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>
Show replies by date