On
This Date In 1521
Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan reached the island of Homonhon
in the Philippines, with 150 crew left of the original (268). Members
of his expedition became the first Spaniards to reach the Philippine
archipelago, but they were not the first Europeans.
http://www.nndb.com/people/629/000092353/
On
This Date In 1621
Samoset, the first Native American to make contact with the Pilgrims,
surprised the settlers when he strolled straight through the middle
of the encampment at Plymouth Colony and greeted them in English. A
member of an Abenaki tribe that resided at that time in Maine, he was
a sagamore (subordinate chief) of his tribe and was visiting Chief
Massasoit. He had learned his broken English from the English
fishermen that came to fish off Monhegan Island.
http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/History/indians4.php
On
This Date In 1751
James Madison (March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836), “Father of the
Constitution” and fourth president of the United States, was born.
A graduate of the College of New Jersey at Princeton, where he
studied the liberal arts, Madison wed his love of learning to a deep
sense of civic responsibility to charter and to lead the young United
States of America. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/mar16.html
On
This Date In 1781
During the American Revolutionary War, The Battle of Cape Henry was a
naval battle which took place near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay
between a British squadron led by Vice Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot and a
French fleet under Admiral Charles René Dominique Sochet, Chevalier
Destouches. Destouches, based in Newport, Rhode Island, had sailed
for the Chesapeake as part of a joint operation with the Continental
Army, and at the request of General George Washington, to oppose the
British army of Brigadier General Benedict Arnold that was active in
Virginia. Both fleets suffered some damage and casualties without
losing any ships. However, Arbuthnot was positioned to enter the
Chesapeake as the fleets disengaged, frustrating Destouches'
objective. Destouches returned to Newport, while Arbuthnot protected
the bay for the arrival of additional land troops to reinforce
General Arnold.
On
This Date In 1782
During the American Revolutionary War, The Battle of Roatán was a
battle fought between British and Spanish forces for control of
Roatán, an island off the Caribbean coast of present-day Honduras. A
Spanish expeditionary force under Matías de Gálvez, the Captain
General of Spanish Guatemala gained control of the British-held
island after bombarding its main defenses. The British garrison
surrendered the next day. The Spanish evacuated the captured
soldiers, 135 civilians and 300 slaves, and destroyed their
settlement, which had been used as a base for piracy and
privateering.
On
This Date In 1802
The U.S. Congress approved legislation establishing the United States
Military Academy at West Point, one of the oldest military service
academies in the world. Strategically located on the west bank of the
Hudson River approximately fifty miles north of New York City, West
Point was first garrisoned in January 1778 and is the oldest
continuously occupied military post in America. George Washington
transferred his headquarters there in 1779 as a Revolutionary War
outpost.
On
This Date In 1827
“Freedom's Journal,” the first black-owned and operated newspaper
in the United States, was founded. The four-page, four-column
standard-sized weekly was established the same year that slavery was
abolished in New York State. Begun by a group of free black men in
New York City, the paper served to counter racist commentary
published in the mainstream press. Samuel E. Cornish and John B.
Russwurm served, respectively, as its senior and junior editors.
On
This Date In 1865
During the American Civil War, the mighty army of Union General
William T. Sherman encountered its most significant resistance as it
tore through the Carolinas on its way to join General Ulysses Grant's
army at Petersburg, Virginia. Confederate General William Hardee
tried to block one wing of Sherman's force, commanded by Henry
Slocum, but the motley Rebel force was swept aside at the Battle of
Averasboro, North Carolina.
On
This Date In 1903
Phantly “Judge” Roy Bean, Jr. (c. 1825 – March 16, 1903),
eccentric U.S. saloon-keeper and Justice of the Peace in Val Verde
County, Texas, who called himself “The Law West of the Pecos”,
died peacefully in his bed, after a bout of heavy drinking in San
Antonio over the building of a new power plant.
On
This Date In 1916
During World War I, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the man largely
responsible for the buildup of the German navy in the years before
World War I and the aggressive naval strategy pursued by Germany
during the first two years of the war, and in the midst of the
international indignation surrounding the policy he had fathered,
tendered his resignation to Kaiser Wilhelm II, who - somewhat to
Tirpitz's surprise - accepted it.
On
This Date In 1926
The first man to give hope to dreams of space travel was American
Robert H. Goddard, who successfully launched the world's first
liquid-fueled rocket at Auburn, Massachusetts, on March 16, 1926. The
rocket traveled for 2.5 seconds at a speed of about 60 mph, reached
an altitude of 41 feet and landed 184 feet away. The rocket was 10
feet tall, constructed out of thin pipes, and was fueled by liquid
oxygen and gasoline.
On
This Date In 1934
The sixth Academy Awards ceremony, for 1932/1933, was held in the
Fiesta Room of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
Hosted by Comedian Will Rogers, he also presented all of the awards.
Best Picture - Cavalcade; Best Actor - Charles Laughton (The Private
Life of Henry VIII); Best Actress - Katharine Hepburn (Morning
Glory)...
On
This Date In 1939
“Love Affair,” an American romantic film starring Irene Dunne and
Charles Boyer and featuring Maria Ouspenskaya, was released. It was
directed by Leo McCarey and written by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden
Stewart, based on a story by McCarey and Mildred Cram.
On
This Date In 1945
During World War II, after months of fiercely fighting its Japanese
defenders, and with a U.S. Navy military government established, the
west Pacific volcanic island of Iwo Jima was declared secured and the
fighting over. When all was done, more than 6,000 Marines died
fighting for the island, along with almost all the 21,000 Japanese
soldiers trying to defend it.
On
This Date In 1951
“The Red Badge of Courage,” a war film made by MGM and directed
by John Huston, was released. It was produced by Gottfried Reinhardt
with Dore Schary as executive producer. The screenplay is by John
Huston, adapted by Albert Band from Stephen Crane's novel of the same
name. The cinematography is by Harold Rosson, and the music score by
Bronislau Kaper. The making of the film is the subject of Lillian
Ross's 1952 book Picture,
originally in The
New Yorker
magazine.
On
This Date In 1968
The My Lai Massacre was the Vietnam War mass murder of between 347
and 504 unarmed civilians in South Vietnam on March 16, 1968, by
United States Army soldiers of “Charlie” Company of 1st
Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade of the Americal
Division. Most of the victims were women, children (including
babies), and elderly people. Some of the bodies were later found to
be mutilated. While 26 US soldiers were initially charged with
criminal offenses for their actions at Mỹ Lai, only Second
Lieutenant William Calley, a platoon leader in Charlie Company, was
convicted. Found guilty of killing 22 villagers, he was originally
given a life sentence, but only served three and a half years under
house arrest.
On
This Date In 1970
Over a span of just 12 months beginning in April 1967, the duo of
Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell enjoyed a string of four straight hits
with some of the greatest love songs ever recorded at Motown Records.
Sadly, only the first two of those four hits were released while
Tammi Terrell was still well enough to perform them. In October 1967,
just six months after the release of the now-classic “Ain't No
Mountain High Enough,” Terrell collapsed onstage during a live
performance at Virginia's Hampton-Sydney College. Two-and-a-half
years later, on March 16, 1970, Tammi Terrell died of complications
from the malignant brain tumor that caused her 1967 collapse.
On
This Date In 1977
“Last Concert in Japan,” an album by English rock band Deep
Purple, was released. It records the last Japanese concert of the
Mark IV member lineup with guitarist Tommy Bolin. This album was
recorded on December 15, 1975 at the Tokyo Budokan and achieved a
gold certification in Japan.
On
This Date In 1978
One of the world's worst supertanker disasters took place when the
Amoco
Cadiz
wrecked off the coast of Portsall, France. Although the 68 million
gallons of oil that spilled from the Cadiz has since been exceeded by
other spills, this remains the largest shipwreck in history.
On
This Date In 1985
In Beirut, Lebanon, Islamic militants kidnapped American journalist
Terry Anderson and took him to the southern suburbs of the war-torn
city, where other Western hostages were being held in scattered
dungeons under ruined buildings. Before his abduction, Anderson
covered the Lebanese Civil War for The Associated Press (AP) and also
served as the AP's Beirut bureau chief.
On
This Date In 1988
As part of his continuing effort to put pressure on the leftist
Sandinista government in Nicaragua, President Ronald Reagan ordered
over 3,000 U.S. troops, under Operation Golden Pheasant, on emergency
deployment into Honduras, as a result of threatening actions by the
forces of the Nicaraguans.
On
This Date In 1999
“EverQuest,” a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online
role-playing game (MMORPG), often called EQ,
was released. The original design is credited to Brad McQuaid, Steve
Clover, and Bill Trost. It was developed by Sony's 989 Studios and
its early-1999 spin-off Verant Interactive, and was published by Sony
Online Entertainment (SOE). Since its acquisition of Verant in late
1999, SOE develops, runs and distributes EverQuest.
On
This Date In 2003
Race car driver Ricky Craven won the Darlington
500,
crossing the finish line .002 seconds ahead of Kurt Busch for the
closest recorded finish in National Association for Stock Car Racing
(NASCAR) history. In May 2009, more than 5,000 racing fans voted
Craven's victory the most memorable moment in the history of South
Carolina's challenging Darlington Raceway, nicknamed “The Track Too
Tough to Tame.”
On
This Date In 2005
After a three-month-long criminal trial in Los Angeles Superior
Court, a jury acquitted Robert Blake, star of the 1970s television
detective show Baretta,
of the murder of his 44-year-old wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.
On
This Date In 2011
Speaking on TV in a rare address to the nation, Japanese Emperor
Akihito expressed his condolences to victims of his country's massive
earthquake and tsunami and told the Japanese people not to give up.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/emperor-tells-japanese-dont-give-up-2243313.html
Hat
tip to any included contributing sources, along with:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
, http://www.-history.com/this-day-in-history
, http://timelines.com/
RIP
Caroline
Herschel (1750 – 1848), James Madison (1751 – 1836), Sydney
Chaplin (1885 – 1965), Henny Youngman (1906 – 1998), Pat Nixon
(1912 – 1993), Mercedes McCambridge (1916 – 2004), Daniel Patrick
Moynihan (1927 – 2003), Olga San Juan (1927 – 2009), and Tommy
Flanagan (1930 – 2001).
Quotes
Every action of our lives touches on
some chord that will vibrate in eternity. Sean O'Casey
All the world's a stage and most of us
are desperately unrehearsed. Sean O'Casey
This day is a happy one for America. In
some places Americans get a little too happy. President George
Bush, greeting Bertie Ahern at the White House on St.
Patrick's Day 2004
This is one race of people for whom
psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Sigmund Freud
(speaking about the Irish)
Today I come back to you as a
descendant of people who were buried here in pauper's graves.
President Ronald Reagan, on a visit to Ballyporeen in
1984
Those who drink to forget, please pay
in advance. Sign at the Hibernian Bar, Cork City.
Ireland, thou friend of my country in
my country's most friendless days, much injured, much enduring land,
accept this poor tribute from one who esteems thy worth, and mourns
thy desolation. George Washington, speaking of
Ireland's support for America during the revolution.
When anyone asks me about the Irish
character, I say look at the trees. Maimed, stark and misshapen, but
ferociously tenacious. Edna O'Brien
Courtesy
YouTube et al
Awesome Irish Dancing
including members of Riverdance and school children in spectacular
Central Station Sydney. Over 100 dancers spread St Patricks Day cheer
in Sydney. Organised and coordinated by Tourism Ireland & Jason
Oremus, Chris Naish and the Sneaky Steppers crew
Great Irish Dance! Must
watch this! Enjoy!
Of all the things that can
take you by surprise this St. Patrick's Day...
Here's one you'll actually
enjoy...
Guinness® Black Lager is
only available in the U.S.
Support from The Arthur
Guinness Fund™ is helping Relief International to tackle the
threats of waterborne disease in Africa through the distribution of
3,500 free water filters to communities across Ghana, as part of the
Water Filter Enterprise programme.
Every year on Arthur's
Day, at exactly 17.59, we toast the man who started it all. In the
build up to Arthur's Day 2011, we asked what you're normally up to at
17.59, and got some great responses. So good, in fact, that we
brought them to life in this animated film.
Don't forget to raise your
glass at 17.59 on Arthur's Day!
What was it that made Maggie leave
Ireland, forsake her siblings and parents and flee to New York in the
1800s, we never knew. We yearned to know, because she was the first
in a long line of leavers, the matriarch of a clan of men and women
who made mysterious and dramatic exits. But her reason for leaving
must have been too awful, too painful, because Maggie was said to be
a born storyteller, and that story was the one she would never tell.
J.R. Moehringer, “The Tender Bar”
May your hearth be
warm, your holidays grand, and your heart held gently in the Good
Lord's Hand.
And
May the Lord keep you
in His hand and never close His fist too tight.
Happy
St. Patrick's Day!
