The vicinity of the battlefield in 2012

The Battle of Marais des Cygnes took place on October 25, 1864, in Linn County, Kansas, during Price's Missouri Raid in the American Civil War. A large Confederate cavalry incursion into Missouri in late 1864 attempted to draw Union troops away from the fighting further east. After several victories the Confederates were defeated at the Battle of Westport and withdrew into Kansas. They camped along the banks of the Marais des Cygnes River on the night of October 24 while Union cavalry pursuers skirmished with their rear guard. The battle began early the next morning as 3,500 Union troops drove this force from its position, capturing cannons, prisoners, and wagons. An attempted stand at the river crossing was outflanked by a Union cavalry regiment, forcing the Confederates to abandon it. A rear guard action by a 1,200-man Confederate brigade bought time to disengage and retreat. After two further defeats on the same day and another on October 28, the Confederates retreated to Texas. (Full article...)

German cavalry with steel lances

• ... that German cavalry carried steel lances (examples pictured) throughout the First World War?
• ... that within a year after the first Black Student Union was founded at San Francisco State College in March 1966, it had a presence at every state college in California?
• ... that a flat in London's Basil Street was the scene of the first meetings that led to Monty Python's Flying Circus?
• ... that Australian religious sister Bridget Partridge fled her convent in 1920 dressed only in her nightgown, precipitating a national sectarian scandal?
• ... that the first railroad in New England was powered by horses?
• ... that Philip Michael Thomas compared himself to Santa Claus upon releasing his album Living the Book of My Life?
• ... that Iggy Pop's second studio album Lust for Life was written, recorded, and mixed in eight days?
• ... that Olympic flagbearer Raed Ahmed defected after he saw Bill Clinton clapping?

Sandra Mason

• Ahead of Barbados becoming a republic, Sandra Mason (pictured) is elected as the country's first president.
• Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny is awarded the Sakharov Prize.
• PAICV candidate José Maria Neves is elected President of Cape Verde.
• British Member of Parliament Sir David Amess dies after being stabbed during a constituency meeting.

October 25: Labour Day in New Zealand (2021)

Afonso I of Portugal

• 1147 – Reconquista: Forces under Afonso I of Portugal (pictured) captured Lisbon from the Moors after a four-month siege in one of the few Christian victories during the Second Crusade.
• 1854 – Crimean War: Lord Cardigan led his cavalry on a disastrous assault in the Battle of Balaclava.
• 1927 – The Italian cruise liner SS Principessa Mafalda sank when a propeller shaft broke and fractured the hull, resulting in 314 deaths.
• 1944 – Heinrich Himmler ordered a crackdown on the Edelweiss Pirates, a nonconformist youth group that assisted army deserters and others hiding from the Nazis.
• 2001 – Windows XP, one of the most popular and widely used versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system, was released for retail sale.