Today In History: March 15
44 BC β Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March.
221 β Liu Bei, a Chinese warlord and member of the Han royal house, declares himself emperor of Shu-Han and claims his legitimate succession to the Han Dynasty.
1493 β Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first trip to the Americas.
1776 β South Carolina becomes the first American colony to declare its independence from Great Britain and set up its own government.
1781 β American Revolutionary War: Battle of Guilford Courthouse β Near present-day Greensboro, North Carolina, 1,900 British troops under General Charles Cornwallis defeat an American force numbering 4,400.
1783 β In an emotional speech in Newburgh, New York, George Washington asks his officers not to support the Newburgh Conspiracy. The plea is successful and the threatened coup d’Γ©tat never takes place.
1820 β Maine becomes the 23rd U.S. state.
1916 β President Woodrow Wilson sends 12,000 United States troops over the U.S.-Mexico border to pursue Pancho Villa.
1965 β President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to the Selma crisis, tells U.S. Congress “We shall overcome” while advocating the Voting Rights Act.
1985 β The first Internet domain name is registered (symbolics.com).
1989 β The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is established.
1990 β Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first executive president of the Soviet Union.
Born on March 15:
1713 β Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, French astronomer (d. 1762)
1767 β Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States (d. 1845)
1933 β Ruth Bader Ginsburg, American jurist
1935 β Jimmy Swaggart, American televangelist
1939 β Ted Kaufman, American politician, junior senator of Delaware
1941 β Mike Love, American musician (The Beach Boys)
1944 β Sly Stone, American musician
1955 β Dee Snider, American singer (Twisted Sister)
1963 β Bret Michaels, American musician (Poison)
1968 β Mark McGrath, American musician (Sugar Ray)
1975 β Eva Longoria, American actress
1975 β Will.i.am, American musician
Today in Alaskan history:
1916 The Bering River and Matanuska Valley Coal Reserves were proclaimed by President Woodrow Wilson.
1969 Plans to begin construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline were given the green light from the U.S. Senate’s Interior Committee.
But most importantly, today is my daughter’s birthday! Happy Birthday!
And my daughter, Moira.