Good morning.
Independence Day in Whitewater will be partly sunny, with afternoon thundershowers, and a high of 87. Sunrise is 5:22 AM and sunset 8:36 PM for 15h 13m 49s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 24.6% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Independence holiday events continue at the Cravath Lakefront (Whippet City Mile, parade, live music, fireworks).
On this day in 1863, Gen. Grant is victorious at the Siege of Vicksburg as Confederates surrender after 47 days of siege:
The Confederate surrender on July 4, 1863, is sometimes considered, when combined with Gen. Robert E. Lee’s defeat at Gettysburg by Maj. Gen. George Meade the previous day, the turning point of the war. It cut off the Trans-Mississippi Department (containing the states of Arkansas, Texas and part of Louisiana) from the rest of the Confederate States, effectively splitting the Confederacy in two for the rest of the war. Lincoln called Vicksburg “the key to the war.”
On this day in 1957, a New York radio station broadcast John F. Kennedy, then a United States Senator, reading the Declaration of Independence in commemoration of the holiday:
In winter, rather than for Independence Day, but impressive nonetheless — Guinness World Record Biggest Firework, Successful Launch, Steamboat Springs Colorado, 2/8/2020: