December 9, 1863---Justice! The USS ARIZONA and Civil Rights protesters change history

DECEMBER 9, 1863:          

Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase ordered that the motto “In God We Trust” should appear on U.S. coins. 

General Ambrose Burnside U.S.A. was relieved of command of The Department of The Ohio.

Union troops (U.S.C.T.) stationed at Fort Jackson, Louisiana mutinied in defense of their civil rights. The mutiny, which consisted of the unauthorized firing of rifles into the air, occurred in response to the maltreatment they received at the hands of their white C.O., a Lieutenant Colonel Benedict, who had used the whip on several men. When reports of this maltreatment reached Washington, the U.S.S. ARIZONA was dispatched to the fort to investigate. The gun-firing mutineers were transferred, and the remainder of the U.S.C.T. were placed under the direct command of Benedict’s superior, Colonel Drew.

ARIZONA has not been a lucky name for U.S. Navy ships. The Civil War-era ARIZONA began her career in 1858 as a passenger sidewheeler S.S. ARIZONA, operating along the Gulf Coast. She was seized by the Confederacy in early 1862, converted to a gunboat, and renamed C.S.S. CAROLINE. When she was retaken by the Union later that year, she was renamed U.S.S. ARIZONA. As the ARIZONA, she helped sink the C.S.S. QUEEN OF THE WEST (formerly the U.S.S. QUEEN OF THE WEST). In February 1865, the ARIZONA was abandoned after an uncontrollable fire broke out on board. The abandoned ship grounded on the west bank of the Mississippi River (in Louisiana). When her magazine exploded, she was destroyed.