I have been guilty of – and apologize for – compiling too many events in the Daily History lessons, perhaps because of my intense – some may say excessive – interest in all things historical.
Beginning today, there will be a new approach, one in which I focus only on events that were of a truly significant nature.
In short, this should make reading these articles feel more like browsing through a Reader’s Digest instead of tackling War and Peace.


1776 – Attempting to reach New York City after completing his spying mission for Gen. George Washington, Nathan Hale was stopped by a company of Queen’s Rangers.
Intelligence information was found on Hale and since this was not in code or invisible ink, he was irrevocably compromised and immediately brought for questioning before the British commander, General William Howe.
Although Howe was moved by Hale’s demeanor and patriotism, it could not be denied that he was out of uniform behind enemy lines. The customs of war were clear and Hale was sentenced to hang the next day.
The story continues tomorrow.


1780 – American General Benedict Arnold met with British Major John Andre to discuss handing over West Point to the British, in return for the promise of a large sum of money and a high position in the British army.
In 1777, five men of lesser rank had been promoted over him and his growing resentment – even after being given command of West Point – led to his turncoat decision.
However, the conspiracy was uncovered and Andre was captured and executed. Arnold, the former American patriot, fled to the enemy side and went on to lead British troops in Virginia and Connecticut.
He later moved to England, though he never received all of what he’d been promised by the British.


1897 – The “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” editorial was published in the New York Sun.
Responding to a letter from eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon about the existence of Santa Claus, editor Francis Church took the opportunity to rise above the simple question and addressed the philosophical issues behind it.
123 years later, it is the most reprinted editorial in any newspaper in the English language.

chief-joseph
1904 – Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph died on the Colville reservation in northern Washington at the age of 64.
He led his band of warriors during the most tumultuous period in their history when they were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands in Oregon to a reservation in Idaho Territory.
Chief Joseph was the only major leader to survive that period and it fell to him to surrender the surviving Nez Perce forces to Colonel Nelson A. Miles at the Bear Paw battlefield in northern Montana in October 1877.
“From where the sun now stands,” he promised, “I will fight no more forever.”


1938 – Without warning, a powerful Category 3 hurricane roared up the North Atlantic coast before slamming into Long Island and southern New England, causing 600 deaths and devastating coastal cities and towns.
Also called the Long Island Express, the Great New England Hurricane of 1938 was the most destructive storm to strike the region in the 20th century.


1981 – Sandra Day O’Connor was unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate as the first female Supreme Court justice.
She served until 2006 when she retired to spend more time with her husband, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for nearly twenty years until his death in 2009.


1998 – President Bill Clinton’s videotaped grand jury testimony in the Monica Lewinsky scandal was publicly broadcast.
He was forced to defend previous statements about his affair with Lewinsky by quibbling over the precise definition of his words.
“It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is. If ‘is’ means ‘is and never has been’ that’s one thing. If it means ‘there is none’, that was a completely true statement.”

Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2005-2020 RayLemire.com / Streamingoldies.com. All Rights Reserved.