TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: JULY 21
356 BC Herostratus sets fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World
1667 The Peace of Breda ends the Second Anglo-Dutch War and cedes Dutch New Amsterdam to the English.
1711 Russia and Turkey sign the Treaty of Pruth, ending the year-long Russo-Turkish War.
1773 Pope Clement XIV abolishes the Jesuit order.
1846 Mormons found 1st English settlement in Calif (San Joaquin Valley)
1861 In the first major battle of the Civil War, Confederate forces defeat the Union Army along Bull Run near Manassas Junction, Virginia. The battle becomes known as Manassas by the Confederates, while the Union calls it Bull Run.
1865 Wild Bill Hickok kills gunman Dave Tutt in Springfield, Missouri, in what is regarded as the first formal quick-draw duel.
1896 Mary Church Terrell founds the National Association of Colored Women in Washington, D.C.
1898 Spain cedes Guam to US
1906 French Captain Alfred Dreyfus is vindicated of his earlier court-martial for spying for Germany.
1925 The “Monkey Trial” ended in Dayton, TN. John T. Scopes was convicted and fined $100 for violating the state prohibition on teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution. The conviction was later overturned on a legal technicality because the judge had set the fine instead of the jury.
1954 The French sign an armistice with the Viet Minh that ends the war but divides Vietnam into two countries.
1961 Captain Virgil “Gus” Grissom became the second American to rocket into a sub-orbital pattern around the Earth. He was flying on the Liberty Bell 7.
1972 In New York, 57 murders occur in 24 hours
1976 1st outbreak of “Legionnaire’s Disease” kills 29 in Phila
1977 Libyan–Egyptian War begins. The war lasted for 2 days with a ceasefire on July 24.
1983 Polish govt ends 19 months of martial law
2002 WorldCom Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. At the time it was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
2004 White House officials were briefed on the September 11 commission’s final report. The 575-page report concluded that hijackers exploited “deep institutional failings within our government.” The report was released to the public the next day.
2011 STS-135 lands. This space shuttle was the 135th and the last space shuttle flight of American Space Shuttle program.
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
