| In September 1775 Brig. Gen. Richard Montgomery set out with this small army from Ticonderoga with the objective of taking Montreal. To form a second prong to the invasion, Washington detached a force of 1,100 under Col. Benedict Arnold to proceed up the Kennebec River, across the wilds of Maine, and down the Chaudiere to join with Montgomery before Quebec. Montgomery, advancing along the route via Lake George, Lake Champlain, and the Richelieu River, was seriously delayed by the British fort at St. Johns but managed to capture Montreal on November 13. |
Close this window |
| On November 13, 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to French scientist and author Jean-Baptiste Leroy. Franklin noted that "Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." Two hundred years later, 21st century Americans still pay taxes. We scorn every April 15 as "tax day," but few of us realize that our national income tax program is relatively new. |
 |
Close this window |
| Holmes' first important poem, "Old Ironsides" (1830), was a protest against the scrapping of the fighting ship Constitution. A collection of his witty occasional poems was published in 1836. In 1857 he began to contribute to the Atlantic Monthly (which he named) the famous series of "Breakfast-table" sketches, which were collected in The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858). His "Old Ironsides" poem was first published in the Boston Daily Advertiser after Holmes had been angered to learn that the Constitution, the U.S. frigate that had served in the Tripolitan War (1800-1815) and was especially important in the War of 1812, had been declared unseaworthy and was to be broken up and sold. |
 |
Close this window |
| Stated Brevet Captain J.C. Fremont: "... Wherever we came in contact with the rocks of these mountains, we found them volcanic, which is probably the character of the range; and at the time, two of the great snowy cones, Mount Regnier and St. Helens, were in action." |
 |
Close this window |
| Gold certificates were authorized under the Act of March 3rd, 1863, but unlike the United States Notes also authorized, they apparently were not printed until 1865. They did not have a series date, and were hand-dated upon issue. "Issue" meant that the government took in the equivalent value in gold, and the first several series of Gold Certificates promised to pay the amount only to the depositor, who was explicitly identified on the certificate itself. The first issue featured a vignette of an eagle uniformly across all denominations. |
 |
Close this window |
| Aside from being the first game in what became one of the most famous series in college football, the 1875 Harvard-Yale encounter saw the first uniforms worn in an American football game. Yale wore dark trousers, blue shirts, and yellow caps. Not to be outdone in sartorial splendor any more than in the score, Harvard showed up in crimson shirts, stockings, and knee breeches. |
 |
Close this window |
| Bowling was a very popular sport in New York City in the middle of the nineteenth century. A newspaper said there were more than 400 alleys in the city in 1850. It then declined for a time. One reason may have been that the larger pins made it too easy. The prevalence of gambling was another factor. Bowling, like billiards, was considered semi-respectable, at best. When nine clubs from New York City and Brooklyn formed the National Bowling Association (NBA) in 1875, one of its purposes was to standardize rules. Just as important, though, the clubs wanted to eliminate gambling among their members. |
Close this window |
| The National League rejects the American League as an equal, declaring it an outlaw league outside of the National Agreement, thus inaugurating a state of war. This follows the AL's announcement two days ago tht it has made arrangements to go into Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Two weeks later the AA makes it a 3-way battle. |
Close this window |
| "The Sheik" was a 1921 silent movie produced by Famous Players-Lasky, directed by George Melford and starring Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres and Adolphe Menjou. It was based on the bestselling romance novel The Sheik by Edith Maude Hull. "The Sheik" proved extremely popular with female movie goers and helped established Valentino as the top male movie star and sex symbol of the day. |
 |
Close this window |
| In 1927, the Holland Tunnel opened for traffic as the first twin tube subaqueous vehicular tunnel in the U.S. It joined Jersey City, N.J. and New York City, N.Y. The day before, after an opening ceremony, in the next hour 20,000 people walked the 9,250 feet length of the tunnel from shore to shore, of which 5,480-ft runs under the river. Named after its engineer, Clifford Holland, the tunnel carries 1,900 vehicles per hour. The air in the tubes is changed 42 times an hour, at the rate of 3,761,000 cubic feet per minute. |
 |
Close this window |
| In 1930, the Rotolactor, invented by Henry W. Jeffries, was housed in the lactorium of the Walker Gordon Laboratory Company, Inc., at Plainsboro, N.J. This was a 50-stall revolving platform that enabled the milking of 1,680 cows in seven hours by rotating them into position with the milking machines. A Rotolactor was displayed at the 1939 New York World's Fair as part of the "Dairy World of Tomorrow," exhibit in the Borden building. The glass-enclosed revolving Rotolactor platform carried 150 pedigreed cows were washed, dried, and mechanically milked twice daily. |
 |
Close this window |
| The NBC Symphony Orchestra was an orchestra established in 1937 by General David Sarnoff of NBC as a vehicle for conductor Arturo Toscanini. Under Toscanini's direction, the orchestra's first broadcast concert aired from NBC's Studio 8H on Christmas Day, 1937. In addition to weekly broadcasts on the NBC Red and Blue networks, the NBC Symphony Orchestra made many recordings of symphonies, choral music, and operas. Televised concerts began in 1948. |
Close this window |
| "Fantasia" was a 1940 motion picture, the third in the Disney animated features canon, which was a Walt Disney experiment in animation and music. The soundtrack of the film consists of eight pieces of classical music, played by the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Leopold Stokowski. Animated artwork of varying degrees of abstraction or literalism is used to illustrate or accompany the concert in various ways. |
 |
Close this window |
| The five Sullivan Brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, were lost in the sinking of the cruiser USS Juneau by a Japanese torpedo off Guadalcanal during World War II in the Pacific. Following their deaths, the U.S. Navy changed regulations to prohibit close relatives from serving on the same ship. |
 |
Close this window |
| In 1946, artificial snow from a natural cloud was produced over Mount Greylock, Mass., for the first time in the U.S. An airplane spread small pellets of dry-ice (frozen carbon dioxide) for three miles at a height of 14,000 ft. Although the snow fell an estimated 3,000 feet, it evaporated as it fell through dry air, and never reached the ground. The experiment was carried out by Vincent J. Schaefer of the General Electric Company. |
Close this window |
| After recording "Wish You Were Here") that year, Fisher scored with the biggest year of his career in 1953; both "I'm Walking Behind You" and "Oh! My Pa-Pa" which spent many weeks at the top of the charts. Fisher then gained his own top-rated television programs, Coke Time and The Chesterfield Supper Club. His success continued apace in 1954 with "I Need You Now," and he starred in his first movie, Bundle of Joy, in 1956 -- co-billed with his first wife, Debbie Reynolds. |
 |
Close this window |
| On November 13, 1956 the United States Supreme Court rules that bus segregation is unconstitutional. But Montgomery continues to operate the busses on a segregated basis - and Blacks continue the boycott - until the court ruling is physically delivered to Montgomery. On December 21 the busses are finally desegregated and the boycott comes to a triumphant end 381 days after it began. |
Close this window |
| During his 11-year career, Pettit averaged 26.4 points per game, 16.2 rebounds per game, and 3 assists per game. He was selected to the All-NBA First Team ten consecutive seasons (1955-64). He finished in the top five in points and rebounds 10 consecutive seasons, a feat currently unmatched in NBA history. Petit was voted as the NBA's Most Valuable Player twice (1956 & 1959). He was voted Rookie of the Year in 1955 and won his lone NBA Championship Title in 1958. He was the first NBA player to score over 20,000 points. |
 |
Close this window |
| "Get Off My Cloud" followed "Satisfaction" as The Stones second #1 hit in the US. Some radio stations would not play this because they thought it was about drugs. |
 |
Close this window |
| In 1971, Mariner-9, the first man-made object to orbit another planet, entered Martian orbit. The mission of the unmanned craft was to return photographs mapping 70% of the surface, and to study the planet's thin atmosphere, clouds, and hazes, together with its surface chemistry and seasonal changes. |
 |
Close this window |
| "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves," a conscious attempt to emulate Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man" was released late in 1971 and became a number one hit and a million-seller. To some listeners, "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" was the epitome of schlocky pop/rock, but the song's subject matter, unusual tempo changes, and an incredibly memorable chorus-hook demonstrated Cher's maturation as an artist. |
 |
Close this window |
| "Feelings" by Morris Albert, went gold. The singer's full name is Morris Albert Kaiserman. He was born in Brazil. Albert originally recorded this as a Portuguese-language bolero, which became a major hit in latin America in 1975. |
 |
Close this window |
| "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" was never released as a single in England because it was banned on British radio stations due to suggestive lyrics.Stewart's girlfriend, Swedish actress Britt Ekland, sings in French at the end. The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section played on this. They were a famous group of session musicians who made a living playing on hits for prominent singers like Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and Bob Seger. |
 |
Close this window |
| At its peak, "Li'l Abner" appeared in more than 900 newspapers with a daily readership of 90,000,000. A handful of competing comic strips appeared in more newspapers, but Capp's exposure didn't end in the comic section. His personal celebrity transcended comics, reaching the public and influencing the culture in a variety of media. For many years he simultaneously produced the daily strip, a weekly syndicated newspaper column and a 500-station radio program while maintaining a steady presence on television screens. |
 |
Close this window |
| On November 13, 1979, Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy for president in a speech at the New York Hilton stating "To me our country is a living, breathing presence, unimpressed by what others say is impossible, proud of its own success, generous, yes and naive, sometimes wrong, never mean and always impatient to provide a better life for its people in a framework of a basic fairness and freedom." |
 |
Close this window |
| Thirteen-story high Double Eagle V, piloted by Ben Abruzzo, Larry Newman, Ron Clark and Rocky Aoki of Japan, launches from Nagashimi, Japan on November 10 and and lands 84 hours, 31 minutes later in Mendocino National Forest in California. A new distance record is set at 5,768 miles. |
 |
Close this window |
| The Wall, the first part of the memorial to be erected, was dedicated November 13, 1982. Today 58,249 names are inscribed on the wall. The wall includes the names of deceased and missing. The goal of the memorial was to allow all people to reflect on the price of war and to honor those who served. |
 |
Close this window |
| "Up Where We Belong" was the theme song to the movie An Officer And A Gentleman. It won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1983. Will Jennings wrote the lyrics. He's responsible for the words to many famous songs, including "My Heart Will Go On," "Looks Like We Made It," and many of Steve Winwood's hits. |
 |
Close this window |
| Men at Work were one of the more surprising success stories of the new wave era, rocketing out of Australia in 1982 to become the most successful artist of the year. With its Police-styled rhythms, catchy guitar hooks, wailing saxophones, and off-kilter sense of humor, the band's debut album "Business as Usual" became an international blockbuster, breaking the American record for the most weeks a debut spent at the top of the charts. |
 |
Close this window |
| Gooden reached new heights in 1985, winning the Cy Young award with the "pitcher's Triple Crown," leading the NL in wins (24-4), ERA (1.53), and strikeouts (268). His 16 complete games also led the league, and his rising fastball and snapping curve dominated NL hitters. Curveballs are referred to by ballplayers as "Uncle Charley," but Gooden's was called "Lord Charles." |
 |
Close this window |
| The California town, about 60 miles southeast of Sacramento, featured a motel, 20 homes, and two swimming pools to the buyer. |
Close this window |
 |
|||
1775 American Revolutionary forces
capture Montreal
More ...
1789 Benjamin Franklin wrote his "death
and taxes" quote
More ...
1830 Oliver Wendell Holmes publishes "Old
Ironsides"
More ...
1843 Mt Rainier in Washington State erupts
More ...
1865 US issues first gold certificates
More ...
1875 Harvard-Yale game is first college football
contest with uniforms
More ...
1875 National Bowling Association organized in
NYC
More ...
1895 First shipment of canned pineapple from Hawaii
1900 Baltimore Orioles (now NY Yankees) enter
baseball's American League
More ...
1921 "The Sheik," starring Rudolph Valentino,
is released
More ...
1927 NY-NJ Holland Tunnel, first twin-tube underwater
auto tunnel, opens
More ...
1930 First revolving milk platform used
More ...
1937 NBC forms first full-sized symphony orchestra
exclusively for radio
More ...
1940 Walt Disney's "Fantasia" released
More ...
1942 Minimum draft age lowered from 21 to 18
1942 Five Sullivan brothers lost in Japanese raid
More ...
1946 First artificial snow produced from a natural
cloud, Mt Greylock, MA
More ...
1954 "I Need You Now" by Eddie Fisher
topped the charts
More ...
1956 Supreme Court strikes down segregation of
races on public buses
More ...
1964 Bob Petit (St Louis Hawks) becomes first
NBAer to score 20,000 points
More ...
1965 "Get Off My Cloud" by the Rolling
Stones topped the charts
More ...
1967 Carl Stokes became the first African American
mayor in the U.S., elected mayor of Cleveland, OH
1969 VP Spiro T Agnew accused network TV news
depths of bias & distortion
1970 VP Spiro Agnew calls TV executives "impudent
snobs"
1971 Mariner 9, first to orbit another planet
(Mars)
More ...
1971 "Gypsys, Tramps, & Thieves"
by Cher topped the charts
More ...
1975 "Feelings" by Morris
Albert, went gold
More ...
1976 "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)"
by Rod Stewart topped the charts
More ...
1977 After 43 years, Al Capp brought his comic
strip, "Li’l Abner", to a conclusion
More ...
1979 Robert Jarvik was granted a patent for an
artificial heart
1979 Ronald Reagan in NY announces his candidacy
for President
More ...
1981 First manned balloon flight across Pacific
Ocean ended
More ...
1982 Vietnam War Memorial dedicated in Washington
DC
More ...
1982 "Up Where We Belong" by Joe Cocker
& Jennifer Warnes topped the charts
More ...
1982 "Business as Usual", by Men at Work,
started a 15-week run as #1 album
More ...
1985 Dwight Gooden, youngest 20 game winner, wins
Cy Young award
More ...
1986 The state of California put Fricot City on
the auction block for $8.8 million
More ...