19 October 1781
On this date in 19 October 1781…
British General Cornwallis formally surrendered at Yorktown with 8,000 men, effectively ending the American War for Independence.
Other Years:
1765 – The Stamp Act Congress met and drew up a declaration of rights and liberties.
1814 – The first documented performance of “The Defence of Fort McHenry” with music took place at the Holliday Street Theatrein Baltimore, Maryland. The song was later published as “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
1818 - Chickasaw tribe signed a treaty with the US Government
1864 – The cruiser C.S.S. Shenandoah was officially received into Confederate Navy.
1864 – Lieutenant Bennett Henderson Young led a force of twenty escaped Confederate prisoners on a cavalry raid at St. Albans, Vermont twelve miles from the U.S.-Canadian border. The force sacked the town’s three banks of $208,000 before escaping into Canada where they were arrested and later released by Canadian authorities.
1917 – Love Field in Dallas, Texas opened as an Army Air Corp training center’
1960 - Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested at an Atlanta “sit-in”
1983 - US Senate established Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday, observed on the third Monday in January
1989 – The U.S. Senate rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that barred the desecration of the American flag.
2005 - Hurricane Wilma became the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb
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