The ironclad CSS Virginia not only had a very short life, she suffers the indignity of having her correct name rarely used. When Virginia seceded the Confederates gained the Gosport Navy Yard and the USS Merrimac, a Union steam frigate. With their limited industrial capacity it took eight months for the Confederate navy to armor the ship with iron plate, launch her as the Virginia, and send her out to break the Union blockade. Well armed to attack the wooden hulls of the Union navy, she was ponderous and no match for the Monitor. On this day in 1862, the crew had no port to return to and set her afire rather than have her fall to the Union. Houses shook for miles around when the fire reached her ammunition magazines at 5:00 am the next morning. The ironclads had little impact on the course of the Civil War, but completely changed naval ship design.
Four things are principally responsible for the growth of newspapers and other printed material in the late nineteenth century. One was the invention of the Hoe Lightning Press in 1846, which made mass publication feasible. One was the telegraph, which made rapid reporting of distant events possible. One was the growth of electric light, extending the hours available for reading. Today we note the inventor of the Linotype, Ottmar Merganthaler, whose machine multiplied by five the amount of type that could be set by each compositor. Smelly, noisy, and occasionally dangerous (I used to own one) they were important up through the 1950s and are still used for specialty printing.
1682 - The General Court of Massachusetts repealed two laws which had been passed two years earlier: one had made illegal the keeping of Christmas, and the second mandated capital punishment for Quakers who returned to the colony after being banished.
1862 - Just two months after the historic, if indecisive, "Battle of the Ironclads" with the Union's Monitor, Union troops captured Norfolk, Virginia - the only port suited to the CSS Virginia, and she is scuttled to avoid her capture.
1935 - The Rural Electrification Administration is created by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, charged with sponsoring and financing the spread of electrical power to rural farms. The REA became a division of the Department of Agriculture in 1939, was authorized to make loans for telephone system improvements in 1949, and was abolished in 1994 by which time 98% of US farms had electrical service.
Minnesota Day, US (Minnesota) - commemorates the 1858 admission of Minnesota to the Union as the 32nd state.
1720 - Karl Friedrich Hieronymus, Baron von Munchhausen, German soldier, storyteller - Born in Bodenwerder, Germany, he served as cavalry officer in the Russian campaigns against the Turks. Told outlandish exaggerated stories of his exploits which were published in England in 1785 as an illustrated children's book. Died 22 February 1797.
1854 - Ottmar Merganthaler, US inventor - Born in Hachtel, Germany, apprenticed in watch and clock making, emigrated to US in 1872. Made scientific instruments, became partner in business, worked on a system to set type for printing. Started own business in 1883, patented the Linotype in 1884. The machine cast a "line o' type" in molds arranged from a keyboard, five times faster than setting type by hand. Forced out of the original business, started up again with improved model, the Simplex Linotype, in 1890. Died of tuberculosis on 28 October 1899.
An exaggeration is a truth that has lost its temper.
- Kahlil Gibran
History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree
upon.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
History is a simple piece of paper covered with print. The main thing
is still to make history, not to write it.
- Otto von Bismark
I never exaggerate - I just remember big.
- Chi Chi Rodriguez
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