13 November History


Month:                           Date:     

  • 1474    -    In the Swiss-Burgundian Wars, Swiss infantry shatters the army of Charles the Bold at Hericourt near Belfort, countering his march to Lorraine.
  • 1835    -    Texans officially proclaim independence from Mexico, and calls itself the Lone Star Republic, after its flag, until its admission to the Union in 1845.
  • 1851    -    The London-to-Paris telegraph begins operation.
  • 1860    -    South Carolina's legislature calls a special convention to discuss secession from the Union.
  • 1862    -    Lewis Carroll writes in his diary, "Began writing the fairy-tale of Alice–I hope to finish it by Christmas."
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  • 1878    -    New Mexico Governor Lew Wallace offers amnesty to many participants of the Lincoln County War, but not to gunfighter Billy the Kid.
  • 1897    -    The first metal dirigible is flown from Tempelhof Field in Berlin.
  • 1907    -    Paul Corno achieves the first helicopter flight.
  • 1914    -    The brassiere, invented by Caresse Crosby, is patented.
  • 1927    -    New York's Holland Tunnel officially opens for traffic.
  • 1940    -    U.S. Supreme Court rules in Hansberry v. Lee that African Americans cannot be barred from white neighborhoods.
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  • 1941    -    A German U-boat, the U-81 torpedoes Great Britain's premier aircraft carrier, the HMS Ark Royal. The ship sinks the next day.
  • 1942    -    Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower flies to Algeria to conclude an agreement with French Admiral Jean Darlan..
  • 1945    -    Charles de Gaulle is elected president of France.
  • 1952    -    Harvard's Paul Zoll becomes the first man to use electric shock to treat cardiac arrest.
  • 1956    -    The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously strikes down two Alabama laws requiring racial segregation on public buses.

  • 13 November Birthdays

  • 354    -    Saint Augustine, Christian theologian and philosopher.
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  • 1312    -    Edward III, King of England who won victories against such renowned foes as Baybars, Llewellyn and Wallace.
  • 1850    -    Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist and poet (Treasure Island, Kidnapped).
  • 1856    -    Louis Brandeis, the first Jew to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • 1909    -    Eugene Ionesco, Romanian-born dramatist (The Bald Soprano, Rhinoceros).