Today:
Patchy fog before 11am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 75. South wind 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Tonight:
Increasing clouds, with a low around 58. South wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light in the evening.
Highs are forecast to remain in the 70s for the coming week.
Courtesy of HistoryNet:
1647 A new law bans Catholic priests from the colony of Massachusetts. The penalty is banishment or death for a second offense.
1835 A resolution is passed in the U.S. Congress stating that Congress has no authority over state slavery laws.
1835 Birth of Edward Porter Alexander, artillery general during the American Civil War.
The Appomattox Campaign began on Wednesday, March 29, 1865. After a final meeting at City Point, Virginia, to discuss strategy with United States president Abraham Lincoln, Union general William T. Sherman, and Admiral David Porter, Ulysses S. Grant set in motion the Army of the Potomac, commanded by George G. Meade, and the Army of the James, commanded by Edward O. C. Ord, with the intention of turning the right, or southern, flank of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, entrenched at Petersburg, Virginia, since June of the previous year. If Grant could get his armies around Lee’s right, he would prevent the Army of Northern Virginia from escaping west to link up with Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston‘s Army of Tennessee, then operating in North Carolina against Sherman. At the opening of the Appomattox Campaign, Grant’s two armies numbered about 125,000 and Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia less than half that number.
Gregg Clemmer
Vandalized with paint and foul language by those who seek to remove it, Leeâs statue is walled from all, pending a court decision. Seeing this, I have to shake my head at those who do not know our history. Yes, Lee, in his modesty, requested no such remembrance. Yet 20 years after his death, Virginia dedicated this statue to his memory for future generations to learn from and as a way for the South to heal. The victorious North had no objections, realizing this was a solid way to continue âbinding up the nationâs wounds.â
Yet, there is one aspect in this dissension that has not been addressed. And I would suggest it is the single most important legacy bequeathed to us by Robert Edward Lee.