225 years ago, July 1778 was a busy month in the American Revolution. On July 3, British forces massacred 360 men, women and children in Wyoming, Pa. On the same day, the French writer who partially contributed to the revolutionary idea (particularly, the "social contract"), Jean-Jacques Rousseau, died at age 66. The next day, on the young nation’s second birthday, George Rogers Clark and 200 Americans captured the British outpost at Kaskaskia, on the Mississippi River. On July 8, General Washington set up HQ at West Point and later (July 30) at White Plains. And the French fleet under Comte d’Estaing anchored off New York, before moving up to Newport, R.I.
175 years ago, on July 4, 1828, construction began on the B&O (Baltimore & Ohio), the first U.S. passenger railroad. Charles Carroll, the only surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, attended the groundbreaking ceremony on the nation’s 52nd birthday. Five days later, on July 9, the painter of the patriots, Gilbert Stuart, died at 73. Out west, famed mountain man Jedediah Smith and 15 other men were killed and scalped along the Sacramento River in California.
150 years ago, on July 8, 1853, U.S. Commodore Matthew Galbraith Perry, representing the U.S., sailed into Tokyo Bay, Japan, with a squadron of four vessels. For a time, Japanese officials refused to speak with Perry, but on July 14, they accepted letters from U.S. President Millard Fillmore, making the United States the first Western nation to establish relations with Japan since 1683???.
Also on July 14, the first U.S. World’s Fair opened, an exposition in Crystal Palace, N.Y.
125 years ago, on July 3, 1878, John Wise of Lancaster, Pa., piloted the first flight of a dirigible in America???. On July 12, 1878, a fever epidemic hit New Orleans. It would kill 4,500 that summer. These semi-regular tropical epidemics gave birth to a phrase common to that city, Laissez les bon temps rouller ("let the good times roll"), for tomorrow, they thought, we could all catch the fever.
100 years ago, July 4, 1903, the first Pacific communications cable was opened, stretching from San Francisco to the Philippines. President Theodore Roosevelt sent a message to himself, around the world. It took 12 minutes. Going in the other direction, two men drove a Winton automobile from San Francisco across the U.S, arriving in New York City on July 26-after 64 days on the road.
On July 23, the Ford Motor Company sold its first automobile, a two-cylinder "Model A" delivered to its owner, Dr. Ernst Pfenning of Chicago, for $850. The Model A came from a partnership between Henry Ford and a Detroit coal merchant named Alexander Malcomson. While working at Edison Illuminating Company, Malcomson sold coal to Ford. Malcomson put up the money to make the car.
???and on July 1, the world’s premier cycling event, the Tour de France, was held for the first time.
75 years ago, on July 6, 1928, the largest hailstones in U.S. history fell in Nebraska, measuring 17 inches in circumference, 5-1/2 inches in diameter, and weighing 1-1/2 pounds.
The next day, July 7, the Chrysler Corporation introduced the Plymouth. Over 30,000 people came to the Chicago Coliseum for a look at the new car. The famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart sat behind the wheel. At an affordable $670, Chrysler sold over 80,000 Plymouths in its first year.
On July 20, Louis Armstrong recorded his most dazzling jazz solo yet, on "West End Blues."
The last three days of July 1928 belonged to the movie industry. On July 29, Walt Disney’s first feature, Steamboat Willie, was released???.On July 30, George Eastman demonstrated the first color movie, in Rochester, N.Y., showing pictures of colorful peacocks, flowers, birds and fish???. And on July 31, MGM’s Leo the Lion roared for the first time, in White Shadows on the South Seas.
50 years ago, on July 27, 1953, the Korean War armistice was signed at Panmunjom. Total U.S. casualties exceeded 165,000, with 54,246 killed, 103,284 wounded, 8,177 missing and 3,394 prisoners of war who were never repatriated. The cost of the war to the U.S. was $54 billion.
On the same day, across the International Dateline in the Western hemisphere (July 26), Fidel Castro led an attack on the Moncada barracks in Cuba in an attempt to overthrow the Batista regime. Castro was jailed, saying, "History will absolve me!" History is still waiting for his exit, stage left.
And on July 31, 1953, the Department of Health, Education & Welfare (HEW) was created.
