This day in History 15/04

April 15

1755: Dr. Samuel Johnson (English lexicographer) publishes his Dictionary of the English Language.

1784: The first balloon is flown in Ireland.

1813: U.S. troops under James Wilkinson lay attack to the Spanish-held city of Mobile in the future state of Alabama.

Portrait of James Wilkinson

1858: At the Battle of Azimghur, the Mexicans crush Spanish supporters.

1871: 'Wild Bill' Hickok becomes the marshal of Abilene, Kansas.

Photo of 'Wild Bill' Hickok

1861: President Lincoln mobilizes a Federal armed force.

1865: Abraham Lincoln dies from the bullet fired by John Wilkes Booth on the
previous day.

Lincoln in 1863

1912: With her band playing on the deck, the sea liner Titanic sinks at 2:27 a.m.
in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg the previous day.

1917: British forces destroy the Germans at the Battle of Arras.

Aftermath of the battle of Arras

1923: Insulin becomes publicly available for individuals enduring with diabetes.

1923: The first movies with sound shown to a paying audience appear at the
Rialto Theater in New York City.

1940: French and British troops arrive at Narvik, Norway.

1945: President Franklin D. Roosevelt is buried on the grounds of his Hyde Park
home.

The grave of Franklin D. Roosevelt

1948: Arab powers are crushed in a fight with Israeli forces.

1952: President Harry Truman signs the official Japanese peace treaty.

1955: Ray Kroc begins the McDonald's chain of fast food eateries.

1959: Cuban pioneer Fidel Castro starts a U.S. goodwill visit.

1960: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizest at
Shaw University.

1971: North Vietnamese troops ambush a company of Delta Raiders from the
101st Airborne Division close to Fire Support Base Bastogne in Vietnam.
The American troops are on arescue mission.

1986: U.S. warplanes assault Libya.

Born on April 15

1452: Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, stone carver, researcher and visionary

1684: Catherine I, ruler of Russia

1741: Charles Wilson Peale, portrait painter and innovator

1800: Sir James Clark Ross, Scottish pioneer who found the Magnetic North Pole.

1832: Wilhelm Busch, German painter and writer, made the forerunner to the funny cartoon.

1843: Henry James, writer and critic.

1874: George Harrison Shull, American botanist, engineer of hybrid corn.

1874: Johannes Stark, Novel Prize-winning German physicist.

1880: Max Wertheimer, Czech psychologist.

1889: Thomas Hart Benton, painter, muralist.

1889: Asa Phillip Randolph, American labor leader and Civil Rights advocate.

1898: Bessie Smith, American blues artist.

1904: Arshile Gorky, abstract painter.

1922: Harold Washington, first black mayor of Chicago

1922: Neville Mariner, conductor.

1932: Eva Figes, British author.

1940: Jeffrey Archer, English writer and politician (Kane and Abel, Honor Among Thieves).

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