JULY 4TH, 1864: The USS Hastings engaged Confederate sharpshooters on the White River above St. Charles, Arkansas. Lt.Cmdr. Phelps said of the 300-ton, eight-gun Hastings in his report to Rear Admiral Porter: "I had been at a loss to know how we should celebrate the Fourth, being underway and having so much of a convoy in charge, but this attack occurring about noon furnished the opportunity of at once punishing the enemy and celebrating the day by firing cannons."
Just one year earlier, the July Fourth celebration was made even better by the Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg the previous day and the surrender of Vicksburg, two events that were the beginning of the end for the Confederacy.
--Old B-R'er
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