Today in History

1178

About an hour after sunset the English monk, Gervase of Canterbury, reported that a group of five eyewitnesses watched as the upper horn of the bright, new crescent Moon "suddenly split in two. From the midpoint of this division a flaming torch sprang up, spewing out... fire, hot coals and sparks... The body of the moon, which was below writhed... throbbed like a wounded snake." In 1976, a geologist suggested that this was caused by an asteroid impact. However, such an impact would have ejected debris causing an astonishing meteor shower, which was never reported. Now the event is believed to perhaps be an exploding meteor that just happened to line up with their view of the Moon.

1781

The first Baptist church established in Kentucky was organized at Elizabethtown. (Kentucky was first visited by Baptist missionaries in 1772 when Squire Boone, brother of explorer Daniel Boone, began exploring the eastern Kentucky regions.)

1812

The United States declared war against Britain.

1815

Napoleon Bonaparte met his Waterloo as British and Prussian troops defeated the French in Belgium.

1873

Suffragist Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election. The fine was never paid.

1906

Birth of Gordon Lindsay, missions pioneer. In 1948 Lindsay and he wife Freda founded Christ for the Nations, an interdenominational foreign missions support agency.

1928

Aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. She completed a flight from Newfoundland to Wales in about 21 hours.

1940

With the World War II Battle of Britain looming, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill urged his countrymen to conduct themselves so that future generations would say, "this was their finest hour."

1948

Columbia Records unveiled its new long-playing, 33 1/2 rpm phonograph record.

1979

President Jimmy Carter and Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev signed the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty in Vienna.

1983

Astronaut Sally K. Ride became America's first woman in space as she and four colleagues blasted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger.

2006

Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was elected the first female presiding bishop for the Episcopal Church, the U.S. arm of the global Anglican Communion.