Famous Birthdays Today
1743 Thomas Jefferson
1852 Frank Woolworth
1866 Butch Cassidy
1949 Christopher Hitchens
EVENTS
1204 Crusaders occupy Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade
1250 The Seventh Crusade is defeated in Egypt, and Louis IX of France is captured
1742 George Frideric Handel's oratorio "Messiah" is performed for the first time at the New Music Hall in Dublin
1860 First Pony Express rider reaches Sacramento, California
1861 After 34 hours of bombardment, Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederates (US Civil War)
1869 Steam power brake patented by American engineer George Westinghouse
1908 Groundbreaking for Philadelphia's Shibe Park, home of MLB Athletics (AL), 1909-54, MLB Phillies (NL), 1938-70, and NFL Eagles, 1940-57
1911 Polo Grounds grandstand & left field bleachers go up in flames in Manhattan, New York City
1918 Electrical fire kills 38 mental patients at Oklahoma State Hospital
1926 At 38, Walter Johnson pitches his 7th opening day shutout
1928 1st trans atlantic flight Europe-US (Fitzmaurice-von Hunefeld-Köhl)
1943 German Army discover a mass grave of Polish officers near Katyn
1945 Canadian soldier Léo Major single-handedly liberates Dutch town of Zwolle by fooling Germans into thinking a raid had begun
1962 Stan Musial scores his 1,869th run, setting a new National League record
1970 Apollo 13 announces, "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here" after a Beech-built oxygen tank explodes en route to the Moon
1986 Boston Celtics end season with a 40-1 home win record
1997 Rare double doubleheader played in the same city Giants vs Mets & Oakland A's vs Yankees in NY after rain previous day
2025 Russian missile strike hits Ukrainian city of Sumy, killing at least 34 people and injuring more than 100 in the worst attack on civilians in 2025 so far