Sugar Loaf Hill. A casual glance at the name might take your mind to one of those special squares on a Candy-Land board. You know, those special cards you draw where you move forward or backward a bunch of spaces - the Molasses Swamp or the Dew-Drop Inn or whatever - that add a little excitement to the game. It sounds sweet and happy, like a vacation destination for Strawberry Shortcake or a place where My Little Pony can prance and play.
1783 Torry refugees arrive in Saint John, Nova Scotia (now New Brunswick) after Treaty of Paris ends Revolutionary War in patriot’s favor
1860 Republican Party nominates Abraham Lincoln as their candidate for the presidency at convention in Chicago, Illinois
1863 After successfully cutting off the city, Union forces lay siege to Vicksburg, Mississippi; last Confederate stronghold on the river
1896 Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that “equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races” is constitutional; overturned 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
1917 President Wilson asks for and Congress passes Selective Service Act granting him the power to draft soldiers
1974 Message to Prime Minister Ghandi ”Budda has smiled” announces that India has become the worlds sixth nuclear power
1980 Volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helen’s in Washington kills 57 and devastates hundreds of miles of wilderness
1989 Over one million pro-democracy protesters take to streets in Beijing, China; Government response increasingly harsh in coming weeks
1995 Unemployed plumber and Army veteran Shawn Nelson steals an M60 Patton tank from a National Guard armory and takes it on a 23-minute rampage on the streets of San Diego, California
2012 Facebook holds its initial public offering of stock on the NASDAQ
1792 New York Stock Exchange is founded when 24 brokers sign agreement under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street in New York
1827 At 18 years of age, future 17th President Andrew Johnson marries 16-year-old Eliza McCardle
1863 Union troops win Battle of Big Black River forcing Confederates into besieged Vicksburg, Mississippi
1943 Flight crew of the Memphis Belle becomes the first B-17 Flying Fortress crew to complete 25 missions over Europe
1954 Supreme Court rules in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public educational facilities is unconstitutional
1970 Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl begins sailing a papyrus boat across the Atlantic; proves ancient Africans could have made the trip
1974 500 LAPD officers lay siege to hideout of Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA); gun battle and fire leaves 6 terrorists dead; kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst is not found
1987 Iraqi Mirage F1 fighter launches 2 Exocet anti-ship missiles at frigate USS Stark killing 37 and wounding 21 during Iran-Iraq War
1996 President Clinton signs new “Megan’s Law” requiring states to notify communities when sex offenders move into their area
1777 Georgia Patriot and signer of the Declaration of Independence Button Gwinnett receives is wounded in a duel; dies 3 days later from infection
1849 Amidst massive cholera outbreak, New York City Board of Health establishes a hospital to deal with epidemic; more than 5000 will die
1863 Union victory at Battle of Champion Hill cuts off rebel city of Vicksburg, Mississippi; six-week siege to take the city begins
1868 Senate votes against impeachment and acquits President Andrew Johnson of “high crimes and misdemeanors”
1918 Sedition Act of 1918 is enacted; forbids “disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language” about the United States government, its flag, or its armed forces or that caused others to view the American government or its institutions with contempt; penalty is 5 to 20 years in prison
1920 Joan of Arc is canonized as a Catholic saint by Pope Benedict XV
1929 Dinner banquet is held to honor winners of the 1st Academy Awards; Wings is the 1st and only silent film to win an Oscar
1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising ends as Nazis blow up last remaining synagogue and begin mass deportation of remaining Jews to death camp
1948 Chaim Weizmann is elected the first President of Israel
1966 Cultural Revolution begins as Communist Party of China issues “May 16 Notice”; in it Mao Zedong justifies the coming bloodshed
1991 Queen Elizabeth II becomes 1st British monarch to ever address a joint session of the U.S. Congress
2005 National Assembly of Kuwait votes in favor of women’s suffrage subject to Islamic law
2011 NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavor is launched on its 25th and final mission
1607 100 colonists land on the James River in Virginia to found 1st permanent English colony in North America; Jamestown will be its name
1861 Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues proclamation declaring neutrality and recognizing rebellious states
1863 General Grant splits his army to win control of the Mississippi; half advance to take Jackson while the rest pin defenders in Vicksburg
1865 More than a month after surrender of the Confederacy, last skirmish of the civil war ends with rebel victory in Battle of Palmito Ranch in Texas
1940 In accepting position as Prime Minister, Winston Churchill declares Britain will “wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny”
1963 SCOTUS rules in Brady v. Maryland that the prosecution in a criminal trial must reveal exculpatory evidence; “Brady disclosure” is established
1971 11-year-old Steveland Hardaway Morris signs contract with Tamla Records; “Stevie Wonder” will become Motown Records defining artist
1981 Turkish assassin attempts to murder Pope John Paul II
1985 Police confront radical cult MOVE in Philadelphia dropping bomb on building roof to end siege; ensuing fire kills 11 and destroys a city block
2010 State of Hawaii enacts law permitting officials to ignore requests to view the birth certificate of President Barack Hussein Obama II
