The FReeper Foxhole Remembers the Sinking of the C.S.S. Alabama (6/19/1864)

Report of Captain Winslow, U.S. Navy,
commanding U.S.S. Kearsarge.

U. S. S. KEARSARGE,
Cherbourg, France, June 19, 1864

SIR: I have the honor to inform the Department that the day subsequent to the arrival of the Kearsarge off this port, on the 14th instant, I received a note from Captain Semmes, begging that the Kearsarge would not depart, as he intended to fight her and would not delay her but a day or two.

According to this notice, the Alabama left the port of Cherbourg this morning at about 9:30 o'clock.

At 10:20 a. m. we discovered her steering toward us. Fearing the question of jurisdiction might arise, we steamed to sea until a distance of 6 or 7 miles was attained from the Cherbourg breakwater, when we rounded to and commenced steaming for the Alabama. As we approached her within about 1,200 yards she opened fire, we receiving two or three broadsides before a shot was returned. The action continued, the respective steamers making a circle round and round at a distance of about 900 yards from each other. At the expiration of an hour the Alabama struck, going down in about 20 minutes afterwards, and carrying many persons with her.

It affords me great gratification to announce to the Department that every officer and man did his duty, exhibiting a degree of coolness and fortitude which gave promise at the outset of certain victory.

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient servant,
JNO. A. WINSLOW,
Captain,

Hon. GIDEON WELLES,
Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C.

Source: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Series 1, vol. 3 (Washington Government Printing Office, 1896): 59.

Supplementary report of Captain Winslow, U. S. Navy,
commanding U. S. S. Kearsarge,
of the engagement between that vessel and the C. S. S. Alabama.

U. S. S. KEARSARGE,
English Channel, July 30, 1864

SIR: In obedience to the instructions of the Department I have the honor to make the following supplementary report of the action between the Kearsarge and the Alabama: On the morning of the 19th ultimo, the day being fine, with a hazy atmosphere, wind moderate from the westward, with little sea, the position of the Kearsarge at 10 o'clock was near the buoy which marks the line of shoals to the eastward of Cherbourg, and distant about 3 miles from the eastern entrance, which bore to the southward and westward. At 10:20 o'clock the Alabama was descried coming out of the western entrance, accompanied by the Couronne (ironclad). I had, in an interview with the admiral at Cherbourg, assured him that in the event of an action occurring with the Alabama the position of the ships should be so far offshore that no question could be advanced about the line of jurisdiction. Accordingly, to perfect this object, and with the double purpose of drawing the Alabama so far offshore that if disabled she could not return, I directed the ship's head seaward, and cleared for action with the battery pivoted to starboard. Having attained a point about 7 miles from the shore, the head of the Kearsarge was turned short round and the ship steered directly for the Alabama, my purpose being to run her down, or if circumstances did not warrant it, to close in with her.

Hardly had the Kearsarge come round before the Alabama sheered, presented her starboard battery, and slowed her engines. On approaching her, at long range of about a mile, she opened her full broadside, the shot cutting some of our rigging and going over and alongside of us. Immediately I ordered more speed, but in two minutes the Alabama had loaded and again fired another broadside, and following it with a third, without damaging us except in rigging. We had now arrived within about 900 yards of her, and I was apprehensive that another broadside, nearly raking us as it was, would prove disastrous. Accordingly, I ordered the Kearsarge sheered, and opened on the Alabama. The position of the vessels was now broadside and broadside, but it was soon apparent that Captain Semmes did not seek close action. I became then fearful, lest after some fighting he would again make for the shore. To defeat this, I determined to keep full speed on, and with a port helm to run under the stern of the Alabama and rake, if he did not prevent it by sheering and keeping his broadside to us. He adopted this mode as a preventive, and as a consequence the Alabama was forced with a full head of steam into a circular track during the engagement.

The effect of this maneuver was such that at the last of the action, when the Alabama would have made off, she was near 5 miles from the shore, and had the action continued from the first in parallel lines, with her head inshore, the line of jurisdiction would no doubt have been reached. The firing of the Alabama from the first was rapid and wild. Toward the close of the action her firing became better. Our men, who had been cautioned against rapid firing without direct aim, were much more deliberate, and the instructions given to point the heavy guns below rather than above the water line and clear the deck with the lighter ones was fully observed. I had endeavored with a port helm to close in with the Alabama, but it was not until just before the close of the action that we were in position to use grape. This was avoided, however, by her surrender. The effect of the training of our men was evident. Nearly every shot from our guns was telling fearfully on the Alabama, and on the seventh rotation on the circular track she winded, setting fore-trysail and two jibs, with head inshore. Her speed was now retarded, and, by winding, her port broadside was presented to us, with only two guns bearing, not having been able, as I learned afterwards, to shift over but one. I saw now that she was at our mercy, and a few more guns, well directed, brought down her flag. I was unable to ascertain whether they had been hauled down or shot away, but a white flag having been displayed over the stern, our fire was reserved. Two minutes had not more than elapsed before she again opened on us with the two guns on the port side. This drew our fire again, and the Kearsarge was immediately steamed ahead, and laid across her bows for raking. The white flag was still flying, and our fire was again reserved. Shortly after this her boats were seen to be lowering, and an officer in one of them came alongside and informed us that the ship had surrendered and was fast sinking. In twenty minutes from this time the Alabama went down, her mainmast, which had been shot, breaking near the head as she sank, and her bow rising high out of the water as her stern rapidly settled.

The fire of the Alabama, although it is stated that she discharged 370 or more shell and shot, was not of serious damage to the Kearsarge. Some thirteen or fourteen of these had taken effect in and about the hull, and sixteen or seventeen about the masts and rigging. The casualties were small, only three persons having been wounded; yet it is a matter of surprise that so few were injured, considering the number of projectiles that came aboard. Two shot passed through the ports in which the 32's were placed, with men thickly stationed around them, one taking effect in the hammock netting and the other going through the port on the opposite side; yet no one was hit, the captain of one of the guns being only knocked down by the wind of the shot, as supposed. The fire of the Kearsarge, although only 173 projectiles had been discharged, according to the prisoners' accounts was terrific. One shot alone had killed and wounded eighteen men and disabled the gun; another had entered the coal bunkers, exploding, and completely blocked up the engine room, and Captain Semmes states that shot and shell had taken effect in the sides of the vessel, tearing large holes by explosion, and his men were everywhere knocked down.

Of the casualties in the Alabama no correct account can be given. One hundred and fifteen persons reached the shore, either in England or France, after the action. It is known that the Alabama carried a crew (officers and men) of about 150 into Cherbourg, and that while in the Southern Ocean her complement was about 170; but desertions had reduced this complement. The prisoners state that a number of men came on board at Cherbourg, and the night before the action boats were going to and fro, and in the morning strange men were seen who were stationed as captains of the guns. Among these there was one lieutenant (Sinclair), who joined her in Cherbourg.

The Alabama had been five days in preparation; she had taken in 350 tons of coal, which brought her down in the water. The Kearsarge had only 120 tons in, but as an offset to this, her sheet chains were stowed outsidestopped up and down as an additional preventive and protection to her more empty bunkers. The number of the crew of the Kearsarge, including officers and sick men, was 163 and her battery numbered seven gunstwo 11-inch and one 30-pounder rifle, and four light 32-pounder guns.

The battery of the Alabama numbered eight guns one heavy 68, of 9,000 pounds, one 110-pounder rifle, and six heavy 32-pounder guns. In the engagement the Alabama fought seven guns and the Kearsarge five, both exercising her starboard battery until the Alabama winded, using then her port side with one gun, and another shifted over.

The collateral events connected with this action have already been laid before the Department. I enclose a diagram, showing the track which was described during the engagement, by the rotary course of the vessels.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JNO. WINSLOW
Captain

Hon. GIDEON WELLES,
Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C.

CSS Alabama (1862-1864) --

CSS Alabama, a 1050-ton screw steam sloop of war, was built at Liverpool, England, for the Confederate Navy. After leaving England in the guise of a merchant ship, she rendezvoused at sea with supply ships, was outfitted as a combatant and placed in commission on 24 August 1862. Commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes, Alabama cruised in the North Atlantic and West Indies during the rest of 1862, capturing over two-dozen Union merchant ships, of which all but a few were burned. Among those released was the mail steamer Ariel, taken off Cuba on 7 December with hundreds of passengers on board.

Alabama began the new year by sinking USS Hatteras near Galveston, Texas, on 11 January 1863. She then moved into the South Atlantic, stopped at Cape Town in August, and went on to the East Indies, seizing nearly 40 more merchantmen during the year, destroying the majority and doing immense damage to the seaborne trade of the United States.

The Confederate cruiser called at Singapore in December 1863, but soon was back at sea to continue her commerce raiding. However, Alabama was increasingly in need of an overhaul and only captured a few ships in 1864. On 11 June of that year, Captain Semmes brought her to Cherbourg, France, for repairs. The Union steam sloop Kearsarge soon arrived off the port, and, on 19 June the Alabama steamed out to do battle. In an hour of intense combat, she was reduced to a sinking wreck by the Kearsarge's guns. As Alabama disappeared beneath the surface, her surviving crewmen were rescued by the victorious Federal warship and by the English yacht Deerhound. Her wreck was located by the French Navy in the 1980s.

History

CSS Alabama was a screw sloop-of-war built for the Confederacy in 1862 by John Laird Sons and Company, Liverpool, England. Launched as Enrica, it was fitted out as a cruiser and commissioned 24 August 1862 as CSS Alabama. Under Captain Raphael Semmes, Alabama spent the next two months capturing and burning ships in the North Atlantic and intercepting American grain ships bound for Europe. Continuing the path of destruction through the West Indies, Alabama sank USS Hatteras along the Texas coast and captured her crew. After a visit to Cape Town, South Africa, Alabama sailed for the East Indies where the ship spent six months cruising, destroying seven more ships before redoubling the Cape en route to Europe.

On 11 June 1864, Alabama arrived in Cherbourg, France and Captain Semmes requested permission to dock and overhaul his ship. Pursuing the raider, the American sloop-of-war USS Kearsarge arrived three days later and took up a patrol just outside the harbor. On 19 June, Alabama sailed out to meet Kearsarge. As Kearsarge turned to meet its opponent, Alabama opened fire. Kearsarge waited patiently until the range had closed to less than 1,000 yards. According to survivors, the two ships steamed on opposite courses moving around in circles as each commander tried to cross the bow of his opponent to deliver a heavy raking fire. The battle quickly turned against Alabama because of the poor quality of its powder and shells, while Kearsarge benefitted from the additional protection of chain cables along its sides. A little more than an hour after the first shot was fired, Alabama was reduced to a sinking wreck, causing Semmes to strike his colors and send a boat to surrender. According to witnesses, Alabama fired 150 rounds at its adversary, while Kearsarge fired 100. When a shell fired by Kearsarge tore open a section at Alabama's waterline, the water quickly rushed through the cruiser, forcing it to the bottom. While Kearsarge rescued most of Alabama's survivors, Semmes and 41 others were picked up by the British yacht Deerhound and escaped to England. During its two-year career as a commerce raider, Alabama caused disorder and devastation across the globe for United States merchant shipping. The Confederate cruiser claimed more than 60 prizes valued at nearly $6,000,000.

The Wreck

One hundred and twenty years after its loss, the French Navy mine hunter Circe discovered a wreck under nearly 200 feet of water off Cherbourg, France. French Navy Captain Max Guerout later confirmed the wreck to be Alabama's remains.

In 1988, a non-profit organization, the Association CSS Alabama, was founded to conduct scientific exploration of the shipwreck. Although the wreck resides within French territorial waters, the U.S. government, as the successor to the former Confederate States of America, is the owner. On 3 October 1989, the United States and France signed an agreement recognizing this wreck as an important heritage resource of both nations and establishing a Joint French-American Scientific Committee for archaeological exploration. This agreement established a precedent for international cooperation in archaeological research and in the protection of a unique historic shipwreck.

The Association CSS Alabama and the U.S. Navy/Naval Historical Center signed on 23 March 1995 an official agreement accrediting Association CSS Alabama as operator of the archaeological investigation of the remains of the ship. This agreement will be in effect for five years and is renewable by mutual consent. The signing of the agreement establishes a precedent for international cooperation in archaeological cooperation and the protection of a unique historic shipwreck. Association CSS Alabama, which is funded solely from private donations, is continuing to make this an international project through its fund raising in France and in the United States, thanks to its sister organization, the CSS Alabama Association, incorporated in the State of Delaware

USS Kearsarge (1862-1894) --

USS Kearsarge, a 1550-ton Mohican class steam sloop of war, was built at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, under the 1861 Civil War emergency shipbuilding program. She was commissioned in January 1862 and almost immediately deployed to European waters, where she spent nearly three years searching for Confederate raiders. In June 1864, while under the command of Captain John Winslow, Kearsarge found CSS Alabama at Cherbourg, France, where she had gone for repairs after a devastating cruise at the expense of the United States' merchant marine. On 19 June, the two ships, nearly equals in size and power, fought a battle off Cherbourg that became one of the Civil War's most memorable naval actions. In about an hour, Kearsarge's superior gunnery completely defeated her opponent, which soon sank.

After searching off Europe for the Confederate cruiser Florida, Kearsarge went to the Caribbean, then to Boston, where she received repairs before returning to Europe in April 1865 to try to intercept the ironclad CSS Stonewall. With the end of the Civil War, she remained in the area until mid-1866, when she was placed out of commission.

Kearsarge returned to active service in January 1868 and was sent to the the Pacific coast of South America. During 1869, she cruised across the ocean as far as Australia, then returned to Peru. The next year, Kearsarge sailed north to Hawaii, then moved on to Mare Island, California, where she decommissioned in October 1870. In 1873-78, she was back in commission, cruising in Asiatic waters until September 1877, then transiting the Suez Canal to return to the U.S. East coast, where she decommissioned in early 1878.

Two more tours of duty awaited Kearsarge during the next decade and a half. She operated in the North Atlantic and Caribbean areas in 1879-83, then went back to Europe and Africa until late 1886. From 1888 onwards, she was stationed in the West Indies and Central American areas. While en route from Haiti to Nicaragua on 2 February, she was wrecked on Roncador Reef. An effort to salvage her proved fruitless, and USS Kearsarge was stricken from the Navy List later in the year.

Additional Sources:

www.lib.ua.edu
www.rhodes.edu
www.oldgloryprints.com
www.nationalgeographic.com

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on June 19:
1556 James VI of Scotland (1567-1625)/James I of England (1603-25)
1623 Blaise Pascal mathematician/physicist/religious writer
1764 Jos‚ Gervasio Artigas general/father of Uruguay
1764 Sir John Barrow England, founded Royal Geographical Society
1783 Thomas Sully US portrait painter (Queen Victoria)
1856 Elbert Hubbard US, editor/publisher/author (Message to Garcia)
1865 Dame May Whitty Liverpool England, actress (Mrs Minerva)
1877 Charles Coburn Macon Ga, actor (Acad-1943, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)
1878 James M Kilroe priest of St Mary Star of the Sea, in the Bronx
1889 Enrico Celio pres of Switzerland
1896 Mrs Simpson [Bessie Wallis Warfield), Duchess of Windsor, divorcee
1897 Moe Howard comedian (3 Stooges)
1900 Laura Hobson NYC, TV writer/panelist (I've Got a Secret)
1902 Guy Lombardo London Ontario Canada, orch leader (Auld Lang Syne)
1903 Henry Louis Gehrig 1st baseman (NY Yankees) "Iron Horse"
1905 George Voskovec Czech, actor (Fred-Nero Wolfe, Peter-Skag)
1908 Mildred Natwick Balt Md, actress (She Wore a Yellow Ribbon)
1908 Quentin N Burdick (Sen-D-NC)
1909 Osamu Dazai Japan, novelist (Tsugaru, No Longer Human)
1912 Jerry Jerome Bkln NY, saxophonist (Words & Music)
1912 Martin Gabel Phila, TV host (With this Ring)
1914 Alan Cranston (Sen-D-CA) Pres candidate
1914 Harry Lauter White Plains NY, actor (Waterfront)
1914 Lester Flatt Earl Scrugg's partner (Beverly Hillbillies theme)
1918 Evelle Jansen Younger prosecutor of Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan
1919 Louis Jourdan Marselles France, actor (Gigi, Can-Can, Madame Bovary)
1919 Pauline Kael movie critic (NY Times)
1921 Howell Heflin (Sen-D-AL)
1922 Aage Neals Bohr Denmark, physicist/study atomic nucleus (Nobel 1975)
1924 Leo Nomellini NFL defensive tackle (SF 49ers)
1928 Nancy Marchand Buffalo NY, actress (Beacon Hill, Margaret-Lou Grant)
1932 Marisa Pavan actress (John Paul Jones, Solomon & Sheba, Rose Tattoo)
1932 Pier Angeli Italy (Sodom & Gomorrah, Vintage, Battle of the Bulge)
1933 Viktor I Patsayev USSR, cosmonaut (Soyuz 11)
1936 Gena Rowlands Cambria Wisc, actress (Gloria, Tempest, Brinks Job)
1938 Charles Gwathmey architect (5 Architects)
1941 Marlene Warfield Queens NY, actress (Victoria-Maude)
1942 Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane rocker (Spanky & Our Gang-Lazy Day)
1943 Malcolm McDowell actor (Clockwork Orange, Caligula)
1945 Tim Hovey LA Calif, actor (Queen Bee, Toy Tiger, Man Afraid)
1947 Phylicia Ayers-Allen Rashad Houston, actress (Clair-Bill Cosby)
1947 Salman Rushdie novelist (Midnight's Children, Satanic Verses)
1949 Kathleen Turner Springfield Mo, actress (Peggy Sue Got Married)
1950 Connie Forslund San Diego Calif, actress (Shining Season)
1951 Ann Wilson San Diego, singer (Heart-What About Love)
1959 Mark DeBarge rocker (DeBarge-Who's Johnny)
1962 Paula Julie Abdul Van Nuys Calif, singer/choreographer (Straight Up)
1973 Josie Davis actress (Charles in Charge)
1978 Garfield the Cat animated character "Big fat hairy deal"
1984 Emil Coleman orchestra leader (Arthur Murray Party)

Deaths which occurred on June 19:
1794 Richard Henry Lee, Statesman, General, Declaration of Independence signer
1867 Maximilian Mexican emperor, executed, Mexican republic restored
1897 Charles Cunningham Boycott, Merchant, Irish, a faulty estate manager whose tenants "boycotted" him into poverty.
1939 Grace Abbott social worker (US Children Bureau), dies at 60
1953 Rosenbergs executed at Sing Sing, Julius takes 3 tries, Ethel 5
1962 Frank Borzage academy award winning director, dies at 69
1966 Ed Wynn comedian (Ed Wynn Show), dies at 86
1973 Roger Delgado actor (Adventures of Sir Francis Drake), dies at 53
1986 Len Bias 1st pick of Celtics, suffers fatal cocaine-induced seizure
1986 Murray P Haydon artificial heart recipient, dies in Louisville, Ky
1989 Hy Gardner newspaper columnist, dies at 80
1989 I.F. Stone author, dies at 81 of heart failure
1993 William Golding, author (Lord of the Flies, Nobel 1983) dies at 81

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1964 LEDBETTER THOMAS I. TAMPA FL.
[MIA IN GROUND FIGHT ON PATROL]
1964 TALLEY JAMES L. FORT BENNING GA.
[MIA IN GROUND FIGHT ON PATROL]
1969 TELLIER DENNIS A. WOONSOCKET RI.
[03/27/73 RELEASED BY PRG]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
240 -BC- Eratosthenes estimates circumference of Earth
1586 English colonists sailed from Roanoke Island NC
1754 Albany Congress held by 7 British colonies & Iroquois indians
1778 Washington's troops finally leave Valley Forge
1835 New Orleans gives US govt Jackson Square to be used as a mint
1846 1st baseball game (Cartwright Rules)-NY Nines 23, Knickerbockers 1
1861 Anaheim Post Office established
1862 Slavery outlawed in US territories
1864 CSS "Alabama" sunk by USS "Kearsarge" off Cherbourg, France
1865 All slaves in Texas freed
1867 1st Belmont Stakes, Ruthless wins
1868 Maj Gen E R S Canby removes mayor of Columbia SC
1875 Formal opening of US Marine Hospital at Presidio
1889 Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "The Man with the Twisted Lip"
1910 Father's Day celebrated for 1st time (Spokane, Wash)
1917 After WW I King George V ordered members of British royal family to
dispense with German titles & surnames, they take the name Windsor
1930 C Jackson & H E Wood discovers asteroid #1595 Tanga
1931 1st photoelectric cell installed commercially West Haven Ct
1932 1st concert given in SF's Stern Grove
1932 Hailstones kill 200 in Hunan Province, China PR
1934 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) created
1938 "Olympian Flyer" express train crashes in Montana, killing 47
1938 Italy beats Hungary 4-1 in soccer's 3rd World Cup at Paris
1940 "Brenda Starr," 1st cartoon strip by a woman, appears in Chicago
1943 NFL's Phila Eagles & Pitts Steelers merge, (disolves on Dec 5)
1946 1st TV sports spectacular-Joe Louis vs Billy Conn
1947 1st plane (F-80) to exceed 600 mph (1004 kph)-Albert Boyd, Muroc Ca
1950 A G Wilson discovers asteroid #1980 Tezcatlipoca
1952 "I've Got A Secret" debuted on CBS with Garry Moore as host
1952 Bkln Dodger Carl Erskine no-hits Chicago Cubs, 5-0
1953 Albert W Dent, elected president of Natl Health Council
1955 Mickey Mantle hits career HR # 100
1955 Phils beat Cubs 1-0 in 15, ties longest shut out in Phillies history
1959 Senate rejects Ike's appointment of Lewis Strauss for Sec of Comm
1961 Kuwait regains complete independence from Britain
1961 US Supreme Court struck down a provision in Md's constitution
requiring state office holders to believe in God
1963 2 Russian space missions return to Earth
1963 Charter members of Canadian Football Hall of Fame chosen
1963 Valentina Tereshkova 1st woman in space returns to Earth
1965 KYW-AM in Cleveland Ohio returns call letters to Philadelphia
1967 Muhammad Ali is convicted for reusing induction in US Army
1967 Paul McCartney admits on TV that he took LSD
1968 50,000 participate in Solidarity Day March of Poor People's Campaign
1969 State troopers ordered to Cairo Ill, to quell racial disturbances
1970 A Nikolayev & V Sevastyanov return after 18 days in Soyuz 9
1970 Jim Bouton's controversial "Ball Four" is published
1971 Mayor declares state of emergency in Columbus Ga, racial disturbance
1973 Pete Rose & Willie Davis both get career hit # 2,000
1974 KC Royal Steve Busby 2nd no-hitter beats Milwaukee Brewers, 2-0
1976 US Viking 1 goes into Martian orbit after 10-month flight from Earth
1977 Pope Paul VI makes 19th-cen bishop John Neumann 1st US male saint
1977 Red Sox set 3 game record of 16 HRs, all against Yanks
1981 Boeing commercial Chinook 2-rotor helicopter is certified
1981 European Space Agency's Ariane carries 2 satellites into orbit
1981 Heaviest known orange (2.5 kg) exhibited, Nelspruit, S Africa
1981 India's APPLE satellite, 1st to be stabilized on 3 axes, launched
1984 1st live TV appearance by Chief Justice Warren Burger (Nightline)
1985 Reggie Jackson hits his 513th HR to move into 10th place
1986 Argentina beats West Germany 3-2 in soccer's 13th World Cup
1987 Geffen records sign their 1st artist (Donna Summer)
1987 Wee Willie Keeler's 44 game hitting streak ends
Ben & Jerry Ice Cream & Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia announce
new Ice Cream flavor, Cherry Garcia
1988 Danny Spitz, heavy metal artist (Anthrax), weds Valerie
1988 In Santa Barbara, CA, a team of 32 divers finish cycling underwater
on a standard tricycle, to complete 116.66 mi in 75 hrs 20 mins
1991 2 of Mia Farrow's daughters arrested for shoplifting lingerie

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Algeria : Anniversary of the Revolution (1965)
Kuwait : Independence Day (1961)
Texas : Juneteenth Day/Emancipation Day (1865)
Trinidad & Tobago : Labor Day
Uruguay : Artigas Day (1764)
US : Father's Day (Remind the guy how much you care) - - - - - ( Sunday )

Religious Observances
RC : Commemoration of SS Gervase & Protase, martyrs
RC : Memorial of Romuald, abbot (opt)
RC : Feast of St Juliana Falconieri, virgin

Religious History
0325 The month-long Council of Nicea closed. Known as the first ecumenical council in the history of the Church, it formulated the Nicene Creed and established the method for calculating Easter.
1566 Birth of James VI of Scotland. Upon the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, he ascended the English throne as James I. He is best remembered for authorizing the publication known today as the 'King James Version' (KJV) of the Bible.
1910 In Spokane, Washington, under sponsorship of the Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA, Father's Day was observed for the first time.
1977 Paul VI canonized John Nepomucene Neumann, the first American-born male saint. As fourth Bishop of the Philadelphia Diocese, Neumann is remembered for developing the parochial school system.
1987 The Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law requiring public schools to teach creationism if they taught evolutionism. The court ruled that the state law violated the First Amendment.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved."

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