Wikipedia:Today's featured article/November 2024

Today's featured articles for November 2024

Today's featured article archive

November 1

BAE Systems has offices in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre business park.

BAE Systems is a British multinational aerospace, defence and information security company, based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe and the seventh-largest in the world. Its largest operations are in the United Kingdom and in the United States, where it is one of the six largest suppliers to the US Department of Defense. Other major markets include Saudi Arabia, Australia, Canada, Japan, India and Turkey. The company was formed in 1999 by the merger of Marconi Electronic Systems with the defence arm of the General Electric Company and British Aerospace. BAE has made a number of acquisitions, most notably of United Defense and Armor Holdings and has sold its shares in Airbus. It is involved in several major defence projects, including the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, the Eurofighter Typhoon, and the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. (Full article...)

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November 2

Balfour castle on Shapinsay

Shapinsay is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. At 29.5 square kilometres (11.4 sq mi), it is the eighth largest island in the Orkney archipelago. The land is low-lying and fertile, with a bedrock formed from Old Red Sandstone overlain by boulder clay. Shapinsay has two nature reserves and is notable for its bird life. Balfour Castle (pictured) is one of the island's prominent features and a reminder of the Balfour family's domination of Shapinsay during the 18th and 19th centuries. Other landmarks include a standing stone, an Iron Age broch, a souterrain and a salt-water shower. There is one village on the island, Balfour, from which car ferries sail to the Orkney Mainland. At the 2011 census, Shapinsay had a population of 307. The island's economy is based on agriculture, with a few small businesses that are tourism-related. A community-owned wind turbine was constructed in 2011. Shapinsay's long history has given rise to various folk tales. (Full article...)

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November 3

Logo of Blue Note Records

The album covers of Blue Note Records, an American jazz record label, have been recognized for their distinctive designs, which often feature bold colors, experimental typography, and candid photographs of the album's musicians, and are described as belonging to the Bauhaus and Swiss Style movements. In the early 1950s, artists like Gil Mellé, Paul Bacon, and John Hermansader designed Blue Note's earliest album covers. In 1956, Reid Miles was hired as Blue Note's art director, creating 400 to 500 covers with a unique style incorporating diverse typefaces and design principles such as asymmetry and tinting. After Miles left in 1967, artists like Mati Klarwein and Bob Venosa took over. Designers such as Norman Seeff and Bob Cato contributed in the 1970s, while Japanese artists created new covers for reissues in the late 1970s and 1980s. From the mid-1980s onward, artists like Paula Scher and Adam Pendleton have designed covers, with Miles' work in particular remaining highly influential. (Full article...)

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November 4

Ljubljana's sister ship Beograd (right)

Ljubljana was the third and last Beograd-class destroyer built for the Royal Yugoslav Navy in the late 1930s. She was designed to operate as part of a division led by the flotilla leader Dubrovnik. Ljubljana entered service in November 1939, was armed with a main battery of four Škoda 120 mm (4.7 in) guns in single mounts, and had a top speed of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). In 1940, Ljubljana ran aground on a reef off the Yugoslav port of Šibenik, where, badly damaged, she was taken for repairs. Yugoslavia entered World War II when the German-led Axis powers invaded in April 1941, and Ljubljana—still under repair—was captured by the Royal Italian Navy. After repairs were completed, she saw active service in the Royal Italian Navy under the name Lubiana, mainly as a convoy escort on routes between Italy and North Africa. She was lost on 1 April 1943, when she ran aground and was abandoned off the Tunisian coast after a navigational error. (This article is part of a featured topic: Ships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy.)

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November 5

A section of the trail in Shawangunk, New York.

The Walden–Wallkill Rail Trail, also known as the Jesse McHugh Rail Trail, is a 3.22-mile (5.18 km) rail trail between the village of Walden, New York and the hamlet of Wallkill. The two communities are located in Orange and Ulster counties, respectively, in upstate New York. The trail is part of the former Wallkill Valley Railroad's rail corridor. The railway was the first to operate in Ulster County. Passenger service ended in 1937; the opening of the New York State Thruway and decreased freight traffic caused the line to close in 1957. The land was purchased by the towns of Montgomery and Shawangunk in 1985 and converted to a public trail. The portion of the trail in Shawangunk was formally opened in 1993 and named after former town supervisor Jesse McHugh. After seven years of discussion, the route was paved between 2008 and 2009. The trail includes an unofficial, unimproved section to the north of Wallkill, and is bounded by NY 52 and NY 208. (Full article...)

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November 6

Jackson c. 1903

Benjamin Jackson (January 2, 1835 – August 20, 1915) was a Canadian sailor and farmer. Raised in a small community of Black Nova Scotians, Jackson served for one year in the Union Navy during the American Civil War. Deployed in the Union blockade of the Confederate coastline, he also participated in the Battle of Mobile Bay as a gun captain. He disarmed multiple naval mines and once picked up a live grenade and threw it from the deck of his ship, an act that earned him a medal. After the war, Jackson lived the rest of his life in Lockhartville, Nova Scotia, sailing commercially until 1875 and farming for many years longer. His funeral in 1915 was described as "the largest seen in Lockhartville for many years", though his grave remained unmarked until 2010. One of the eight history markers on the Mathieu Da Costa African Heritage Trail is dedicated to his story and Ben Jackson Road in Hantsport, Nova Scotia, is named in his honour. (Full article...)

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November 7

George Floyd Jr. (born December 21, 1960) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive back for two seasons with the New York Jets in the National Football League. Floyd played college football for the Eastern Kentucky University Colonels, where he won the 1979 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I-AA football championship and set several school records, including for most career interceptions (22), and most career interception return yards (328). Floyd appeared in ten games during the 1982 New York Jets season, including three playoff games. He missed the entire 1983 season and appeared in eight games during the 1984 season before retiring after his third knee injury. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999. After the murder of a man with the same name in June 2020, his photograph was erroneously included in a montage at the other Floyd's funeral. As of 2023^[update], he is a defensive backs coach for Conner High School in Kentucky. (Full article...)

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November 8

Costello's on the corner of Third Avenue and East 44th Street, under the shadow of the Third Avenue El, c. 1939–1941

Costello's (also known as Tim's) was a bar and restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, from 1929 to 1992. The bar operated at several locations near the intersection of East 44th Street and Third Avenue. Costello's was known as a drinking spot for journalists with the New York Daily News, writers with The New Yorker, novelists, and cartoonists, including the author Ernest Hemingway, the cartoonist James Thurber, the journalist John McNulty, the poet Brendan Behan, the short-story writer John O'Hara, and the writers Maeve Brennan and A. J. Liebling. The bar is also known for having been home to a wall where Thurber drew a cartoon depiction of the "Battle of the Sexes" at some point between 1934 and 1935; the cartoon was destroyed, illustrated again, and then lost in the 1990s. A wall illustrated in 1976 by several cartoonists, including Bill Gallo, Stan Lee, Mort Walker, Al Jaffee, Sergio Aragonés, and Dik Browne, is still on display at the bar's final location. (Full article...)

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November 9

The Kwinana Freeway is a 72-kilometre (45 mi) freeway in and beyond the southern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking central Perth with Mandurah to the south. It is the central section of State Route 2, which continues north as Mitchell Freeway to Clarkson, and south as Forrest Highway towards Bunbury. A 4-kilometre (2.5 mi) section between Canning and Leach highways is also part of National Route 1. Along its route are interchanges with several major roads, including Roe Highway and Mandjoogoordap Drive. The northern terminus of the Kwinana Freeway is at the Narrows Bridge, which crosses the Swan River, and the southern terminus is at Pinjarra Road, east of Mandurah. Planning for the Kwinana Freeway began in the 1950s, and the first segment in South Perth was constructed between 1956 and 1959. The route has been progressively widened and extended south since then. During the 1980s, the freeway was extended to South Street in Murdoch, and in June 2001, it reached Safety Bay Road in Baldivis. The final extension began as the New Perth Bunbury Highway project, constructed between December 2006 and September 2009. In early 2009, the section north of Pinjarra Road was named as part of the Kwinana Freeway, with the remainder named Forrest Highway. The freeway has been adapted to cater for public transport, with the introduction of bus priority measures in 1987, and the 2007 opening of the Mandurah railway line, constructed in the freeway median strip. (Full article...)

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November 10

Santa Cruz entering the field before a game in Belém

The Suicidal Tour took place when Brazilian professional football club Santa Cruz Futebol Clube toured the North Region of Brazil from 2 January 1943 to 29 April 1943. Over almost four months, they played either 26 or 28 friendly matches in six cities. The tour gained its name due to the misfortunes endured by the club. Looking to recover from a financial crisis, Santa Cruz arranged five matches in Belém, Pará. Traveling up the Amazon River for another round of matches, they first started experiencing problems in Manaus, where two players left to play for other clubs and seven members of the team's delegation caught dysentery. Two players went on to catch typhoid fever and died. Unable to return home through the sea, and needing to cover growing costs, Santa Cruz had to return to Recife by land, playing matches along the way to earn money. The return had further problems, including a fake arrest warrant for a player, a trip alongside thieves, and two train derailments. (Full article...)

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November 11

de Ros's coat of arms

William de Ros, 6th Baron Ros (c. 1370 – 1 November 1414) was an English nobleman, politician and soldier. He inherited his father's barony and estates (with extensive lands centred on Lincolnshire) in 1394 and married Margaret, daughter of Baron Fitzalan, shortly afterwards. Her family, like that of de Ros, was well-connected, and they were implacably opposed to King Richard II. In 1399 Richard confiscated the estates of his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, and exiled him. When Henry invaded England several months later, de Ros took his side almost immediately. After Henry declared himself King Henry IV, de Ros voted in the House of Lords for the former king's imprisonment. He became an important aide and counsellor to King Henry, and regularly spoke for him in parliament. He also supported Henry in his military campaigns, participating in the invasion of Scotland in 1400 and assisting in the suppression of Richard le Scrope's rebellion five years later. (Full article...)

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November 12

Daniel Boone (November 2, 1734 – September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman. In 1775, Boone blazed the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky, despite resistance from Native Americans; by the end of the 18th century, more than 200,000 people entered Kentucky by following the route marked by Boone. He was adopted into the Shawnee tribe in 1778 but resigned after they killed his son. In April 1781 Boone was elected to the Virginia General Assembly. An account of his adventures was published in 1784, making him famous in America and Europe. After the Revolutionary War, he worked as a surveyor and merchant but went into debt as a Kentucky land speculator. He resettled in Missouri in 1799, where he spent most of his remaining life. After his death, he was the subject of works of fiction; his adventures helped create the archetypal frontier hero of American folklore. (Full article...)

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November 13

Exit 2 of Marina Bay station

Marina Bay MRT station is a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the North South (NSL), Circle (CCL) and Thomson–East Coast (TEL) lines in Singapore. Located in the Downtown Core district near Marina Bay, it serves the Marina One Residences, Marina Bay Suites and the Marina Bay Financial Centre. It was one of the last stations to be completed in the early phases of the MRT network, opening on 4 November 1989. The station was the terminus of the NSL until the line's extension in 2014. It became an interchange station with the CCL when the two-station branch extension from Promenade station was completed in January 2012. The TEL station platforms were completed in November 2022, becoming a triple-line interchange on the MRT network. The station features art as part of the MRT network's Art-in-Transit programme. The sculpture Flowers in Blossom II is over the CCL mezzanine. The CCL platforms feature photographs by Nah Yong En and the TEL station features murals by Tang Ling Nah. (Full article...)

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November 14

Sample ballot from Lake County

The U.S. state of Illinois held an election on November 3, 1964, for all 177 members of the state's House of Representatives for the 74th Illinois General Assembly, alongside other state and federal elections. Due to the state's failure to redistrict, all of the seats were elected at-large, with voters choosing up to 177 candidates to support. Each party was only allowed to nominate 118 candidates. All 118 Democratic candidates won, flipping control of the chamber to Democrats with a two-thirds supermajority. (Full article...)

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November 15

SZA performing in Ctrl the Tour (2017–2018)

"Ghost in the Machine" is a song by the American singer-songwriter SZA from her second studio album, SOS (2022), featuring the American singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers. The song is a ballad that falls within the indie pop and R&B genres; music critics described it as a cross between Bridgers's and SZA's respective sounds. Written in a conversational style, the lyrics express disillusionment with inauthentic relationships, the inhumane behavior of other people, and artificial intelligence. They also portray SZA asking her lover to provide an escape from a world she sees as having been consumed by vanity. The collaboration began with an online conversation between Bridgers and SZA; the two musicians rapidly completed the song a week before the album was scheduled for release. They co-wrote the song with Rob Bisel, Carter Lang, Matt Cohn, and Marshall Vore. Production and engineering duties were handled by Bisel, Lang, and Cohn. "Ghost in the Machine" was Bridgers's first top-40 entry in the United States, peaking at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also appeared on the national charts in Australia, Canada, and Portugal. In reviews, critics primarily focused on Bridgers's appearance on the song; many praised the two performers as synergistic despite the differences between their musical styles, whereas a few were cynical toward Bridgers's inclusion. "Ghost in the Machine" won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 2024 ceremony, giving Bridgers her first Grammy. SZA performed the song on multiple occasions during the SOS Tour, joined by Bridgers for two performances in March 2023. (This article is part of a featured topic: Ghost in the Machine.)

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November 16

Chris Hemsworth at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con

Thor: The Dark World is a 2013 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Thor, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to Thor (2011) and the eighth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Alan Taylor from a screenplay by Christopher Yost and the writing team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. It stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor alongside Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano, Jaimie Alexander, Rene Russo, and Anthony Hopkins. In the film, Thor and Loki (Hiddleston) team up to save the Nine Realms from the Dark Elves. (Full article...)

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November 17

Mario Party DS is a 2007 party video game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. It is the second handheld game in the Mario Party series, as well as the last game in the series to be developed by Hudson Soft, as all subsequent titles have been developed by NDcube. Like most installments in the Mario Party series, Mario Party DS features characters of the Mario franchise competing in a board game with a variety of minigames, many of which utilize the console's unique features, including its built-in microphone, dual screen and touch screen mechanics, and motion sensitivity. Up to four human players can compete at a time, though characters can also be computer-controlled. Although Mario Party DS received mixed reviews, with general praise for its minigame variety and criticism for its absence of an online multiplayer mode, the game has sold more than nine million units worldwide, making it the 11th best-selling game for the Nintendo DS. (Full article...)

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November 18

Donkey Kong Country is a 1994 platform game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It follows the gorilla Donkey Kong and his nephew Diddy Kong as they set out to recover their stolen banana hoard from the crocodile King K. Rool and his army, the Kremlings. Nintendo commissioned Rare to revive the dormant Donkey Kong franchise as it sought a game to compete with Sega's Aladdin (1993). Donkey Kong Country was one of the first home console games to feature pre-rendered graphics, achieved through a compression technique that converted 3D models into sprites with little loss of detail. It was released on 18 November 1994 to acclaim. Critics hailed its visuals as groundbreaking and praised its gameplay and music; it is frequently listed as one of the greatest games of all time. Donkey Kong Country re-established Donkey Kong as a popular Nintendo franchise and was followed by sequels and ports for subsequent Nintendo consoles. (Full article...)

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November 19

The servicemen from Mells killed in the First World War

Mells War Memorial is a First World War memorial by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the village of Mells in the Mendip Hills of Somerset, south-western England. Unveiled in 1921, the memorial is one of multiple buildings and structures Lutyens designed in Mells. His friendship with two prominent families in the area, the Horners and the Asquiths, led to a series of commissions; among his other works in the village are memorials to two sons—one from each family—killed in the war. Lutyens toured the village with local dignitaries in search of a suitable site for the war memorial, after which he was prompted to remark "all their young men were killed". (This article is part of a featured topic: Members of the Gregorian mission.)

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November 20

Harrison Ford in 2017

Blade Runner is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The film is set in a dystopian future Los Angeles of 2019, in which synthetic humans known as replicants are bio-engineered by the powerful Tyrell Corporation to work on space colonies. When a fugitive group of advanced replicants led by Roy Batty (Hauer) escapes back to Earth, burnt-out cop Rick Deckard (Ford) reluctantly agrees to hunt them down. (Full article...)

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November 21

A large, light-colored warship with three tall funnels sits in port

SMS Friedrich Carl was a German armored cruiser built in the early 1900s for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). She was the second and final member of the Prinz Adalbert class, which was built to provide scouts for the German fleet and station ships in Germany's colonial empire. Friedrich Carl was built by the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg. She was laid down in August 1901, launched in June 1902, and commissioned in December 1903. She was armed with a main battery of four 21 cm (8.3 in) guns and could reach a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph). (Full article...)

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November 22

Adele in 2021

"My Little Love" is a song by the English singer Adele from her fourth studio album, 30 (2021). Adele wrote it with its producer, Greg Kurstin. The song became available as the album's third track on 19 November 2021, when it was released by Columbia Records. "My Little Love" is a jazz, R&B, and soul song with a 1970s-style groove and influences of gospel music. The song incorporates voice notes of Adele's conversations with her son as she explains the effects of her divorce on his life and pleads for his understanding and forgiveness. (Full article...)

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November 23

Aerial view of Foxboro Stadium, the host venue of MLS Cup 1999

MLS Cup 1999 was the fourth edition of the MLS Cup, the championship soccer match of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top-level soccer league of the United States. It took place on November 21, 1999, at Foxboro Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and was contested by D.C. United and the Los Angeles Galaxy in a rematch of the inaugural 1996 final that had been played at the same venue. Both teams finished atop their respective conferences during the regular season under new head coaches and advanced through the first two rounds of the playoffs. (Full article...)

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November 24

Donkey Kong 64 is a 1999 platform game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the only Donkey Kong game to feature 3D gameplay. As the gorilla Donkey Kong, the player explores themed levels to collect items and rescue his kidnapped family members from King K. Rool. The player completes minigames and puzzles as five playable Kong characters—each with their own special abilities—to receive bananas and other collectibles. In multiplayer modes, up to four players can compete in deathmatch and last man standing games. (Full article...)

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November 25

Jennifer Lawrence in 2016

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is a 2013 American dystopian action film directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Simon Beaufoy and Michael deBruyn, based on the 2009 novel Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. The sequel to The Hunger Games (2012), it is the second installment in The Hunger Games film series. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland. In the film, Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Hutcherson) become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the Games inspire uprisings in Panem. (Full article...)

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November 26

Kate Beckinsale at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con

Kathrin Romany Beckinsale (born 26 July 1973) is an English actress. The recipient of various accolades, including a Saturn Award, two MTV Movie Awards, two Critics' Choice Awards, and two National Film Awards UK, she is known for her roles in period, romance and action films. The only child of actors Richard Beckinsale and Judy Loe, Kate Beckinsale made her acting debut when she was only a year old, as an extra on the British daytime drama Couples (1975), on which her parents also appeared. In 1991, she had a small voice role in an episode of the miniseries adaptation of P. D. James' Devices and Desires and a supporting role in the television film One Against the Wind starring Judy Davis and Sam Neill. In 1992, she starred in the Blade Runner-inspired short film "Rachel's Dream" with Christopher Eccleston and debuted onstage in a production of Noël Coward's Hay Fever. (Full article...)

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November 27

I-182 approaching Queensgate Drive in western Richland

Interstate 182 (I-182) is an east–west auxiliary Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Washington. It serves as a connector from I-82 to the Tri-Cities region that crosses the Columbia River on the Interstate 182 Bridge between Richland and Pasco. I-182 is 15 miles (24 km) long and entirely concurrent with U.S. Route 12 (US 12); it also intersects State Route 240 (SR 240) and US 395. Business leaders in the Tri-Cities began lobbying for a freeway in 1958 after early alignments for I-82 were routed away from the area. I-182 was created by the federal government in 1969 as a compromise to the routing dispute, which allowed for direct access to the Tri-Cities and a bypass for other traffic. The new freeway would also include construction of a bridge between Richland and Pasco, proposed since the 1940s at the site of an earlier cable ferry that ran until 1931. (Full article...)

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November 28

The 2nd Indiana Battery in action at Cane Hill, during the beginning of the battle.

The battle of Cane Hill was fought between Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War on November 28, 1862, in northwestern Arkansas, near the town of Cane Hill. Confederate Major General Thomas C. Hindman had made an abortive offensive into southwestern Missouri from Arkansas earlier in the year, but had withdrawn to Arkansas. Union troops under Brigadier General James G. Blunt had followed Hindman into northwestern Arkansas, and the Confederate general saw an opportunity to attack Blunt while his division was separated from the rest of the Union Army of the Frontier. Hindman then sent a force under Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke to Cane Hill, which was also known as Boonsboro, to collect supplies. In early November, a detachment of Blunt's command led by Colonel William F. Cloud defeated a small Confederate force commanded by Colonel Emmett MacDonald in the Cane Hill area. (Full article...)

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November 29

The featured article for this day has not yet been chosen. The final selection is made by the TFA coordinators (Wehwalt, Dank and Gog the Mild).

You can make new requests or comment on current requests at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests. See Wikipedia:Today's featured article for full guidelines.

November 30

The featured article for this day has not yet been chosen. The final selection is made by the TFA coordinators (Wehwalt, Dank and Gog the Mild).

You can make new requests or comment on current requests at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests. See Wikipedia:Today's featured article for full guidelines.