USS New Ironsides was a wooden-hulled broadside ironclad built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship was commissioned midway through the war on 21 August 1862. She spent most of her career blockading the Confederate ports of Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina in 1863–65, and bombarded the fortifications defending Charleston during the First and Second Battles of Charleston Harbor. At the end of 1864 and the beginning of 1865 New Ironsides bombarded the defenses of Wilmington in the First and Second Battles of Fort Fisher. Although she was struck many times by Confederate shells, gunfire never significantly damaged the ship or injured the crew. Her only casualty in combat occurred when she was struck by a spar torpedo carried by the Confederate torpedo boat David. Eight crewmen were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during the Second Battle of Fort Fisher in 1865. The ship was placed in reserve after the war but was destroyed by fire in 1866.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_New_Ironsides
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1689:
Jacobite risings: Jacobite clans supporting the deposed king James VII of Scotland clashed with a government regiment of Covenanters supporting William of Orange, in the streets around Dunkeld Cathedral, Dunkeld, Scotland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dunkeld
1858:
The first of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, candidates for an Illinois seat in the United States Senate, was held in Ottawa, Illinois. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%E2%80%93Douglas_debates
1942:
World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army lost the Battle of the Tenaru, the first of its three major land offensives during the Guadalcanal Campaign. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Tenaru
1986:
A limnic eruption of a cloud of carbon dioxide from Lake Nyos in Cameroon killed up to 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock in nearby villages. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nyos
1992:
United States Marshals engaged a fugitive in a shootout at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, beginning a twelve-day siege. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Ridge
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
eunoia: 1. (rhetoric) Goodwill towards an audience, either perceived or real; the perception that the speaker has the audience's interest at heart. 2. (medicine, psychology) A state of normal adult mental health. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eunoia
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
I have no respect for people who deliberately try to be weird to attract attention, but if that's who you honestly are, you shouldn't try to "normalize yourself". --Alicia Witt https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alicia_Witt