Tidbits
April 18,
1906 – The Great San Francisco Earthquake
At 5:13 a.m., a massive earthquake recorded at 7.9 on the Richter scale strike San Francisco. The earthquake killed 3,000 people and toppled or destroyed nearly 30,000 buildings. The mayor asked for help from the United States Army who moved into fight fires and house the homeless caused by the earthquake. The Army set up 20 refugee camps housing over 20,000
people. The earthquake and the damage caused put a strain on the insurance industry, but San Francisco was rebuilt.
April 18, 1942 – Doolittle Leads Tokyo Air Raid
Lieutenant Colonel James H. Dolittle led 16 American B-25 bombers in an attack on Tokyo. The raid did little physical damage, but it did
damage the reputation of the Japanese government among their people. They had led their people to believe that they were safe from attack. The Japanese people knew that was not true after the raid.
Many of the Tokyo Raiders were forced to crash-land short of their landing sites in China, or ditch into the sea. The reason for this is because they had to take off early from the USS
Hornet. The carrier encountered two Japanese vessels, so the planes were launched early to not put the aircraft carrier at any further risk. The book “30 seconds over Tokyo” describes the story through the eyes of one of the pilots, Ted Lawon. The book was later made into a movie and is certainly worth watching.
April 19, 1775 – The Shot Heard Round the World
The famous shot took place at 5 a.m. British forces were marching to Lexington to seize the Patriot arsenal. The 700 British troops were faced by 77 Minute Men under Captain John Parker. The first shot was fired by an unknown person, and after the smoke cleared several Patriots were dead and wounded, but only one British trooper was killed. Nevertheless, the American Revolution had begun.
April 19, 1775 – Patriots Day
The battle of Lexington and Concord, as well as the aftermath of the "shot heard 'round the world” is commemorated as the start of the American Revolution. It is with those brave souls, that the Revolutionary War began leading to the birth of the United States.
April 21, 1836 – Texas Militia Overcomes Mexican Army
The Texas militia under the command of Sam Houston, takes hundreds of Mexican forces along the San Jacinto River, capturing Mexican General Santa Anna. In exchange for his freedom, Santa Anna granted independence to Texas. Despite the defeat of Mexican forces,
tensions along the Texas Mexican border continued to build up.
Texas eventually became part of the United States on December 29, 1845. It entered the Union as a slave state and increased tensions in the United States over the institution of slavery. It would be 20 years, before the slavery question would be settled at the end of the United States Civil War.
April 22, 1876 – The First Official National League Baseball Game
The Boston Red Caps defeated the Philadelphia Athletics, 6 to 5 before a crowd of 3000 fans, on the loser’s home ground in Philadelphia.
April 23, 1778 – John Paul Jones Burns British Towns
Along with 30 volunteers from his ship, the USS Ranger, Jones attacks two harbor forts in White Haven, England. The first boat led by John Paul Jones attacked the southern fort. The second boat assigned to attack the northern fort turned back. Jones decided to burn the southern fort that he had taken. The fire eventually burned the
entire town down. Military significance of the attack raised the spirits of American Patriots and delivered a message to the British, that we weren’t going away.
April 24, 1800 – The Library of Congress Established
The first order of books from London arrived in 1801. The library’s catalog listed
964 books and nine maps. When the British invaded the United States during the War of 1812. The Library of Congress was burned, including the then 3,000-volume collection.
Thomas Jefferson was a great promoter of the Library of Congress. The U.S. Congress eventually purchased Thomas Jefferson’s personal library, the largest and finest in the country, 6,487 volumes, and hired a
professional librarian. In 1851, another fire destroyed the Library of Congress and about 2/3 of its 55,000 volumes, including Thomas Jefferson’s collection. Responding quickly, Congress replaced as many books as it could, and the Library of Congress continued to grow. Today it contains more than 17 million books, as well as millions of maps, manuscripts, photographs, films, audio and video recordings, prints, drawings, and all kinds of digital material. It is the largest library in the
world.
