Today's Highlight in History: On August 30th, 1862, Union forces were defeated by the Confederates at the Second Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Virginia. On this date: In 30 B.C. (on August 30th, by some estimates), the seventh and most famous queen of ancient Egypt known as Cleopatra committed suicide. In 1861, Union General John C. Fremont instituted martial law in Missouri and declared slaves there to be free. (However, Fremont's order was countermanded a few days later by President Lincoln). In 1905, Ty Cobb made his major league batting debut, playing for the Detroit Tigers. In 1941, the World War Two siege of Leningrad began as Nazi forces took Mga. In 1945, General Douglas MacArthur arrived in Japan, and set up Allied occupation headquarters. In 1963, the Hot Line communications link between Washington and Moscow went into operation. In 1967, the Senate confirmed the appointment of Thurgood Marshall as the first black justice on the Supreme Court. In 1983, Guion S. Bluford Junior became the first black American astronaut to travel in space, blasting off aboard the Challenger. In 1986, Soviet authorities arrested Nicholas Daniloff, the Moscow correspondent for US News and World Report. (He was later released.) In 1997 came word of the car crash in Paris that claimed the lives of Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed and their driver, Henri Paul. (Because of the time difference, it was August 31st where the crash occurred.) |