26 Years Ago Today: Remembering the Space Shuttle Challenger

On this day in 1986, we lost the space shuttle Challenger and her crew.

Crew members of mission STS-51L stand in the White Room at Pad 39B. From the left: McAuliffe, Jarvis, Resnik, Scobee, McNair, Smith and Onizuka.

Picture Source: NASA Kennedy Space Center.

The explosion occurred 73 seconds into the flight as a result of a leak in one of two Solid Rocket Boosters that ignited the main liquid fuel tank.

"I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen," he said. "It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them."   President Ronald Reagan

 

Click here to learn more about the individuals on Challenger:

 The Crew of the Challenger Shuttle Mission in 1986



Wordless Wednesday: William Kidd

On this Date in History in 1701, William Kidd, Scottish sailor, was hanged for piracy at London's Execution Dock.

William Kidd

Interesting Genealogy Notes regarding Captain Kidd

The Great White Fleet

On this date in history 1909, The Great White Fleet returned to Norfolk, Virginia, from an around-the-world show of naval power.

The "Great White Fleet” sent around the world by President Theodore Roosevelt consisted of sixteen new battleships of the Atlantic Fleet. The battleships were painted stark white except for gilded scrollwork on their bows.
The fourteen-month long voyage was a grand show of American military sea power. The squadrons were manned by 14,000 sailors and made twenty port calls on six continents covering approximately 43,000 miles.

Search the names of over 14,000 sailors who sailed with the Great White Fleet

This Date in History: "THIS IS NO DRILL"

    

                                        

"AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR. THIS IS NO DRILL"

                   
--Telegram from Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC) to all ships in Hawaiian area - December 7, 1941

                      

(source: NARA)

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Holiday Shopping Saturday: Where else but Macy's

In 1862, Macy established an in-store Santa at Christmas time. Soon after, he began decorating his large windows with themed, illuminated displays to attract the attention of passers-by and pull in customers.
     
The Macy's Star, which has been present since the very beginning, comes from a tattoo that Rowland H. Macy got as a teenager when he worked on a Nantucket whaling ship, the Emily Morgan.

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They Knew That They Were Pilgrims

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

     

Nathaniel Morton describes the departure of the first pilgrims:
      
"So they left that goodly and pleasant city [Leyden], which had been their resting-place for above eleven years, but they knew that they were pilgrims and strangers here below, and looked not much on these things, but lifted up their eyes to Heaven, their dearest country, where God hath prepared for them a city (Heb. XI, 16), and therein quieted their spirits. When they came to the place [Delft Haven] they found the ship and all things ready, and such of their friends as could not come with them followed after them, and sundry came from Amsterdam to see them shipt, and to take their leaves of them. One night was spent with little sleep with the most, but with friendly entertainment and Christian discourse, and other real expressions of true Christian love.
 
The next day they went on board, and their friends with them, where truly doleful was the sight of that sad and mournful parting, to hear what sighs and sobs and prayers did sound amongst them; what tears did gush from every eye, and pithy speeches pierced each other's heart, that sundry of the Dutch strangers that stood on the Key as spectators could not refrain from tears. But the tide (which stays for no man) calling them away, that were thus loath to depart, their Reverend Pastor, falling down on his knees, and they all with him, with watery cheeks commended them with the most fervent prayers unto the Lord and His blessing; and then with mutual embraces and many tears they took their leaves one of another, which proved to be the last leave to many of them.
  
Being now passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before them in expectations, they had now no friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain or refresh them, no houses, or much less towns, to repair unto to seek for succour; and for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of the country know them to be sharp and violent, subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search unknown coasts. Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wilde beasts and wilde men? and what multitudes of them there were, they then knew not; for which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to Heaven) they could have but little solace or content in respect of any outward object; for summer being ended, all things stand in appearance with a weatherbeaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hew; if they looked behind them, there was a mighty ocean which they had passed, and was now as a main bar or gulph to separate them from all the civil parts of the world."

Source: New-England's memorial by Nathaniel Morton, William Bradford, Thomas Prince, Edward Winslow; 1669
      

No Tombstone for Edward Teach

Died on the this date, 22 November 1718: 
    
Blackbeard - pirate and captain of Queen Anne's Revenge (originally a French merchant ship which he captured & converted into a warship of forty guns)
Otherwise known as Edward Teach, also seen spelled as Thatch, Thach, Thache, Thack, Tack, Thatche and Theach.
Believed to have be born in Bristow, England, c.1680.
     

c.1724

Blackbeard, who engaged in active piracy 1716 to 1718, met his demise in Ocracoke Inlet, North Carolina, at the hands of Lieutenant Maynard with his attacking forces.
Teach's corpse was thrown into the inlet while his head was suspended from the bowsprit of Maynard's ship.

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This Date in History: The Battle of Germantown

The Battle of Germantown, a battle in the American Revolutionary War was fought on October 4, 1777, in Germantown, Pennsylvania, located just north of Philadelphia.  As part of the Campaign for Philadelphia, George Washington decided to attack the British garrison in Germantown in hopes of surprising the British and Hessian armies.  If Washington's plan had been successful, it might have brought the war to a quick end. But, instead, the British victory in this battle ensured that Philadelphia would remain in British hands throughout the winter of 1777–1778.
               

 Artist's rendition of the Battle of Germantown (October 1777)

          (Oil, date unknown, by Xavier D. Gratta, Valley Forge (Pa.) Historical Society.)

 
British Regiments :
Light Dragoons ( 16th or 17th)
Two Composite battalions of grenadiers
Two Composite battalions of light infantry
Two Composite battalions of Foot Guards (1st, 2nd & 3rd Guards)
5th Foot later Northumberland Fusiliers and now the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
25th, (King’s Own Scottish Borderers)
27th Foot (Inniskilling Fusiliers and now the Royal Irish Regiment)
40th Foot (South Lancashire Regiment and now the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment)
55th Foot (Border Regiment and now the King’s Own Royal Border Regiment)

American Units:
Wayne’s Pennsylvania Brigade
Weeden’s Virginia Brigade
Muhlenburg’s Virginia Brigade
Maxwell’s Light Infantry
Colonel Bland’s 1st Dragoons
Stephen’s Division
Stirling’s Division
Pennsylvania Militia
Maryland Militia
New Jersey Militia

(click image for larger view)

This date in History: The Battle of Amiens leads to the End of WW1

The Battle of Amiens began on 8 August 1918, and was the opening phase of the Allied offensive later known as the Hundred Days Offensive which ultimately led to the end of the First World War.

By the end of August 8, Erich Ludendorff, the German commander in chief, dubbed this day as "the black day of the German army" .  The Allies had penetrated the German lines around the Somme with a gap 15 miles long. Of the 27, 000 German casualties on August 8, an unprecedented proportion—12,000—had surrendered to the enemy. Though the Allies at Amiens failed to continue their success in the days following August 8, the damage had been done. "We have reached the limits of our capacity," Kaiser Wilhelm II told Ludendorff on that "black day." "The war must be ended”.

List of forces involved in the Battle of Amiens

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A Moving Letter from Sullivan Ballou

Sullivan Ballou
(March 28, 1829 – July 28, 1861)

   
July the 14th, 1861

Washington D.C.

My very dear Sarah:

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days—perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more.

Our movement may be one of a few days duration and full of pleasure—and it may be one of severe conflict and death to me. Not my will, but thine O God, be done. If it is necessary that I should fall on the battlefield for my country, I am ready. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing—perfectly willing—to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt.

But, my dear wife, when I know that with my own joys I lay down nearly all of yours, and replace them in this life with cares and sorrows—when, after having eaten for long years the bitter fruit of orphanage myself, I must offer it as their only sustenance to my dear little children—is it weak or dishonorable, while the banner of my purpose floats calmly and proudly in the breeze, that my unbounded love for you, my darling wife and children, should struggle in fierce, though useless, contest with my love of country.

Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when God willing, we might still have lived and loved together and seen our sons grow up to honorable manhood around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me—perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar—that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name.

Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness, and struggle with all the misfortune of this world, to shield you and my children from harm. But I cannot. I must watch you from the spirit land and hover near you, while you buffet the storms with your precious little freight, and wait with sad patience till we meet to part no more.

But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the brightest day and in the darkest night—amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours—always, always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.

Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for me, for we shall meet again.

As for my little boys, they will grow as I have done, and never know a father's love and care. Little Willie is too young to remember me long, and my blue-eyed Edgar will keep my frolics with him among the dimmest memories of his childhood. Sarah, I have unlimited confidence in your maternal care and your development of their characters. Tell my two mothers his and hers I call God's blessing upon them. O Sarah, I wait for you there! Come to me, and lead thither my children.

Sullivan

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Alexander Hamilton - Died 12 July 1804

The tomb of Alexander Hamilton,

 son of James A. Hamilton & Rachel Faucett Lavien.

Died on this date in 1804 following a duel with Aaron Burr.

Trinity Churchyard Cemetery, Manhattan, NY

In 1790, Alexander Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, developed a "System of Cutters" forming the Revenue Cutter Service, an armed maritime law enforcement service which later combined with other government entities to form the United States Coast Guard. 

Coast Guard vessels today are still referred to as "Cutters".

This day in History - Magna Carta is Sealed

                        
 15 June 1215:  King John, brother of King Richard the Lion-Hearted, puts his royal seal on the Magna Carta.

Image from Cassell's History of England

The 1215 Charter brought forward by the feudal barons required King John of England to proclaim certain liberties, and accept that his will was not arbitrary by explicitly accepting that no freeman could be punished except through the law of the land.

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This Day in History: The Civil War Begins

Apr 12, 1861:

The Civil War begins

when Confederate shore batteries open fire on Union-held Fort Sumpter in South Carolina's Charleston Bay.

The Bombardment of Fort Sumter, April 12-13, 1861

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This Day in History - RMS Queen Mary's Maiden Voyage

27 May 1936:  RMS Queen Mary, one of the grandest passenger liners ever built, leaves Southampton for New York on her maiden voyage.

Newsreel footage of the launching and maiden voyage of the  RMS Queen Mary.

Madness Monday - The 15th day of March

 "Beware the Ides of March," was the soothsayer's warning to Julius Ceasar.

In Roman times the expression "Ides of March" did not necessarily evoke a sense of dread, it was simply the standard way of saying "March 15".

Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse

Station TPLM2 - Thomas Point, MD

The Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse located in Annapolis, MD, is a National Historic Landmark - one of only ten lighthouses in the country to be bestowed this highest honor – and the only unaltered screwpile lighthouse in the United States remaining attached to its original foundation.

 

Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse in 1885

Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

An 1821 letter from William B. Barney, Naval Officer for the port of Baltimore, to Stephen Pleasonton of the U.S. Treasury, indicates the need for this lighthouse:

Many ship owners and seafaring men of respectability have frequently spoken to me on the subject of a light to be placed at the end of Thomas' Point bar, a few miles below Annapolis; which extends a considerable distance out into the Bay, cutting the direct track of vessels bound up or down; at the end of which from four feet, you instantly deepen to six and seven fathoms water. A light placed here, would be of as great utility as perhaps any one in the Chesapeake Bay.

By 1964 the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse was the last manned light in the Chesapeake Bay until it became fully automated in 1986.  The United States Coast Guard continues to maintain the navigational aids.

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Created for: A Festival of Postcards (7th Edition) - Light

This Date in History - When Nixon Met Elvis

21 December 1970

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/nixon-met-elvis/

View: Ancestry of Elvis Presley
View:  Ancestry of Richard Nixon

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This Day in History

Pearl Harbor Raid, 7 December 1941

Overview and Special Image Selection
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This Day in History - Cinco de Mayo

This holiday, celebrated in parts of Mexico, commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. The outnumbered Mexicans defeated a much better-equipped French army that had known no defeat for almost 50 years.

In theUnited States and other parts of the world is more of a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride.

This Day in History - Edward is Crowned

On this day, April 3rd, 1043, Edward, the youngest son of King Ethelred the Unready and his second wife, Emma of Normandy, is crowned at Winchester Cathedral. Known as Edward the Confessor, he was born c.1003 in Islip, Oxfordshire, and was the last King of the house of Wessex to rule England. The founder of Westminster Abbey, the place of coronation and burials of the Kings and Queens of England, it was finished and consecrated just before his death at the age of 62 in 1066.
He was canonized in 1161 by Pope Alexander the Third and in 1163, the newly sainted king's remains were enshrined in Westminster Abbey with solemnities presided over by Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Today he remains the patron saint of the royal family.