Confederate troops had abandoned Munson's Hill, over;looking Washington DC, the morning before.  Union troops were advancing in that area in the early hours of the morning when several units mistook each other for enemy and began firing on each other. Before the mistake could be discovered, nine men had been killed and around twenty-five wounded in this "friendly fire" incident.   (By John Osborne)

Munson's Hill, overlooking Washington, had been in Confederate possession for months and had harbored sharpshooters, a massive Confederate flag visible to the city, and what appeared to be an impressive array of cannon.  Confederate troops abandoned the hill in the morning and when Union troops advanced they found, to the amusement of the press in following days, that the "cannon" were actually painted tree trunks, so-called "Quaker Guns."  (By John Osborne)

Fridjof Nansen was born just north of present-day Oslo.  Son of a lawyer, he became an accomplished student and athlete, winning the national championships and setting world records in skiing and skating.  He took to polar exploration and his exploits made him one of the world's most famous explorers and scientists.  Later, he joined the League of Nations and was awarded the 1922 Nobel Prize for his world-wide work with the refugees thrown up in the chaos of the First World War.  He died of a heart attack in May 1930 aged sixty-eight.  (By John Osborne) 

Lillian Russell, born Helen Louise "Nellie" Leonard in Clinton, Iowa, the fourth of seven children of a newspaper editor and his wife, was the leading operetta singer and female vaudeville performer of her day. Married four times and a long-time companion of millionaire "Diamond Jim" Brady, she later wrote and lectured for women's suffrage and self-help, recruited for the U.S. Marines in World War One, and served on fact-finding missions for President Harding.  She died of complications after minor injuries in Pittsburgh, in June 1922, aged sixty.  (By John Osborne)