Stars & Stripes - Events & Birthdays by Month



July 01 1862 President Lincoln signs the 1st income tax bill & the Bureau of Internal Revenue is established by Congress
July 01 1863 Battle of Gettyburg begins
July 02 1788 Congress announces the US Constitution has been ratified by the required 9 states
July 02 1881 Pres. James Garfield is mortally shot. He dies on Sept 19
July 20 1969 Neil Armstrong walks on the moon
July 22 1775 George Washington takes command of the troops
July 26 1775 Benjamin Franklin becomes 1st Postmaster General
July 26 1908 FBI formed
July 26 1947 Dept. of Defense established
July 27 1789 Congress establishes Dept. of Foreign Affairs (State Dept)
July 28 1914 WWI begins when Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
July 30 1729 City of Baltimore founded
July 30 1956 US motto "In God We Trust" authorized
July 31 1777 Marquis de Lafayette, 19, makes major-general of Continental Army
July 31 1790 1st US patent granted to Samuel Hopkins for a potash process; patent signed by George Washington & Thomas Jefferson
July 31 1972 Thomas Eagleton withdraws as Democratic VP candidate



August 01 1779 Francis Scott Key (Star Spangled Banner) Maryland
August 01 1876 Colorado becomes 38th State
August 01 1958 1st class postage goes up to 4¢ (was 3¢ for 26 years)
August 01 1972 1st Watergate article
August 02 1776 Formal signing of the Declaration of Independence
August 02 1909 1st Lincoln head pennies minted
August 02 1943 PT-109 rammed & sunk
August 04 1790 Coast Guard Day - honoring its establishment on this day in 1790
August 04 1916 US agrees to buy Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million
August 04 1977 Pres. Carter establishes Dept of Energy
August 05 1861 US Army abolishes flogging
August 05 1861 US levies 1st income tax (3% on incomes over $800)
August 05 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay, Ala: Adm. David Farragut orders "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"
August 05 1884 Cornerstone laid for Statue of Liberty on Bedloes Island
August 05 1914 1st traffic light installed (Euclid Ave. & E 105th St, Cleveland)
August 05 1930 Neil Armstrong (astronaut) Ohio
August 06 1890 1st use of the electric chair in US (John Hart in NY for murder)
August 06 1914 Austria-Hungary declares war against Russia
August 07 1782 George Washington creates Order of the Purple Heart
August 07 1789 US War Dept established
August 07 1882 Hatfields of south WV & McCoys of east KY feud, 100 wounded or killed
August 07 1942 1st US offensive in Pacific WWII - Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
August 07 1959 Explorer VI tranmits 1st TV photo of Earth from Space
August 08 1876 Thomas Edison patents mimeograph
August 08 1918 6 US soldiers are surrounded by Germans in France, Alvin York shoots 20 Germans and captures 132 more
August 08 1945 Pres. Truman signs UN Charter
August 09 1842 US-Canada border defined by Webster-Ashburton Treaty
August 09 1936 Jesse Owens wins 4th gold medal at Berlin Olympics
August 09 1974 Richard Nixon resigns presidency, Gerald Ford becomes 38th President
August 10 1821 Missouri admitted as 24th State
August 10 1846 Congress charters the Smithsonian Institution
August 10 1966 1st lunar orbiter launched by US
August 10 1990 US's Magellan spacecraft lands on Venus
August 11 1866 World's 1st Roller Rink opens in Newport, RI
August 12 1859 Katherine Lee Bates (author "America the Beautiful")
August 12 1955 Pres. Eisenhower raises minimum wage from $0.75 to $1 an hour
August 14 1774 Meriwether Lewis (Lewis & Clark Expedition) Charlottsville, VA
August 14 1846 Henry David Thoreau jailed for tax resistance
August 16 1620 Mayflower sets sail with 102 Pilgrims
August 16 1863 Emancipation Proclamation signed
August 17 1929 Francis Gary Powers (captured by USSR 1959 - U-2 incident)
August 18 1587 Virginia Dave (1st Amer. born of Eng. parents)
August 18 1917 Casper Weinberger (US Sec. of Defense 1981-87)
August 20 1781 George Washington begins moving troops south to fight Cornwallis
August 20 1833 Benjamin Harrison (23rd President) North Bend, OH
August 21 1858 1st Lincoln-Douglas debate (IL)
August 21 1959 Hawaii becomes 50th State
August 22 1775 King George III proclaims colonies to be in open rebellion
August 22 1846 US annexes New Mexico
August 23 1785 Oliver Hazard Perry (US Naval hero - "We have met the enemy...")
August 24 1814 British sack Washington, DC
August 25 1916 National Park Service established in the Dept of the Interior
August 29 1957 Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1957
August 29 1958 Air Force Academy opens



September 01 1807 Aaron Burr acquitted of charges of plotting to set up an empire
September 02 1789 US Treasury Dept established by Congress
September 02 1864 Union General Wm. T. Sherman captures Atlanta
September 03 1783 Treaty of Paris (ending the Revolutionary War)
September 04 1886 Geronimo is captured, ending last major US-Indian war
September 04 1972 Mark Spitz becomes 1st athlete to win 7 Olympic Gold Medals
September 05 1774 1st Continental Congress assembles in Philadelpia
September 05 1902 Darryl F. Zanuck (Hollywood producer)
September 06 1620 Pilgrims set sail from Plymouth England for the New World
September 06 1757 Marquis de Lafayette (American patriot, French revolutionary)
September 06 1901 President Wm. McKinley is shot by Leon Czologosz in Buffalo, NY
September 08 1565 1st permanent settlement in US forms (St Augustine, FL)
September 08 1892 1st appearance of "The Pledge of Allegiance" (Youth's Companion)
September 09 1776 Continental Congress renames "United Colonies" - "United States"
September 09 1850 California becomes 31st State
September 09 1850 Territories of New Mexico & Utah created
September 09 1908 Orville Wright makes first 1 hour flight, Fort Myer, VA
September 10 1608 John Smith elected president of Jamestown colony council, VA
September 10 1776 George Washington asks for spy volunteer - Nathan Hale volunteers
September 10 1913 Lincoln Highway opens as 1st paved coast-to-coast highway
September 11 1789 Alexander Hamilton appointed Secretary of Treasury
September 11 2001 Worst terrorist attack on American soil: 2819+ die
September 13 1788 New York City becomes capital of the US
September 13 1814 Francis Scott Key writes the poem that will be come our National Anthem in 1931; originally titled "The Defence of Fort McHenry"
September 13 1851 Walter Reed (US Army Surgeon, proved mosquitoes transmit yellow fever)
September 13 1860 Gen. John J. (Blackjack) Pershing (US commander WWI)
September 13 1948 Margaret Chase Smith elected senator, 1st woman to serve in both houses of Congress
September 14 1901 President McKinley dies in Buffalo, NY of gunshot wounds inflicted by an assassin. Theodore Roosevelt becomes President
September 15 1857 Wm. Howard Taft (27th President)
September 15 1862 Stonewall Jackson takes Harpers Ferry
September 16 1630 Mass. village of Shawmut changes name to Boston
September 16 1893 Cherokee Strip, OK opened to white settlement homesteaders
September 17 1787 At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, delegates from 12 states vote to unanimously approve the proposed US Constitution
September 17 1862 Antietam - 26,000 men are dead, wounded or missing by nightfall as Gen. George B. McClellan's numerically superior forces stop Gen. Robert E. Lee
September 18 1793 Washington lays cornerstone of Capitol building
September 18 1947 U.S. Air Force established as a separate military service
September 19 1796 George Washington's farewell address
September 19 1881 James A Garfield (US President) dies of gunshot wound
September 20 1797 US frigate Constitution (Old Ironsides) launched in Boston
September 20 1873 Panic on NY Stock Exchange - railroad bond default & bank failure
September 20 1881 Chester A Arthur sworn in as President
September 21 1776 Nathan Hale hung by British for spying
September 21 1780 Benedict Arnold give British Major Andre plans to West Point
September 21 1981 Sandra Day O'Connor becomes 1st female Supreme Court Justice
September 22 1776 Nathan Hale executed as a spy by the British
September 22 1817 John Quincy Adams becomes Secretary of State
September 22 1862 President Lincoln says he will free all slaves in all states on Jan 1
September 22 1863 President Lincoln makes his Emancipation Proclamation speech
September 23 1642 First Harvard College commencement
September 23 1780 British spy Major John Andre caught near Tarrytown, NY
September 23 1806 Lewis & Clark return to St. Louis from the Pacific Northwest
September 24 1755 John Marshall (4th Supreme Court Chief Justice) VA
September 25 1775 Ethan Allen captured (Revolutionary War Hero)
September 25 1789 Congress proposes Bill of Rights
September 26 1789 Jefferson appointed 1st Sec. of State; John Jay 1st Chief Justice; Samuel Osgood 1st Postmaster & Edmund J. Randolph 1st Attorney General
September 26 1914 Federal Trade Commission formed to regulate interstate commerce
September 27 1722 Samuel Adams (revolutionary rabble rouser)
September 27 1779 John Adams negotiates Revolutionary War peace terms with Britain
September 27 1787 Constitution submitted to the states for ratification
September 28 1781 Siege of Yorktown begins - last battle of the Revolutionary War
September 29 1789 1st Congress adjourns
September 29 1789 US War Department establishes a regular army



October 01 1800 Spain cedes Louisiana to France in a secret treaty
October 01 1890 Congress creates Yosemite National Park
October 02 1919 Pres. Woodrow Wilson suffers a stroke
October 03 1913 Federal Income Tax signed into law (at 1%)
October 04 1822 Rutherford B Hayes (19th President)
October 04 1984 US gov't closes down due to budget problems
October 07 1765 The Stamp Act Congress convenes in NY
October 09 1888 Public admitted to Washington Monument
October 10 1845 The Naval School (now US Naval Academy) opens in Annapolis
October 16 1781 Washington takes Yorktown
October 16 1859 John Brown leads 20 in raid on federal arsenal in Harper's Ferry, VA
October 17 1781 Cornwallis defeated at Yorktown
October 19 1781 Corwallis surrenders at Yorktown at 2 pm; Revolutionary War ends
October 19 1868 Bertha Landes (1st woman elected mayor of a major US city - Seattle)
October 19 1870 1st (4) blacks elected to House of Representatives
October 19 1919 1st Distinguished Service Medal awarded to a woman
October 20 1803 US Senate ratifies Louisiana Purchase
October 20 1818 49th parallel established as border between US & Canada