James Hogun (died January 4, 1781) was one of five generals from North Carolina to serve with the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. Initially a major in the 7th North Carolina Regiment, Hogun advanced quickly in rank to command the unit in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown in 1777. After the Continental Congress promoted him to brigadier general, he commanded North Carolina's line brigade during the Siege of Charleston in the spring of 1780, which ended in the surrender of all but one of his regiments of regular infantry. He was the highest-ranking officer from North Carolina to be captured and imprisoned after the surrender of Charleston. Despite being offered the opportunity to leave internment under a parole that was generally extended to other captured Continental officers, he remained in a British prisoner-of-war camp, in part to hinder British efforts to enlist captured Continental soldiers to serve in the British West Indies. Hogan and the other officers in the camp at Haddrel's Point, a peninsula in Charleston's harbor, were subjected to harsh treatment, and he soon became ill and died in prison.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hogun
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1698:
Most of London's Palace of Whitehall, the main residence of the English monarchs dating from 1530, was destroyed by fire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Whitehall
1853:
After having been kidnapped and sold into slavery in the American South, Solomon Northup regained his freedom; his memoir Twelve Years a Slave later became a national bestseller. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Northup
1951:
Korean War: Chinese and North Korean troops captured Seoul. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Battle_of_Seoul
1970:
A magnitude 7.5 Msd earthquake struck Tonghai County, China, killing at least 15,000 people and spurring the creation of the nation's largest earthquake monitoring system. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_Tonghai_earthquake
2010:
The Burj Khalifa skyscraper, the world's tallest structure, officially opened in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Khalifa
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
long pig: Human flesh used by cannibals of the Pacific as meat. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/long_pig
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
If your language lacks poetry and paradox, it’s unequal to the task of accounting for actuality. Otherwise anything radically new is literally unspeakable. --Bob Black https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bob_Black