October 11

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 near Valcour Island, a British fleet led by Sir Guy Carleton defeats 15 American gunboats commanded by Brigadier General Benedict Arnold. Although nearly all of Arnold's ships are destroyed, the two day-long battle will 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, Don Fulton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham aboard. Goals for the mission include the first live television broadcast from orbit and testing the lunar module docking maneuver.
• 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 Reykjavik, Iceland, in an effort to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe (the talks break down in failure).
• 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
• 1844 - Henry Heinz, food manufacturer († 1916)
• 1872 - Harlan F. Stone, Chief Justice of the United States († 1946)
• 1884 - Eleanor Roosevelt, American human rights activist, First Lady († 1962)
• 1885 - François Mauriac, writer († 1970)
• 1895 - Jakov Gotovac, Croatian composer († 1982)
• 1918 - Jerome Robbins, choreographer († 1998)
• 1919 - Art Blakey, jazz drummer († 1990)
• 1925 - Elmore Leonard, novelist
• 1928 - Marquis Alfonso de Portago, Grand Prix driver († 1957)
• 1932 - Dottie West, country music singer († 1991)
• 1939 - Maria Bueno, tennis star
• 1949 - Daryl Hall, musician
• 1956 - Nicanor Duarte Frutos, President of Paraguay
• 1961 - Steve Young, American football star
• 1965 - Moby, musician
• 1966 - Luke Perry, actor
• 1969 - Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands
• 1969 - Ty Murray, rodeo star
• 1982 - Jermaine V. Mitchell, Rap musician
• 1984 - Joshua Krimmel, Arcosanti landscaper
• 1985 - Michelle Trachtenberg, actress
• 1989 - Michelle Wie, golf prodigy

Deaths

• 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
• 1963 - Edith Piaf, French singer
• 1963 - Jean Cocteau, writer
• 1977 - MacKinlay Kantor, author
• 1985 - Orson Welles, American movie director
• 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

Referenced By