ON THIS DAY ~ APR 6

     1862  Battle of Shiloh Begins

The Civil War explodes in the west as the armies of Union General Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston collide at Shiloh, near Pittsburgh Landing in Tennessee. The Battle of Shiloh became one of the bloodiest engagements of the war, and the level of violence shocked North and South alike.

 

1895  Oscar Wilde Arrested

Writer Oscar Wilde is arrested after losing a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry.

Wilde had been engaged in an affair with the marquess's son since 1891, but when the outraged marquess denounced him as a homosexual, Wilde sued the man for libel. However, he lost his case when evidence strongly supported the marquess's observations. Homosexuality was classified as a crime in England at the time, and Wilde was arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to two years of hard labor

 

1896  First Modern Olympic Games

On April 6, 1896, the Olympic Games, a long-lost tradition of ancient Greece, are reborn in Athens 1,500 years after being banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I. At the opening of the Athens Games, King Georgios I of Greece and a crowd of 60,000 spectators welcomed athletes from 13 nations to the international competition.

James B. Connolly of Boston, MA won the first event by capturing the hop, skip and jump contest.

 

The first recorded Olympic Games were held at Olympia in the Greek city-state of Elis in 776 B.C., but it is generally accepted that the Olympics were at least 500 years old at that time. The ancient Olympics, held every four years, occurred during a religious festival honoring the Greek god Zeus.

 

1909  Peary's expedition Reaches North Pole?

On April 6, 1909, American explorer Robert Peary accomplishes a long elusive dream, when he, assistant Matthew Henson, and four Eskimos reach what they determine to be the North Pole. Decades after Peary's death, however, navigational errors in his travel log surfaced, placing the expedition in all probability a few miles short of its goal.

 

1917  America Enters World War I

Two days after the U.S. Senate voted 82 to 6 to declare war against Germany, the U.S. House of Representatives endorses the declaration by a vote of 373 to 50, and America formally enters World War I.

When World War I erupted in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson pledged neutrality for the United States, a position that the vast majority of Americans favored. Britain, however, was one of America's closest trading partners, and tension soon arose between the United States and Germany over the latter's attempted quarantine of the British Isles. Several U.S. ships traveling to Britain were damaged or sunk by German mines, and in February 1915 Germany announced unrestricted warfare against all ships, neutral or otherwise, that entered the war zone around Britain.

 

1971  Rolling Stones Records Formed to Promote the Hits of The Rolling Stones

The famous Stones trademark, the lips logo, became widely used. Brown Sugar was the first hit by the Rolling Stones on the new label, followed by Wild Horses, Tumbling Dice and Bill Gates’ favorite song, Start Me Up.

BIRTHDAYS

1944  Michelle Phillips (Holly Michelle Gilliam)
singer: group: The Mamas and the Papas: California Dreamin’, Monday, Monday, I Saw Her Again, Words of Love, Dedicated to the One I Love, Creeque Alley; actress: The Last Movie, Dillinger, Knot’s Landing

1947  John Ratzenberger
actor: Cheers; The Empire Strikes Back, Timestalkers, Camp Cucamonga: How I Spent My Summer Vacation, John Ratzenberger’s Made in America

1952  Marilu Henner (Mary Lucy Denise Pudlowski)
actress: Taxi, Evening Shade, Cannonball Run 2

 

 

~A JLand Birthday~

Today is Lisa's Birthday

 Please stop by Life on Bison Farm to wish her Happy Birthday.

 See the amazing photos she took with her birthday present from Hubby

 

 

Bring your smile and the sun'll be here