On This Date In 1676 During King Philip's
War, Captain William Turner of the Massachusetts Militia and a group of about
150 militia volunteers (mostly minimally trained farmers) attacked a large
fishing camp of Native Americans at Peskeopscut on the Connecticut River (now
called Turners Falls, Massachusetts). The colonists claimed they killed 100–200
Native Americans in retaliation for earlier Indian attacks against Deerfield and other colonist settlements and the colonial
losses in the Battle of Bloody Brook. Turner and nearly 40 of the militia were
killed during the return from the falls.
On This Date In 1776 Through May 27, the Battle of The Cedars was fought, a series of military
confrontations early in the American Revolutionary War during the Continental
Army's invasion of Quebec
that had begun in September 1775. The skirmishes involved limited combat
between Continental Army units opposed by a small number of British troops
leading a larger force of Indians (primarily Iroquois), and militia.
On This Date In 1783 The first United Empire
Loyalists, known to American Patriots as Tories, arrived in Canada to take refuge under the British crown in
Parrtown, Saint John, Nova
Scotia (now New Brunswick), Canada.
The town was located on the Bay of Fundy just north of the border with what is
now the state of Maine.
Most of the refugees came from New York, which
had been under royal control throughout most of the American War for Independence.
On This Date In 1846 During the
Mexican–American War, U.S.
troops occupied Matamoros,
Tamaulipas, with no resistance. More than 300 sick and wounded Mexicans were
captured in the hospitals.
On This Date In 1860 Abraham Lincoln, a
one-time U.S. representative
from Illinois, was nominated for the U.S. presidency by the Republican National
Convention meeting in Chicago,
Illinois. Hannibal Hamlin of
Maine was nominated for the vice presidency.
On This Date In 1861 The first skirmish in
Virginia in
the early days of the American Civil War, the little-known Battle of Sewell's
Point, was fought on May 18-19, 1861, on ground now occupied by the US Naval
Station Norfolk. The Battle of Sewell's Point was an inconclusive exchange of
cannon fire between the Union gunboat USS Monticello, supported by the USS
Thomas Freeborn, and Confederate batteries on Sewell's Point in Norfolk County, Virginia.
Little damage was done to either side. USS Monticello's bombardment of the
Sewell's Point battery was one of the earliest Union Navy actions against
Confederate forces during the Civil War.
On This Date In 1863 Through July 4, 1863,
the Siege of Vicksburg was fought, the final major military action in the
Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union
Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee
crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate army of Lt. Gen. John
C. Pemberton into the defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi.
The Confederate surrender following the siege at Vicksburg
is sometimes considered, when combined with Gen. Robert E. Lee's defeat at Gettysburg the previous
day, the turning point of the war.
On This Date In 1871 The Kiowa Chief
Satanta joined with other Indians to massacre a wagon train near the Red River
in northeastern Texas,
in what would come to be known as The Warren Wagon Train Raid, also known as
the Salt Creek Massacre. The Kiowa attacked and quickly overwhelmed the convoy,
killing seven. Five managed to escape. The warriors lost three of their own,
but left with 41 mules heavily laden with supplies. Arrests of the Indian war
chiefs were ordered, and would eventually lead to the first Indian trial in
history, the Trial of Satanta and Big Tree.
On This Date In 1883 Walter Adolph Georg
Gropius (May 18, 1883 – July 5, 1969), German architect and founder of the
Bauhaus School, was born. Gropius, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le
Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern
architecture.
On This Date In 1864 During the American
Civil War, the Battle of Yellow Bayou, in the Avoyelles Parish of Louisiana, took place between Union
and Confederate forces. After learning of Confederate forces in Yellow Bayou,
Brig. Gen. Joseph A. Mower was ordered to halt their advance. Union forces
subsequently attacked the Confederates, under the command of Major General
Richard Taylor, and drove them back to their main line. The Confederates then
counter-attacked, forcing the Union forces to retreat, until they eventually
repulsed the Confederate attack. This “see-saw” action lasted a few hours,
until the ground cover caught fire and both sides were forced to retreat.
Yellow Bayou was the last battle of Union Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks’s
ill-fated Red River Expedition, and it ensured that the Federals would escape
as an army to fight again.
On This Date In 1896 The Khodynka Tragedy
occurred, a mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow, Russia,
during festivities following the coronation of the last Russian Emperor
Nicholas II, which resulted in the deaths of 1,389 people, and roughly 1,300
injuries.
On This Date In 1896 The U.S. Supreme
Court ruled separate-but-equal facilities constitutional on intrastate
railroads. For some fifty years, the Plessy v. Ferguson decision upheld the principle of
racial segregation. Across the country, laws mandated separate accommodations
on buses and trains, and in hotels, theaters, and schools. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may18.html
On This Date In 1917 Some six weeks after
the United States formally
entered the First World War, the U.S Congress passed the Selective Service Act
on May 18, 1917, giving the U.S.
president the power to draft soldiers.
On This Date In 1920 The Venerable Pope
John Paul II was born Karol Józef Wojtyła (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005). He
served as Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City
from October 16, 1978 until his death almost 27 years later. His was the
second-longest pontificate; only Pope Pius IX served longer (St Peter the
Apostle is reputed to have served for more than thirty years as the first
pontiff; however documentation is too sparse to definitively support this). He
has been the only Polish Pope to date, and was the first non-Italian Pope since
Dutch Pope Adrian VI in the 1520s.
On This Date In 1940 The Battle of Zeeland
was fought, a little-known struggle on the Western Front during the early
stages of the German assault on France
and the Low Countries during World War II.
Several Dutch and French units attempted to hold off the German onslaught by making
a determined defense of the Dutch province
of Zeeland. The battle
lasted eight days, ending on May 18, and was a disappointing defeat for the
French and Dutch forces defending the province.
On This Date In 1944 The Battle of Monte
Cassino, a costly series of four battles during World War II fought by the
Allies against Germans and Italians, with the intention of breaking through the
Winter Line and seizing Rome,
ended with the Allies victorious. A reconnaissance group of Polish 12th
Podolian Uhlans Regiment discovered Monte Cassino Abbey to have been abandoned
by Axis Forces, officially marking the end of the battle.
On This Date In 1955 Educator and
political leader Mary McLeod Bethune (July 10, 1875 – May 18, 1955) died from a
heart attack at the age of eighty in Daytona
Beach, Florida. Born
in Mayesville, South Carolina, Bethune was one of the last
of Samuel and Patsy McLeod's seventeen children. Former slaves, her parents
were leaders of Mayesville's African-American community. Bethune was an American
educator and civil rights leader best known for starting a school for African
American students in Daytona Beach, Florida, that eventually became Bethune-Cookman University
and for being an advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
On This Date In 1958 In Monaco, France, Team Lotus made its Formula
One debut in the Monaco Grand Prix, the opening event of the year's European
racing season. Over the next four decades, Team Lotus will go on to become one
of the most successful teams in Formula One history.
On This Date In 1969 During the Vietnam
War, more than 1,500 communist troops attacked U.S.
and South Vietnamese camps near Xuan Loc, located 38 miles east of Saigon. After five hours of intense fighting, the Viet
Cong and North Vietnamese forces were driven off. At the U.S. camp, 14 Americans were killed
and 39 wounded; 24 enemy soldiers were killed in the action. At the South
Vietnamese camp, 4 South Vietnamese were killed and 14 wounded, with 54
communist soldiers reported killed and 9 captured.
On This Date In 1971 The 1971 Stanley Cup
Final NHL championship series was contested by the Chicago Black Hawks and the
Montreal Canadiens. The Black Hawks made their first appearance in the Final
series since 1965; the Canadiens had last played and won the series in 1969.
The Canadiens would win the series 4–3.
On This Date In 1974 The Smiling Buddha
was the first nuclear test explosion by India at Pokhran. It was also the
first confirmed nuclear test by a nation outside the five permanent members of
the United Nations Security Council having been developed and executed with no
foreign help or assistance. Smiling Buddha was a crude nuclear device with a
yield of not more than 8Kt.
On This Date In 1978 “The Buddy Holly
Story,” a biographical film which tells the life story of rock musician Buddy
Holly, was released. It stars Gary Busey, Don Stroud, Charles Martin Smith,
Conrad Janis, William Jordan, and Maria Richwine, who played Maria Elena Holly.
Directed by Steve Rash, the film was adapted by Robert Gittler from Buddy Holly: His Life and Music, the
biography of Holly by John Goldrosen.
On This Date In 1979 “Lodger,” an album by
English singer-songwriter David Bowie, was released. The last of the 'Berlin
Trilogy' recorded in collaboration with Brian Eno (though in fact produced in Switzerland and New York), it was more accessible than its
immediate predecessors Low and “Heroes”, having no instrumentals and being
somewhat lighter and more pop-oriented. However, it was still an experimental
record in many ways and was not, by Bowie's
standards, a major commercial success.
On This Date In 1980 A magnitude 5.1
earthquake at Mount St. Helens, an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington,
in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, triggered a massive
collapse of the north face of the mountain. It was the largest known debris
avalanche in recorded history. The magma inside of St.
Helens burst forth into a large-scale pyroclastic flow that
flattened vegetation and buildings over 230 square miles (600 km2). More than
1.5 million metric tons of sulfur dioxide were released into the atmosphere. On
the Volcanic Explosivity Index scale, the eruption was rated a five (a Plinian
eruption). The collapse of the northern flank of St.
Helens mixed with ice, snow, and water to create lahars (volcanic
mudflows). The lahars flowed many miles down the Toutle and Cowlitz Rivers,
destroying bridges and lumber camps. A total of 3,900,000 cubic yards
(3,000,000 m3) of material was transported 17 miles (27 km) south into the Columbia River by the mudflows. The eruption killed 57
people, nearly 7,000 big game animals (deer, elk, and bear), and an estimated
12 million fish from a hatchery. It destroyed or extensively damaged over 200
homes, 185 miles (298 km) of highway and 15 miles (24 km) of railways. http://www.columbian.com/news/2012/may/17/mount-st-helens-anniversary-monument-gets-new-life/
On This Date In 1987 Earvin “Magic”
Johnson Jr., retired American professional basketball player who played point
guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA),
averaged a career-high of 23.9 points, as well as 12.2 assists and 6.3 rebounds
per game in the 1986 - 1987 NBA season, with which he earned his first regular
season MVP award.
On This Date In 1989 A crowd of
protesters, estimated to number more than one million, march through the
streets of Beijing
calling for a more democratic political system. Just a few weeks later, the
Chinese government moved to crush the protests.
On This Date In 1998 The United States
filed a civil complaint alleging that Microsoft had engaged in anticompetitive
conduct in violation of §§ 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1,2. On
that same date, a group of state plaintiffs filed a separate civil complaint
alleging similar violations of federal law, as well as violations of the
corresponding provisions of their various state laws. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/download/legal/RemediesTrial/PubIntDeterm11-1.pdf
On This Date In 2001 “Shrek,” an American
computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky
Jenson, was released through Universal Pictures. It features the voices of Mike
Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. It is loosely based on
William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!, and also somewhat serves as a children’s parody film,
targeting other films adapted from various childrens’ fantasies (mainly Disney
films).
On This Date In 2004 Randy Johnson became
the oldest pitcher in Major League Baseball history to throw a perfect game,
retiring all 27 hitters to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Atlanta
Braves 2-0. It was the 17th perfect game in major league history, the 15th
since the modern era began in 1900, and the first since the New York Yankees'
David Cone against Montreal
on July 18, 1999. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=240518115
On This Date In 2007 “Shrek the Third”
(also known as Shrek 3), an American
animated film, and the third film in the Shrek
series, was released. It was produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg for DreamWorks
Animation, and is the first in the series to be distributed by Paramount
Pictures who acquired DreamWorks Pictures in 2006 (the former parent of
DreamWorks Animation). It was released in U.S. theaters exactly six years
after the first film. Although the film received mixed reviews from critics, it
grossed $798,958,162, making it a commercial success.
On This Date In 2009 The Sri Lankan Civil
War came to an end. A conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka beginning on
July 23, 1983, there was an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers), a
separatist militant organization which fought to create an independent Tamil
state named Tamil Eelam in the north and the east of the island. After a 26
year long military campaign, the Sri Lankan military defeated the Tamil Tigers
in May 2009, ending the conflict.
On This Date In 2010 U.S. Interior
Secretary Ken Salazar acknowledged the government did not have adequate
standards in place for the devices that are supposed to prevent blowouts on
off-shore oil rigs. The blowout preventer on the BP Deepwater Horizon rig,
which exploded and sank on April 20, was not able to stop the flow of oil.
Congressional investigators have found that it suffered from leaking hydraulic
fluid, a dead battery and an inadequate design. www.usatoday.com/news/washington/environment/2010-05-18-oil-spill-hearings_N.htm
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/
Happy Birthday Bill Macy (1922), Robert
Hardy (1925), Robert Morse (1931), Dwayne Hickman (1934), Fran Jeffries (1937),
Joan Blackman (1938), Diane McBain (1941), Miriam Margolyes (1941), Alana
Stewart (1945), Reggie Jackson (1946), Rick Wakeman (1949), George Strait (1952),
Chow Yun-Fat (1955), Catherine Herridge (1964), Tina Fey (1970), Matt Long
(1980), Asia Vieira (1982), and Vince Young (1983).
RIP Omar Khayyam (1048 – 1131), Bertrand
Russell (1872 – 1970), Big Joe Turner (1911 – 1985), Richard Brooks (1912 –
1992), Perry Como (1912 – 2001), Margot Fonteyn (1919 – 1991), Pope John Paul
II (1920 – 2005), and Pernell Roberts (1928 – 2010).
Quotes
I believe that we are here for each other, not against each
other. Everything comes from an understanding that you are a gift in my life -
whoever you are, whatever our differences. John Denver
Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but
give us the determination to make the right things happen. Peter Marshall, Senate
chaplain, prayer offered at the opening of the session, March 10, 1948
I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we
stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must
sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, but we must sail, and
not drift, nor lie at anchor. Oliver Wendell Holmes
Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its
powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see
whether we also, in our day and generation, may not perform something worthy to
be remembered. Daniel Webster
Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be
doing something to be happy. Action is no less necessary than thought to the
instinctive tendencies of the human frame. Mahatma Gandhi
To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a
menace to society. Theodore Roosevelt
Formal education will make you a living; self-education will
make you a fortune. Jim Rohn
Courtesy You Tube et al
USS George Washington
Conducts Sea Trials
The last MRAP to cross the Iraq-Kuwait border comes home to
be displayed at Fort Hood, Texas.
Department of Agriculture. Forest
Service. Division of State and Private Forestry. Fire and Aviation Management
Staff. (1986)
ARC Identifier 13504 / Local Identifier 95.206 1984
This place in time: The Mount St.
Helens story
Recounts through reenactments, personal recollections, and
documentary narration, the earth-changing event and aftermath of the May 18,
1980, volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens in the Gifford
Pinchot National
Forest of southwest Washington.
The film represents the work of dozens of both professional and amateur
cinematographers and still-photographers. The film leaves the viewer with a
positive feeling that the devastated area will someday be beautiful again
during the course of the earth-shattering and earth-healing process.
Like the King of Pop or the Queen of Soul, Donna Summer was
bestowed a title fitting of musical royalty — the Queen of Disco.
Yet unlike Michael Jackson or Aretha Franklin, it was a
designation she wasn't comfortable embracing.
"I grew up on rock 'n' roll," Summer once said
when explaining her reluctance to claim the title.
Indeed, as disco boomed then crashed in a single decade in
the 1970s, Summer, the beautiful voice and face of the genre with pulsating
hits like "I Feel Love," ''Love to Love You Baby" and "Last
Dance," would continue to make hits...
Done in Memory of Donna Summer. 1948 - 2012 - May she Rest
in peace.
Thanks for all the great memories. Video by Wayne.
Education is a companion which no misfortune can depress, no
crime can destroy, no enemy can alienate, no despotism can enslave. At home, a
friend, abroad, an introduction, in solitude a solace and in society an
ornament. It chastens vice, it guides virtue, it gives at once grace and
government to genius. Without it, what is man? A splendid slave, a reasoning
savage. Joseph Addison
We live in a world which respects power above all things.
Power, intelligently directed, can lead to more freedom. Mary Jane McLeod Bethune,
My Last Will And Testament
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