TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – NOV 16
1776 British troops capture Fort Washington during American Revolution
1798 British seamen board the U.S. frigate Baltimore and impress a number of crewmen as alleged deserters, a practice that contributed 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.
1894 6,000 Armenians massacred by Turks in Kurdistan
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.
1914 Federal Reserve System formally opens
1920 Metered mail is born in Stamford, Connecticut with the first Pitney Bowes postage meter.
1933 The United States and the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations.
1945 Eighty-eight German scientists, holding Nazi secrets, arrive in the United States.
1948 Operation Magic Carpet – 1st plane from Yemen carrying Jews to Israel
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.
1973 President Nixon signed the bill authorizing the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
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 released from prison after 18 years, for health reasons.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
