The Navy cruiser, part of the Stennis Carrier Strike Group has entered the 7th Fleet operational area “to promote peace, regional cooperation and stability”. Navy News service posted a photo of the ship in transit. Go Navy.

See also the ship’s official website.

Both houses of the Virginia legislature Saturday unanimously passed a resolution expressing œprofound regret for the state's role in slavery. In part, it proclaims that government-sanctioned slavery œranks as the most horrendous of all depredations of human rights and violations of our founding ideals in our nation's history, and the abolition of slavery was followed by systematic discrimination, enforced segregation, and other insidious institutions and practices toward Americans of African descent that were rooted in racism, racial bias, and racial misunderstanding.

This doesn’t change the past, but it is important for the future.

Thanks to the Associated Press via a piece on MSNBC. Haven’t found the full text yet.

Post-war papers of Benjamin Franklin Eshleman, a battery commander at Sharpsburg, have been donated and are being preserved at the U of South Carolina. This according to a local news piece. Correspondence and further research are indicated.

Just finished Six Frigates by Ian Toll (W. W. Norton, Oct 2006). Two thumbs up. The story of the first serious American warships and their fights (1794-c.1815). USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) and her sisters. Decatur, Preble, and peers.

Built on primary source research, eclectic coverage from shipbuilding to politics to Teddy Roosevelt (!), and a great read. Thanks for the gift, lads.

Anybody else read this?

I was knocked out to get comments this week on the Morrison article from Joseph Graham Morrison IV. His daughter clued him to it. He’s passing it along to his 92 year old father (JGM III), the grandson of one of our subjects.

I hope to do my guys–those who were at Sharpsburg–justice and that they have decendents who appreciate them. It is most gratifying to have this kind of reenforcement.

Very nice. Now that’s what the Internets is all about.