Richard Hawes (1797 – 1877) was a United States Representative from Kentucky and the second Confederate Governor of Kentucky. Originally a Whig, Hawes became a Democrat following the of the Whig party in the 1850s. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Hawes was a supporter of Kentucky's doctrine of armed neutrality. When the Commonwealth's neutrality was breached in September 1861, Hawes fled to Virginia and enlisted as a brigade commissary under Confederate general Humphrey Marshall. He was elected Confederate governor of the Commonwealth following the late George W. Johnson's death at the Battle of Shiloh. Hawes and the Confederate government traveled with Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee, and when Bragg invaded Kentucky in October 1862, he captured Frankfort and held an inauguration ceremony for Hawes. The ceremony was interrupted, however, by forces under Union general Don Carlos Buell, and the Confederates were driven from the Commonwealth following the Battle of Perryville. Hawes relocated to Virginia, where he continued to lobby President Jefferson Davis to attempt another invasion of Kentucky. Following the war, he returned to his home in Paris, Kentucky, swore an oath of allegiance to the Union, and was allowed to return to his law practice.
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_________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1803:
As part of the Louisiana Purchase, New Orleans was transferred from France to the United States. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase)
1917:
The Cheka, the first Soviet secret police, was founded. Felix Dzerzhinsky was appointed as its leader. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheka)
1951:
Experimental Breeder Reactor I near Arco, Idaho, USA became the world's first electricity-generating nuclear power plant when it produced sufficient electricity to illuminate four 200-watt light bulbs. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_Breeder_Reactor_I)
1995:
The NATO-led IFOR began peacekeeping in Bosnia and Herzegovina. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IFOR)
1999:
Portugal transferred sovereignty of Macau to the People's Republic of China.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macau)
_______________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
nebulously (adv) 1. (idiomatic) Vaguely, without clear purpose or specific intention. 2. In a manner like that of a cloud or haze. 3. As if viewed through a cloud or haze. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nebulously)
______________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
This I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about. I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for it is the one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost. --John Steinbeck (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck)