Person report

★30 Apr 1789
George Washington took the oath of office as the first President of the United States at Federal Hall in New York City.

★26 Nov 1805
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, the longest aqueduct in Great Britain and the highest canal aqueduct in the world, opened.

★01 Jan 1808
As a result of the lobbying efforts by the abolitionist movement, the importation of slaves into the United States was officially banned, although slavery itself was not yet abolished.

★10 Apr 1826
Greek War of Independence: Inhabitants of the Greek town of Missolonghi attempted to escape a year-long siege, but were caught and killed by Ottoman forces.

★20 Apr 1828
French explorer René Caillié became the first non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu who later returned alive, for which he later received a 10,000-franc prize from the Société de géographie.

★27 Dec 1831
Charles Darwin left Plymouth, England, aboard HMS Beagle on the expedition to South America that would make his name as a naturalist.

★09 Mar 1842
Francisco Lopez woke from a nap under a tree at Rancho San Francisco and made the first documented discovery of gold in California.

★10 Aug 1844
From measurements of its motion, German astronomer Friedrich Bessel deduced that Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, had an unseen companion.

★03 May 1855
American adventurer William Walker and a group of mercenaries sailed from San Francisco to conquer Nicaragua.

★07 Apr 1862
American Civil War: Union forces defeated Confederates at the Battle of Shiloh, the bloodiest battle in U.S. history at the time, in Hardin County, Tennessee.

Historical data by Wikipedia Contributors CC BY-SA 3.0.