Benjamin Franklin Tilley (March 29, 1848 – March 18, 1907) was an officer in the United States Navy and the first acting governor of what is now American Samoa. He entered the Naval Academy at age 15 during the Civil War and graduated in 1866. In the wake of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, he participated as a lieutenant in the military's crackdown against workers. During the 1891 Chilean Civil War, Tilley and a small contingent of sailors and marines defended the American consulate in Santiago, Chile. Commanding the gunship USS Newport in the Spanish–American War, he captured two Spanish Navy ships. After the war Tilley was promoted to captain and became the acting governor of Tutuila and Manua, present-day American Samoa, where he set legal and administrative precedents for the new territory. Tilley's successor, Captain Uriel Sebree, praised his "great ability, kindness, tact and sound common sense". He was promoted to rear admiral after almost 41 years of naval service, but died within a month from pneumonia.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin_Tilley
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
845:
Viking raiders possibly led by the legendary Ragnar Lodbrok captured Paris and held the city for a huge ransom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Paris_(845)
1638:
Swedish settlers founded New Sweden near Delaware Bay, the first Swedish colony in America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Sweden
1871:
The Royal Albert Hall in Albertopolis, London, was officially opened by Queen Victoria. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Albert_Hall
1941:
Second World War: British Royal Navy and Australian Navy ships intercepted and sank or severely damaged the ships of the Italian Regia Marina near Crete. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_Matapan
1974:
NASA's Mariner 10, launched in November 1973, became the first spaceprobe to fly by the planet Mercury. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_10
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
primate: 1. (ecclesiastical) In the Catholic Church, a rare title conferred to or claimed by the sees of certain archbishops, or the highest-ranking bishop of a present or historical, usually political circumscription. 2. (ecclesiastical) In the Anglican Church, an archbishop, or the highest- ranking bishop of an ecclesiastic province. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/primate
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Imaginative truth is the most immediate way of presenting ultimate reality to a human being … ultimate reality is what we call God. --R. S. Thomas https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._S._Thomas
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