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August 17




August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the
Gregorian Calendar. There are 136 days remaining.

Events

   * 1807 - The Clermont, Robert Fulton's first American steamboat, leaves
     New York City for Albany, New York on the Hudson River, inaugurating
     the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
   * 1862 - Indian Wars: Lakota (Sioux) uprising begins in Minnesota as
     desperate Lakota attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.
     They will be overwhelmed by the US military six weeks later.
   * 1863 - American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union
     batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter. Bombardment
     will not end until December 31, 1863.
   * 1877 - Arizona blacksmith F.P. Cahill is fatally wounded by Billy the
     Kid. Cahill will die the next day, becoming the first person killed by
     the 'Kid.
   * 1914 - World War I: The German army of General Hermann von Francois
     defeats the Russian force commanded by Pavel Rennenkampf at the Battle
     of Stalluponen.
   * 1915 - Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched for the alleged murder of a
     13-year-old girl in Atlanta, Georgia.
   * 1943 - World War II: The US 7th Army under General George S. Patton
     arrive in Messina followed several hours later by the British 8th Army
     under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, thus completing the Allied
     conquest of Sicily.
   * 1945 - Indonesia proclaims itself independent from the Netherlands.
   * 1960 - Gabon gains independence from France.
   * 1962 - East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he
     attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin.
   * 1969 - Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast killing
     248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 dollars).
   * 1970 - Venera program: Venera 7 is launched. It will later becomes the
     first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from another planet.
   * 1978 - Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic
     Ocean when it lands in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours after leaving
     Preque Isle, Maine.
   * 1988 - Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq and US Ambassador Arnold
     Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
   * 1998 - Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in
     taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with
     White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before
     the nation that he "misled people" about his relationship.
   * 1999 - A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes northwestern Turkey, killing
     more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.
   * 2002 - In Santa Rosa, California, the Charles M. Schulz Museum opens to
     the public.

Births

   * 1601 - Pierre de Fermat, mathematician
   * 1629 - John III of Poland (+ 1696)
   * 1786 - Davy Crockett, frontiersman, soldier (+ 1836)
   * 1882 - Samuel Goldwyn, Hollywood producer (+ 1974)
   * 1887 - Marcus Garvey, American black leader (+ 1940)
   * 1887 - Emperor Karl of Austria (+ 1922)
   * 1893 - Mae West, actress, playwright (+ 1980)
   * 1911 - Mikhail Botvinnik, world chess champion
   * 1920 - Maureen O'Hara, actress
   * 1929 - Jiang Zemin, President of China
   * 1929 - Francis Gary Powers, U-2 pilot (+ 1977)
   * 1930 - Glenn Corbett, actor (+ [1933]])
   * 1932 - V. S. Naipaul, writer
   * 1943 - Robert De Niro, actor
   * 1958 - Belinda Carlisle, singer, guitarist
   * 1959 - David Koresh, cult leader (+ 1993)
   * 1960 - Sean Penn, actor, director
   * 1969 - Donnie Wahlberg, actor, singer
   * 1974 - Asad Makarevic, software engineer, chef, auto mechanic,
     epicurean

Deaths

   * 1676 - Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen, novelist
   * 1973 - Jean BarraquŽ, composer
   * 1979 - Vivian Vance, actress
   * 1983 - Ira Gershwin, lyricist
   * 1987 - Rudolf Hess, former member of Adolf Hitler's inner circle
   * 1988 - Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, president of Pakistan
   * 1990 - Pearl Bailey, singer

Holidays and observances

   * Rastafarianism - celebration of the birth of Marcus Garvey
   * Roman Empire - Portunalia in honor of Portunes

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