April 19 historic events
A year later, in a much more famous battle, he helped defeat the Spanish Armada.
1775 American Revolutionary War: The war begins with the battles of Lexington and Concord.
1782 John Adams secures the Dutch Republic’s recognition of the United States as an independent government. The house which he had purchased in The Hague, Netherlands becomes the first American embassy.
1861 American Civil War: Baltimore riot of 1861, a pro-Secession mob in Baltimore, Maryland, attacks United States Army troops marching through the city.
Although Maryland was on the Union side during the Civil War, there were a great many Confederate sympathizers in Baltimore and the rest of Maryland.
1892 Charles Duryea claims to have driven the first automobile in the United States, in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The Duryea brothers (Charles and Frank) were the first commercial manufacturers of gasoline-engined cars in the U.S.
1936 First day of the Great Uprising in Palestine.
1942 World War II: In Poland, the Majdan-Tatarski ghetto is established, situated between the Lublin Ghetto and a Majdanek subcamp.
1943 World War II: In Poland, German troops enter the Warsaw ghetto to round up the remaining Jews, beginning the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
In one of the bravest and saddest episodes in history, the doomed Jewish resistance, armed mostly with pistols and Molotov cocktails, held off the nazis (YM”S) despite their tanks and armored vehicles, for nearly a month. It is worth your time to read up on this.
1951 General Douglas MacArthur retires from the military.
The “retirement” was preceded by his firing, ordered by President Truman. During his farewell speech he said his famous line, that “old soldiers never die; they just fade away.”
1961 The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba ends in success for the defenders.
Translation – the poorly planned and executed invasion was totally crushed.
1971 Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans Against the War begin a five-day demonstration in Washington, DC.
Among the attendees was future Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.
1989 A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.
An initial investigation concluded that the explosion was caused by suicidal sabotage, carried out by one of the dead sailors. A follow-up investigation concluded that it was an accident. The truth? Who knows?
1993 A 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ended when fire destroyed the structure as federal agents smashed their way in. Eighty-one people, including sect leader David Koresh, were killed.
Whether the fatal fires were started accidentally by the Feds or deliberately by the Branch Davidians hasn’t been proven. Videotape appears to show a Branch Davidian on a rooftop setting a fire.
1995 Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, is bombed, killing 168. That same day convicted murderer Richard Wayne Snell, who had ties to bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh, is executed in Arkansas. McVeigh was later convicted of federal murder charges and executed.
One of the bombers’ motives was “avenging” the Branch Davidian compound’s destruction. This was the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil until 9/11.
1997 The Red River Flood of 1997 overwhelms the city of Grand Forks, ND. Fire breaks out and spreads in downtown Grand Forks, but high water levels hamper efforts to reach the fire, leading to the destruction of 11 buildings.
Photos of Grand Forks’s devastated downtown showed shells of brick buildings standing in the floodwaters.