Chapter 9: The Western War

Activities for this chapter

• a comparative chart of Christian beliefs vis a vis Roman Catholicism (http://www.saintaquinas.com/christian_comparison.html):

A Comparative Chart of Christian Beliefs

Catholic Beliefs	Eastern Orthodox	Lutherans	Baptists	Anglicans	Methodists	Presbyterians	Evangelicals
Trinity
Belief in Christ's redemptive death
Jesus is both God and man
Salvation by Grace (Catholic definition)
All men have the possiblity of salvation (against Calvin's predestination doctrine)
Belief in Sacrifice of the Mass
Denomination has a valid   ordination of Priests (as judged by the Catholic Church)
Denomination has a valid consecration of the Eucharist and belief in the Real Presence
Fidelity to the Pope as teacher of the Faith
Fidelity to the Pope as Apostolic Primate
Belief in the ability of the individual Christian to lose salvation
Belief in distinction of sin (mortal and venial)
Belief in equality of Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition (Deposit of Faith)
Adherence and recognition of all the Church's Ecumenical Councils
Bible canon contains 73 books including all seven books  in the Septuagint canon.
Baptism is normatively necessary for salvation.
Belief in all seven sacraments of the Church.

This table represents a general, sweeping overview of non-Catholic Christian beliefs and their comparison to the Catholic Church.  Protestantism, by definition, accepts private judgement of Scripture over Church authority (this happens to a lesser extent in Anglicanism and Lutheranism).  Therefore, it is difficult to pigeon-hole Protestant beliefs because of the resultant diversity of beliefs within denominations.  Nevertheless, the above table is a useful tool because it represents the majority opinion of that denomination.  I have researched these beliefs by use of various websites (which are listed below) in an effort to ensure accuracy.   Nevertheless, if the reader believes I am in error please e-mail me a correction and I will investigate the matter.
The symbology of the table is fairly straightforward.  Checkmarks indicate agreement with the Catholic position and an "X" indicates a dissenting opinion.   Question marks indicate that the matter is either unresolved in that particular denomination, or that the doctrine in question cannot be sufficiently answered with a straight yes or no answer.  For instance, in the case of the Eastern Orthodox churchs they generally agree with the Catholic definition of the Biblical canon, but sometimes add additional books (such as Esdras III).
One last note on the various denominations.  Eastern Orthodoxy should not be considered either a unified church or a Protestant deriviative.  It has seperate origins which resulted from the Great Schism of the eleventh century.  Greek Orthodoxy, encompasses a handful of different local church communities that are very nationalistic (such as the Greek and Russian Orthodox Church) and somewhat independent from each other.  It is worth noting that variances in beliefs (such as the biblical canon) do occur within the Orthodox schism.  In the same vein, Protestantism is not a unified Church (although some claim it is the unified church of "Christianity") because the various doctrines of each denomination conflict and are often mutually exclusive.  Only the Catholic Church has a unity of concensus on doctrinal matters because of its centralized authority in the Papacy and worldwide College of Bishops.
--S.M. Miranda

 Sources:
 Methodists: Statement of Beliefs of the United Methodist Church
Their beliefs are extracted from The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church and is based on John Wesley’s theology.
 Presbyterians: Statement of Beliefs of the First Presbyterian Church in Waco
Their beliefs are primarily extracted from the 210^th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and are based on John Calvin’s theology.
 Baptists: Southern Baptist Statement of Beliefs
It should be noted that by nature, Baptists are highly fractious and diverse in theological doctrines.  They hold ultimate interpretation of Scripture at the individual level, and therefore it is difficult to assess a broad, generalized view of their beliefs.  Southern Baptist are the largest convention of Baptists in the United States.
 Lutherans: Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Statement of Beliefs
The Lutheran system of beliefs is based primarily on the The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church written in the 16^th century, and the Augsburg confession.
 Anglicans (Church of England)/Episcopalians: Beliefs of the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, Australia, 
Anglican beliefs are chiefly summarized in Cranmer’s book of Common Prayer and the 39 Articles, written shortly after the King Henry VIII’s break from the Catholic Church.  The Lambeth conference of the American Episcopalians at the beginning of the 20^th century also forms the basis of modern Anglican beliefs (such as the new moral acceptance of contraceptive use) in the USA.  High Church Anglicanism, is the Protestant denomination that bears the most similarity to the Catholic Church.
 Evangelicals:  Evangelicalism is more a movement than a denomination.  It sprang from the Methodist revivals of the 19^th century.  Therefore, it is highly fractious in the matter of general Church authority.  Nevertheless, their doctrines can be somewhat garnered from the spirit of the movement.  You can view a typical evangelical confession of faith here.
 Eastern Orthodoxy: Beliefs of the Orthodox Christian Church in America
Orthodox beliefs are primarily based on adherence to the first seven ecumenical councils of the Catholic Church.  Their primary objection to the authority of the remaining ecumenical councils is rooted in a rejection of Papal primacy of authority and a theological disagreement on how to determine if a council is ecumenical or not (Catholics believe that a Papal endorsement of doctrine from a general Church council makes it ecumenical).


• an overview of the origins of the major Protestant denominations in the United States, a little biased against Catholicism, but clear and useful: http://www.sundayschoolcourses.com/denominations/denominations.pdf, also a history of Protestantism in the United States, I have skimmed over it lightly, and it also seems useful, lots of names and dates: http://www.sundayschoolcourses.com/usprotestants/usprotestants.pdf

• two graphs from the Wikipedia page on Christian denominations showing the major branches within Christianity and the major branches within Protestantism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_denomination):

• the famous painting by Velazquez, the Surrender of Breda, with the pikes in the background:

• field trip to The Phoenix Society of Historical Swordsmanship: http://www.phoenixswordclub.com

• some useful links on warfare in the 17th and 18th century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musketeer, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musket, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tercio, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_and_shot

• scene of the Battle of Rocroi in the movie Diego Alatriste demonstrating how the Spanish tercios worked:

• I don't know what movie the following scene is from, or what battle it shows, it's a little goofy, but the filmmakers made a point of showing a very detailed and varied use of cannons, making for an interesting battle scene.  The persons who posted this video on youtube explains:

"A very good study of the period procedures in loading, firing and deployment of these pieces. It shows the textbook use of round shot, bar shot and even hot shot...If anyone is puzzled by the hot shot aftermath...its because they aimed for the powder magazine and successfully set it on fire. It is very apparent that a master gunner was at the scene and consulted in the details. This is apparent in everything from the use of wadding, pricking of the powder bag, the method by which the linstock was kept burning and the line written in chalk on the improvised gun to aid in the aiming."

• an explanation on how matchlock and flintlock muskets work:

• how to make black powder the old fashioned way (warning: part 1 contains somewhat coarse language at the beginning):

• excellent website on historical chemistry (http://cavemanchemistry.com/oldcave/),  here is the section on how to make saltpeter (http://cavemanchemistry.com/oldcave/projects/gunpowder/index.html):

Saltpeter, or niter, is the common name for potassium nitrate. Biringuccio tels us how to extract it in his Pirotechnia:


As I told you in the chapter on salts, saltpeter is a mixture composed of many substances extracted with fire and water from arid and manurial soils, from that growth which exudes from new walls or from that loosened soil that is found in tombs or uninhabited caves where the rain cannot enter. It is my belief that it is engendered in these soils from an airy moisture that is drunk in and absorbed by the earthy dryness...

Biringuccio goes on to desrcibe a process for extracting saltpeter from this "manurial soil," i.e. soil that has formed from human or animal manure. On the surface of such soil or in certain caves there will be a white crust on the surface of the soil. The important feature of this soil is that it should contain organic material which contains nitrogen: chiefly proteins and their decomposition product, urea. Bacteria in the soil oxidize these nitrogen compounds to a family of nitrate salts: sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate, and calcium nitrate, depending on the other minerals present in the soil. These nitrate compounds are among the most soluble of all compounds. The solubilities of sodium, calcium, and potassium nitrate in boiling water are 952, 376, and 247 g / 100 mL. That is, boiling water will dissolve more than nine times its own weight of sodium nitrate.
The process for making saltpeter is very similar to that for making potash, the chief difference being the starting material. The soluble part of wood ash is mostly potassium carbonate and so when we purify it by recrystalization, the resulting product is purified potassium carbonate. The soluble part of these manurial soils are mostly mixed nitrates. The reason for this is that while the original animal waste may have had a wide variety of soluble materials, as the water wicked up through the soil and evaporated, the less soluble parts fell out of solution as it became more and more concentrated. Only the most soluble parts, in this case the nitrates, made it to the top of the soil and when the last bit of moisture evaporated, they were deposited as a white crust on the surface.
So the beginning of primitive saltpeter production is to collect this white crust leaving behind as much as possible the underlying soil. Of the three nitrates present, potassium nitrate is the one we need. To extract it, we use a metathesis reaction in much the same way that we have previously produced lye:
Ca(NO₃)₂(aq) + K₂CO₃(aq) -----> CaCO₃(s) + 2 KNO₃(aq)
This removes all the calcium as insoluble calcium carbonate leaving mostly potassium nitrate and a little sodium and potassium carbonate which can be further separated out by repeated recrystalizations in much the same way that we produced potash.
Saltpeter has been mined in Virginia, particularly in the dry caves of the Shenendoah valley. Most of the nitrate mined today comes from Chile and is called "Chile Saltpeter," which is chiefly sodium nitrate. However, most of the nitrate used in explosives and agriculture is today derived from nitrogen in the air (see acids).

• another website on blackpowder: http://www.musketeer.ch/blackpowder/bp_menu.html, and making potash: https://thegreenergrassfarm.com/2015/10/30/creating-potash-aka-lye-aka-potassium-carbonate-from-wood-ash/, http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-Potash/step2/How-to-make-it/?, http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_ashlye.html

• in addition to making gunpowder, urine was used for many things in the past--tanning hides, whitening teeth, dying cloth, and as a cleaning agent, see: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/from-gunpowder-to-teeth-whitener-the-science-behind-historic-uses-of-urine-442390/

• a demonstration on how to use to use urine for cloth dyeing:

• invention of phosphorus

• video on how to make potash, or potassium hydroxide, or lye by leaching hardwood ashes, useful for making soap among other things 

• video on making soap the old-fashioned way

• How to render fat--gently heat equal parts fat and water until the fat melts, allow it to cool, and remove the congealed fat.  Gently heat the fat again until it melts and the impurities fall to the bottom, allow to cool again, remove fat from pot and scrape away impurities.  Beef fat, or suet, is called tallow, pork fat is lard, and chicken or goose fat is schmaltz.  Beef fat from around the kidneys is called leaf fat, and is the best fat for soap making because it is very similar to human skin.  Links on rendering fat: http://thecookinggeek.com/rendering-fat/, http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/03/how-to-render-bacon-fat.html, http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/article/how-to-render-bacon-fat

• And bringing us back to firearms, here is one of the historical uses for tallow and lard (taken from the Wikipedia entry on tallow): 

The use of tallow or lard to lubricate rifles was the spark that started the Indian Mutiny of 1857. To load the new Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifle, the sepoys had to bite the cartridge open. It was believed that the paper cartridges that were standard issue with the rifle were greased with lard (pork fat), which was regarded as unclean by Muslims, or tallow (cow fat), which is incompatible with Hindu dietary laws. Tallow, along with beeswax, was also used in the lubricant for American Civil War ammunition used in the Springfield rifled musket. A combination of mutton tallow, paraffin wax and beeswax is still used as a patch or projectile lubricant in present-day black powder arms.

What we did

The show-and-tells, a Korean tortoise boat in progress, beautiful!:

ramuna--a Japanese carbonated drink demonstrating the use of a glass ball to seal in the carbonation, and a report on the history of carbonated water:

Fizzy drinks were invented in 1772 by Joseph Priestley, who discovered how to trap carbon dioxide in water and made carbonated water.
Before the Aspirin was invented in 1898, common digestive problems such as dyspepsia or indigestion were best alleviated with a glass or two of natural volcanic spring water, rich as it is with natural minerals. 
Priestley’s apparatus for impregnating water with fixed air
In 1767, the well reputed English chemist Joseph Priestley (who would be better remembered for isolating oxygen in its gaseous state) was the first to artificially carbonate water by hanging a filled vessel over a fermentation vat at a brewery in Leeds.  This initial success led to further experimentation and a published paper entitled, Impregnating Water with Fixed Air.    
Illustration from Directions for Impregnating Water with Fixed Air by Joseph Priestley, 1772 
The paper described a means of chemical carbonation by dripping sulfuric acid into powdered chalk (calcium carbonate) producing CO2 gas.  This gas was then infused into agitated water, inducing a reaction.  Even though Priestley didn’t try to market the process commercially, he did give the method and ingredients to Captain James Cook on his second voyage to the Pacific, in hope of its ability to alleviate scurvy.  Despite the fact this didn’t work, Cook and his crew where potentially the first to produce carbonated water for reasons other than experimentation. Priestley’s paper would however capture the eye of a young German watchmaker in Geneva, Switzerland, who would ultimately bring Priestley’s science to the masses.  His name was Johann Jacob Schweppe.  After further experimentation, Schweppe was able to simplify carbonation through the application of two common compounds – sodium bicarbonate and tartaric acid.  Schweppe branded this process the Geneva System and in 1783, would leave watch-making behind and set up mass production under the new Schweppes brand.  These early waters were sold under the guise of medicinal remedies, needless to say the true effects only aided in hydrating patients, not healing them.

Schweppes’ product was made all the more unique thanks to a patented torpedo shaped bottle invented by a William Hamilton (c.1814).  Initially made out of earthenware, Schweppes discovered that gas slowly escaped through the porous stone and so turned to glass for his solution.  Thanks to the round base of the Hamilton, the bottles were stored on their side ensuring the cork stoppers remains wet and therefore retained their swollen seal against escaping gas.  These bottles could be initially purchased for 6 shillings, 6 pennies which according to National Archives, equates to around £20.40 in today’s currency.  As the secret and popularity of carbonation spread, many replications of the Hamilton bottle were produced but only the original would bear the name Schweppes & Co.
The Hamilton would continue to provide the perfect storage for carbonated water until 1872 when Hiran Codd from Camberwell, London invented a new genius patent.  Known as the Codd Neck Bottle or Globe Stopper Bottle, the design utilized a pinched neck containing a marble inside which, once filled with carbonated water, would be pushed against a rubber seal in the spout by the build up of gas, creating an impregnable seal.  To prevent the marble getting in the way when pouring, additional pinched stoppers were placed on one side of the neck in which the marble would rest when poured correctly.

Codd bottle by Lewes Bros, Wales c.1900 – Editors Collection
To first open the bottle with marble sealed in place, a small wooden stake called a wallop was used to clear the marble of the neck allowing for free pouring. Needless to say, the bottles became a huge success throughout most of Europe with even breweries utilizing the design to retain the effervescence in their beer.  Some claim that from this use lies the etymology of the term “codswallop” (meaning nonsense), evolved from the bottle design codd and either an old slang for beer wallop or the tool used to clear the marble.  Although popular for many years, most were broken by kids for their marbles and as such the bottles are now popular with collectors of antiquities – especially those of cobalt coloring which can go for a healthy price at auction.
Despite the huge popularity and demand for early carbonated water, the liquid was not as clean or  palatable as it is today, greatly due to the salty taste imparted into the water from the chemicals used to generate carbonation.  Naturally, sweet flavorings were soon added to relieve the palate ensuring that soda water could now be imbibed for not just medicinal reasons but also pleasure.   To help retain the bubbles for longer, water could also be infused with sodium bicarbonate separately with the sweet flavoring added with the tartaric acid to ensure the effervescent reaction only began when the two were added.
From these entrepreneurial steps a new popular drink would emerge – the “soda pop”,  and the rest they say is history.

homemade lavender soap:

and butter made by shaking cream in a glass jar:

For our activity this chapter we made potash, and then we tried to make soap!  For several weeks, one family saved the ashes from their fireplace (mix of pine and hardwood), we put the ashes into a bucket, added water, and after an hour or two we poured it through a screen.  The liquid was quite murky but it tested higher than 8.4 on our ph strip (unfortunately the ph strip we had didn't go beyond 8.4), and the liquid felt slick on our fingers.

The next week we did it again, and boiled down the liquid until it was able to make an egg float slightly, though not as much as a quarter (this time I wore gloves and eye protection).

We added a spoonful of rendered chicken fat and stirred and cooked it down until it turned into a thick goop:

I tried to see if it would help wash off peanut butter and oil from my hands--it kind of worked!  My hands felt cleaner than if I had just used water, but it was a very gritty, dirty looking soap...

Some months later we also went on a field trip to Phoenix Society of Historical Swordsmanship, here is a picture of their demonstration: