On January 26, 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an executive order for enlarging the Pelican Island Reservation in Florida that said “It is unlawful for any person to hunt, trap, capture, willfully disturb, or kill any bird of any kind whatever, or take the eggs of such birds within the limits of this reservation…”
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US.
On January 26, 1945, near the village of Holtzwihr Lt. Audie L. Murphy stood alone on a burning tank destroyer and for an hour, used the vehicle’s machine gun to repel repeated German attacks. Murphy was awarded the Medal of Honor and after WW2, starred in over 40 films, mostly Westerns.
On January 26, 1863, General Joseph Hooker was appointed by Abraham Lincoln to command the Army of the Potomac.
“Beware of rashness, but with energy, and sleepless vigilance, go forward and give us victories.”
Lincoln to Hooker in a letter dated 1/26/1863.
Five months later and only a few days before the Battle of Gettysburg, Hooker was replaced by Major General George Meade.
Image of General Hooker and his horse via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Major General Abner Doubleday
June 26, 1819 – January 26, 1893
“Gettysburg was General Doubleday’s last campaign and also the one in which he earned the highest distinction. On account of the position held by him at Fort Sumter, he was of necessity prominent in the Civil War at its very inception; and though no longer leading troops on a field after Gettysburg he had the satisfaction of knowing that just as his active battlefield career ended the tide of Southern
aggression began to roll back.”
The first day of battle:
“The First Corps at this time was five miles south of Gettysburg. General Reynolds went to the support of Buford with the nearest division of the First Corps Wadsworth’s and directed that the others follow. While forming his line of battle he was killed. General Howard succeeded to the command of the
field but did not issue any orders to the First Corps until the afternoon. In the meantime General Doubleday continued the contest, captured a great part of the forces that had assailed him, and cleared his immediate front of all enemies.”
“General Doubleday carried out Hancock’s plans in regard to the First Corps, and the Ridge was held, by strategy. Leaving the First and Eleventh Corps in the centre Hancock directed Doubleday to send a force to Culp’s Hill on the right, while he instructed Buford to parade up and down on the extreme left with his cavalry.”
Selections from: In memoriam, Abner Doubleday, 1819-1893, and John Cleveland Robinson, 1817-1897
by New York State, published in 1918
https://archive.org/details/inmemoriamabnerd00newy/page/83
Source says not in copyright
Image: Major General Abner Doubleday and his wife, between 1860 and 1870.
via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
The Turner House in Lansing, Michigan that was built in the 1850s.
On January 26, 1837, Michigan became the 26th state.
Lansing became the state capital in 1847. For the first 10 years, Detroit served as Michigan’s state capital.
Image from Nacropolis via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY SA 4.0
From a WWI photo card captioned “BRIG. GEN. Douglas MacArthur, Comdg. Gen. 84th Brigade, 42nd Division, standing in front of his car. St. Juvin, Ardennes, France.”
On January 26, 1880 Douglas MacArthur was born in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Dead letter department, post office
– January 26, 1926
via Library of Congress, no known restrictions
Pro baseball catcher and broadcaster Bob Uecker was born on January 26, 1934 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, no known restrictions
On today’s date January 26, 1911, aviation pioneer Glenn H. Curtiss flew the first seaplane from the water in America.
Image from LOC via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
A daguerreotype of a married couple c. 1850
Happy National Spouses Day
January 26th
The couple shown are Mr. and Mrs. Chester W. Pomeroy. Mr. Pomeroy was one of the partners of the produce and commission firm of Pomeroy and Anderson in St. Louis. Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant was born on today’s date January 26, 1826 in St. Louis, Missouri.
“[Mrs. Julia (Dent) Grant was married at her birth-place in Missouri, Aug. 22, 1848, and went with her husband onto a farm, which he called “Hardscrabble.” She bore him three sons and one daughter. In sickness and health, in want and in wealth, she encouraged and aided him, often caring for others in distress. She was a prudent woman, and a proud and praying wife and mother. Passing from poverty up to the White House, her domestic administration was admirable. Her bearing in public and private life from infancy to age, was beautiful as May, and harmonious as music] (Read Proverbs xiv, 1-34)
The woman of the greatest worth;
Against whom nothing can be said;
Whose name is honored o’er the earth,
In realms where it is heard and read;
Who more than kept her marriage vow,
Whate’er her husband’s wants or wealth,
To love him truly, high or low,”
In good or ill, sickness or health —
Her loyal brow wears laurels now!
So much that’s beautiful, that’s sweet, that’s brave
Is in this wifely woman’s will and way,
Which saved her husband to his country save,
We fain would set her worth in full array.
But there’s no language that can laud too much
Her patient service, when he was so poor,
His bootless toil had the “Hardscrabble ” touch, And dismal want was waiting at the door.
O, what a model for all wives of men
Who work by day to win home’s daily bread,
And sometimes sink beneath such burdens then
That they indeed half wish themselves were dead! And what a lesson is her later life,
So womanly in all that wicked war,
So straight and simple in the scenes of strife;
And in the White House which they waited for!
No woman there had greater wisdom shown,
Or shared more kindly its domestic cares,
And made her husband’s honor mold her own;
In practice of her prudence and her prayers,
She made the White House what it should be — Home! —
And typic of our country and our time.
And when around the world they while and roam,
Courted by queens and kings in their best prime,
And to our coasts they hast’ning, happy come, Of woman’s excellence she seems the sum!“
From: Our presidents’ mothers, wives and daughters; Some Washington sermons and (mayhap) “Young Konkaput, king of Utes,” and “Occasional poems.” by Thomas Nelson Haskell, published in 1900. No known restrictions
https://archive.org/details/ourpresidentsmot01hask/page/n59
Image: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. “Julia Dent Grant.” New York Public Library Digital Collections.
No known restrictions
American actor/philanthropist Paul Newman was born on January 26, 1925.
His “Newman’s Own” food brand that he co-founded in 1982 has produced over half a billion dollars for charity.
Image: U.S. Navy photo of Paul Newman c. 1944-1945 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
On January 26, 1915, Rocky Mountain National Park was established.
Image: Long’s Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado by Ansel Adams via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
