Pass the Tabasco, Please

[TracGunny]

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Story last updated at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Tabasco museum aimed at setting the record straight

By CAIN BURDEAU
Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS - The McIlhenny Co. plans to open a museum here soon to dispel a cloud of misinformation and "fakelore" about the history of Tabasco pepper hot sauce.

Several myths - some of them kept alive by the company itself - need to be corrected in the 136-year-old history of the famous hot sauce, the company said on Wednesday.

First of all, the company wants to set the record straight on how the inventor of the hot sauce, Edmund McIlhenny, ever got his first peppers in the 1860s: It's not known.

"We don't know for certain how Edmund McIlhenny obtained his original peppers," said Shane Bernard, the McIlhenny historian and curator.

The story goes that while in New Orleans McIlhenny got a few pepper pods from an ex-soldier from the Mexican-American War, Friend Gleason, who had picked them up in Mexico. Not verifiable, Bernard said.

"He never recorded the story for posterity, and his wife, brother-in-law, and children held diverse views on the subject, some mutually exclusive," Bernard said.

The company said it perpetuated the story in its own promotional materials and news releases for many years.

"As a result, this and other incorrect stories have found their way into countless newspaper and magazine articles," the company said in a news release.

Bernard also discounts a story that McIlhenny got his first pods from Col. Maunsel White, a prominent businessman in antebellum Louisiana. White has been credited with giving McIlhenny the "secret recipe" for making the sauce - also untrue, according to Bernard.

Two published recipes in the mid-19th century said White used "tabasco" or "tobasco" peppers, but during that period those terms referred to a number of peppers from Mexico and it also referred to the seasoning now known as allspice, according to Bernard.

Also, the company wants to delete from the record that Tabasco hit the market in 1868 for the first time in the form of 350 recycled cologne bottles. It was 1869, and McIlhenny sent 658 new cologne bottles to market, Bernard said.

Tabasco did not become an overnight success, as it has been reported. Business records show that it took a decade for Tabasco to gain in popularity, Bernard said. Also, untrue is version that Tabasco was popular in Europe by the early 1870s; it was exported in the late 1870s.

The museum hopes to put to rest another tale: That E.A. McIlhenny, one of the company's early presidents, introduced nutria - cat-sized rodents - to Louisiana.

E.A. McIlhenny even claimed to have done just that, but Bernard said E.A. McIlhenny's own business records show that he was at least the third nutria farmer in the state and at least the second to set nutria free.

And a hurricane didn't blow the pen down and trigger a mass escape, Bernard said. Rather, E.A. McIlhenny freed them "of his own volition."

Nutria have been blamed for eating up much of Louisiana's fragile coastal wetlands, and contributing to its steady erosion.

"McIlhenny Co.'s commitment to correcting its own historical record demonstrates the complexity of distinguishing between actual history and the 'fakelore' that often passes for history," the company said.

The museum will include some stoneware jars with hand-carved cypress lids McIlhenny used in the early days; a Rough Rider uniform with cowboy hat worn by J.A. McIlhenny; war medals from Walter McIlhenny, a brigadier general; items from E.A. McIlhenny's Arctic expeditions; Indian artifacts from Avery Island, the McIlhenny plantation where Tabasco was created.

Also on display will be a bass guitar from the rock band Van Halen in the shape of a Tabasco bottle.

Bernard said the band gave the autographed guitar to the company about 10 years ago and that it was subsequently stolen after it was put on display. Bernard said the company spotted the guitar for sale on the Internet about a month and a half ago and called police.

"That to me is one of the niftiest artifacts that we have. And certainly one with a colorful story now that it's been stolen and missing for 10 years," Bernard said.

The 3,700 square foot museum is slated to open early next year near the National D-Day Museum and other museums in the Warehouse District. The museum will be part of Tabasco's new 16,600 square foot New Orleans corporate offices.

On the Net: www.tabasco.com


Copyright Associated Press.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/apnews/stories/031704/D81CDTOG1.shtml

Tabasco Sauce was always on my care-package wish list, and the greatest thing they ever packed in MREs - but the bottles were so #&%@ small!

[greybeard]

The Marine Connection:
Brigadier General Walter Stauffer McIlhenny earned the Navy Cross, Silver Star Medal, and two Purple Hearts during World War II.

The Citation for the Navy Cross, the Nation's second highest combat award, awarded him as a First Lieutenant, states in part:

"For extraordinary heroism and courage as Executive Officer of Company B, 1st Battalion, Fifth Marines, 1st Marine Division, during a frontal assault upon a strongly fortified enemy Japanese position along the coast of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, August 27, 1942. After organizing a volunteer party to advance and evacuate the wounded from the hazardous position well forward of the company, First Lieutenant Mcllhenny, armed only with a rifle, and while under heavy enemy mortar and machine gun fire, covered the advance and withdrawal of the rescue party, gallantly drawing enemy fire and silencing a Japanese machine gun nest. Although ill at the time and suffering shock from concussion of an enemy mortar shell, he returned to a vantage point close to enemy lines and, in the face of fierce sniper fire, acted as an observer, relaying accurate information necessary for fire control until ordered by his superior officer to leave his post. His great personal valor, above and beyond the call of duty, not only made possible the rescue of nine wounded men but also contributed to the success of Marine mortar fire."

His Silver Star Medal citation, awarded him as a Captain, reads as follows:

"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while in command of Company B, 1st Battalion, Fifth Marines, 1st Marine Division, in combat against enemy Japanese forces on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on November 2, 1942. After a previous attempt to secure information had failed, Captain Mcllhenny led a patrol of approximately twenty men to reconnoiter the enemy's right flank and, moving through dense jungle, cleared the zone of hostile snipers and finally reached his objective. Completing his mission, he started to lead his patrol back to their own lines when they were spotted by the enemy who immediately opened fire, pinning them down. When almost all of his men were wounded, including two runners who had been dispatched to the battalion, Captain Mcllhenny, despite his own injury, determined to carry the message himself and finally succeeded in reaching our lines. His great courage and unswerving devotion to duty enabled his company to attack the enemy's flank and capture their position. His superb leadership and indomitable fighting spirit were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service "

General Mcllhenny was born October 22, 1910 in Washington, D. C., the son of John A. and Anita Stauffer Mcllhenny. His father, who had long been United States Civil Service Commissioner, died in 1942 while General Mcllhenny, then a Captain, was serving on Guadalcanal.

The General received his education at Force School and Central High School in Washington, D. C.; Lane High School, Charlottesville, Virginia; and the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. He served two years with the Washington High School Cadets, and served four years in the Virginia National Guard, attaining the rank of Platoon Sergeant.

Honorably discharged from the National Guard, June 15, 1935, he enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve and completed the Platoon Leaders' Class that summer. He was commissioned a Marine Reserve Second Lieutenant, December 3, 1936, with rank from November 6. During subsequent summer assignments to active duty, he attended the National Rifle Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio as an instructor and shooting member of the Marine Corps Reserve Rifle Team. He was a member of the 1937 team which won the Hilton Trophy and the A. E. F. Roumanian Trophy; coach of the 1938 team which won the Roumanian Trophy; Captain of the 1939 team which won the Roumanian and Critchfield Trophies, shooting member of the team winning the Rattlesnake Trophy, and winner of the Bronze medal in the National Individual Rifle Match which entitled him to the Distinguished Marksman Badge.

Prior to reporting for extended active duty in World War II, he was an engineer with the Continental Oil Company until 1940 when he joined the family firm, the Mcllhenny Company of Louisiana, makers of Tabasco Sauce.

Called to active duty as a First Lieutenant following the outbreak of World War II, General Mcllhenny served continuously until December 1945, thirty-one months of which period were spent overseas. After completing Basic School for Marine Corps Officers at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, he was assigned to the Fifth Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, at New River (later Camp Lejeune), North Carolina, and served with that outfit the entire time he was overseas. In May 1942, he embarked with his unit for Guadalcanal, where the 1st Marine Division made its initial landing on August 7 under heavy enemy fire.

For heroism as Executive Officer and later Commanding Officer of Company B, 1st Battalion, Fifth Marines, during the landing on Guadalcanal and its subsequent capture and defense, he received both the Navy Cross and the Silver Star Medal. He also received two Purple Hearts for wounds received in this campaign, and participated in the Presidential Unit Citation awarded the 1st Marine Division (Reinforced) for heroism on Guadalcanal. In December 1943, he again participated in combat against the enemy, this time at Cape Gloucester, New Britain, as the 1st Battalion's Plans and Training Officer. He served subsequently as Regimental Intelligence Officer and 3d Battalion Commander. In September 1944, during the landing on Peleliu, Palau Islands, he served as Regimental Plans and Training Officer. He also shared in the Presidential Unit Citation awarded the 1st Marine Division (Reinforced) for heroic action in the assault and seizure of Peleliu.

On his return to the United States in December 1944, General Mcllhenny, then a Major, was assigned to Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, where he completed the Instructors' Orientation Course and served as an instructor in the Rifle Units Section. He also completed the Artillery School at Fort Benning, Georgia during this assignment.

Relieved from active duty December 26, 1945, General Mcllhenny continued his affiliation with the Ready Reserve in his home state of Louisiana. He organized and trained Volunteer Training Unit 8-25 in Lafayette, Louisiana, and commanded that unit until his retirement from the Reserve, November 1, 1959. On that date, he was placed on the retired list of Marine Reserve Officers, and was advanced to Brigadier General by reason of having been specially commended for heroism in combat.

Prior to his death on June 22, 1985, General Mcllhenny was president of the Tabasco Sauce Company, New Iberia, Louisiana, and listed Avery Island, Louisiana, as his home of record.


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[kentmitchell]

They called the General "Tabasco Mac."