TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: July 20
1304 Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle – King Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold of the war
1715 The Riot Act goes into effect in England.
1773 Scottish settlers arrive at Pictou, Nova Scotia (Canada)
1801 A 1,235 pound cheese ball was pressed at the farm of Elisha Brown, Jr. The ball of cheese was later loaded on a horse-driven wagon and presented to U.S. President Thomas Jefferson at the White House.
1810 Colombia declared independence from Spain.
1859 Brooklyn and New York played baseball at Fashion Park Race Course on Long Island, NY. The game marked the first time that admission had been charged for to see a ball game. It cost $.50 to get in and the players on the field did not receive a salary (until 1863).
1861 Confederate state’s congress began holding sessions in Richmond, Va
1867 Imperial troops in Guizhou, China, kill 20,000 Miao rebels.
1881 Sioux chief Sitting Bull surrenders to the U.S. Army.
1894 2000 fed troops recalled from Chicago, having ended Pullman strike
1921 Congresswoman Alice Mary Robertson becomes the first woman to preside over the floor of US House of Representatives
1924 Tehran, Persia comes under martial law after the American vice consul, Robert Imbrie, is killed by a religious mob enraged by rumors he had poisoned a fountain and killed several people
1932 In Washington, D.C., police fire tear gas on World War I veterans part of the Bonus Expeditionary Force who attempt to march to the White House
1942 The U.S. Army Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) begins its first training class at Fort Des Moines, Iowa.
1944 Adolf Hitler is wounded in an assassination attempt by German Army officers at Rastenburg.
1951 King Abdullah of Jordan is assassinated.
1969 Apollo 11 lunar module carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin lands on the surface of the Moon; Aldrin and Armstrong walk on the moon seven hours later; Michael Collins remains in orbit in the lunar module
1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus
1975 India expels three reporters from “The Times”, “The Daily Telegraph”, and “Newsweek” because they refuse to sign a pledge to abide by government censorship
1976 The Viking spacecraft lands on Mars and begins taking soil samples.
1977 The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind control experiments
1982 Bombs planted by Irish Republican Army explode in 2 London parks
1985 Treasure hunters found the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank off the coast of Key West, Fla., in 1622 during a hurricane. The ship contained over $400 million in coins and silver ingots.
1990 Justice William Brennan resigns from the Supreme Court after 36 years
1994 Supreme Leader of North-Korea, Kim Il-sung is placed in a public Mausoleum at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun
2000 The leaders of Salt Lake City’s bid to win the 2002 Winter Olympics are indicted by a federal grand jury for bribery, fraud, and racketeering
2012 Aurora shooting. A gunman, James Holmes, opened fire in a movie theater during the premier of the Dark Night Rises in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 people and injuring 58 others.
2017 China announces a plan against “foreign garbage” banning 24 categories of plastic and recyclable waste from 2018
REFERENCE: HISTORY.NET, ONTHISDAY.COM, TIMEANDDATE.COM, INFOPLEASE.COM, FACTMONSTER.COM, SCOPESYS.COM, ON-THIS-DAY.COM, THEPEOPLEHISTORY.COM
