Luke P. Blackburn (1816–1887) was a physician, philanthropist and politician from Kentucky. Early in his career, he gained national fame for effecting the first successful quarantine against yellow fever in the Mississippi River valley and was regarded as an expert on the disease. During the Civil War, he aided Confederate blockade runners in Canada and traveled to Bermuda to combat a yellow fever outbreak threatening Confederate blockade-running operations. A Confederate double agent accused him of collecting linens and garments used by the yellow fever patients and smuggling them into the North to start a yellow fever epidemic to hamper the Union war effort. (It was not yet known that yellow fever is spread by mosquitos.) He was acquitted, and historians disagree regarding the evidence against him. In 1868, Blackburn returned to the U.S. and rehabilitated his public image by rendering aid in yellow fever outbreaks in Tennessee, Florida, and Kentucky, propelling him to the governorship of Kentucky in 1879. His signature accomplishments were in penal reform, and he is known as "the father of prison reform in Kentucky".
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_P._Blackburn
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1812:
Napoleonic Wars: During Napoleon's invasion of Russia, Marshal Michel Ney's leadership in the Battle of Krasnoi earned him the nickname "the bravest of the brave" despite the overwhelming French defeat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Krasnoi
1865:
American author Mark Twain's story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", his first great success as a writer, was published. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Celebrated_Jumping_Frog_of_Calaveras_County
1872:
American suffragette Susan B. Anthony was arrested and fined $100 for having voted in the U.S. presidential election in Rochester, New York, two weeks prior. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_B._Anthony
1987:
In London, an underground fire killed 31 people at King's Cross St Pancras. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Cross_fire
1991:
Croatian War of Independence: Yugoslav People's Army forces captured the Croatian city of Vukovar, ending an 87-day siege. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vukovar
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
coherent: 1. Unified; sticking together; making up a whole. 2. Orderly, logical and consistent. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coherent
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
A love thought: I love you so much that I could wish I had been born your brother, or had brought you into the world myself. --Cesare Pavese https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cesare_Pavese