This Day In History

On August 16, 1858, the first message was sent via the transatlantic cable. The message read, “Europe and America are united by telegraphy. Glory to God in the highest; on earth, peace and good will towards men.”

On August 15, 1824, Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, returned to the United States for the first time in nearly forty years. Now sixty-seven years old, Lafayette was the last surviving major general of the Revolutionary War.

After nearly six years of a world at war, the Japanese surrendered on August 14, 1945, effectively ending World War II.

On August 13, 1918, Opha May Johnson became the first woman to enlist in the US Marine Corps Reserve. By war’s end, a total of 305 women had enrolled and served in the Marines.

On June 8, 1959, the US Post Office Department launched its experimental missile mail in an attempt to find a faster method of mail delivery.

On May 26, 1928, the US issued its first-ever Airmail booklet – US #C10a.

On May 15, 1918, America’s airmail service began when two Curtiss Jennys departed New York and Washington, DC. In the months that followed, pioneering aviators expanded airmail service over the treacherous Allegheny Mountains to Chicago and eventually the west coast.

On May 14, 1935, US and Cuban pilots flew the first international airmail sky train. Inspired by locomotives hauling wagons, this air train consisted of a motored airplane pulling two gliders.

On August 17, 1859, the first airmail in the United States was carried by balloon in Indiana, from Lafayette to Crawfordsville. Of the 123 letters sent by balloon mail, only about 23 are known to still exist.

On August 17, 1861, the first of several Civil War-era stamps was used for the first time. New stamps were prepared to prevent the South from profiting off the sale of US stamps.

At the behest of his critics, Robert Fulton launched his steamboat from New York harbor on August 17, 1807.  While many had their doubts, Fulton proved the commercial viability of steamboats, which would rule American waterways for the next half-century.

David “Davy” Crockett was born on August 17, 1786 in Greene County, North Carolina (though it is now part of Tennessee).  Dubbed the King of the Wild Frontier, Crockett was a folk hero, politician, frontiersman and soldier.