Battle Hymn of the Republic, ENIAC, Space Shuttle Columbia

[Tritonbmc]

1790
The Supreme Court of the United States convened for the first time, in New York City.

1862
Julia Ward Howe's poem "Battle Hymn of the Republic" was published in the Atlantic Monthly.

Ju­lia W. Howe, 1861, alt. This hymn was born dur­ing the Amer­i­can ci­vil war, when Howe vis­it­ed a Un­ion Ar­my camp on the Po­to­mac Riv­er near Wash­ing­ton, D. C. She heard the sol­diers sing­ing the song "John Brown's Body," and was tak­en with the strong march­ing beat. She wrote the words the next day:

I awoke in the grey of the morn­ing, and as I lay wait­ing for dawn, the long lines of the de­sired po­em be­gan to en­twine them­selves in my mind, and I said to my­self, "I must get up and write these vers­es, lest I fall asleep and for­get them!" So I sprang out of bed and in the dim­ness found an old stump of a pen, which I re­mem­bered us­ing the day be­fore. I scrawled the vers­es al­most with­out look­ing at the p­aper.

The hymn ap­peared in the At­lant­ic Month­ly in 1862. It was sung at the fun­er­als of Brit­ish states­man Win­ston Church­ill, Amer­i­can sen­at­or Ro­bert Ken­ne­dy, and Am­er­i­can pre­si­dents Ron­ald Rea­gan and Ri­chard Nix­on.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
His day is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
"As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal";
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Since God is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet;
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free;
[originally ...let us die to make men free]
While God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! While God is marching on.

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.




1884
The first volume of the Oxford English Dictionary A–Ant, was published.

1946
A press conference announced the first electronic digital computer, ENIAC, was held at the University of Pennsylvania.

1960
Four black college students began a series of sit-ins at a white-only lunch counter in Woolworth's, Greensboro, N.C.

1968
During the Vietnam War, a Viet Cong officer was executed with a pistol shot to the head by Saigon's police chief and the image captured in a famous news photograph.

1979
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Tehran after 15 years of exile.

2003
The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it tried to reenter the Earth's atmosphere after a sixteen-day mission in space. All seven members of the crew were lost.

2004
Janet Jackson's famous "wardrobe malfunction" occurred at Super Bowl XXXVIII.

[nlareau]

1968
During the Vietnam War, a Viet Cong officer was executed with a pistol shot to the head by Saigon's police chief and the image captured in a famous news photograph.

I really enjoy these history posts.  Good stuff.

Not to get political (and I know that wasn't BMCs intent), but I'll bet 98% of the US population has seen that photo. I remember seeing it on the news when I was 10.

I'll also bet 99.5% of the US population doesn't know that that shot was entirely legal, and in fact, specifically called out as acceptable in the Geneva Conventions.  It was not a 'war crime'.

He was an enemy officer, out of uniform and trying to pass as a non-combatant, and in territory held by his opponent.  Geneva Conventions allow anyone in that position to be shot dead on the spot without further investigation.  He was.

[Fish_myster]

Thanks again Tritonbmc,
I enjoy your history post.
Today was another one of those historical days.
I love that song too.
God bless the folks on the space shuttle Columbia for exploring for the world. We all aught to give thanks for these kind of folks that step up doing their job for the benfit of all. 

[Tritonbmc]

Neil is correct in his statement, he did not fall under the Geneva Convention.

As much as I love the South, the Battle Hymn of the Republic blows Dixie's doors off.  Awesome song.