History: Lincoln’s Death, Masada, Culloden, Jefferson, Ft.Sumter, Pol Pot, Leonardo, H.Clay, FDR, Belfast Agreement &More
“The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future.” —Theodore Roosevelt
April 10
1585 - Pope Gregory XIII, most famous for commissioning the reformed Gregorian calendar we still use, dies.
1794 - Commodore Matthew C. Perry, who accomplished the “impossible task” of orchestrating a U.S.-Japan treaty, is born.
1806 - Horatio Gates dies. Born in England, he was a soldier and Virginia plantation owner. He joined the Revolutionary Army and was in command of American troops for several victories against the British, most notably at the key Battle of Saratoga, but tensions grew between him and Washington. Later, Gates not only presided over one of the biggest American defeats of the Revolution at Camden, he abandoned his army to escape, which largely ended his career in the Army. After the war, Gates sold his plantation, freed his slaves, bought a New York estate, and served in the NY legislature.
1815 - Mount Tambora erupts in what is now Indonesia, the largest recorded volcanic eruption with an estimated death toll of 11,000, with another estimated 100,000+ killed by subsequent food shortages.
1915 - U.S. actor Harry Morgan is born.
1998 - “[Gov.UK] The Belfast Agreement [also called the Good Friday Agreement] was signed on 10 April 1998 following three decades of conflict known as the Troubles. The Agreement created a new power-sharing arrangement, including an Executive and Assembly, and was based on a series of fundamental principles including:
the parity of esteem of both communities
the principle of consent underpinning Northern Ireland’s constitutional status
the birthright of the people of Northern Ireland to identify and be accepted as British or Irish, or both, and to hold both British and Irish citizenship”
April 11
145/146 - Future Roman emperor Septimius Severus is born in what is now Libya, later a military despot.
1512 - “[Warfare History Network] A French army under Gaston de Foix interrupted its siege of Ravenna, Italy, to give battle to Spanish forces on a soggy plain south of the city.” The French won, but Gaston was killed and, ultimately, the Holy League reversed French gains.
1783 - Congress declares a “cessation of arms” with Great Britain, ending the American Revolution. The civilian volunteers under Gen. George Washington had defeated the most powerful military in the world, and a new nation would be born, conceived in liberty and won by the blood of Patriots.
1814 - Dictatorial French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte abdicates, and is exiled to the island of Elba.
1968 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act, passed in Congress largely thanks to Republicans. Ironically, Johnson, a Democrat, was personally a raging racist who specifically aimed to undermine the black family.
1979 - Muslim Ugandan dictator and jihad-sympathizer Idi Amin flees the country at the approach of Tanzanian and Uganda National Liberation Front troops.
2013 - Maria Tallchief, the first Native American Indian ballerina (from the Osage tribe), dies.
April 12
1204 - Troops of the Fourth Crusade begin the infamous sacking of the Byzantine capital of Constantinople.
1777 - The great American politician Henry Clay is born. Clay was a lawyer, Kentucky senator, speaker of the House of Representatives, and Secretary of State for President John Quincy Adams.
1861 - Confederate rebels attack Fort Sumter in South Carolina, launching the Civil War, the bloodiest war in America’s history. Confederates had been outraged by anti-slavery Republican Abraham Lincoln’s election to the presidency.
1945 - Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, the only U.S. president to be elected to four terms, dies. His “New Deal” harmed instead of helping millions of Americans and he greatly and unconstitutionally expanded federal government power. FDR’s early policies were praised by Italian dictator Mussolini for being so fascist.
1981 - The first reusable spacecraft, America’s space shuttle Columbia, successfully launches.
April 13
1743 - Founding Father Thomas Jefferson is born. A “Founding Father of the United States who wrote the Declaration of Independence. As [the third] U.S. president, he completed the Louisiana Purchase.” His famous plantation was Monticello, and he served as a delegate to the Confederation Congress and then as U.S. minister to France before the Constitution was ratified. Jefferson was the first U.S. Secretary of State, serving under George Washington, before his later problematic political divergence from Washington’s party and his own presidency. Read more here.
1868 - The Abyssinian War ends with a British victory and Christian King Theodore of Abyssinia committing suicide.
1970 - Apollo 13 tells Mission Control, “Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” Despite the oxygen tank failure, and the abrupt end of the mission, the crew survived.
April 14
43 BC - Estimated date of the Battle of Forum Gallorum (some sources say April 15) between the forces of Julius Caesar’s friend Marc Antony and the forces of Caesar’s assassin Brutus. The latter won the battle.
966 - The Christianization of Poland happens with the baptism of Mieszko I and his entire court.
1471 - Battle of Barnet occurs during the English Wars of the Roses, a decisive victory for the Yorkists over the Lancastrians.
1759 - German-born English composer George Frideric Handel, famous for such works as “Messiah” and “Water Music,” dies.
1860 - The Pony Express sets a new record for speedy mail delivery, taking a mail pouch from Missouri to California in under 12 days.
1865 - In one of the greatest and most far-reaching tragedies of American history, rabid racist and Confederate empathizer John Wilkes Booth assassinates US President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC. Booth had been enraged by Lincoln’s support for black civil rights. Read more in my previous pieces.
1931 - With the overthrow of King Alfonso XIII of Spain, a socialist “republic” is established.
April 15
73 - The majority of surviving Jewish defenders of the fort of Masada, the last major holdout against the Roman army that destroyed Jerusalem, kill themselves rather than fall into Roman hands.
1452 - Italian inventor and artist Leonardo da Vinci is born. The ultimate Renaissance man, Leonardo’s genius shone in such diverse fields as art, music, biology, military invention, aviation, machines, and poetry. Read my piece for more details on his remarkable achievements.
1861 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issues a proclamation calling for 75,000 state militiamen to take on the Democrat/Confederate rebellion originally triggered by the election of Lincoln.
1865 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln tragically dies from the wound inflicted the night before by John Wilkes Booth. It was a severe blow to hopes for a peaceful and charitable reconstruction of the Union.
1912 - British ocean liner Titanic sinks after hitting an iceberg, with over 1,500 of the 2,200 passengers and crew going down with her. There were not enough lifeboats or safety measures. The Titanic is considered the world’s most famous shipwreck.
1998 - Former Communist dictator of Cambodia, Pol Pot, dies. One of history’s worst mass murderers, his genocidal regime was responsible for the deaths of up to 3 million Cambodians (out of a population of 7 million).
April 16
1457 BC - Estimated date on which “the Battle of Megiddo took place during a rebellion against Pharaoh Thutmose III.” A Canaanite coalition lost the battle against their Egyptian overlords.
778 - Louis the Pious, who would go on to succeed his father Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, is born.
1346 - Reported date on which Dušan the Mighty is crowned emperor, marking the start of the Serbian Empire.
1746 - The Battle of Culloden occurs in Scotland, as Catholic Stuart prince Charles Edward, also known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie,” and his Jacobite forces are tragically defeated by the Protestant English under the Duke of Cumberland. The Jacobite forces were brutally massacred and Charles’s hopes of the throne were dashed.
1862 - “[National Archives] President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia…It provided for immediate emancipation, compensation to former owners who were loyal to the Union of up to $300 for each freed slave, voluntary colonization of former slaves to locations outside the United States, and payments of up to $100 for each person choosing emigration.”
1867 - Wilbur Wright, who invented the first airplane with his brother Orville, is born. Wilbur took the first successful plane flight in 1903.
1889 - Charlie Chaplin, a very famous and influential actor, comedian, and early screen star, is born.
1927 - Joseph Ratzinger, later the reforming and traditionalist Pope Benedict XVI, is born in Germany.
Did I miss any important events? Let me know in the comments.
Thank you so much for including this very beautiful Hallelujah Chorus for us, Catherine. I hope God blesses you and all your loved ones with a very happy, blessed Easter.