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>
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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>
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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>
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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>