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| | G6Vu23 Thanks again for the blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Really Great. | | G6Vu23 Thanks again for the blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Really Great. |
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| - | == American Wizards and Muggle Culture ==
| + | LWh6hg Very good blog post.Much thanks again. Cool. |
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| - | '''This is My Rifle, This is My Wand:'''<br>
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| - | ''Wizards and the American Armed Forces''<br>
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| - | Even before the United States took on the form we recognize today, wizards have played valuable roles in its history. Although these acts mostly took place behind the scenes, some wizards did their best in the open, taking part in the workings of the American government. The most notable, of course, are the wizards and witches that serve in the various Muggle departments as well as the Department of Magical Activities. What some may not know, though, is that a number of wizards and witches have served in the various armed forces that make up the United States military.
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| - | The first notable presence of wizards in the military was, as one could expect, during the American Revolutionary War. Although the wizarding population of the time was quite small, a number could be seen on both sides of the war. Some of the most notable Revolutionary wizards include Nathanial Thatcher, the first Secretary of Magical Activities; Friedrich von Barner, a powerful Hessian Moros who is said to be the inspiration for Washington Irving’s Headless Horseman; and Joseph Tattersall, a minor Loyalist commander who defected to the rebels despite his family’s close ties to the crown.
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| - | As the United States slowly got onto its feet, smaller wars broke out on her soil. Compared to the Revolutionary War, wizards were rare on the frontlines of the War of 1812; however, wizards on both sides often took place in smaller skirmishes outside of the sight of Muggle soldiers. Overall, though, most of the fighting was done by Muggles, with the American wizards staying out of the fighting as much as they could. This trend continued until the next major confrontation; namely, the American Civil War.
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| - | Surprising to some, a number of Southern wizards of the time did own slaves. Some of the smaller plantations served as safe havens for African shamans who had found themselves dragged to America. One notable haven was the Vieux Carré Center of Magical Study, a school of wizardry located outside of New Orleans. These havens were few and far between, however. Some Southern wizards, it is said, were quite convinced that African magicians were not as powerful magic-users due to their ‘lesser’ status. This was often rudely shown to be wrong, however, during a number of slave revolts in the South that left plantations burned to the ground by magical fire.
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| - | Barring those wizards who withdrew even farther into their own small magical communities, many took up arms either under the grey or the blue during the Civil War. American society as a whole was changed drastically during the Civil War, and those wizards who remained close with Muggle society found their connection to it even stronger than it had been before the war. A notable cabal of powerful Life mages known merely as the Angels crossed the battle lines on numerous occasions, healing soldiers of both sides. Also notable was a Union Major by the name of Phillip Hunt, who made a point to preserve any magical items or text that he found while accompanying Sherman’s March to the Sea.
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| - | Despite the overall withdrawal from Muggle society, every wizard alive at the time felt the effects of the two World Wars. Both wars drew (some would say dragged) wizards and witches into the fighting, if only to protect their own homes. While Americans did not enter either war until a few years after it started, a number of wizards joined the fight once the call to action was called. Wizards used their abilities as best they could to aid their fellow soldiers; a number of Muggle soldiers were saved from death by mustard gas or by mortar shell thanks to quick action by an Obrimos in his unit.
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| - | One particularly notable wizard of the Second World War was an Acanthus by the name of Terrence Reynolds. Reynolds, who completed his service at the rank of Major General, served as a bombardier in the 13th Bomb Squadron in the Pacific Theatre after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Reynolds was also part of the first wizard-only plane crew, an experiment done by the Department of Magical Activities which proved immensely successful. After the end of the war, an official cross-branch group of wizards known as the Thatcher Coalition (named after Nathanial Thatcher) was formed with Reynolds as its leader, acting both as a fraternity for those magic-users who serve in the military and as a place for the combination of Muggle military technology and magic to thrive.
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| - | In comparison to the Second World War, relatively few American wizards fought in the Korean War. The wizarding community at the time was focused inward for the first time since its solidification at the end of the 18th century, mainly due to a number of notable mages being called before the House Un-American Activities Committee. A number of wizards did serve in the Korean War, although they were sometimes looked down upon by the more conservative parts of wizard society for their ‘blatant’ exposure of their abilities during such troubling times. The Thatcher Coalition stood by their own, however, and the mutterings eventually died down.
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| - | The Vietnam War was exceptionally notable in the wizarding world. As the draft drew a number of mages into the fighting, those who remained at home were forced to deal with the emergence of the Death Eaters during the last years of the war as well as the general turmoil of the era. While many of the wizards who were called by the draft were able to avoid service by withdrawing further into magical society, a decent number chose to serve instead. Through some wrangling of orders by the Thatcher Coalition, a wizard-only platoon was formed in the 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment in the 25th Infantry Division. The commander of that platoon, a Second Lieutenant (a Colonel by his retirement) Jacob Archer, used his considerable control over Space to make sure that his men were exactly where they needed to be.
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| - | Those who were born in the past twenty years will easily recall the First Gulf War, which sent an extremely large of American soldiers home classified as ‘permanently disabled’ by the US Department of Veterans Affairs. While a number of wizards did go into Iraq and Kuwait as soldiers, the majority of civilian wizard involvement in the Gulf War took place at home, treating the returning soldiers. The Nightingale Society, a group of Life-proficient wizards and witches that had existed since the early 1900’s, reached its peak during this time as they did what they could to aid the soldiers. A Thyrsus by the name of Felicity Harper was the chairman of the Society at the time, and she and the Society as a whole received a number of awards from the Department of Magical Activities.
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| - | The American wizarding community and the military have been connected nearly from the beginning of the country, and the connection is only stronger today. No matter what ones view on the War on Terror is, it is known that a number of wizards have served tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Members of the Thatcher Coalition are found throughout the world, with a number of wizard-only squads active as well as individual mages in Muggle battalions. One can say that a wizard may have even more reason to join the military than a Muggle, if only because of the additional talents that they can offer to their country. This writer believes so, anyway.
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| - | Michael Johnson<br>
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| - | History of American Magic<br>
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| - | 12/14/07<br>
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G6Vu23 Thanks again for the blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Really Great.
LWh6hg Very good blog post.Much thanks again. Cool.
