Sunday, August 6, 2017

THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― AUGUST 5

August 5 is the 217th day of the year (218th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 148 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Wednesday, Friday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Monday or Tuesday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Thursday or Saturday (56).

1305 William Wallace, who led the Scottish resistance against England, is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London where he is put on trial and executed.

1620 The Mayflower departs from Southampton, England on its first attempt to reach North America.


1735 – Freedom of the press: New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he had published was true.

1763 Pontiac's War: Battle of Bushy Run (PA): British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Indians at Bushy Run.

1861 – American Civil War: In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government levies the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800; rescinded in 1872).


1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Mobile Bay begins at Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports.

1884 – The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island (now Liberty Island) in New York Harbor.

1914 – World War I: The guns of Point Nepean fort at Port Phillip Heads in Victoria (Australia) fire across the bows of the Norddeutscher Lloyd steamer SS Pfalz which is attempting to leave the Port of Melbourne in ignorance of the declaration of war and she is detained; this is said to be the first Allied shot of the War.


1944 – World War II: The Nazis begin a week-long massacre of between 40,000 and 50,000 civilians and prisoners of war in Wola, Poland.

1957 American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.

1962 – Apartheid in South Africa: Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.

1974 – Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress places a $1 billion limit on military aid to South Vietnam.

1981 – President Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.

2010 – Ten members of International Assistance Mission Nuristan Eye Camp team are killed by persons unknown in Kuran wa Munjan District of Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan.


2015 – The Environmental Protection Agency at Gold King Mine waste water spill releases 3 million gallons of heavy metal toxin tailings and waste water into the Animas River in Colorado.


TODAY'S BIRTHS

1850 Guy de Maupassant, French short story writer, novelist, and poet (d. 1893)

1862Joseph Merrick, English man with severe deformities, The Elephant Man (d. 1890)

1906 John Huston, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1987)

1918 Betty Oliphant, English-Canadian ballerina, co-founded the Canada's National Ballet School (d. 2004)

1930 Neil Armstrong, American pilot, engineer, and astronaut , first man on the Moon (d. 2012)


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

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