This Day In History

On November 5, 1911, Leonard Franklin Slye was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. The boy who learned to yodel from old recordings would grow up to become Roy Rogers, the “King of the Cowboys,” and one of Hollywood’s best-known singing stars.

On November 4, 1955, baseball legend Cy Young died in Newcomerstown, Ohio. He left behind records that still define a pitcher’s workload and a career that spanned baseball’s early major-league era.

On November 3, 1994, the USPS issued a souvenir sheet honoring the 100th anniversary of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing producing US postage stamps. A relatively small number of sheets were discovered with a rare double transfer.

James Knox Polk was born on a North Carolina farm on November 2, 1795. By 1849, he had led the country through war with Mexico and expanded its territory to the Pacific, but his presidency left a bitter question unresolved: whether slavery would spread into the new lands.

On October 30, 1629, the Carolina Province was named, and plans were made for early settlement. That settlement would be delayed for many years, but the name was retained.

On October 19, 1864, Confederate troops launched a surprise attack on Union camps at Cedar Creek, Virginia. The battle became the final major engagement of the Shenandoah Valley Campaign and the last major Confederate attempt to break Sheridan’s hold on the Valley.

Poet and reformer Julia Ward Howe died in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, on October 17, 1910. Best known for “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” she also spent decades organizing for women’s rights and peace.

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born on October 4, 1822, in Delaware, Ohio. He would become president after the nation’s most disputed election of the 19th century, then serve a single term shaped by Reconstruction’s end, civil-service reform, and difficult questions about money, immigration, and racial equality.

Baseball pitcher Walter “The Big Train” Johnson was born on November 6, 1887, in Humboldt, Kansas. Today, he is remembered not only as one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history but also as a model of sportsmanship and character—an enduring symbol of the game’s early golden age.    

American composer and conductor John Philip Sousa was born on November 6, 1854, in Washington, DC. As the composer of several notable marches, including the “Stars and Stripes Forever” and official Marines march, he’s been called “The March King.”

On November 6, 1869, Rutgers College and the College of New Jersey (later named Princeton) played the first game of intercollegiate football in America.

Basketball inventor James Naismith was born on November 6, 1861, in Almonte, Ontario, Canada. He developed the game in 1891 as a safe sport for children to play indoors.