1863

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Today in History 07/13/17

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Engraving of the draft riots on Lexington Avenue, New York City, July 13, 1863 (© Getty Images)(1863) US Civil War draft incites huge riots
Racial tensions and class warfare mix into a deadly brew as a protest by working-class whites against newly enacted Civil War draft laws spiral out of control into a city-spanning riot. Some 120 die and thousands are injured, with New York City’s black population the target of racist violence.
The New York draft riots, known at the time as Draft Week, were violent disturbances in Lower Manhattan, widely regarded as the culmination of working-class discontent with new laws passed by Congress that year to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War. The riots remain the largest civil and racial insurrection in American history, aside from the Civil War itself.
Start date: Jul 13, 1863
End date: Jul 16, 1863

wiki/New_York_City_draft_riots
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Today in History 05/28/17

A total solar eclipse can be seen in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway, on March 20, 2015 (© Haakon Mosvold Larsen/AFP/Getty Images)(585 BCE) A calendar-setting solar eclipse halts a Greek battle
Arguably the oldest historical event that can be precisely dated, the Eclipse of Thales is named after the Greek philosopher who’s said to have predicted the event. The eclipse is responsible for ending the Battle of Halys, as both sides are sufficiently spooked into a ceasefire.
The Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus accurately predicted a solar eclipse, according to The Histories of Herodotus. If Herodotus’s account is accurate, this eclipse is the earliest recorded as being known in advance of its occurrence. Many historians believe that the predicted eclipse was the solar eclipse of May 28, 585 BC. How exactly Thales predicted the eclipse remains uncertain; some historians claim the eclipse was never predicted at all. Others have argued for different dates.
Date: 585 BC
Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak and Jean Meeus (NASA's GSFC)

wiki/Eclipse_of_Thales
Painting detail of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry storming Fort Wagner (© MPI/Getty Images)(1863) African-American 54th Regiment sets off for glory
Amid much celebration, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment departs Boston heading for Beaufort, South Carolina. Although sendoffs of Union soldiers are a common sight, the 54th distinguishes itself as one of the first African-American regiments to join the conflict.
The 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was the first African-American regiment organized in the northern states during the Civil War. Authorized by the Emancipation Proclamation, the regiment consisted of African-American enlisted men commanded by white officers.
Founded: 1863
Force: Union Army

wiki/54th_Massachusetts_Infantry_Regiment
Dionne quintuplets shown shortly after their birth in Corbeil, near Callander in northern Ontario, Canada, on May 28, 1934 (© AP Photo)(1934) Rare quintuplet birth leads to sensation and sadness
Ontario, Canada’s Dionne family welcomes five baby girls, an extremely rare multiple birth. All will survive to adulthood, but at four months old they’re made wards of the state, becoming a lucrative attraction while living, and being constantly observed, in a tourist park called ‘Quintland.’
The Dionne quintuplets are the first quintuplets known to have survived their infancy. The identical sisters were born in Canada, just outside Callander, Ontario, near the village of Corbeil. All five survived to adulthood.
Born: May 28, 1934 · Ontario, Canada
Died: Jun 23, 2001
Parents: Elzire Dionne · Oliva Edouard

wiki/Dionne_quintuplets
Peter Benenson, British founder of Amnesty International (© PA Archive/Press Association Images)(1961) ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’ shines a light for human rights
English lawyer Peter Benenson’s article in The Observer uncovers human rights abuses that fly under the world’s radar, and whose victims are usually powerless individuals speaking out against tyranny. The article will inspire such a response that Benenson will create Amnesty International within weeks.
Peter Benenson was a British lawyer and the founder of human rights group Amnesty International. Benenson refused all honours but in his 80s, largely to please his family, he accepted the Pride of Britain Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2001.
Lived: Jul 31, 1921 – Feb 25, 2005 (age 83)
Spouse: Susan Booth · Margaret Anderson
Founded: Amnesty International
Parents: Flora Solomon (Mother)
Education: University of Oxford · Eton College · Balliol College

wiki/Peter_Benenson
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Today in History 01/10/17

Artist rendering of Julius Caesar and his troops crossing the Rubicon river (© North Wind Picture Archives/Alamy)(49 BCE) Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon
Saying, “Alea iacta est” (The die is cast), Julius Caesar and his troops cross a shallow river in northeastern Italy, triggering civil war. “Crossing the Rubicon” will later enter the world’s lexicon as an expression meaning to take an irrevocable step that commits one to a specific course.
The Rubicon is both the name of a shallow river in northeastern Italy, just south of Ravenna, and the name historically given to a river that was famously crossed by Julius Caesar in 49 BCE. While it has not been proven, historians generally agree that the two rivers are indeed one and the same; this was not always the case.
Source elevation: 820 feet (250 m)
Length: 50 miles (80 km)
Location: Italy
Source: Apennine Mountains
Mouth: Adriatic Sea
Cities: Rimini · Cesena

wiki/Rubicon
Illustration of the first Metropolitan train on the underground line passing through Praed Street, London (© Hulton Archive/Getty Images)(1863) World’s first subway opens
The Metropolitan Railway opens in England as the world’s first subway, with steam engines pulling wooden carriages lit by gas lamps. Later officially called the London Underground, its warren of tunnels will be more popularly referred to as, simply, “The Tube.”
The London Underground is a public rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom.
Address: Higgison House, 381 – 383 City Road, London EC1V 1NW
Inception: Jan 10, 1863

wiki/London_Underground
First session of the United Nations Organization's General Assembly at Central Hall on Parliament Square in London, England, on Jan. 10, 1946 (© AP)(1946) United Nations meets for the first time
Representatives from 51 nations meet at Westminster Central Hall in London to convene the first General Assembly of the United Nations after the global devastation of World War II.
The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193. The headquarters of the United Nations is in Manhattan, New York City, and experiences extraterritoriality. Further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. Its objectives include maintaining international peace and security, promoting human rights, fostering social and economic development, protecting the environment, and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine, natural disaster, and armed conflict.
Founded: 1945 · Lake Success, NY
Founders: United States · United Kingdom · Soviet Union · Canada · France · India · Australia · Mexico · Iran · Turkey · Norway · Brazil · Syria · Netherlands · Republic of China
Headquarters: New York, NY
Nominations: Academy Award for Best Documentary
wiki/United_Nations
The Beatles pose for a portrait, circa 1964 (© Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)(1964) First Beatles album released in US
Sporting the subtitle “England’s No. 1 Vocal Group,” ‘Introducing The Beatles’ is released by Vee-Jay Records ten days before Capital Records debuts the massive chart-topper ‘Meet The Beatles!’.
Introducing… The Beatles is the first Beatles album released in the United States. Originally scheduled for a July 1963 release, the LP came out on 10 January 1964, on Vee-Jay Records, ten days before Capitol’s Meet the Beatles!. The latter album, however, entered the U.S. album chart one week before the former. Consequently, when Meet The Beatles! peaked at #1 for eleven consecutive weeks, Introducing…The Beatles stalled at #2 where it remained nine consecutive weeks. It was the subject of much legal wrangling, but ultimately, Vee-Jay were permitted to sell the album until late 1964, by which time it had sold more than 1.3 million copies. On 24 July 2014 the album was certified gold and platinum by the RIAA.
Release year: 1964
Genre: Rock and roll
Label: Vee-Jay Records
Artist: The Beatles

wiki/Introducing…_The_Beatles
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Today in History 01/01/17

The first reading of the Emancipation Proclamation before the cabinet' Re-enactment of Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation on July 22, 1862. Depicted, from left to right are: Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, President Lincoln, Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, Caleb B. Smith, Secretary of the Interior, William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Montgomery Blair, Postmaster General, and Edward Bates, Attorney General. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images)(1863) Emancipation Proclamation takes effect
President Abraham Lincoln’s executive order proclaiming the freedom of all slaves held in rebel states goes into effect, signaling an ideological change in the Union’s reasons for fighting the Civil War
The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. It purported to change the federal legal status of more than 3 million enslaved people in the designated areas of the South from “slave” to “free”, although its immediate effect was less. It had the practical effect that as soon as a slave escaped the control of the Confederate government, by running away or through advances of federal troops, the slave became legally free. Eventually it reached and liberated all of the designated slaves. It was issued as a war measure during the American Civil War, directed to all of the areas in rebellion and all segments of the executive branch of the United States.
Start date: Sep 22, 1862
End date: Jan 01, 1863
wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation
Ellis Island, New York, New York, 1895. (Photo by Geo. P. Hall & Son/The New York Historical Society/Getty Images)(1892) Ellis Island immigrant gateway opens
The processing center on Ellis Island in Upper New York Bay opens its doors to immigrants. By 1954, ancestors of over 100 million Americans alive today will have begun their journey to US citizenship here.
Ellis Island, in Upper New York Bay, was the gateway for over 12 million immigrants to the United States as the nation’s busiest immigrant inspection station for over sixty years from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with land reclamation between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the site of Fort Gibson and later a naval magazine. The island was made part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument in 1965, and has hosted a museum of immigration since 1990. Long considered part of New York state, a 1998 United States Supreme Court decision found that most of the island is in New Jersey. The south side of the island, home to the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is closed to the general public and the object of restoration efforts spearheaded by Save Ellis Island.
Website: www.libertyellisfoundation.org
Address: New York Hbr, New York, NY 10017
Phone: (212) 363-3200
Established: Jan 01, 1892
Managed by: National Park Service
wiki/Ellis_Island
(GERMANY OUT) *13.08.1926-Politiker, Kuba- während einer Rede1960 (Photo by Jochen Blume/ullstein bild via Getty Images)(1959) Castro seizes power in Cuba
Revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and his rebel army take control of the Caribbean island nation, culminating their uprising against President Fulgencio Batista and causing a shift in the global geopolitical landscape.
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt conducted by Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement and its allies against the authoritarian government of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. The revolution began in July 1953, and continued sporadically until the rebels finally ousted Batista on 1 January 1959, replacing his government with a revolutionary socialist state. The 26th of July Movement later reformed along communist lines, becoming the Communist Party in October 1965.
Start date: Jul 26, 1953
End date: Jan 01, 1959
wiki/Cuban_Revolution
A detailed view of UCLA's Interface Message Processor (IMP) is seen in a storage closet, where it had been stored for over 20 years, at 3420 Boelter Hall in UCLA, May 3, 2011. UCLA professor Leonard Kleinrock and his team used the Interface Message Processor, IMP, the packet-switching node used to interconnect participant networks to the ARPANET to send the first message, the letters LO to Standford Research Institute on October 29, 1969. The UCLA Department of Computer Science and Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have collaborated in creating the Kleinrock Internet Heritage Site and Archive (KIHSA) with the center recreating the lab at its original site in 3420 Boelter Hall, moving the IMP back to the room from which that first message was sent. The recreated lab will open October 29 with a reunion of the computer scientists responsible for the first message. Picture taken May 3, 2011. REUTERS/Fred Prouser (UNITED STATES - Tags: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS TELECOMS)(1983) The Internet is born
ARPANET, an early computer network for universities and research labs, changes to TCP/IP protocols, which allows more flexible and powerful connections, and launches a communications revolution.
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network was an early packet switching network and the first network to implement the protocol suite TCP/IP. Both technologies became the technical foundation of the Internet. ARPANET was initially funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the United States Department of Defense.
Inventor: DARPA
wiki/ARPANET
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Today in History 12/14/16

Today in History
(1863) President Abraham Lincoln pardons his sister-in-law
1863 Lincoln pardons his relative, the widow of a Confederate general. When a Union general grouses about her presence at the White House, Lincoln retorts, “My wife and I are in the habit of choosing our own guests. We do not need from our friends either advice or assistance in the matter.”.

On this day in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln announces a grant of amnesty forEmilie Todd Helm, his wife Mary Lincoln’s half sister and the widow of a Confederate general. The pardon was one of the first under Lincoln’s Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, which he had announced less than a week before. The plan was the president’s blueprint for the reintegration of the South into the Union. Part of the plan allowed for former Confederates to be granted amnesty if they took an oath to the United States. The option was open to all but the highest officials of the Confederacy.

Emilie Todd Helm was the wife of Benjamin Helm, who, like the Lincolns, was a Kentucky native.The presidentwas said to be an admirer of Helm, a West Point and Harvard graduate. Lincoln had offered Helm a position in the U.S. Army, but Helm opted to join the Confederates instead. Helm led a group of Kentuckians known as the Orphan Brigade, since they could not return to their Union-held native state during the war. Helm was killed at the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863.

After her husband’s death, Helm made her way through Union lines to Washington, D.C. She stayed in the White House and the Lincolns tried to keep her visit a secret. General Daniel Sickles, who had been wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania,five months prior, told Lincoln that he should not have a Rebel in his house. Lincoln replied, “General Sickles, my wife and I are in the habit of choosing our own guests. We do not need from our friends either advice or assistance in the matter.” After Lincoln granted her pardon, Emilie Helm returned to Kentucky.

— Source: www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincoln-pardons-his-sister-in-law
(1911) Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen reaches the South Pole
Amundsen’s five-person team and 16 dogs beat English explorer Robert Scott to the pole by about a month. All of Amundsen’s crew and 11 dogs will return safely to basecamp in mid-January. Scott will be less fortunate. He and his team will die just 11 miles from a resupply camp. 1911

The first expedition to reach the geographic South Pole was led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. He and four others arrived at the pole on 14 December 1911, five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott as part of the Terra Nova Expedition. Amundsen and his team returned safely to their base, and later learned that Scott and his four companions had died on their return journey.

Date: 1910

— Source: wiki/Amundsen’s_South_Pole_expedition
(1977) ‘Saturday Night Fever’ struts onto the world stage
1977 The John Travolta film premieres in New York to critics’ applause. Critic Gene Siskel will call it his favorite film ever (he’ll watch it 17 times). Travolta will earn a best actor Oscar nomination for the role of a Brooklyn teen with good dancefloor moves, and the soundtrack will turn the disco craze up full blast.

A Brooklyn teenager feels his only chance to succeed is as the king of the disco floor. His carefree youth and weekend dancing help him to forget the reality of his bleak life.

Release date: Dec 16, 1977 (United States)
Director: John Badham
Gross revenue: $237.10 million USD
Sequel: Staying Alive
Music by: Barry Gibb · Robin Gibb · Maurice Gibb · David Shire
Screenwriter: Norman Wexler

— Source: wiki/Saturday_Night_Fever
— IMDB: www.imdb.com/title/tt0076666/
(2012) Gunman kills 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary
In Newtown, Connecticut, Adam Lanza, 20, shoots and kills his mother and then drives to his former school, where he murders 20 first-graders and six staff members. Lanza commits suicide as the police close in. The Sandy Hook tragedy is among the worst mass shootings in US history and sparks new debate about gun laws. 2012

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children between 6 and 7 years old, as well as six adult staff members. Prior to driving to the school, Lanza shot and killed his mother at their Newtown home. As first responders arrived at the scene, Lanza committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.

Date: Dec 14, 2012
Fatalities: 28

— Source: wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting
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