Good morning.
It’s a sunny Saturday with a high of twenty-seven for Whitewater. We will have 9h 1m of sunlight and 10h 6m of daylight. Tomorrow’s daylight will be about one minute longer.
On this day in 1864, a Christmas gift for Pres. Lincoln, from Generals Sherman and Scott:
The dispatches of Gen. Sherman and Gen. Foster are as follows:
Savannah, Ga., Dec. 22.
To His Excellency, President Lincoln:
I beg to present you as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton.
(Signed.) W. T. Sherman, Major-General
Steamer Golden Gate,
Savannah River, 7 P.M., Thursday, Dec. 22.
To Lieutenant-General Grant and Major-General H. W. Halleck:
I have the honor to report that I have just returned from General Sherman’s headquarters in Savannah.
I send Major Gray of my staff as bearer of dispatches from General Sherman to you, and also a message to the President.
The city of Savannah was occupied on the morning of the 21st. Gen. Hardee, anticipating the contemplated assault, escaped with the main body of his infantry and light artillery, on the morning of the 20th, by crossing the river to Union Causeway, opposite the city. The rebel iron- clads were blown up, and the Navy-yard was burned. All the rest of the city is intact, and contains twenty thousand citizens, quiet and well-disposed.
The captures includes eight hundred prisoners, one hundred and fifty guns, thirteen locomotives in good order, one hundred and ninety cars, a large supply of ammunition and materials of war, three steamers and thirty-three thousand bales of cotton safely stowed in warehouses.
All these valuable fruits of an almost bloodless victory have been, like Atlanta, fairly won.
I opened communication with the city with my steamers to-day, taking up what torpedoes we could see, and passing safely over others. Arrangements are made to clear the channel of all obstructions. Yours, & c.,
(Signed.) J. G. Foster, Major-General.
Over at the Washington Post, you’ll find an extraordinary 3.8 billion pixel composite photo of Mount Everest. The paper has a link to a panoramic image with gigapixel navigation. (The small orange flecks you’ll notice on the initial view are, in fact, easily-visible encampments for would-be summiteers when one magnifies the image.)
In Wisconsin history on 12.22.1862, Woof-Woof was born:
1862 – Wisconsin Governor Walter Goodland Born
On this date Governor Goodland was born. Goodland had a long and successful career editing and publishing various newspapers in Michigan and Wisconsin, including the Racine Times. Newspaper reporters dubbed him “Woof-Woof” due to his deep, rumbling voice. Twice widowed, Goodland eventually married his secretary, Madge Roche Risney Goodland (also widowed).After retiring from the newspaper business, Goodland decided to run for lieutenant governor under Progressive Orland Loomis. Loomis died before inauguration, giving the office to Goodland. Goodland, a Republican, proceeded to win the governorship in 1944 and 1946. He died in the old executive residence on March 12, 1947 at the age of 84, being the oldest governor in office in any state. [Source: First Ladies of Wisconsin, The Governors’ Wives by Nancy G. Williams]
Google offers a daily question of science and industry: “Who founded the company named for the man who invented vulcanized rubber?”