On this date...
- katellashisadventure
- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
In 1776, Washington was not lingering over Boston’s triumph. He is, as he tells Joseph Reed, “hurried in dispatching one Brigade after another for New York.” In the same letter, he reflects on politics as well as war, observing that “Common Sense” is working “a powerful change” in Virginia minds.
In 1789, the first U.S. House of Representatives, meeting in New York City, reached a quorum and elected Pennsylvania Representative Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg as its first speaker.
In 1783, Private Robert Shurtliff was promoted to Corporal in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment and spent seven months serving as a personal orderly to General John Patterson. Shurtliff was actually Deborah Sampson (1760-1827) who had disguised herself as a man.
In 1826, Samuel Morey is issued the first U.S. patent for an internal-combustion engine, which he calls a “Gas or Vapour Engine."
In 1867 First African Americans vote in municipal election in Tuscumbia, Alabama.
In 1934 Clyde Barrow kills two young highway patrolmen, H. D. Murphy and Edward Bryant Wheeler, at the intersection of Route 114 near Grapevine, Texas. Bonnie Parker's role in the murders helps turn public perception against the gang for good
In 1945, U.S. troops landed on the Japanese island of Okinawa during World War II, marking the beginning of the Battle of Okinawa.
In 1946, an undersea earthquake off the Alaskan coast triggered a massive tsunami that killed 159 people in Hawaii.
In 1954, the United States Air Force Academy was created by an act of Congress and was later built in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
In 1963, the ABC television network aired the premiere episode of General Hospital, the daytime drama that would become the network’s most enduring soap opera and the longest-running serial program produced in Hollywood.
In 1967, The United States Department of Transportation begins operation.
In 1970, President Richard Nixon signed legislation officially banning cigarette ads on television and radio.
In 1972, the first collective players’ strike in Major League Baseball history began. The strike lasts 12 days, ending on April 13, and 86 games are cancelled, throwing the season into flux from the start.
In 1975, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne formed Apple Computer Inc., and it became one of the world's leading tech companies.
In 1984, Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his father.
In 1985, Nike released its first Air Jordan shoes, named for basketball superstar Michael Jordan. It sells 450,000 pairs in the first month.
In 1990, It becomes illegal in Salem, Oregon, to be within 2 feet of nude dancers.
In 2001, the midair collision of a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet that was tailing it over the South China Sea resulted in the death of the Chinese pilot and the landing of the damaged American plane on Hainan Island, where its crew was detained for 11 days.
In 2003, American troops raided a hospital in Nasiriyah (nah-sih-REE’-uh), Iraq, and rescued Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch, who had been held prisoner since her unit was ambushed on March 23.
