Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday in town will be mostly sunny with a high of twenty-one. Sunrise is 6:54 AM and sunset 4:27 PM, for 9h 33m 17s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with just 4.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1864, General Sherman continues his March to the Sea through Georgia:

…nearly a week into the famous March to the Sea, the army of Union General William T. Sherman moves toward central Georgia, destroying property and routing small militia units it its path. Advanced units of the army skirmished with scattered Rebel forces at Clinton, Walnut Creek, East Macon, and Griswoldville, all in the vicinity of Macon.

The march began on November 15 and ended on December 21, 1864. Sherman led 62,000 troops for some 285 miles across Georgia and cut a path of destruction more than 50 miles wide. He divided his force into two columns and widened the swath of destruction. The Yankees cut away from their supply lines at Atlanta and generally lived off the land. What they did not consume, they destroyed. More than 13,000 cattle fell into Union hands, as well as 90,000 bales of cotton and numerous sawmills, foundries, cotton gins, and warehouses.

Sherman’s superiors, President Abraham Lincoln and General in Chief Ulysses S. Grant, endorsed his controversial tactic. Sherman planned, in his words, to “make Georgia howl,” and argued that, although it would be brutal, destroying the resources of the South could bring the war to a quicker end….

For an assessment that finds Sherman’s campaign more restrained and disciplined than critics have contended, see historian W. Todd Groce’s Rethinking Sherman’s March.

Google-a-Day asks a question about reptiles:

What reptile is the most vocal, with some species able to communicate more than 20 distinguishable messages through sound alone?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Midweek in Whitewater will be cloudy, with a high of twenty-six, and an even chance of snow showers this morning. Sunrise is 06:52 AM and sunset 16:28 PM, for 9h 35m 13s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 9.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

The Tech Park Board meets this morning at 8 AM.

On this day in 1863, Pres. Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address.

Google-a-Day asks about a spacecraft:

If the names of NASA’s space shuttles are listed alphabetically, how many missions were flown by the fourth one on the list?

Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have a partly cloudy Tuesday in town, giving way to more sun, with a high of twenty. Sunrise is 6:51 AM and sunset 6:28 PM, for 9h 37m 13s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 16.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

Common Council meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1916 during the First World War, the Battle of the Somme ends with little to show for the effort expect casualties:

The Battle of the Somme (French: Bataille de la Somme, German: Schlacht an der Somme), also known as the Somme Offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British and French empires against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of the River Somme in France. The battle was one of the largest of World War I, in which more than 1,000,000 men were wounded or killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in human history. A Franco-British commitment to an offensive on the Somme had been made during Allied discussions at Chantilly, Oise, in December 1915. The Allies agreed upon a strategy of combined offensives against the Central Powers in 1916, by the French, Russian, British, and Italian armies, with the Somme offensive as the Franco-British contribution. The main part of the offensive was to be made by the French Army, supported on the northern flank by the Fourth Army of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).

Google-a-Day asks a question about sailing:

What is the common term used by the America’s Cup organization, for an object shaped like an airplane wing, designed to direct the flow of air over its surface?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Monday will be partly cloudy with a high of seventeen degrees (corrected from an earlier entry mistakenly listing the high as seven degrees). Sunrise is 6:50 AM and sunset 4:29 PM, with 9h 39m 15s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with twenty-three percent of its disk illuminated.

On this day in 1777, Congress submits the Articles of Confederation to the states for ratification (having been adopted by Congress two days earlier):

The Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union, was a document signed amongst the 13 original colonies that established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution.[1] Its drafting by a committee appointed by the Second Continental Congress began on July 12, 1776, and an approved version was sent to the states for ratification in late 1777. The formal ratification by all 13 states was completed in early 1781. Even when not yet ratified, the Articles provided domestic and international legitimacy for the Continental Congress to direct the American Revolutionary War, conduct diplomacy with Europe and deal with territorial issues and Native American relations. Nevertheless, the weakness of the government created by the Articles became a matter of concern for key nationalists. On March 4, 1789, general government under the Articles was replaced with the federal government under the U.S. Constitution.[2][3] The new Constitution provided for a much stronger federal government with a chief executive (the president), courts, and taxing powers.

Google-a-Day asks a geography question:

On the flag of Angola, the symbol with a half circle shape is part of three symbols, collectively chosen to relate to the flag of what former county?