October 18
Today in America's Present Past
1646 | Isaac Jogues, Jesuit missionary and martyr, was killed with a tomahawk and dumped in the Mohawk River.
1648 | Civil Rights: The first guild in America, the Boston Cordwainers, formed.
1676 | Rebel Nathanial Bacon died.
1767 | Boundary line (Mason-Dixon) between Pennsylvania and Maryland agreed upon.
1775 | Poet Phillis Wheatley was freed from slavery.
1775 | Painter John Vanderlyn was born.
1776 | Bartender Betsy Flanagan serves drinks under the plumage of her bar in Elmsford, New York, which she terms “cock tails.”
1776 | War of Independence: Tadeusz Kościuszko receives a commission from Congress as a colonel of engineers in the Continental Army.
1854 | Publisher Charles Scribner was born.
1862 | Civil War: Palmyra massacre.
1863 | Civil War: Battle of Charlestown, West Virginia.
1865 | Indian War: The Colorado War ended.
1867 | The U.S. purchases Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million.
1876 | Journalist Francis Preston Blair died.
1878 | Historian James Truslow Adams was born.
1893 | Activist Lucy Stone died.
1897 | Isabel Briggs Myers was born.
1899 | Boxer Rebellion starts.
1910 | Author E. M. Forster published “Howards End.”
1912 | Civil Rights: Boxer Jack Johnson was arrested for violating the Mann Act (”transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes”).
1921 | Entrepreneur Charles Strite granted a patent for the pop-up toaster.
1926 | Musician Chuck Berry was born.
1927 | Actor George C. Scott was born.
1931 | Outlaw Al Capone was convicted on 23 counts of tax evasion.
1931 | Thomas Edison died.
1932 | Entrepreneur William E. Upjohn died.
1934 | Cleric Chuck Swindoll was born.
1939 | Lee Harvey Oswald was born.
1951 | Author Terry McMillan was born in Port Huron, Michigan.
1956 | Tennis professional Martina Navratilova.
1956 | Entrepreneur Charles Strite died.
1961 | Film: “West Side Story” debuted.
1966 | Entrepreneur Sebastian S. Kresge died.
1973 | Philosopher Leo Strauss died.
1982 | First Lady Bess Truman died.
1987 | Actor Zac Efron was born.
1988 | TV: “Roseanne” debuted.
1991 | Film: “My Own Private Idaho” debuted.
2021 | General Colin Powell died.