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1863 depiction of the Battle of Raymond

The Battle of Raymond was fought on May 12, 1863, near Raymond, Mississippi, during the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. In late April, Union general Ulysses S. Grant led his army across the Mississippi River and moved east. A portion of the army led by James B. McPherson moved towards Raymond. Confederate brigadier general John Gregg was ordered from Jackson to Raymond. The two forces met on the morning of May 12. Gregg underestimated Union strength and acted aggressively, while McPherson overestimated Confederate strength and responded cautiously. Early on, the battle was relatively evenly matched. McPherson brought up reinforcements and the weight of Union numbers cracked the Confederate line. Gregg disengaged, but McPherson did not pursue. The battle changed Grant's plans, leading him to first focus on the Confederate forces at Jackson. Grant's men captured Jackson and pivoted west. They besieged Vicksburg, which the Confederates were forced to surrender on July 4. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Portrait of Joseph by Géricault

... that Théodore Géricault's paintings of Haitian-born model Joseph (example pictured) are unusual in portraying him as "an actual, distinct person"?
... that a Kansas TV station claimed it had "The Look of a Leader" and then went on to become the leader in its market?
... that Wanda Szuman, a pioneer of special education in Poland, was also active in underground education?
... that one reviewer said that her favorite part of Cassette Beasts was that it is not "forced to cater to younger children", unlike Pokémon?
... that the incorruptibility of Wihtburh's body was considered a miracle?
... that declarative knowledge is an awareness of facts that differs from practical knowledge in the form of skills and knowledge by acquaintance based on experiential familiarity?
... that Christopher W. Shaw has called for the return of banking at the United States Postal Service?
... that English-speaking elephants can be okay on Neptune in fiction, but a solid surface is not?

In the news

Annemiek van Vleuten

In cycling, Annemiek van Vleuten (pictured) wins La Vuelta Femenina.
In horse racing, Mage wins the Kentucky Derby.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla are crowned at Westminster Abbey in London.
The World Health Organization ends its designation of the COVID-19 pandemic as a global health emergency.
Seventeen people are killed in two separate shootings in Belgrade, Serbia, at an elementary school and in two nearby towns.

On this day

May 12

B-17 bombers intercepting the Rex

1743 – War of the Austrian Succession: Habsburg ruler Maria Theresa was crowned Queen of Bohemia after driving French troops from the territory.
1938 – During an exercise to demonstrate air power, United States Army Air Corps bomber aircraft intercepted the Italian ocean liner SS Rex (pictured) 620 nautical miles (1,100 km) off the US Atlantic coast.
1948 – The United Kingdom publicly announced that it was independently developing nuclear weapons, after the US Atomic Energy Act of 1946 ended cooperation on the matter.
1968 – Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force began the defence of Fire Support Base Coral in the largest unit-level action of the war for the Australian Army.
1998 – Four students were shot and killed by Indonesian soldiers at Trisakti University in Jakarta, which led to widespread riots and the resignation of President Suharto nine days later.

Thomas Palaiologos (d. 1465)
Otto Frank (b. 1889)
Rami Malek (b. 1981)

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Hurricane Patricia

The 2015 Pacific hurricane season was the second-most active Pacific hurricane season on record, and featured the strongest tropical cyclone ever observed in the Western Hemisphere: Hurricane Patricia (pictured). The 2015 season officially started on May 15 in the Eastern Pacific—east of 140°W—and on June 1 in the Central Pacific—between the International Date Line and 140°W—and ended on November 30. Throughout the season, 31 tropical depressions developed, 26 of which became tropical storms, a record-tying 16 of them reached hurricane strength, and a record-breaking 11 achieved major hurricane intensity. Activity in the Central Pacific shattered records, with 16 tropical cyclones forming in or entering the basin; the previous record was 11, set during the 1992 and 1994 seasons. Activity in the basin was boosted by the strong 2014–2016 El Niño event, which brought anomalously high sea surface temperatures and low vertical wind shear that helped the numerous systems form and intensify. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Sagittarius A* is the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center of the Milky Way. It is located near the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius, about 5.6 degrees south of the ecliptic, visually close to the Butterfly Cluster and Lambda Scorpii. On May 12, 2022, astronomers released this first image of the accretion disk around the event horizon of Sagittarius A*, produced in April 2017 by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a worldwide network of radio observatories, confirming the object to be a black hole. This was the second confirmed image of a black hole, after EHT's image of M87* released in 2019.

Image credit: EHT Collaboration

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