saxony, Germany on January 1, 1832 and trained as a baker. Frederick emigrated to New York in 1854 and worked there as a baker and sawmill manager before moving to Wisconsin in 1856. In 1862, Frederick enlisted as a private in the 20th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment for the Union Army at age 29 and was quickly promoted to a noncommissioned officer, third sergeant (moving from Company A to Company E). However, curiously, after the conclusion of hostilities in 1865, he was honorably discharged as a private. The Military History of Wisconsin details the hard times Frederick and his company endured. Following the war, he married Catherine Weber (née Runkel) in 1865 in Watertown, WI, and worked as a lumber manufacturing manager. In 1883, Frederick received the title to 160 acres of land in Fergus Falls, MN. In 1885, he moved his family farther west to North Dakota. Frederick applied for his Civil War pension in 1886 and died in the Dakotas in 1891 at age 59. He was survived by his German-immigrant wife Catherine and their children Dela and Alfred.
Frederick W. Voedisch is my great-great-great-grandfather. Before Heidi and I went to Europe last year, I created an Ancestry.com account and input a binder of genealogical data to create an online family tree. I did this primarily to share information with my cousins in Italy about their American relatives. You can imagine my surprise when I was contacted by a Civil War reenactor who owns Frederick’s Civil War rifle. The Springfield musket he owns was identified because the initials FWV are artfully engraved into the stock and there was only one Wisconsin soldier with those initials on the Civil War roster. After the war, Frederick probably returned home with his musket and had the barrel reamed slightly larger to turn it into a 20-gauge shotgun, making it a handy item on a farm. But by the time he moved west, cartridge guns had become common, and so he left his rather obsolete musket in Wisconsin. Now, in 2013, Frederick’s musket remains in Wisconsin in its original condition (other than the slight reaming of the inside of the barrel). The lock works and it even includes its ramrod. I was amazed to learn so much about an object once carried by my 3rd-great-grandfather. Frederick’s daughter Dela is my great-great-grandmother.
George Custer was a U.S. Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Custer graduated last in his class from West Point, but developed a strong reputation during the Civil War. He is best known for his disastrous final battle, popularly known as “Custer’s Last Stand.” Custer and all the men with him were killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, fighting against a coalition of Native American tribes led by Sitting Bull. Custer was born on this day in 1839.
Emiliano Zapata was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910. He formed and commanded an important revolutionary force, the Liberation Army of the South. Followers of Zapata were known as Zapatistas. After his murder in 1919, Zapata became a martyr who remains revered today. He was born on this day in 1879.
Joseph Kony is the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan guerrilla group operating in several African nations. While initially enjoying strong public support, the LRA turned on its own supporters, supposedly to “purify” the Acholi people and turn Uganda into a theocracy. Kony proclaims himself the spokesperson of God and a spirit medium. He has ordered the abduction of over 66,000 children to become soldiers and sex slaves.
Kony was recently popularized by the manipulative Kony 2012 viral campaign from the controversial group Invisible Children. See the Visible Children blog for a critical view of Kony 2012.
The name of the mummy of a warrior and ruler found in Sipán, an archaeological site in northern Peru, in 1987. The Lord of Sipán tomb is a Moche culture site and important archaeological discovery because the main tomb was found intact and untouched by thieves. The Moche Empire’s refinement of art and technology rivaled the Maya Empire.
A hero-king of Sparta who was believed in mythology to be a descendant of Heracles. Leonidas is notable for his leadership at the Battle of Thermopylae during the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC. In one of history’s most famous last-stands, Leonidas led 300 Spartans against an invading Persian army of 100,000+ led by Xerxes I.
In the midst of all these holiday characters, I chose Leonidas for today because I wanted him to be my 300th 8-bit character. This. Is. Caketown.
The founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. He conquered and massacred most of Eurasia, but also promoted religious tolerance. He unified the nomadic tribes of northeast Asia. He died on this day in 1227. Through his sons and grandsons, the Mongol Empire became the largest contiguous empire in history (and included 26% of the world population).
A Scottish knight and landowner who became a rebel leader during the Wars of Scottish Independence. On this day in 1305, a captured William Wallace was hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason by King Edward I of England. I can’t help but think of Mel Gibson’s Braveheart speech. “They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!”
A celebrated 19th-century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician who was born on this day in 1786. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet “King of the Wild Frontier.” He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives, served in the Texas Revolution and died at the Battle of the Alamo in 1836.
Edward Teach was a notorious English pirate with a thick black beard who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of the American colonies. He was killed in 1718 after two legendary years of plundering.
To maintain the delicate balance of the Internet, I had to post a pirate today after yesterday’s 8-bit ninja character.
A famous samurai and shinobi of the Sengoku era in 1500s Japan. He was an expert tactician and a master of spear fighting. In modern popular culture, he is often portrayed as a ninja of the Iga clan.
Cloudesley Shovell – No. 680
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cloudesley Shovell was an English naval officer. Rising through the ranks and fighting in many of the important battles of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, he became a popular British hero, whose celebrated career was brought to an end in a disastrous shipwreck in the Isles of Scilly. He also served as MP for Rochester from 1695 until his death. He died on this day in 1707.
Last February, a friend introduced me to this magnificent name (also spelled “Cloudisley” and “Shovel” by some sources). I managed to wait all year, until this very day of his untimely death, to make an Admiral Cloudesley Shovell pixel art character. On October 22, 1707, Shovell’s British Naval fleet became lost in stormy weather and steered into the uninhabited Isles of Scilly, off Cornwall. Four large ships were dashed against the rocks and sunk, killing at least 1,400 to 2,000 sailors. One legend is that Shovell himself made it to shore, only to be murdered by locals hoping to pillage the wreckage. Naturally, there is a psychedelic heavy metal band named in his honor. On that note, Sir Cloudesley is quite likely the name of my next cat. And I’m not ruling it out as a future son’s name.