Winter weather continues to make some strange news this week. A very unusual snowstorm traveled straight west-to-east across the southernmost U. S. Thursday, leaving a measurable snowfall in places where it has never been seen in decades. What made it even more unusual was the wide territory that it covered, including a small piece of the Florida panhandle.
As a result, we had the unique situation where on Friday there was snow on the ground in parts of every state in the U. S., except for Hawai’i. So far, the people who have taken the time to look haven’t found a recorded instance of that every happening before. Ok, we’ve seen it arready! Now let’s melt the dang stuff and get some Springtime in here!
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Reading the news the other day, something that caught my eye was a report datelined from Cass County, Texas. It was the county name, Cass that I noticed. It was the first time that I had seen that geographical name used in Texas. I knew that there were a couple of Cass County’s in the mid-west because my mother was born in one of them. I have always had a mild curiosity about who this guy Cass was, but never to the extent of checking him out. While we all understand who was being honored when Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson counties were named, some of the lesser-known leaders of the time tend to be forgotten over the years. So Cass had some sort of local fame in the mid-west when the states there were formally organizing and joining the Union, but Texas? I just had to finally answer my question about who this guy is, so I looked him up.
First, geographically there are nine states that have a Cass County in them. That kind of surprised me, so many. Eight of them are mid-western states that were all formed from the Northwest Territory. And the ninth is Texas. Brigadier General Lewis Cass came to fame in the War of 1812 (which, as you should know, was fought in 1814) and as a reward for his service, President James Madison appointed him to be the governor of the Michigan Territory. And that began his long political career. And it explains his affiliation with all those other NW Territory states.
Gen. Lewis Cass
After serving as territorial governor for 18 years, Pres. Jackson appointed him to his cabinet as Secretary of War and then 5 years later he became ambassador to France. His political achievements continued to accumulate, including running for President for the Democratic party against Zachary Taylor. He also was noted for leading the expedition to locate the source of the Mississippi River. So he was very famous in his day, yet unknown in our era. So, what’s the deal with Texas? Well, during Cass’ tenure as Senator from Michigan after it became a state, Senator Cass strongly supported the annexation of Texas into the U. S. They were grateful to him for his effort on their behalf. And now you know….. the rest of the story.
And I know we had better get this equipment checked out now. Apparently almost all of us can look out the window and see snow. I’ll get the coffee started. See you back in the day room in a little while.
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