1856 Mary Ann Patten, a Massachusetts woman became the first female captain of a merchant clipper ship. She was 19 and pregnant when her ship's captain husband was stricken with tubercular meningitis as the 216-foot triple master neared the world's most dangerous ocean passage, Cape Horn. It was rare having a woman on such a ship & even rarer still in having studied navigation books in the ship's library. This enabled her to ride out a storm with 50-foot waves pushing 200-foot icebergs to successfully complete the voyage to San Francisco where the world celebrated her achievement. But the story continues as she had to fight to be paid the captain's fee she earned. Quite a gal.

January 19, 1807 Robert E. Lee born in Virginia. U.S. Army officer served in the Mexican War & Confederate General in the U.S. Civil War. His father "Light-Horse Harry Lee" was a hero during the American Revolution, & the governor of Virginia. Other family members served in Congress & signed the Declaration of Independence. Died in 1870.

How do you and the US rate him as a General Tom?

Brilliant for what he had to work with. He knew the Confederacy was short on resources & could not win a prolonged war, tried to shorten it at Gettysburg & it didn't work out. Was revered by most in the South except for Longstreet. They still have state holidays in his remembrance in some southern states. Distinguished himself during the Mexican War in 1846 in the staff of Winfield Scott in the Capture of Mexico City.

January 19, 2026 Martin Luther King Day in the U.S. In honor of the civil rights leader assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee by James Earl Ray. Still a source of contention by conspiracy theorists. Federal holiday government offices, banks, mail, all closed.

1780's The Revolutionary War had been won & America was one nation........or was it? In the North they were fishers & sailors. In the Central they were farmers. In the South they were planters. Their political interests, their commercial views, their customs, their laws, all so different. Their jealousy seemed insurmountable. The French sent a delegation to Philadelphia to discuss European-American trade arrangements with a shrewd charge-de-affairs Monsieur Otto in charge. His report back to Versailles read; "that in America as in all commercial republics, affections will follow very closely the transactions of money." Seems like nothing has changed.

February 11, 1731 George Washington's birthday first recorded under the Julian calendar. When the switch to the more accurate Gregorian calendar occurred, date advanced to February 22, 1732. Washington himself never really celebrated it & he generally spent it writing letters & running his estate. In 1879 it became a federal holiday. In 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act & the act became law in 1971. The holiday was moved the third Monday of February. But wait..........isn't it President's Day? That term gained popularity in the 1980's mainly due to marketing campaigns promoting Presidents Day. sales. See capitalism.