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William Y. Slack (August 1, 1816 – March 21, 1862) was an American lawyer, politician and soldier. A peacetime lawyer, Slack served in the Missouri General Assembly from 1842 to 1843 and saw combat in the Mexican–American War. After the outbreak of the American Civil War in April 1861, Slack, who held pro-slavery views, supported the Confederate cause. When the Missouri State Guard was formed the next month to oppose the Union Army, he was appointed as a brigadier general, commanding its 4th Division. After participating in the Battle of Carthage in July, he fought in the Battle of Wilson's Creek on August 10, where he suffered a bad hip wound. He transferred to the Confederate Army in late 1861 as a colonel. On March 7, 1862, during the Battle of Pea Ridge, he was wounded again. Infection set in, and he died on March 21. He was posthumously promoted to brigadier general in the Confederate Army on April 17; the Confederate Senate may not have known that he was dead. (Full article...)

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On this day

March 21: Fast of Esther (Judaism, 2024); Oltenia Day in Romania

Scottish Cup

1874 – Queen's Park defeated Clydesdale 2–0 in the final of the inaugural Scottish Cup (trophy pictured).
1913 – More than 360 were killed and 20,000 homes were destroyed in the Great Dayton Flood in Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
1968 – War of Attrition: The Battle of Karameh took place between the Israel Defense Forces and allied troops of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Jordanian Armed Forces.
1980 – The American soap opera Dallas aired the episode "A House Divided", which led to eight months of international speculation on "Who shot J.R.?"
2019 – A major explosion at a chemical plant in Yancheng, China, killed 78 people and injured 640 others.

Ælla of Northumbria and Osberht of Northumbria (d. 867)
Alice Henry (b. 1857)
Al Williamson (b. 1931)
Chinua Achebe (d. 2013)

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Today's featured picture

Arabis hirsuta, also known as the hairy rock-cress, is a flowering plant of the genus Arabis in the family Brassicaceae. In previous North American works, this species has been broadly defined to include plants native to Europe, Asia, and the northern half of North America, but the name is now more often used to describe a narrower subgroup. The species grows on chalk slopes, dunes, hedgebanks, walls and rocks. Arabis hirsuta grows to a height of up to around 75 centimetres (30 inches) and is usually unbranched, with a long spike of flowers and stiff hairs. The lower leaves of the plant form a rosette, while the stalkless upper leaves clasp the stem. Flowering is from June to August. It has white petals, cylindrical fruits pressed close to the stem and reddish brown seeds. This A. hirsuta plant at the start of its flowering phase was photographed in Keila, Estonia.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

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