August 17

Events

• 1807 - The Clermont, Robert Fulton's first American steamboat, leaves New York City for Albany, New York on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
• 1862 - Indian Wars: Lakota (Sioux) uprising begins in Minnesota as desperate Lakota attack white settlements along the Minnesota River. They will be overwhelmed by the US military six weeks later.
• 1863 - American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter. Bombardment will not end until December 31, 1863.
• 1877 - Arizona blacksmith F.P. Cahill is fatally wounded by Billy the Kid. Cahill will die the next day, becoming the first person killed by the 'Kid.
• 1914 - World War I: The German army of General Hermann von Francois defeats the Russian force commanded by Pavel Rennenkampf at the Battle of Stalluponen.
• 1915 - Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1943 - World War II: The US 7th Army under General George S. Patton arrive in Messina followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
• 1945 - Indonesia proclaims itself independent from the Netherlands.
• 1960 - Gabon gains independence from France.
• 1962 - East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin.
• 1969 - Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 dollars).
• 1970 - Venera program: Venera 7 is launched. It will later becomes the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from another planet.
• 1978 - Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Preque Isle, Maine.
• 1979 - Two Soviet Aeroflot jetliners collide in mid-air over Ukraine killing 156
• 1988 - Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq and US Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
• 1998 - Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about his relationship.
• 1999 - A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes northwestern Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.
• 2002 - In Santa Rosa, California, the Charles M. Schulz Museum opens to the public.

Births

• 1601 - Pierre de Fermat, mathematician
• 1629 - John III of Poland (+ 1696)
• 1786 - Davy Crockett, frontiersman, soldier (+ 1836)
• 1882 - Samuel Goldwyn, Hollywood producer (+ 1974)
• 1887 - Marcus Garvey, American black leader (+ 1940)
• 1887 - Emperor Karl of Austria (+ 1922)
• 1893 - Mae West, actress, playwright (+ 1980)
• 1911 - Mikhail Botvinnik, world chess champion
• 1920 - Maureen O'Hara, actress
• 1929 - Jiang Zemin, President of the People's Republic of China
• 1929 - Francis Gary Powers, U-2 pilot (+ 1977)
• 1930 - Glenn Corbett, actor (+ 1933)
• 1932 - V. S. Naipaul, writer
• 1943 - Robert De Niro, actor
• 1958 - Belinda Carlisle, singer, guitarist
• 1959 - David Koresh, cult leader (+ 1993)
• 1960 - Sean Penn, actor, director
• 1964 - Colin James, blues musician
• 1969 - Donnie Wahlberg, actor, singer
• 1974 - Asad Makarevic, software engineer, chef, auto mechanic, epicurean
• 1977 - Thierry Henry, French football star

Deaths

• 1676 - Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen, novelist
• 1973 - Jean Barraqué, composer
• 1979 - Vivian Vance, actress
• 1983 - Ira Gershwin, lyricist
• 1987 - Rudolf Hess, former member of Adolf Hitler's inner circle
• 1988 - Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, president of Pakistan
• 1990 - Pearl Bailey, singer

Holidays and observances

• Rastafarianism - celebration of the birth of Marcus Garvey
• Roman Empire - Portunalia in honor of Portunes

August 16 - August 18 - July 17 - September 17 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By