The History Shack

   OTD July 31st is the two-hundredth-tenth day of the year, and there are 153 days remaining until the end of the year.   Events 30 BC – Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian's forces, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to his suicide. 1703 – Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet but is pelted with flowers. 1777 – The U.S. Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, "be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family, and connections, he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States." 1790 – The first U.S. patent was issued to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process. 1856 – Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city. 1938 – Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius the Great i...

   OTD July 30th is the two-hundredth-ninth day of the year, and there are 154 days remaining until the end of the year.   Events 762 – Baghdad is founded. 1609 – Beaver Wars: At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, New York), Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs on behalf of his native allies. 1635 – Eighty Years' War: The Siege of Schenkenschans begins; Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, begins the recapture of the strategically important fortress from the Spanish Army. 1676 – Nathaniel Bacon issues the "Declaration of the People of Virginia", beginning Bacon's Rebellion against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. 1866 – Armed Confederate veterans in New Orleans riot against a meeting of Radical Republicans, killing 48 people and injuring another 100. 1930 – In Montevideo, Uruguay wins the first FIFA World Cup. 1932 – Premiere of Walt Disney's Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon short to use Technicolor and the first Academy ...

   OTD July 29th is the two-hundredth-eighth day of the year, and there are 155 days remaining until the end of the year.   Events 1567 – The infant James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling. 1818—French physicist Augustin Fresnel submits his prizewinning "Memoir on the Diffraction of Light." In it, Fresnel precisely accounts for the limited extent to which light spreads into shadows, thereby demolishing the oldest objection to the wave theory of light. 1871—The Connecticut Valley Railroad opens in the United States between Old Saybrook, Connecticut, and Hartford, Connecticut. 1901 – Land lottery begins in Oklahoma. 1945 – The BBC Light Programme radio station is launched for mainstream light entertainment and music. 1958 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act into law, which created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). 2005 – Astronomers announce their discovery of the dwarf plan...

   OTD July 28th is the two-hundredth-seventh day of the year, and there are 156 days remaining until the end of the year.   Events 1540 – Henry VIII of England marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day his former Chancellor, Thomas Cromwell, is executed on treason charges. 1794 – French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just were executed by guillotine in Paris, France. 1854 – USS Constellation (1854), the last all-sail warship built by the United States Navy and now a museum ship in Baltimore Harbor, is commissioned. 1868 – The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is certified, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law. 1896 – The city of Miami is incorporated. 1917 – The Silent Parade takes place in New York City in protest of murders, lynchings, and other violence directed towards African Americans. 1939 – The Sutton Hoo helmet is discovered. 1973 – Summer...

Imagine a time when sending a message across the Atlantic took weeks. Letters traveled by ship, vulnerable to the whims of the ocean. But in 1866, a daring group of innovators changed that forever, weaving a slender, resilient thread beneath the waves to connect continents. This is the story of the first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable, an engineering marvel that revolutionized communication and brought the world closer together. In the mid-19th century, the world was abuzz with technological dreams. Cyrus West Field, an ambitious American financier, had a vision: to link North America and Europe with a telegraph cable. It was a bold idea, one that many deemed impossible. Yet, Field was undeterred. He rallied support, secured funding, and gathered a team of brilliant minds, including William Thomson (later known as Lord Kelvin), a physicist with a knack for solving seemingly insurmountable problems. The journey was fraught with setbacks. The first attempts in 1857 and 1858 ende...

   OTD July 27th is the two-hundredth-sixth day of the year, and there are 157 days remaining until the end of the year.   Events 1054 – Siward, Earl of Northumbria, invades Scotland and defeats Macbeth, King of Scotland, somewhere north of the Firth of Forth. 1549 – The Jesuit priest Francis Xavier's ship reaches Japan. 1694 – A Royal charter is granted to the Bank of England. 1775—Founding of the U.S. Army Medical Department: The Second Continental Congress passed legislation establishing "a hospital for an army consisting of 20,000 men." 1890 – Vincent van Gogh shoots himself and dies two days later. 1921 – Researchers at the University of Toronto, led by biochemist Frederick Banting, prove that the hormone insulin regulates blood sugar. 1949 – Initial flight of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner. 1974 – Watergate scandal: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachm...

Samuel Houston often remembered as a towering figure in American history was born on March 2, 1793, in the lush Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. As a teenager, Houston’s life took a dramatic turn when his family moved to the rugged frontier of Tennessee. This relocation marked the beginning of a series of transformative experiences that would shape his destiny. In Tennessee, young Houston faced a tumultuous period that included running away from home and finding solace among the Cherokee Native American people. Living with the Cherokee, he was given the name "Raven" and embraced their customs and way of life. This unique period endowed him with a profound respect for Native American culture and a deep understanding of their struggles, which later influenced his political and personal life. Houston’s life took another significant turn when he joined the United States Army during the War of 1812. His bravery and leadership caught the eye of General Andrew Jackson, with whom he fo...

   OTD July 26th is the two-hundredth-fifth day of the year, and there are 158 days remaining until the end of the year.   Events 1579 – Francis Drake, the English explorer, discovers a major bay on the coast of California (San Francisco). 1745 – The first recorded women's cricket match takes place near Guildford, England. 1775 – The office that would later become the United States Post Office Department is established by the Second Continental Congress. Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania takes office as Postmaster General. 1803 – The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world's first public railway, opens in south London, United Kingdom. 1882 – Premiere of Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal at Bayreuth. 1908 – United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation). 1945 – World War II: The USS Indianapolis arrives at Tinian with componen...

Henry Knox, born on July 25, 1750, in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the unsung heroes of the American Revolution and a significant figure in the early history of the United States. His journey from a bookstore owner to the first Secretary of War of the United States is nothing short of extraordinary. Let’s dive into the life and legacy of this remarkable man whose contributions to the American Revolutionary Army and the early United States continue to be celebrated. Henry Knox's story begins in the bustling streets of Boston, where he developed a love for books and knowledge. He opened a bookstore, the London Book Store, which quickly became a hub for those passionate about independence. Knox’s store was more than just a business; it was a meeting place for revolutionary ideas and discussions. Knox's military career began in earnest when the Revolutionary War broke out in 1775. Despite having no formal military training, his self-taught knowledge of artillery and fortificati...

  OTD July 25th is the two-hundredth-fourth day of the year, and there are 159 days remaining until the end of the year.   Events 315 – The Arch of Constantine is completed near the Colosseum in Rome to commemorate Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge. 1567—Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, which is today the capital of Venezuela. 1609—The English ship Sea Venture, en route to Virginia, is deliberately driven ashore during a storm at Bermuda to prevent its sinking; the survivors go on to found a new colony there. 1788 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completes his Symphony No. 40 in G minor (K550). 1868 – The Wyoming Territory is established. 1897 – American author Jack London embarks on a sailing trip to participate in the Klondike's gold rush, from which he wrote his first successful stories. 1915 – RFC Captain Lanoe Hawker becomes the first British pursuit aviator to earn the Victoria Cross. 1965 – Bob...

  OTD July 24th is the two-hundredth-third day of the year, and there are 160 days remaining until the end of the year.   Events 1148 – Louis VII of France lays siege to Damascus during the Second Crusade. 1487 – Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands, strike against a ban on foreign beer. 1701 – Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac found the trading post at Fort Pontchartrain, which later became the city of Detroit. 1847 – After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, establishing Salt Lake City. 1911 – Hiram Bingham III re-discovers Machu Picchu, "the Lost City of the Incas". 1935 – The Dust Bowl heat wave reaches its peak, sending temperatures to 109 °F (43 °C) in Chicago and 104 °F (40 °C) in Milwaukee. 1950 – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station begins operations with the launch of a Bumper rocket. 1959 – At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Ni...

   OTD July 23rd is the two hundredth-second day of the year, and there are 161 days remaining until the end of the year.   Events 1319 – A Knights Hospitaller fleet scores a crushing victory over an Aydinid fleet off Chios. 1813 – Sir Thomas Maitland is appointed as the first Governor of Malta, transforming the island from a British protectorate to a de facto colony. 1829 – In the United States, William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter. 1903 – The Ford Motor Company sells its first car. 1914 – Austria-Hungary issued a series of demands in an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia, demanding Serbia allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbia accepted all but one of those demands, and Austria declared war on July 28. 1926 – Fox Film buys the Movie Tone sound system patents for recording sound onto film. 1962 – Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic televisio...