THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― AUGUST 18

August 18 is the 230th day of the year (231st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 135 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Sunday or Monday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Wednesday or Friday (56).

NATIONAL FAJITA DAY

1587 – Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Governor John White of the Colony of Roanoke, becomes the first English child born in the Americas.

1612 – The trial of the Pendle witches, one of England's most famous witch trials, begins at Lancaster Assizes.

1838 – The Wilkes Expedition, which would explore the Puget Sound and Antarctica, weighs anchor at Hampton Roads.

1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Globe Tavern ― Union forces try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad.

1868 – French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovers helium.

1903 – German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers.

1920 – The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage.

1938 – The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting New York, United States with Ontario, Canada over the Saint Lawrence River, is dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1940 – World War II: The Hardest Day air battle, part of the Battle of Britain. At that point, the largest aerial engagement in history with heavy losses sustained on both sides.

1963 – Civil Rights Movement: James Meredith becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi.

1965 – Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins ― United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.

1971 – Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.

1977 – Steven Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No. 83 of 1967 in King William's Town, South Africa. He later dies from injuries sustained during this arrest bringing attention to South Africa's apartheid policies. Biko died alone in a cell on 12 September 1977. According to an autopsy, an "extensive brain injury" had caused "centralization of the blood circulation to such an extent that there had been intravasal blood coagulation, acute kidney failure, and uremia".

1983 – Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 people and causing over US $1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).

2008 – War of Afghanistan: Uzbin Valley ambush occurs.

TODAY'S BIRTHS

1750 – Antonio Salieri, Italian composer and conductor (d. 1825)

1774 – Meriwether Lewis, American soldier, explorer, and politician (d. 1809)

1902 – Margaret Murie, American environmentalist and author (d. 2003)

1911 – Klara Dan von Neumann, Hungarian computer scientist and programmer, wife of John Von Neumann, the Manhattan Project (d. 1963)

1928 – Marge Schott, American businesswoman (d. 2004)

1934 – Roberto Clemente, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and soldier (d. 1972)

1953 – Marvin Isley, American R&B bass player and songwriter (d. 2010)

From Wikipedia and Google (images), ex as noted.