16 November History
- 1798 - British seamen board the U.S. frigate Baltimore and impress a number of crewmen as alleged deserters, a practice that contributed to the War of 1812.
- 1813 - The British announce a blockade of Long Island Sound, leaving only the New England coast open to shipping.
- 1821 - Trader William Becknell reaches Santa Fe, N.M., on the route that will become known as the Santa Fe Trail.
- 1846 - General Zachary Taylor takes Saltillo, Mexico.
- 1864 - Union General William T. Sherman departs Atlanta and begins his "March to the Sea."
- 1892 - King Behanzin of Dahomey (now Benin), leads soldiers against the French.
- 1902 - A cartoon appears in the Washington Star, prompting the Teddy Bear Craze, after President Teddy Roosevelt refused to kill a captive bear tied up for him to shoot during a hunting trip to Mississippi.
- 1907 - The Indian and Oklahoma territories are unified to make Oklahoma, which becomes the 46th state.
- 1913 - Swann's Way, the first volume of Marcel Proust's 7-part novel Remembrance of Things Past, is published.
- 1920 - Metered mail is born in Stamford, Connecticut with the first Pitney Bowes postage meter.
- 1945 - Eighty-eight German scientists, holding Nazi secrets, arrive in the United States.
- 1948 - President Harry S Truman rejects four-power talks on Berlin until the blockade is removed.
- 1953 - The United States joins in the condemnation of Israel for its raid on Jordan.
- 1955 - The Big Four talks, taking place in Geneva on German reunification, end in failure.
- 1960 - After the integration of two all-white schools, 2,000 whites riot in the streets of New Orleans.
- 1965 - In the last day of the fighting at Landing Zone X-Ray, regiments of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division repulse NVA forces in the Ia Drang Valley.
- 1967 - U.S. planes hit Haiphong shipyard in North Vietnam for the first time.
- 1979 - American Airlines is fined $500,000 for improper DC-10 maintenance.
- 1982 - The space shuttle Columbia completes its first operational flight.
16 November Birthdays
- 42 BC - Tiberius Claudius Nero, Roman Emperor.
- 1811 - John Bright, British Victorian radical who founded the Anti-Corn Law League.
- 1839 - Louis-Honore Frechette, Canadian poet.
- 1873 - W.C. Handy, father of the blues, famous for "St. Louis Blues."
- 1889 - George S. Kaufman, American playwright and collaborator with Moss Hart (You Can't Take it With You , The Man Who Came to Dinner).
- 1930 - Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist.