The Battle of Helena was fought on July 4, 1863, during the American Civil War. Union troops had been using Helena, Arkansas, as a base of operations since July 1862. More than 7,500 Confederate troops led by Theophilus H. Holmes attempted to capture Helena in hopes of relieving some of the pressure on the Confederate army besieged in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Helena was defended by about 4,100 Union troops led by Benjamin Prentiss, manning one fort and four batteries. Differing interpretations of the order by Holmes to attack at daylight resulted in James Fleming Fagan's troops attacking Battery D unsupported, and Sterling Price's attack against the Union center was made after Fagan's had largely fizzled out. To the north, Confederate cavalry commanded by John S. Marmaduke and Lucius M. Walker failed to act in concert and accomplished little. The assaults failed, and Vicksburg fell the same day. Later in the year, Union troops used Helena as a staging ground for the Little Rock campaign.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Helena

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1643:

First English Civil War: Royalist forces defeated the Parliamentarians at the Battle of Burton Bridge, securing a crossing of the River Trent for a convoy of supplies travelling with Queen Henrietta Maria. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Burton_Bridge_%281643%29

1943:

The aircraft carrying Władysław Sikorski, prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile, crashed off Gibraltar, killing him and fifteen others and leading to several conspiracy theories. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_Sikorski%27s_death_controversy

1945:

The Brazilian cruiser Bahia was accidentally sunk by one of its own crewmen, killing more than 300 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_cruiser_Bahia

1988:

Kylie Minogue's first album, Kylie, was released, and went on to top the charts in the UK and New Zealand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kylie_%28album%29

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

Cadillac converter: (chiefly Southern US, malapropism, nonstandard, often humorous) Synonym of catalytic converter (“chamber containing a finely divided platinum catalyst in which carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons from the exhaust are oxidized to carbon dioxide”) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Cadillac_converter

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The Declaration of Independence predicated upon the glory of man and the corresponding duty to society that the rights of citizens ought to be protected with every power and resource of the state, and a government that does any less is false to the teachings of that great document — false to the name American. The assertion of human rights is naught but a call to human sacrifice. This is yet the spirit of the American people. Only so long as this flame burns shall we endure, and the light of liberty be shed over the nations of the earth.   --Calvin Coolidge https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Calvin_Coolidge