August 16

is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 137 days remaining.

Events

1777 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Bennington - British forces are defeated by American troops.
1780 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Camden - The British defeat the Americans near Camden, South Carolina.
1812 - War of 1812: American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit without a fight to the British Army.
1819 - Eleven people die and 400 are injured by cavalry charges at the Peterloo Massacre at a public meeting at St. Peter's Field, Manchester, England.
1841 - U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.
1858 - U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new transatlantic telegraph cable cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. However, a weak signal will force a shutdown of the service in a few weeks.
1868 - Arica, Peru (now Chile) is devastated by a tsunami which followed a magnitude 8.5 earthquake in the Peru-Chile Trench off the coast. The earthquake and tsunami killed an estimated 25,000 people in Arica and perhaps 70,000 people in all.
1869 - Battle of Acosta Ñu, a massacre of a Paraguay batallion made up of children by the Brazilian Army during the War of the Triple Alliance
1896 - Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.
1913 - Tōhoku Imperial University (modern day Tōhoku University) admits its first female students.
1915 - World War I: Should victory be achieved over the Central Powers, the Triple Entente promises the Kingdom of Serbia: the Austro-Hungarian territories of Baranja, Srem, Slavonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina; and the eastern 2/3 of Dalmatia (from the river of Krka to the city of Bar).
1920 - Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit in the head by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees, and dies early the next day. To date, Chapman is the only player to die from injuries sustained in a Major League Baseball game.
1928 - Murderer Carl Panzram is arrested in Washington, DC after killing 20 people.
1930 - The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, is made by Ub Iwerks
1942 - World War II: - The two-person crew of the U.S. naval blimp L-8 disappear without a trace on a routine anti-submarine patrol over the Pacific Ocean. The blimp drifts without her crew and crashlands in Daly City, California.
1946 - The Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, is established, and Ichirō Ishikawa is appointed its representative.
1960 - Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
1960 - Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,330 m), setting three records that still stand today: high-altitude jump, free-fall, and fastest speed by a human without an aircraft.
1964 - Vietnam War: A coup d'état replaces Duong Van Minh with General Nguyen Khanh as President of South Vietnam. A new constitution is established with aid from the U.S. Embassy.
1966 - Vietnam War: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong. The committee intends to introduce legislation making these activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 people are arrested.
1969 - Police raid on Spahn Ranch, Charles Manson arrested.
1972 - The Royal Moroccan Air Force mistakenly fires upon, but fails to bring down, Hassan II of Morocco's plane while he is traveling back to Rabat.
1975 - Serial Killer Ted Bundy originally arrested for suspicion of burglary, only to later escape twice.
1984 - Carmaker John De Lorean is acquitted of all eight counts of possessing and distributing cocaine.
1987 - A McDonnell Douglas MD-82 carrying Northwest Airlines flight 255 crashes on takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport killing 155 people onboard, with the sole survivor four-year old Cecelia Cichan).
2003 - U.S. Representative from South Dakota Bill Janklow hits and kills a motorcyclist with his car at a rural intersection near Trent, South Dakota; he will eventually be convicted of manslaughter and will resign from Congress.
2005 - West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashes near Machiques, Venezuela, killing the 160 aboard.

Births

1355 - Philippa Plantagenet, Countess of Ulster
1378 - Hongxi Emperor of China (d. 1425)
1557 - Agostino Carracci, Italian artist (d. 1602)
1596 - Frederick V, Elector Palatine (d. 1632)
1645 - Jean de La Bruyère, French writer (d. 1696)
1650 - Vincenzo Coronelli, Italian cartographer and encylopedist (d. 1718)
1682 - Louis, Duke of Burgundy, heir to the throne of France (d. 1712)
1832 - Wilhelm Wundt, German psychologist (d. 1920)
1845 - Gabriel Lippmann, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1921)
1860 - Jules Laforgue, French poet (d. 1887)
1862 - Amos Alonzo Stagg, American coach (d. 1965)
1868 - Bernarr McFadden, American publisher (d. 1955)
1884 - Hugo Gernsback, Luxembourg-born editor and publisher (d. 1967)
1884 - Walther von Reichenau, German field marshal (d. 1942)
1888 - T. E. Lawrence, English writer and soldier (d. 1935)
1888 - Armand J. Piron, American musician (d. 1943)
1892 - Otto Messmer, American cartoonist (d. 1983)
1894 - George Meany, American labor union leader (d. 1980)
1895 - Albert Cohen, Swiss novelist (d. 1981)
1895 - Liane Haid, Austrian actress (d. 2000)
1902 - Georgette Heyer, English novelist (d. 1974)
1904 - Wendell Meredith Stanley, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
1911 - E. F. Schumacher, German economist and statistician (d. 1977)
1912 - Ted Drake English footballer (d. 1995)
1913 - Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1992)
1920 - Charles Bukowski, American poet (d. 1994)
1923 - Millôr Fernandes, Brazilian cartoonist and playwright
1924 - Fess Parker, American actor
1925 - Willie Jones, baseball player (d. 1983)
1928 - Ann Blyth, American actress
1929 - Helmut Rahn, German footballer (d. 2003)
1929 - Fritz Von Erich, Professional wrestler
1930 - Robert Culp, American actor
1930 - Frank Gifford, American football player and announcer
1931 - Eydie Gorme, American singer
1933 - Julie Newmar, American actress
1934 - Diana Wynne Jones, British author
1937 - David Anderson, Canadian politician
1939 - Trevor Mcdonald OBE, Television Newsreader
1940 - Bruce Beresford, Australian film director
1946 - Massoud Barzani, Iraqi Kurdish politician
1946 - Lesley Ann Warren, American actress
1950 - Hasely Crawford, Trinidad and Tobago athlete
1952 - Reginald VelJohnson, American actor
1953 - Kathie Lee Gifford, French-born singer and actress
1954 - James Cameron, Canadian film director
1958 - Angela Bassett, American actress
1958 - Madonna, American singer and actress
1960 - Timothy Hutton, American actor
1963 - Steve Carell, American actor and comedian
1964 - Jimmy Arias, American tennis player
1967 - Ulrika Jonsson, Swedish-born television personality
1968 - Mateja Svet, Slovenian alpine skier
1972 - Stan Lazaridis, Australian footballer
1973 - Damian Jackson, baseball player
1974 - Krisztina Egerszegi, Hungarian swimmer
1974 - Iván Hurtado, Ecuadorian footballer
1975 - Didier Agathe, French footballer
1975 - George Stults, American actress
1976 - Jonatan Johansson, Finnish footballer
1978 - Eddie Gill, American basketball player
1979 - Michael Stahlman, American rower and coach
1980 - Vanessa Carlton, American singer, songwriter, and pianist
1980 - Robert Hardy, English bassist (Franz Ferdinand)
1981 - Taylor Rain, American actress
1987 - Kyal Marsh, Australian actor

Deaths

1027 - Giorgi I, King of Georgia (b. 998)
1297 - John II of Trebizond (b. 1262)
1327 - Roch, French saint
1358 - Duke Albert II of Austria (b. 1298)
1419 - Wenceslaus, King of the Romans, King of Bohemia (b. 1361)
1443 - Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, Japanese shogun (b. 1434)
1445 - Margaret of Scotland (Dauphine of France), wife of Louis XI. (b. 1424.
1518 - Loyset Compère, French composer
1532 - John, Elector of Saxony (b. 1468)
1661 - Thomas Fuller, English churchman and historian (b. 1608)
1678 - Andrew Marvell, English poet (b. 1621)
1705 - Jakob Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician and scientist (b. 1654)
1733 - Matthew Tindal, English deist (b. 1657)
1791 - Charles-François de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec, French soldier and diplomat (b. 1719)
1876 - Ivan Bilibin, Russian illusitrator (d. 1942)
1886 - Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Indian guru (b. 1836)
1893 - Jean-Martin Charcot, French neurologist (b. 1825)
1899 - Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, German chemist (b. 1811)
1907 - James Hector, Scottish geologist (b. 1834)
1921 - King Peter I of Serbia (b. 1844)
1938 - Robert Johnson, American singer and guitarist (b. 1911)
1938 - Andrej Hlinka, Slovak politician and priest (b. 1864)
1948 - Babe Ruth, baseball player (b. 1895)
1949 - Margaret Mitchell, American novelist (b. 1900)
1956 - Bela Lugosi, Hungarian actor (b. 1882)
1957 - Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
1959 - Wanda Landowska, Polish harpsichordist (b. 1879)
1973 - Selman Waksman, Ukrainian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1888)
1975 - Vladimir Kuts, Ukrainian-born runner (b. 1927)
1977 - Elvis Presley, American singer and actor (b. 1935)
1979 - John Diefenbaker, thirteenth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1895)
1983 - Earl Averill, baseball player (b. 1902)
1989 - Amanda Blake, American actress (b. 1929)
1997 - Gerard McLarnon, Irish playwright and actor (b. 1915)
2002 - Abu Nidal, Palestinian political leader (b. 1937)
2002 - Jeff Corey, American actor (b. 1914)
2003 - Idi Amin, Ugandan dictator (b. 1928)
2004 - Ivan Hlinka, Czech hockey coach (b. 1950)
2004 - Robert Quiroga, American boxer (b. 1969)
2005 - Frère Roger of Taizé, Swiss monk and mystic (b. 1915)

Holidays and observances

RC saints: feast day of Saint Stephen I of Hungary; Saint Roch (helps against plague and skin diseases)
Eastern Orthodox: commemoration of the translation of the Acheiropoietos icon which means "Not made by hands", (also known as the Mandelion; now lost) from Edessa to Constantinople on 16 August 944
Palio dell'Assunta in Siena
USA: legal holiday in Vermont for the Battle of Bennington in 1777 (which actually took place in the state of New York)

External links

BBC: On This Day

August 15 - August 17 - July 16 - September 16 -- listing of all days

Gourt Home::Gourt :: August 16

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links