Adamson Tannehill (1750–1820) was an American military officer, politician, civic leader, and farmer. Born in Maryland, Tannehill was among the first to join the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, becoming commander of the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment. He then settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was active in the state militia, rising to the rank of major general in 1811. He also served as a brigadier general of United States Volunteers in the War of 1812. Tannehill held several local, state, and national offices, including one term as a Democratic-Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1813 to 1815. He was president of the Pittsburgh branch of the Bank of the United States from 1817 until his death. He also served on the founding boards of several civic and state organizations. Tannehill died in 1820 and was buried at his Grove Hill home outside Pittsburgh. He was later reinterred in Allegheny Cemetery (gravestone pictured).
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adamson_Tannehill
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
A pumping engine at a colliery in New Hartley, England, broke and fell down the shaft, trapping miners below and resulting in 204 deaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartley_Colliery_disaster
1942:
World War II: During the Battle of Bataan, U.S. Army sergeant Jose Calugas organized a squad of volunteers to man an artillery position under heavy fire, which later earned him the Medal of Honor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Calugas
1964:
The musical Hello, Dolly! opened at the St. James Theatre on Broadway, and went on to win ten Tony Awards, a record that stood for 37 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello,_Dolly!_%28musical%29
2018:
In Mrauk U, Myanmar, police fired into a crowd protesting the ban of an event to mark the anniversary of the end of the Kingdom of Mrauk U, resulting in seven deaths and twelve injuries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrauk_U_riot
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
backstory: 1. The previous experiences and life of a person, specifically (narratology, especially in film, television) a character in a dramatic work. 2. (chiefly espionage, law enforcement) A fictitious account of a person's history designed to conceal their actual history and motives. [...] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/backstory
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Human will can be effective only at the margin of events. Freedom is not absolute either for individuals or for nations and much is determined by forces beyond their control, by events of the past, by accident, or by chance. At any given moment in time the margin of freedom left them may seem so small as to make it hardly worthwhile to exercise their will one way or the other. But the narrow margin of today becomes the foundation of the broader possibility for tomorrow. Over time the margin of freedom — the impact of will upon the possible — expands geometrically. The decision of today makes possible, or forecloses, ten decisions of tomorrow. The accumulated wisdom and experience of the past do not always give unambiguous precedents for decisions and actions at the relevant margin of freedom of the present. A new integration of general purpose with the concrete possibilities of the present may then become necessary. The most difficult issues of foreign policy and ethics arise when changes in degree, at some point, move so far as to become changes in kind, and dictate fundamental departures from past policy and direction. --Paul Nitze https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Nitze