Person report

★21 Jun 1854
Crimean War: During the first Battle of Bomarsund, Irish sailor Charles Davis Lucas threw an artillery shell off his ship before it exploded, earning him the first Victoria Cross.

★24 Aug 1857
The New York City branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Co. collapsed following widespread embezzlement, leading to a severe recession that caused about 5,000 businesses to fail.

★30 Jun 1860
Seven months after the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, several prominent British scientists and philosophers participated in an evolution debate at the Oxford University Museum.

★22 Jul 1864
American Civil War: Confederate forces unsuccessfully attacked Union troops at the Battle of Atlanta.

★25 Oct 1864
American Civil War: During Price's Missouri Expedition, Union troops defeated Sterling Price's Confederate army in three successive battles: Marais des Cygnes, Mine Creek, and Marmiton River.

★20 Feb 1872
New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, today the largest art museum in the United States with a collection of over two million works of art, opened.

★08 Jan 1889
Statistician Herman Hollerith received a patent for his electric tabulating machine, the precursor to modern computers.

★11 May 1889
An attack upon a U.S. Army paymaster and escort resulted in the theft of over $28,000 and the award of two Medals of Honor.

★04 Mar 1890
The Forth Bridge, a railway bridge connecting Edinburgh to Fife over the Firth of Forth, opened, becoming an internationally recognised Scottish landmark.

★28 Feb 1897
Ranavalona III, the last sovereign ruler of the Kingdom of Madagascar, was deposed by a French military force.

Historical data by Wikipedia Contributors CC BY-SA 3.0.