Shimonoseki Straits.

This is coolbert:

Until just yesterday I was totally unaware of this event.

From that era of the American Civil War U.S. naval vessel far from home but engaged in a punitive expedition against Japanese naval forces.

The Battle of Shimonoseki Straits, Date July 16, 1863.

"The Battle of Shimonoseki Straits . . . is a little-known naval engagement fought on July 16, 1863, by a warship of the United States Navy, the USS Wyoming, against the powerful feudal Japanese daimyo Lord Mori Takachika of the Chōshū clan based in Shimonoseki."

"The USS Wyoming under Captain David McDougal, sailed into the strait and single-handedly engaged the US-built but poorly manned Japanese fleet. Engaged for almost two hours before withdrawing, McDougal sank two enemy vessels and severely damaged the other one, and inflicted some forty Japanese casualties. The Wyoming suffered considerable damage with four crew dead and seven wounded."

That most eminent historian of the American Civil War Shelby Foote of the opinion that the Southern cause was more or less hopeless from the start. The Union almost fighting as termed by Foote "with one hand tied behind it's back".

Foote citing the instances of Federal determination even during a time of dire war to continue national development and progress even while devoting immense resources to defeating and subjugating the states in rebellion. Those instances of "national development and progress" to include:

* The Homestead Act.

* The Transcontinental Railroad.

Add to that list the determination to risk war with Japan, engaging in a punitive expedition and devoting much needed military resources to same.

Yankee confidence and resolve hardly lacking!!

coolbert.