Henry Hoʻolulu Pitman (1845–1863) was one of more than one hundred Native Hawaiians and Hawaiian-born combatants who fought in the American Civil War while Hawaii was still an independent kingdom. His father was a merchant from Massachusetts and his mother, Kinoʻoleoliliha, was a Hawaiian noble. He returned to the United States with his father for his education, but ran away from school without his family's knowledge and enlisted in the Union Army as a private. Despite his mixed-race ancestry, he avoided the racial segregation imposed on other Hawaiian recruits of the time and was assigned to a white regiment. He fought in the Battle of Antietam and the Maryland Campaign and befriended Robert G. Carter, a memoirist of the Civil War. On the march to Fredericksburg, he was separated from his regiment and captured by Confederate guerrilla forces. He was marched to Richmond and incarcerated in Libby Prison, where he contracted a lung disease from the harsh conditions. He died on February 27, 1863, after his release on parole in a prisoner exchange. His legacy has sparked renewed interest in the role Hawaiians played in the Civil War.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ho%CA%BBolulu_Pitman

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

907:

Abaoji, a Khitan chieftain, was enthroned as Emperor Taizu, establishing the Liao dynasty in northern China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abaoji

1812:

Manuel Belgrano raised the Flag of Argentina, which he designed, in the city of Rosario, during the Argentine War of Independence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Belgrano

1940:

American biochemists Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discovered carbon-14, which today is used extensively as the basis of the radiocarbon dating method to date archaeological and geological samples. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon-14

1982:

The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, known for its performances of Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas, gave its last performance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Oyly_Carte_Opera_Company

2002:

A violent riot in Gujarat, India, where at least 1,000 people (mostly Muslims) were killed, possibly having been triggered by a train fire that killed 58 Hindu pilgrims. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godhra_train_burning

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

anosmic: 1. (medicine) Having anosmia; lacking a sense of smell. 2. (zoology) Lacking olfactory organs; anosmatic. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anosmic

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

There is a strange duality in the human which makes for an ethical paradox. We have definitions of good qualities and of bad; not changing things, but generally considered good and bad throughout the ages and throughout the species. Of the good, we think always of wisdom, tolerance, kindliness, generosity, humility; and the qualities of cruelty, greed, self-interest, graspingness, and rapacity are universally considered undesirable. And yet in our structure of society, the so-called and considered good qualities are invariable concomitants of failure, while the bad ones are the cornerstones of success.   --John Steinbeck https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck