16 August History
- 1513 - Henry VIII of England and Emperor Maximilian defeat the French at Guinegatte, France, in the Battle of the Spurs.
- 1777 - France declares a state of bankruptcy.
- 1780 - American troops are badly defeated by the British at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina.
- 1812 - American General William Hull surrenders Detroit without resistance to a smaller British force under General Issac Brock.
- 1858 - U.S. President James Buchanan and Britain's Queen Victoria exchange messages inaugurating the first transatlantic telegraph line.
- 1861 - Union and Confederate forces clash near Fredericktown and Kirkville, Missouri.
- 1863 - Union General William S. Rosecrans moves his army south from Tullahoma, Tennessee to attack Confederate forces in Chattanooga.
- 1896 - Gold is discovered in the Klondike of Canada's Yukon Territory, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.
- 1914 - Liege, Belgium, falls to the German army.
- 1945 - Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright, who was taken prisoner by the Japanese on Corregidor on May 6, 1942, is released from a POW camp in Manchuria by U.S. troops.
- 1965 - The Watts riots end in south-central Los Angeles after six days.
- 1977 - Elvis Presley dies of a heart attack in the upstairs bedroom suite area of his Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.
16 August Birthdays
- 1645 - Jean de la Bruyere, French writer and moralist famous for his work Characters of Theophratus.
- 1868 - Bernard McFadden, publisher responsible for the magazine True Story.
- 1913 - Menachem Begin, Israeli statesman and Nobel Peace Prize recipient.
- 1920 - Charles Bukowski, poet and novelist.
- 1929 - Bill Evans, jazz pianist.
- 1930 - Ted Hughes, English poet.
- 1940 - Bruce Beresford, Australian film director whose films include Breaker Morant and Driving Miss Daisy.
- 1945 - Suzanne Farrel, ballerina.
- 1958 - Madonna [Louise Veronica Ciccone], entertainer and singer.