On this date...

Charles Richard Drew

In 1539, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto claimed Florida for Spain.

In 1754, during the Seven Years’ War, a 22-year-old lieutenant colonel in the Virginia militia named George Washington began construction of a makeshift Fort Necessity.

In 1776, in Philadelphia, Congress finalized military measures developed in consultation with Washington. It authorizes militia reinforcements, approves defensive naval preparations for New York Harbor, and organizes what will become the “flying camp,” a mobile reserve force for the middle colonies.

In 1776, the president of Congress, John Hancock, writes to Washington, thanking him for his “military Knowledge & Experience.” Hancock tells him he is free to return to New York City whenever he believes circumstances require it.

In 1770, Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo was founded in California.

In 1779, Washington’s General Orders for the day gave the parole (Password) as “American Arms” and the countersigns as “Successful” and “Campaign.”

In 1780, British Lieutenant-General Henry Clinton wrote to Lord Germain reporting on the proclamation he had just issued to the citizens of South Carolina, which instructed all soldiers who had been captured and paroled that they no longer had to honor their parole.

In 1781, Jack Jouett rides to warn Thomas Jefferson of a British attack.

In 1784, the first American regiment was authorized.

In 1800, President John Adams arrived in Washington, D.C., to take up residence five months before the city became the permanent seat of the federal government.

In 1859, Sam Houston announced that he was running for governor again.

In 1860, Comanche, Iowa, was destroyed by one of a series of tornadoes.

In 1864, the second Battle of Cold Harbor (Virginia), considered one of the worst Northern defeats of the American Civil War, began and resulted in the loss of about 7,000 Union soldiers under General Ulysses S. Grant.

In 1871, Jesse James & his gang robbed Obocock Bank (Corydon, Iowa) of $15,000.

In 1880, Alexander Graham Bell transmitted the first wireless telephone message on his newly invented photophone from the top of the Franklin School in Washington, D.C.

In 1888, the poem “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer was first published in the San Francisco Daily Examiner.

In 1889, America’s first electric power line carried energy 14 miles from Willamette Falls to Portland, Oregon, pioneering modern electrical transmission. Few, if any, homes had any electrical wiring at the time.

In 1904, American physician and surgeon Charles Richard Drew, a pioneer in the preservation of blood plasma and a lifelong critic of official decisions to separate the blood of whites and Blacks in blood banks, was born in Washington, D.C.

In 1916, United States President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the National Defense Act, which expanded the size and scope of the National Guard—the network of states’ militias that had been developing steadily since colonial times—and guaranteed its status as the nation’s permanent reserve force.

In 1921, A sudden cloudburst killed 120 near Pikes Peak, Colorado.

In 1932, American baseball great Lou Gehrig hit four consecutive home runs in one game.

In 1943, in Los Angeles, clashes erupted between U.S. servicemen and Mexican American youth wearing zoot suits; the Zoot Suit Riots, as they became known, occurred during a period of heightened racial tensions in the country.

In 1948, the musical “Sleepy Hollow”, based on Washington Irving’s novel, opened at St James Theater, NY, and ran for 12 performances.

In 1956, Santa Cruz, California, captured national attention when city authorities announced a total ban on rock ‘n’ roll at public gatherings. Officials called the music “detrimental to both the health and morals of our youth and community.”

In 1959, 1st U.S. Air Force Academy graduation was held in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

In 1959, U.S. President Eisenhower sent Canadian Prime Minister Diefenbaker a message off the Moon.

In 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy met Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna.

In 1965, Ed White became the first American to walk in space.

In 1969, the innovative and much-loved children’s picture book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle was published.

In 1980, Jimmy Carter secured enough delegates for renomination as U.S. president.

In 1992, just one day after securing the Democratic presidential nomination, Bill Clinton surprised viewers of The Arsenio Hall Show by strapping on a saxophone, slipping on a pair of dark sunglasses, and launching into Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel.”

In 2001, Mel Brooks’s musical The Producers, starring Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, won a record-setting 12 Tony Awards.

In 2008, Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination.

In 2009, New Hampshire became the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage.

In 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama announced a $1 billion fund to increase the deployment of U.S. troops to Europe.

In 2017, elite rock climber Alex Honnold became the first to climb solo to the top of the massive granite wall known as El Capitan in Yosemite National Park without ropes or safety gear.