Good morning, Whitewater.
Monday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of eighty-seven. Sunrise is 5:15 AM and sunset 8:34 PM, for 15h 19m 00s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 60.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Planning Commission meets tonight at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1777, Lafayette arrives in America:
On this day in 1777, a 19-year-old French aristocrat, Marie-Joseph Paul Roch Yves Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, arrives in South Carolina with the intent to serve as General George Washington’s second-in-command.
Silas Deane, during his service as the Continental Congress envoy to France, had, on December 7, 1776, struck an agreement with Johann de Kalb and Lafayette to offer their military expertise to the American cause. However, Deane was replaced with Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee, who were unenthused by the proposal. Meanwhile, King Louis XVI feared angering Britain and prohibited Lafayette’s departure. The British ambassador to the French court at Versailles demanded the seizure of Lafayette’s ship, which resulted in Lafayette’s arrest. Lafayette, though, managed to escape, set sail and elude two British ships dispatched to recapture him.
Following his safe arrival in South Carolina, Lafayette traveled to Philadelphia. Although Lafayette’s youth made Congress reluctant to promote him over more experienced colonial officers, the young Frenchman’s willingness to volunteer his services without pay won their respect and Lafayette a commission as major-general on July 31, 1777.
Lafayette served at Brandywine in 1777, as well as Barren Hill, Monmouth and Rhode Island in 1778. Following the formal treaty of alliance with Lafayette’s native France in February 1778 and Britain’s subsequent declaration of war, Lafayette asked to return to Paris and consult the king as to his future service. Washington was willing to spare Lafayette, who departed in January 1779. By March, Franklin reported from Paris that Lafayette had become an excellent advocate for the American cause at the French court.
Following his six-month respite in France, Lafayette returned to aid the American war effort in Virginia, where he participated in the successful siege of Yorktown in 1781, before returning to France and the further service of his own country.
On this day in 1863, Wisconsinites continue to serve the Union in units during the siege of Vicksburg:
1863 – (Civil War) Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, continues
Wisconsin troops were still engaged in the Siege of Vicksburg. The 8th, 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 20th, 23rd, 25th,27th, 29th and 33rd Wisconsin Infantry regiments, the 1st, 6th, 7th and 12th Wisconsin Light Artillery batteries and the 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry were among Union forces surrounding the city.
A Google a Day asks about business trends: “What New England industry quickly collapsed with the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania?”