October 11
October 11 is the 284th day of the year (285th in Leap years). There are 81 days remaining.
Events
- 1614 - Adriaen Block and 12 Amsterdam merchants petition the States General for exclusive trading rights in the New Netherland colony.
- 1776 - American Revolution: Battle of Valcour Island - On Lake Champlain 15 American gunboats are defeated but give Patriot forces enough time to prepare defenses of New York City.
- 1809 - Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder's Stand.
- 1811 - Inventor John Stevens' boat, the Juliana, begins operation as the first steam-powered ferry (service between New York, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey).
- 1862 - American Civil War: In the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart and his men loot Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during a raid into the north.
- 1890 - In Washington, DC, the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.
- 1899 - Boer War begins: In South Africa, a war between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State erupts.
- 1906 - San Francisco public school board sparks United States diplomatic crisis with Japan by ordering Japanese students to be taught in racially segregated schools.
- 1929 - JC Penney open Store #1252 in Milford, Delaware, making it a nationwide company with stores in all 48 states.
- 1939 - Manhattan Project: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt is presented with a letter signed by Albert Einstein urging the United States to rapidly develop an atomic bomb program.
- 1942 - World War II: Battle of Cape Esperance - On the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, United States Navy ships intercept and defeat a Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island.
- 1950 - The Federal Communications Commission issues the first license to broadcast television in color, to CBS (RCA will successfully dispute and block the license from taking effect, however).
- 1954 - Vietnam War: The Viet Minh take control of North Vietnam.
- 1958 - Pioneer program: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1 (the probe falls back to Earth and burns up).
- 1962 - Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years.
- 1968 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham aboard.
- 1975 - Saturday Night Live is broadcasted for the first time (George Carlin is the guest host).
- 1984 - Margaret Thatcher survives an IRA bomb.
- 1984 - Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American women to perform a space walk.
- 1986 - Cold War: US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, in an effort to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe.
- 1998 - A Congo Air Lines Boeing 727 is shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo killing 40
- 2002 - Bomb attack in a shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland. See Myyrmanni bombing.
Births
- 1582 - Johannes Fleischer, botanist
- 1788 - Simon Sechter, music teacher
- 1815 - Pierre Napoleon Bonaparte
- 1821 - George Williams, founder of the YMCA (d. 1905)
- 1844 - Henry Heinz, food manufacturer (d. 1916)
- 1872 - Harlan F. Stone, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1946)
- 1884 - Eleanor Roosevelt, American human rights activist, First Lady (d. 1962)
- 1885 - François Mauriac, writer (d. 1970)
- 1895 - Jakov Gotovac, Croatian composer (d. 1982)
- 1918 - Jerome Robbins, choreographer (d. 1998)
- 1919 - Art Blakey, jazz drummer (d. 1990)
- 1924 - Mal Whitfield, American athlete
- 1925 - Elmore Leonard, novelist
- 1928 - Marquis Alfonso de Portago, Grand Prix driver (d. 1957)
- 1932 - Dottie West, country music singer (d. 1991)
- 1939 - Maria Bueno, tennis star
- 1942 - Amitabh Bachchan, actor
- 1949 - Daryl Hall, musician
- 1956 - Nicanor Duarte Frutos, President of Paraguay
- 1957 - Dawn French, comedienne
- 1961 - Steve Young, American football star
- 1966 - Luke Perry, actor
- 1969 - Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands
- 1969 - Ty Murray, rodeo star
- 1982 - Jermaine V. Mitchell, Rap musician
- 1985 - Michelle Trachtenberg, actress (Harriet the Spy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
- 1989 - Michelle Wie, golf prodigy
Deaths
- 1303 - Pope Boniface VIII
- 1531 - Huldreich Zwingli, Swiss Protestant leader
- 1779 - Casimir Pulaski, Polish fighter for American independence
- 1809 - Meriwether Lewis, explorer
- 1896 - Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer
- 1896 - Edward White Benson, British archbishop
- 1940 - Lluís Companys, Spanish President of Generalitat of Catalonia, shot at Montjuïc Castle, Barcelona.
- 1961 - Chico Marx, American comedian (b. 1887)
- 1963 - Edith Piaf, French singer
- 1963 - Jean Cocteau, writer
- 1965 - Dorothea Lange, photographer
- 1977 - MacKinlay Kantor, author
- 1985 - Orson Welles, American movie director
- 1989 - M. King Hubbert, geophysicist
- 1991 - Redd Foxx, comedian, actor
- 1996 - Lars Ahlfors, Finnish mathematician
- 2000 - Donald Dewar, main author of the Scotland Act and initial First Minister of the Scottish Parliament
Holidays
- Roman Empire - Meditrinalia is held in honor of Meditrina
- USA - National Coming Out Day (not a federal holiday)
October 10 - October 12 - September 11 - November 11 - more historical anniversaries
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