This day in history - August 3

[seamusTX]

1492 - Christopher Columbus set sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain.

As Mark Twain or someone nearly as clever said, Columbus didn't know where he was going, didn't know where he was when he got there, and didn't know where he had been when he went back.

1943 - General George Patton slapped a private who was recuperating from battle fatigue in a hospital in Sicily, accusing the soldier of cowardice. The incident nearly ended his military career.

1958 - The first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus, became the first vessel to reach the North Pole, under the ice.

1970 - Hurricane Celia made landfall at Corpus Cristi as a category 3 storm. It killed 15 Texans and was the most expensive natural disaster in dollar terms up to that time.

1977 - The Radio Shack TRS-80 personal computer was announced. It was one of the most useful and least expensive PCs of the day.

It had approximately the processing power of a modern microwave oven, but it was the hot ticket of the day.

- Jim

[ELB]

"1977 - The Radio Shack TRS-80 personal computer was announced. It was one of the most useful and least expensive PCs of the day."

It was very nearly one of the only PCs of the day... There was an Apple machine, and a Commodore 64, I think, and that was pretty much it if you wanted something at home. I personally was still carving punch cards out of clay and baking them in my oven to feed to a ginormous (physically anyway) CDC 6600 at the nearby university...

[seamusTX]

Commodore PET*, a Heathkit, and Northstar, all nearly forgotten now.

I had access to my employer's PDP-8 at the time, and considered these primitive PCs to be costly toys. Maybe a bad career decision, but the course that I followed turned out all right.

- Jim

*French for intestinal flatulence

[seamusTX]

1861 - The USS South Carolina, a Union steamer, had arrived to blockade Galveston Bay in July. This was only a few months after the beginning of the Civil War. At the time all military action was along the East Coast. No battle had yet taken place on Texas soil.

A Confederate garrison had been sent to defend Galveston at some old forts on the south shore in the area that would now be 15th through 22nd streets.

The captain of the South Carolina sent the schooner Dart to reconnoiter the Confederate defenses. The Rebels fired on the Dart, and the schooner returned fire without effect.

The residents were excited by the sound of cannon fire (which probably few had heard), and practically the entire population rushed to the beach—some bringing picnic baskets. Vendors sold refreshments. This notion of war being a spectator sport was apparently common at the beginning of the conflict.

When Capt. James Alden of the South Carolina learned of the attack, he brought his ship to within a mile of the Confederate batteries. The Confederates opened fire on the South Carolina, which returned fire with its large guns. Neither the fortifications nor the ship were damaged, but one civilian on the beach was decapitated by a shell, and several were injured.

The mood became quite a bit more sober, and shortly after the battle many residents of Galveston who had no reason to live there left.

Here is a detailed article by Edward T. Cotham Jr, a local historian: http://galvestondailynews.com/story/248346" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim