Friday, April 26, 2024

Tidbits, Aug. 16

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This day in history

1777: During the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Bennington took place. New England's minutemen routed the British regulars.

1812: Detroit fell to Indian and British troops in the War of 1812.

1858: A telegraphed message from Britain's Queen Victoria to U.S. President Buchanan was transmitted over the recently laid trans-Atlantic cable.

1861: U.S. President Lincoln prohibited the Union states from trading with the states of the Confederacy.

1896: While salmon fishing near the Klondike River in Canada's Yukon Territory, George Carmack reportedly spotted nuggets of gold in a creek bed. His lucky discovery sparked the last great gold rush in the American West.

1954: Sports Illustrated was published for the first time. It was claimed that 250,000 subscriptions had been sold before the first issue came off of the presses.

1960: The free-fall world record was set by Joseph Kittinger. He fell more than 16 miles (about 84,000 feet) before opening his parachute over New Mexico.

1966: The House Un-American Activities Committee investigated Americans who had given aid to the Viet Cong with a view toward introducing legislation to make such activities illegal. Demonstrators disrupted the hearings and before it was over, more than 50 people were arrested for disorderly conduct.

1977: Elvis Presley died at Graceland, his Memphis,Tenn., home, from heart failure at age 42.

1984: The U.S. Jaycees voted to admit women to full membership in the organization.

1995: Voters in Bermuda rejected independence from Great Britain.
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