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| American Girl |
Oh, dear.
Where are my manners?
I completely forgot that yesterday was the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen's classic, Pride and Prejudice.
First published on Jan. 28, 1813, the story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education, and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England.
Miss Austen began writing the novel, originally titled First Impressions, in 1796. Austen made significant revisions to the manuscript between 1811 and 1812 and retitled it, Pride and Prejudice.
Unfortunately, Miss Austen sold the copyright for the Pride and Prejudice for £110 which was a costly mistake.
But happy anniversary, my dear Miss Bennet (as portrayed by my dear friend Caroline Abbott).
And Miss Austen, too, of course.
Confederate ironclads harass Union blockade of Charleston
Two Confederate ironclad rams, the CSS Palmetto State and the CSS Chicora, unleash a surprise assault Jan. 31, 1863, on Union forces blockading Charleston, S.C., where the Civil War began in 1861. The Palmetto rammed one Union ship, firing into the vessel and disabling it. The other ironclad went for a second Union ship, showering it with enough artillery shells that it had to be towed away. After trading fire with Union foes for a while, the low-slung Confederate rams retreated to the safety of Charleston Harbor with only minor damage. The action of the Confederate vessels briefly harass the Union blockade of Charleston harbor — part of a larger effort to shut off Confederate ports from supplying themselves with arms, ammunition and other goods through the aid of blockade runners. Charleston would immediately fall back under the blockade after the attack. Also this week 150 years ago in the Civil War, Confederate newspapers crowed over the South's success in recently stopping Union Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside from crossing the Rappahannock River toward Richmond, Va., seat of the secessionists. Burnside's offensive bogged down in thick mud after heavy winter rains, prompting him to be sacked shortly after the abortive expedition in January 1863. "Yankee Army Stuck in the Mud," boasted one headline in the "Daily Constitutionalist" newspaper of Augusta, Ga. It added: "The Yankees were prevented from crossing the Rappahannock owing to the impassable conditions of the roads. Our correspondent says that it was impossible to draw an empty wagon through the dreadful mud. The whole army was stuck fast."
One of my heroes, Elizabeth Blackwell, became the United States' first female doctor (as well as the first woman on the United Kingdom Medical Register) when she received her medical degree on Jan. 23, 1849 by the Geneva Medical College of Geneva, N.Y.
Blackwell was the first openly identified woman to earn a medical degree in the United States. (Her sister Emily was the third openly identified woman to graduate from medical school in the United States.)
Blackwell and her sisters aided in nursing efforts when the Civil War broke out. However, Blackwell met with resistance from the U.S. Sanitary Commission, a private relief agency created to support sick and wounded soldiers of the U.S. Army during the Civil War. The male physicians refused to help with the nurse education plan if it involved the Blackwells.
Thankfully, she eventually proved her worth as a physician and had a long and successful career before her death in 1910.
