The 770 ton ironclad CSS Atlanta had been damaged and captured off Savannah, Georgia on June 17, 1863.  Salvaged and brought to the Philadelphia Naval Yard, she was refitted, rearmed, and commissioned on February 2, 1864 as the USS Atlanta. She operated for the rest of the war in the James River, supporting operations against Richmond.  Sold after the war to the Haitian Government, she sank with all hands in December 1869. (By John Osborne)

A partial eclipse of the sun was visible across the northwestern area of the United States, west of a line between Galveston, Texas and westernmost Lake Superior.  It began in the late afternoon and ended around nine o'clock in the evening. (By John Osborne)

The winter of 1864 began officially at 7:55 a.m., Washington DC time. (By John Osborne)

The autumn of 1864 began officially at 2:08 p.m., Washington DC time. (By John Osborne)

The summer of 1864 began officially at 11:44 p.m., Washington DC time. (By John Osborne)

Spring begins for 1864 at 3:02 a.m. Washington D.C. time.

On the Chinese coast, near present-day Yantai, H.M.S. Racehorse, a Royal Navy dispatch-boat carrying messages from Shanghai, ran agound on the coast in heavy fog at around eight o'clock in the evening. A storm then struck and began to smash the vessel to pieces and through the night ninety-nine of the 108-man crew were drowned or died of exposure in the cold seas. (By John Osborne)     

More than a century after the idea was floated and decades after Isabard Kingdom Brunel's design was selected to fulfill it, the remarkable Clifton Suspension Bridge was opened and dedicated above Bristol. More than 700 feet long and standing 260 feet above the Avon River Gorge, it was considered an engineering wonder when opened and still stands today.  (By John Osborne) 

Heavy gales lashed the north-east coast of England and at the mouth of the River Tyne the passenger ship Stanley foundered with the loss of twenty-one passengers and six crew, as did the schooner Friendship, costing six more lives. Two men from the Tynemouth lifeboat also drowned in a brave effort to aid both ships. Also, the steamer Dalhousie sank further up the coast and thirty-five passengers and crew lost.  (By John Osborne)