13 October History


Month:                           Date:     

  • 54    -    Nero succeeds his great uncle Claudius, who was murdered by his wife, as the new emperor of Rome.
  • 1307    -    Members of the Knights of Templar are arrested throughout France, imprisoned and tortured by the order of King Philip the Fair of France.
  • 1399    -    Henry IV of England is crowned.
  • 1670    -    Virginia passes a law that blacks arriving in the colonies as Christians cannot be used as slaves.
  • 1775    -    The Continental Congress authorizes construction of two warships, thus instituting an American naval force.
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  • 1776    -    Benedict Arnold is defeated at Lake Champlain.
  • 1792    -    President George Washington lays the cornerstone for the White House.
  • 1812    -    At the Battle of Queenston Heights, a Canadian and British army defeats the American who have tried to invade Canada.
  • 1849    -    The California state constitution, which prohibits slavery, is signed in Monterey.
  • 1903    -    Boston defeats Pittsburgh in baseball's first World Series.
  • 1904    -    Sigmund Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams is published.
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  • 1942    -    In the first of four attacks, two Japanese battleships sail down the slot and shell Henderson field on Guadalcanal, in an unsuccessful effort to destroy the American Cactus Air Force.
  • 1943    -    Italy declares war on Germany. Allied Agony Anzio.
  • 1983    -    The Space Shuttle Challenger, carrying seven, the largest crew to date, lands safely at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

  • 13 October Birthdays

  • 1784    -    Ferdinand VII, king of Spain.
  • 1817    -    William Kirby, Canadian writer.
  • 1853    -    Lillie Langtry, British actress.
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  • 1890    -    Conrad Richter, novelist and short story writer.
  • 1907    -    Yves Allégret, French film director (Dédée d'Anvers, Une si jolie petite plage).
  • 1909    -    Herblock (Herbert Lawrence Block), multiple Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist.
  • 1910    -    Ernest Kellogg Gann, pilot and adventure novelist (Island in the Sky, The High and Mighty).
  • 1910    -    Art Tatum, American jazz pianist.
  • 1925    -    Margaret Thatcher, the first female UK prime minister (1979-1990).
  • 1926    -    Ray Brown, jazz bass player.