Thursday is National Relaxation Day, Fort Dearborn anniversary

Granted, National Lazy Day was just last week (August 10, if you're fussy about it).

Nevertheless, all the Usual Suspects line up behind Thursday, August 15 being National Relaxation Day.

No doubt the close proximity of these two microminiholidayettes will greatly impress the boss should he or she catch you reading this online.

But just tell the boss to chill, OK?

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: Please note that The Blog of Days does not guarantee that you will continue to remain employed should you follow the foregoing advice. Today's post is, and all posts on The Blog of Days are, provided for solely the entertainment of any readers who happen upon this page. Nothing in this post is meant to suggest any actual advice on how to handle your boss, nor is The Blog of Days responsible for anything you may say to your boss as a result of reading the above and foregoing post or for anything that your boss may say to you as a result thereof.

With that out of the way, we can move on. What we used to call the Fort Dearborn Massacre took place on August 15, 1812. The event is now more properly referred to as the Battle of Fort Dearborn, but it still involves the attack by Potawatomi warriors on an American Army garrison -- a garrison which had that morning marched out of Fort Dearborn, with women and children in tow, intending to strategically retreat to Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The Emperor Napoleon trying to scratch an itch?

The American military command feared that Fort Dearborn (now Chicago) was too exposed -- too far into the wilderness -- to hold its own as British agents agitated for allies among the indigenous population. The fort's commander had told local native leaders that he'd been ordered to withdraw (the Indians thought the Army had agreed to give them the fort's surplus weapons and supplies when the fort was abandoned -- thus they were miffed when these were burned instead -- and they also thought that the Army had promised to pay a large sum for safe escort to Fort Wayne -- but the Americans did not think they'd made any such agreement). According to the linked Wikipedia account, on August 14, "a Potawatomi chief called Black Partridge warned [American Captain Nathan Heald] that the young men of the tribe intended to attack, and that he could no longer restrain them." Nearly half of the American troops were killed in the engagement (26 of 54 regulars), as were all 12 militiamen, 12 of the 18 children, and two of the nine women that accompanied the troops. Everyone else was taken prisoner. Some more would die in captivity; others would be ransomed. The victorious Potawatomi burned the fort down, but it was rebuilt in 1816.

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769. Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott (Ivanhoe, for example) was born on August 15, 1771.

Julia Child was born on August 15, 1912.

"The Old Roman," Charles Comiskey was born on August 15, 1859. The 1988 movie, Eight Men Out (and Eliot Asinof's book, 8 Men Out, on which the movie is based) take the position that Comiskey practically incited the 1919 Black Sox Scandal.