March 13
March 13 is the 72th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (73rd in leap years). There are 293 days remaining.
Events:
- 483 - St. Felix becomes Pope
- 874 - The bones of Saint Nicephorus are interred in the Church of the Apostles, Constantinople.
- 1138 - Cardinal Gregory is elected anti-pope as Victor IV, succeeding Anacletus II
- 1639 - Harvard University is named for a clergyman named John Harvard.
- 1781 - William Herschel discovers the planet Uranus.
- 1865 - American Civil War: The Confederate States of America reluctantly agrees to the use of African American troops.
- 1881 - Alexander II of Russia is killed near his palace when a bomb is thrown at him.
- 1884 - The siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins (ends on January 26, 1885).
- 1900 - Boer Wars: British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State.
- 1921 - Mongolia declares its independence from China
- 1925 - Scopes Trial: A law in Tennessee prohibits the teaching of evolution.
- 1933 - Great Depression: Banks in the United States begin to re-open after the Presidentially mandated "bank holiday."
- 1943 - World War II: In Bougainville, Japanese troops end their assault on American forces at Hill 700.
- 1954 - Battle of Dien Bien Phu: Viet Minh forces attack French
- 1957 - The FBI arrests Jimmy Hoffa and charges him with bribery.
- 1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.
- 1991 - The United States Justice Department annouces that Exxon has agreed to pay $1 billion for the clean-up of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
- 1992 - In eastern Turkey, an earthquake registering 6.8 on the Richter scale kills over 500.
- 1996 - The Dunblane Massacre
- 1997 - India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader.
- 2003 - Human evolution: The journal Nature reports that 350,000-year-old upright-walking human footprints had been found in Italy.
Births:
- 1619 - Richard Burbage, actor (+ 1619)
- 1733 - Joseph Priestley, scientist, minister (+ 1804)
- 1741 - Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (+ 1790)
- 1763 - Guillaume Marie Anne Brune, French soldier (+ 1815)
- 1764 - Charles Grey, second Earl Grey, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1781 - Karl Friedrich Schinkel, master builder (+ 1841)
- 1798 - Abigail Fillmore, First Lady
- 1855 - Percival Lowell, astronomer (+ 1916)
- 1860 - Hugo Wolf, composer (+ 1903)
- 1864 - Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian impressionist painter (+ 1941)
- 1880 - Frank Thieß, writer (+ 1977)
- 1884 - Oskar Loerke, lyricist, narrator and essayist (+ 1941)
- Sir Hugh Walpole, novelist (+ 1941)
- 1900 - George Seferis, Nobel prize-winning poet (+ 1971)
- 1908 - Walter Annenberg, publisher, philanthropist (+ 2002)
- 1910 - Karl Gustav Ahlefeldt, Danish actor (+ 1985)
- 1911 - L. Ron Hubbard, author (+ 1986)
- 1913 - William Casey, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (+ 1987)
- 1914 - Edward O'Hare, US pilot
- 1939 - Neil Sedaka, singer
- 1941 - Charo, musician, singer, actress
- 1942 - Dave Cutler, software engineer
- 1949 - Julia Migenes, soprano
- 1950 - William H. Macy, actor
- 1952 - Wolfgang Rihm, composer
- 1956 - Dana Delany, actress
- 1960 - Adam Clayton, bassist for the rock band U2
Deaths:
- 1808 - King Christian VII of Denmark
- 1842 - Henry Shrapnel, soldier, inventor
- 1881 - Tsar Alexander II of Russia
- 1901 - Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States
- 1906 - Susan B. Anthony, civil rights and women's suffrage activist
- 1938 - Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, Soviet politician and intellectual
- 1938 - Clarence Darrow, attorney
- 1965 - Corrado Gini, statistician
- 1990 - Bruno Bettelheim, child psychologist, psychiatrist
- 1996 - Krzysztof Kieslowski, film director
- 1998 - Bill Reid, Canadian artist
- 1999 - Garson Kanin, writer, director
Holidays and observances:
- Feast of Saint Nicephorus (Roman and Greek churches)
See Also: March 12 - March 14 - February 13 - April 13 - more historical anniversaries
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December