August 18, 1587 – Virginia Dare became the 1st English child born in the Americas. 1590 – John White, the governor of the Roanoke Colony, returned from a supply trip to England to find his settlement deserted. 1634 – Urbain Grandier, a Catholic priest, accused and convicted of sorcery, was burned alive in Loudun, France. 1838 – The Wilkes Expedition, which would explore the Puget Sound and Antarctica, weighed anchor at Hampton Roads. 1864 – Battle of Globe Tavern – Union forces tried to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, VA, by attacking the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad. 1868 – Pierre Jules César Janssen discovered helium (He). 1877 – Asaph Hall III discovered the Martian moon Phobos. 1914 – President Woodrow Wilson issued his Proclamation of Neutrality. 1920 – The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing womens suffrage. 1938 – The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting New York with Ontario over the Saint Lawrence River, was dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. 1941 – Adolf Hitler ordered a temporary halt to Germanys systematic euthanasia of the mentally ill and the handicapped due to protests. 1963 – James Meredith became the 1st black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi. 1965 – Operation Starlite began – U.S. Marines destroyed a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the 1st major American ground battle of the war. 1971 – Australia and New Zealand decided to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 07:19:04 +0000
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