NewsInHistory Blog

In 1890 two neighboring Rocky Mountain states, Idaho and Wyoming, were eager to gain statehood and join the Union. They both had been official U.S. territories for quite some time (Idaho Territory was established in 1863, Wyoming Territory in 1868), but sparse population had slowed their qualification for statehood. The population threshold was 60,000 residents—but by 1880 Idaho only had around 32,000 residents, and Wyoming barely 20,000. read more...

Following the Civil War, even with the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawing slavery in December of 1865, most emancipated slaves—“freedmen”—in the former Confederacy were denied civil and political rights and kept in virtual slavery. To combat this, Congress on June 13, 1866, proposed a “Reconstruction” amendment to the Constitution that, two years later, became law with ratification of the 14th Amendment on July 9, 1868. read more...

On July 8, 1947, the world was startled by a press release from 1st Lt. Walter Haut, a U.S. Army public relations officer, stating that a “flying disc” had been recovered near Roswell, New Mexico. Later that day the Army dismissed the claim, saying that the recovered debris was actually from a crashed high-altitude weather balloon. The story lay dormant for 31 years, until in 1978 an Army officer involved in the Roswell case, Jesse Marcel, claimed in an interview that the recovered material was extra-terrestrial: not made by humans. read more...

On July 6, 1919, a huge British dirigible, the R-34, touched down at Roosevelt Field on Long Island after spending the past 4½ days making history: completing the first successful crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by a lighter-than-air aircraft. In fact, it was only the second time any aircraft had crossed the Atlantic; just two weeks before, British pilots Alcock and Brown had made the first nonstop transatlantic flight, flying a WWI bomber from Newfoundland, Canada, to Ireland. read more...

It was supposed to be a one-time extravaganza, a showcase of baseball’s biggest stars staged as part of the festivities for the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago. On July 6, 1933, Major League Baseball’s first All-Star Game was played at Comiskey Park, home of the Chicago White Sox, with a glittering array of the game’s best players. Of all the gathered superstars, none was bigger than the Yankees’ Babe Ruth. read more...

The 37-month Korean War (1950-1953) took a heavy toll on American troops: more than 36,500 died and over 92,000 were wounded. The very first American combat casualty was 19-year-old Private Kenneth Shadrick, a member of a bazooka team killed by enemy machinegun fire. Shadrick died during the Battle of Osan on July 5, 1950, the first major clash of the war between U.S. and North Korean troops. That opening battle resulted in a North Korean victory, as the American troops were routed and the United States was jolted into realizing the magnitude of the war effort that lay ahead. read more...

In the summer of 1863 the fortified town of Vicksburg, Mississippi, was one of two remaining Confederate strongholds (along with Port Hudson, Louisiana) preventing Union forces from controlling the Mississippi River and splitting the Confederacy in two. After two large-scale attacks on May 19 and 22 were repulsed, General Ulysses S. Grant and an army eventually totaling 77,000 men began a 47-day siege of Vicksburg and its defenders—a  Confederate army of 33,000 men led by General John C. Pemberton. read more...

The three-day Battle of Gettysburg caused an estimated 50,000 casualties, with the killing and maiming especially acute on the third day during Pickett’s Charge. Total Gettysburg casualties included thousands of men who had been horribly wounded, almost 8,000 corpses that needed to be buried and over 3,000 dead horses, all rotting in the hot July sun. What a scene of devastation, and such a horrible stench! read more...