On August 16th...

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1777 Patriots defeated the British in the Battle of Bennington.

1780 The British defeated the Americans in the Battle of Camden.

1812 British forces under the command of Major General Sir Isaac Brock captured Fort Detroit.

1819 A demonstration in Manchester, England, calling for reform of the British Parliament turned deadly (the Peterloo Massacre).

1825 Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, U.S. Secretary of State and Secretary of War, died.

1845 Nobel Prize-winning physicist Gabriel Lippmann was born.

1850 King Louis Philippe of France died in exile.

1862 Football player Amos Alonzo Stagg was born.

1868 Physical fitness "guru" Bernarr Macfadden was born.

1888 Author T.E. Lawrence was born.

1894 Labor leader George Meany was born.

1896 Gold was discovered at Bonanza Creek, Alaska Territory.

1898 Edwin Prescott patented the roller coaster.

1899 Chemist Robert Wilhelm Bunsen died.

1900 U.S. Senator John James Ingalls died.

1913 Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin was born.

1920 Astronomer Norman Lockyer died.

1923 Shimon Peres, President of Israel, was born.

1925 Actor Fess Parker was born.

1930 The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, was made by Ub Iwerks.
1930 Actor Robert Culp was born.
1930 Sportscaster Frank Gifford was born.

1931 Singer Eydie Gorme was born.

1947 Carol Moseley Braun, the first black female U.S. Senator, was born.

1948 Baseball player Babe Ruth died.

1949 Novelist Margaret Mitchell died.

1953 Talk show host Kathie Lee Gifford was born.

1954 The first issue of Sports Illustrated was published.
1954 Film director James Cameron was born.

1956 Actor Bela Lugosi died.

1958 Singer Madonna was born.

1959 U.S. Navy Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. died.

1960 Cyprus gained its independence from Great Britain.
1960 Actor Timothy Hutton was born.

1962 Ringo Starr replaced Pete Best as the drummer for the Beatles.

1973 Selman Waksman, the discoverer of streptomycin, died.

1977 Singer Elvis Presley died.

1979 John George Diefenbaker, former Prime Minister of Canada, died.

1989 Actress Amanda Blake died.

2003 Idi Amin, former President of Uganda, died.

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This page was last updated on August 16, 2018.