On this day in 1767, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon complete their 4-year long task of surveying the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland. The survey ended the decades-long dispute between the Penn and Calvert families over an official boundary between their respective colonies. Over time, the Mason-Dixon Line will also come to be known as the unofficial border between North and South. October 18 is a big date for US territorial expansion. The nation takes official possession of Alaska in 1867 and Puerto Rico in 1898. On this day in 1977, Reggie Jackson becomes Mr. October, hitting 3 home runs in Game 6 of the World Series between the Yankees and the Dodgers. Jackson's bombs came on 3 consecutive pitches off 3 different pitchers. The only player to previously hit 3 home runs in a WS game was Babe Ruth. Told this after the game, the usually cocky Jackson went uncharacteristically modest: "Ruth was great; I was just lucky."
One I missed yesterday.....On October 17, 1981, Eric Martin ran a kickoff back for a TD in LSU's 24-10 win over Kentucky in Tiger Stadium. No Tiger has taken a KOR the distance at home since.
I have a hard time considering anything in Maryland to be the south but when I was there I did see a few trucks with rebel flags on them.
On this day in 1781, General Lord Cornwallis surrenders to American forces under George Washington at Yorktown. Cornwallis' command includes 7,000 infantrymen, 144 artillery pieces, 15 warships and about 30 cargo ships, along with their crews. Although fighting continues in other areas and on the high seas, the surrender at Yorktown effectively ends the American Revolutionary War. On this day in 1812, a starving French army under Napoleon retreats from Moscow, barely a month after occupying the Russian capital. Over the next six weeks, hampered by an early Russian winter, their lack of supplies and constant harassment from Russian troops, the French Grande Armee will lose 400,000 men. This day in 1987 is Black Monday for world economic markets. Plagued by faulty computer-assisted trading, fluctuating oil prices, Iranian missile attacks on 2 oil tankers, and a freak storm that paralyzes the United Kingdom, the Dow Jones falls 22 percent. It would be roughly 2 years before market analysts would confidently consider the market recovered.
On this day in 1803, the US Senate approves a treaty with France that includes the Louisiana Purchase, instantly doubling the land area of the United States. On this day in 1944, hours after US troops wade ashore of the Phillipine island of Leyte, General Douglas McArthur comes ashore himself. The chief military advisor to the then-US territory of the Phillipines before WWII, McArthur had been forced to evacuate when the Japanese assaulted the islands in March, 1942. Speaking to the Filipino people through the press upon landing in Australia, McArthur said,"I shall return." Today, he made good his promise. On this day in 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee launches its investigation into Communist influence in the US movie industry. A number of notable Hollywood elites, including actor/director Orson Welles and playright Arthur Miller, resisted and were found in contempt of Congress. Fearing reprisals, major Hollywood studios blacklisted more than 300 actors, directors and writers who were "not cleared" by the committee. Some found work under assumed names. The "Red Scare" in Hollywood lasted until the early 1960's. On this day in 1977, a plane chartered by the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in northern Mississippi. Six people, including band singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines, are killed, along with the both pilots. The National Transportation Safety Board would find the flight crew at fault; the plane ran out of fuel on a flight from South Carolina to Baton Rouge. Ironically, the band Aerosmith had looked at the plane for their fall tour earlier in the year, and rejected it over concern about the flight crew.
There's an old pilot's adage.....as long as you can get the thing in the air, there's no such thing as too much fuel.
On this day in 1805, the Battle of Trafalgar is fought. Off the coast of Spain, a fleet of 27 British warship under the command of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, encounters a fleet of 33 combined French and Spanish vessels. After 5 hours, the British have the victory without the loss of a single ship, but Nelson is shot and killed by a sniper. On this day in 1959, the Guggenheim Museum opens in NYC. Designed and constructed by Frank Lloyd Wright to house the art collection of mining tycoon Solomon Guggenheim, the museum attracts about 900,000 visitors a year, to see the impressive collection as well as Wright's brilliant - or loony, depending on point of view - design. On this day in 1967, an estimated 100,000 people gather in Washington to protest American involvement in the Vietnam War. About half of those gathered would march to the Pentagon to demonstrate there. Polls taken around the same time indicate that public support for the war is declining.
