This Day In History

On July 7, 1942, the United States issued its first stamp with foreign characters as part of the design. The stamp honored China’s fight against Japan and used a small design detail to show a larger wartime friendship.

On July 6, 1777, British forces re-took Fort Ticonderoga, two years after Americans had captured it in a surprise attack. The victory seemed important at first, but it soon became one step in a campaign that ended in disaster for Britain at Saratoga.

David Glasgow Farragut was born in Campbell’s Station (now Farragut), Tennessee, on July 5, 1801. A Civil War naval commander, the rank of admiral was created specifically for him.

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence. One of America’s founding documents, it explained why the 13 colonies were at war with Great Britain and that they declared themselves to be independent sovereign states no longer under British rule.

On June 4, 1940, over 338,000 Allied troops were evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk after being cut off and surrounded there for weeks.

On June 3, 1942, Japanese forces kicked of the 14-month Aleutian Islands Campaign. The campaign’s two Japanese invasions were the only ones on US soil during the war.

On June 1, 1792, Kentucky became America’s 15th state and the first state west of the Appalachian Mountains. Its admission marked a new stage in the nation’s growth, as settlers pushed through mountain passes into a region long valued for its rivers, forests, wildlife, and rich farmland.

On May 4, 1942, the World War II Battle of the Coral Sea began. It became the first naval battle fought mainly by aircraft carriers, with opposing fleets striking each other by air while their ships never came into direct sight.

Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin was born on July 8, 1838, in Konstanz, Grand Duchy of Baden (now part of Germany). He developed the airships that bear his name and would later travel the world.

On July 8, 1993, the first Summer World University Games to be hosted in the US opened in Buffalo, NY.  The World University Games is the largest multi-sport event in the world after the Olympics. 

On July 8, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson created Sieur de Monts National Monument, which later became Acadia National Park.  The park is located on Maine’s Mount Desert Island, Isle Au Haut, on the Schoodic Peninsula.

On July 8, 1776, the Liberty Bell was rung to announce the reading of the Declaration of Independence.