Today in History

1798
British seamen board the U.S. frigate Baltimore and impress a number of crewmen as alleged deserters, a practice that will contribute to the War of 1812.
1813
The British announce a blockade of Long Island Sound, leaving only the New England coast open to shipping.
1821
Trader William Becknell reaches Santa Fe, N.M., on the route that will become known as the Santa Fe Trail.
1846
General Zachary Taylor takes Saltillo, Mexico.
1864
Union General William T. Sherman departs Atlanta and begins his “March to the Sea.”
1892
King Behanzin of Dahomey (now Benin), leads soldiers against the French.
1902
A cartoon appears in the Washington Star, prompting the Teddy Bear Craze, after President Teddy Roosevelt refused to kill a captive bear tied up for him to shoot during a hunting trip to Mississippi.
1907
The Indian and Oklahoma territories are unified to make Oklahoma, which becomes the 46th state.
1913
Swann’s Way, the first volume of Marcel Proust’s 7-part novel Remembrance of Things Past, is published.
1920
Metered mail is born in Stamford, Connecticut with the first Pitney Bowes postage meter.
1945
Eighty-eight German scientists, holding Nazi secrets, arrive in the United States.
1948
President Harry S Truman rejects four-power talks on Berlin until the blockade is removed.
1953
The United States joins in the condemnation of Israel for its raid on Jordan.
1955
The Big Four talks, taking place in Geneva on German reunification, end in failure.
1960
After the integration of two all-white schools, 2,000 whites riot in the streets of New Orleans.
1965
In the last day of the fighting at Landing Zone X-Ray, regiments of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division repulse NVA forces in the Ia Drang Valley.
1967
U.S. planes hit Haiphong shipyard in North Vietnam for the first time.
1979
American Airlines is fined $500,000 for improper DC-10 maintenance.
1982
The space shuttle Columbia completes its first operational flight.
1989
Salvadoran Army death squad kills six Jesuit priests and two others at Jose Simeon Canas University.
1992
Eric Lawes, while using a metal detector to search for a friend’s lost hammer near Hoxne, Suffolk, England, discovers the Hoxne Hoard, the largest hoard of Roman silver and gold ever found in Britain, and the largest collection of 4th and 5th century coins found anywhere within the bounds of the former Roman Empire
1997
Pro-democracy Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng is released from prison after 18 years, for health reasons.