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Dartmoor Prison Massacre

In 1712, the New York Slave Revolt of 1712 began near Broadway. The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 was an uprising in New York City of 23 enslaved Africans who killed nine whites and injured another six. More than three times that number of blacks, 70, were arrested and jailed. Of these, 27 were put on trial, and 21 were convicted and executed. After the revolt, laws governing the lives of blacks in New York were made more restrictive.

In 1776, in the Battle of Block Island, ships of the Continental Navy failed in their attempt to capture a Royal Navy dispatch boat.

In 1776, Washington was on the move, but his mind remained on Boston. From Providence, he writes to Artemas Ward, the general commanding Continental forces remaining near Boston, giving instructions about army logistics. He reminds Ward to keep John Parke, the assistant quartermaster general, attentive to his duties and to provide additional funds if necessary for army expenses. Ever meticulous, he even notes that kettles and other supplies lying near Roxbury Church should be carefully secured.

In 1789, the first US Congress began regular sessions at Federal Hall on Wall Street, NYC.

In 1808, John Jacob Astor incorporated the American Fur Company

In 1815, at Dartmoor Prison in southwest England 7 American prisoners were killed by British soldiers under the command of Captain Thomas G. Shortland. Some 6,000 prisoners were awaiting return to the US. A farmer’s jury with no victims or witnesses issued a verdict on April 8 of “justifiable homicide.”

In 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was formed by Joseph Smith at Fayette, New York.

In 1862, Union troops clashed with Confederates in southwestern Tennessee at the Battle of Shiloh, the second great engagement of the American Civil War.

In 1889, George Eastman began selling Kodak flexible roll film for the first time

In 1917, the US declared war on Germany in World War I.

In 1917, the Coast Guard, which consisted of 15 cruising cutters, 200 commissioned officers, and 5,000 warrant officers and enlisted men, became part of the U. S. Navy by Executive Order.

In 1931, the Little Orphan Annie radio series had its national debut on NBC's Blue Network. Based on Harold Gray's comic strip of the same name, the program first aired in 1930 on WGN radio in Chicago and was the first nationally broadcast children's radio program starring a juvenile protagonist.

In 1947, the first Tony Awards ceremony was held in New York City.

In 1950, John Foster Dulles became advisor to US Secretary of State Acheson with a focus on the Indo-Pacific region

In 1954, Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., responding to CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow’s broadside against him on “See It Now,” claimed in remarks filmed for the program that Murrow had, in the past, “engaged in propaganda for Communist causes.”

In 1965, the United States launched the “Early Bird” communications satellite, the first communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.

In 1968, 41 people were killed by a pair of explosions spurred by a natural gas leak at a sporting goods store in downtown Richmond, Indiana.

In 1973, in a game at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox, Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees became the first designated hitter in Major League Baseball. The rule change, which allowed for a better-hitting player to replace the pitcher in the batting order, was originally only adopted by the American League. (Blomberg had one hit, and the Yankees lost 15–5.)

In 1980, the American company 3M began selling Post-it Notes in U.S. stores; the small pieces of paper with adhesive strips became hugely popular.

In 1983, Interior Secretary James Watt banned the Beach Boys from the 4th of July celebration on the Washington Mall, saying rock 'n' roll bands attract the "wrong element."

In 1988, African American polar explorer Matthew Henson was buried next to Robert Peary in Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia

In 1994, Liberal Supreme Court Justice and author of Roe v Wade, Harry Blackmun, resigned

In 1998, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 9,000 points for the first time.

In 2004, the University of Connecticut became the first school to win the NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball titles in the same season, as the women's team beat Tennessee 70-61 for their third consecutive championship.

In 2009, Michael Jordan, widely considered basketball's greatest all-around player, was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

In 2012, five Black people were shot, three fatally, in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Jake England and Alvin Watts, who admitted to targeting the victims because of their race, pleaded guilty to murder and were sentenced to life in prison without parole.