July 10, 2024 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, the origins of Chick-fil-A’s “my pleasure” catchphrase began in 2001. Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy’s version of the story begins with him visiting a Ritz-Carlton luxury hotel—a hotel his friend Horst Schulze co-founded. Here's Horst with the story.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories and the story
of Captain John Smith. Let's return to Juliana Rogers with
more of the story.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
John finally reaches the Crusades and he is about twenty
one years old. Now it's the summer of sixteen oh one.
It doesn't take long before he makes a name for himself.
So in this battle, they're outside of Wald City, and
at that time their guns were called matchlock muskets, and
the matchlock musket always had a small fuse that stayedlt
(00:42):
so at dark you could see a little glowing ember.
So John went to the leader of the regiment and said,
I have this idea. How about after dark we light
a bunch of tiny matches, and that way, when our
enemy looks over the wall, they will see thousands of
tiny glows members and think that each one represents a
(01:02):
gun and that they are completely outnumbered. So it worked perfectly,
just like John said. Their enemy licked out, thought they
were completely outnumbered, and panicked and they were easily overtaken.
And John was given credit for that victory, and he
was promoted to captain, and he was very proud of
that title, and he went by Captain John Smith for
(01:24):
the rest of his life. Later, it's the spring of
sixteen oh two and John's twenty two years old, and
they again are outside of Wald City preparing to attack
when the leader inside the Wald city issues a challenge
to any English officer. Well, all of the English officers
(01:44):
want to be chosen, so they draw lots, and John
was chosen, and he's very excited because it's a jousting match,
and he of course has trained well with Theodore Paleo
log and he knows that the weakest part on a
suit of armor is the visor. And John describes in
his journals what almost sounds like a scene out of
(02:05):
a movie because he describes how his opponent came out.
So there's John sitting atop his horse, he has his
one squire holding his lance, and here comes his opponent.
And as he appears in this bejeweled suit of armor,
which actually has like a set of wings on it
for decoration, he has multiple attendants. The horns blare as
(02:26):
he comes out of the crowd and everyone cheers. And
it couldn't be more opposite than John sitting atop his
horse with his squire next to him. Well, as they
begin to ride toward each other. At the last moment,
John lifts his lance, it slams into the man's visor
and kills him. The man's friend is so angry and
(02:48):
upset that he challenges John as well. So the first
pass they go toward each other with lances, and the
lances slam into each other and shatter. Next pass, they
use pistols, and as they ride toward each other, John
is hit, but his suit of armor protects him. John's
bullet hits the man's arm, he loses control of his
(03:10):
horse and falls to the ground, and as John wrote
in his journals later, the man lost his head as
his friend did before. So now John's feeling pretty good,
so he issues a challenge of his own. Hey, if
there's anyone who's actually worthy of battling me, you know,
let him step forth. And a man named Bonnie Mulborough
accepts that challenge. So the first passes pistols and they
(03:34):
miss each other, and the next passes battle axes. So
they are riding toward each other with these massive battle axes,
and as they swing, the two battle axes hit and
John's is thrown to the ground, and the rules state
that he has to pass again without his battle axe.
The only weapon he has is a small sword called
(03:55):
a fushion. So as they're riding toward each other, what
is he holds own tight to the reins and he
leans out as far as he can, and the battle
axe just misses him. But then he turns quickly and
uses that small sword and stabs it in between the
shoulder blades on the suit of armor. So it's this
(04:17):
amazing victory. He is awarded by the leader of the regiment,
Prince Digmond, a coat of arms, a portrait in gold,
and a generous reward. So, according to English tradition, if
you have a coat of arms, you are considered a gentleman.
So John, through acts of his own, has now been
(04:40):
elevated and he is considered a gentleman according to English society.
So it wasn't long after that that his luck runs out.
There's a massive battle. They were completely outnumbered and many
many of the soldiers died and many more were taken prisoner.
And John was taken prisoner, and he was sold as
(05:00):
a slave to a man named Bosha, and he was
forced to walk five hundred miles to Constantinople, where Basha
gave John as a gift to a woman that he liked,
and her name was Turitska. But as you can imagine,
John and his broken Italian telling her tales of his adventures,
of his battles and his victories and how he's a hero.
(05:23):
And she knows if her parents find out that she's
falling for this Englishman, they are going to send him
away forever. So she sends him away to her brother's
farm out in the country and tells her brother, keep
this slave, I will call for him in a couple
of years. Well, her brother figures out, he puts two
and two together and figures out that his sister likes
(05:44):
this englishman, and so he treats John like the slave
to the slaves, and he shaves his head ball, puts
a thick metal band around his neck, and forces him
to work in the fields along with all the other slaves.
One day, John's out working in the wheat fields and
(06:05):
the brother comes up on horseback and he begins to
beat John, and John knows something's different this time. He's
going to kill him, So he takes his wheat threshing
bat and he swings it and knocks the brother off
the horse and continues to beat him until he's dead,
shuts him under a pile of wheat, takes his clothes,
takes his horse, and rides north. Now he is in
(06:27):
the middle of enemy territory. He is so far from
any allies, he is very easily identified as a slave.
He has a thick metal band around his neck. He's
a white man. So he rides for sixteen days straight
until he reaches Russia, where he finds friendly troops and
tells them his story, and they released the metal ring
(06:50):
from his neck, and he is free now. John kept journals,
and oftentimes he explained in great detail about conversation or
what the place was like, or often there was so
much information, But this is not one of those times.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Now.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
When he got back to England, it was a very
different England than the one he had left when he left.
Queen Elizabeth the First was the ruler while he was
fighting in the Crusades. She died and her cousin, King
James was now in charge. Where Queen Elizabeth was very
focused on strengthening England itself, King James was very focused
(07:33):
on strengthening England by growing beyond its borders. Bartholomew Gosnald
had just recently returned from a trip to Virginia, and
he believed that this land of Virginia would be a
great place for England to establish a settlement, to establish
a colony. So he was promoting it, gathering people to
(07:56):
take the journey, trying to raise funds to support the journey,
and when he met John, he thought, oh, this person
is perfect. Well, as you can imagine, it takes a
bit of time to prepare for such a journey, and
it took over two years for Bartholomew Gosnold to raise
the funds, get the crew together, get enough passengers, get
(08:17):
approval from King James, and everything that goes along with that.
And as you can imagine, John's not great at waiting
around and just idly sitting by, so he used the
time really, really wisely. He studied map making because he
knew that they were among the first English to travel
to this area, and so they would need maps for
(08:38):
those that came after them. He studied algonquin so that
he would be able to communicate with the local American Indians.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
And what a story you're hearing about Captain John Smith.
Anyone who's read his writing his own journals, you can't
put it down. It's like Grant's writing Ulysses as Grant's memoirs.
This is some of the best reading material you can
have to get your hands around. Winston Churchill too, writing
about his own life story and particularly all of the
(09:08):
battles he fought in his life. Smith's story very much
like Churchill's, except for one difference. Churchill grew up in
a palace and fought to earn respect and Captain John
Smith grew up on a farm and fought to earn
his respect. But both men earned the respect and accolades
of their peers. And by the way, you're listening to
(09:31):
Julianna Rodgers, author of Captain John Smith American Hero, you
can go to Amazon dot com and get the book.
You won't put it down when we come back. What
happens next with Captain John Smith? Here on our American
Stories
And we continue with our American stories and the story
of Captain John Smith. Let's return to Juliana Rogers with
more of the story.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
John finally reaches the Crusades and he is about twenty
one years old. Now it's the summer of sixteen oh one.
It doesn't take long before he makes a name for himself.
So in this battle, they're outside of Wald City, and
at that time their guns were called matchlock muskets, and
the matchlock musket always had a small fuse that stayedlt
(00:42):
so at dark you could see a little glowing ember.
So John went to the leader of the regiment and said,
I have this idea. How about after dark we light
a bunch of tiny matches, and that way, when our
enemy looks over the wall, they will see thousands of
tiny glows members and think that each one represents a
(01:02):
gun and that they are completely outnumbered. So it worked perfectly,
just like John said. Their enemy licked out, thought they
were completely outnumbered, and panicked and they were easily overtaken.
And John was given credit for that victory, and he
was promoted to captain, and he was very proud of
that title, and he went by Captain John Smith for
(01:24):
the rest of his life. Later, it's the spring of
sixteen oh two and John's twenty two years old, and
they again are outside of Wald City preparing to attack
when the leader inside the Wald city issues a challenge
to any English officer. Well, all of the English officers
(01:44):
want to be chosen, so they draw lots, and John
was chosen, and he's very excited because it's a jousting match,
and he of course has trained well with Theodore Paleo
log and he knows that the weakest part on a
suit of armor is the visor. And John describes in
his journals what almost sounds like a scene out of
(02:05):
a movie because he describes how his opponent came out.
So there's John sitting atop his horse, he has his
one squire holding his lance, and here comes his opponent.
And as he appears in this bejeweled suit of armor,
which actually has like a set of wings on it
for decoration, he has multiple attendants. The horns blare as
(02:26):
he comes out of the crowd and everyone cheers. And
it couldn't be more opposite than John sitting atop his
horse with his squire next to him. Well, as they
begin to ride toward each other. At the last moment,
John lifts his lance, it slams into the man's visor
and kills him. The man's friend is so angry and
(02:48):
upset that he challenges John as well. So the first
pass they go toward each other with lances, and the
lances slam into each other and shatter. Next pass, they
use pistols, and as they ride toward each other, John
is hit, but his suit of armor protects him. John's
bullet hits the man's arm, he loses control of his
(03:10):
horse and falls to the ground, and as John wrote
in his journals later, the man lost his head as
his friend did before. So now John's feeling pretty good,
so he issues a challenge of his own. Hey, if
there's anyone who's actually worthy of battling me, you know,
let him step forth. And a man named Bonnie Mulborough
accepts that challenge. So the first passes pistols and they
(03:34):
miss each other, and the next passes battle axes. So
they are riding toward each other with these massive battle axes,
and as they swing, the two battle axes hit and
John's is thrown to the ground, and the rules state
that he has to pass again without his battle axe.
The only weapon he has is a small sword called
(03:55):
a fushion. So as they're riding toward each other, what
is he holds own tight to the reins and he
leans out as far as he can, and the battle
axe just misses him. But then he turns quickly and
uses that small sword and stabs it in between the
shoulder blades on the suit of armor. So it's this
(04:17):
amazing victory. He is awarded by the leader of the regiment,
Prince Digmond, a coat of arms, a portrait in gold,
and a generous reward. So, according to English tradition, if
you have a coat of arms, you are considered a gentleman.
So John, through acts of his own, has now been
(04:40):
elevated and he is considered a gentleman according to English society.
So it wasn't long after that that his luck runs out.
There's a massive battle. They were completely outnumbered and many
many of the soldiers died and many more were taken prisoner.
And John was taken prisoner, and he was sold as
(05:00):
a slave to a man named Bosha, and he was
forced to walk five hundred miles to Constantinople, where Basha
gave John as a gift to a woman that he liked,
and her name was Turitska. But as you can imagine,
John and his broken Italian telling her tales of his adventures,
of his battles and his victories and how he's a hero.
(05:23):
And she knows if her parents find out that she's
falling for this Englishman, they are going to send him
away forever. So she sends him away to her brother's
farm out in the country and tells her brother, keep
this slave, I will call for him in a couple
of years. Well, her brother figures out, he puts two
and two together and figures out that his sister likes
(05:44):
this englishman, and so he treats John like the slave
to the slaves, and he shaves his head ball, puts
a thick metal band around his neck, and forces him
to work in the fields along with all the other slaves.
One day, John's out working in the wheat fields and
(06:05):
the brother comes up on horseback and he begins to
beat John, and John knows something's different this time. He's
going to kill him, So he takes his wheat threshing
bat and he swings it and knocks the brother off
the horse and continues to beat him until he's dead,
shuts him under a pile of wheat, takes his clothes,
takes his horse, and rides north. Now he is in
(06:27):
the middle of enemy territory. He is so far from
any allies, he is very easily identified as a slave.
He has a thick metal band around his neck. He's
a white man. So he rides for sixteen days straight
until he reaches Russia, where he finds friendly troops and
tells them his story, and they released the metal ring
(06:50):
from his neck, and he is free now. John kept journals,
and oftentimes he explained in great detail about conversation or
what the place was like, or often there was so
much information, But this is not one of those times.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Now.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
When he got back to England, it was a very
different England than the one he had left when he left.
Queen Elizabeth the First was the ruler while he was
fighting in the Crusades. She died and her cousin, King
James was now in charge. Where Queen Elizabeth was very
focused on strengthening England itself, King James was very focused
(07:33):
on strengthening England by growing beyond its borders. Bartholomew Gosnald
had just recently returned from a trip to Virginia, and
he believed that this land of Virginia would be a
great place for England to establish a settlement, to establish
a colony. So he was promoting it, gathering people to
(07:56):
take the journey, trying to raise funds to support the journey,
and when he met John, he thought, oh, this person
is perfect. Well, as you can imagine, it takes a
bit of time to prepare for such a journey, and
it took over two years for Bartholomew Gosnold to raise
the funds, get the crew together, get enough passengers, get
(08:17):
approval from King James, and everything that goes along with that.
And as you can imagine, John's not great at waiting
around and just idly sitting by, so he used the
time really, really wisely. He studied map making because he
knew that they were among the first English to travel
to this area, and so they would need maps for
(08:38):
those that came after them. He studied algonquin so that
he would be able to communicate with the local American Indians.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
And what a story you're hearing about Captain John Smith.
Anyone who's read his writing his own journals, you can't
put it down. It's like Grant's writing Ulysses as Grant's memoirs.
This is some of the best reading material you can
have to get your hands around. Winston Churchill too, writing
about his own life story and particularly all of the
(09:08):
battles he fought in his life. Smith's story very much
like Churchill's, except for one difference. Churchill grew up in
a palace and fought to earn respect and Captain John
Smith grew up on a farm and fought to earn
his respect. But both men earned the respect and accolades
of their peers. And by the way, you're listening to
(09:31):
Julianna Rodgers, author of Captain John Smith American Hero, you
can go to Amazon dot com and get the book.
You won't put it down when we come back. What
happens next with Captain John Smith? Here on our American
Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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