In 1882, the most famous elephant in history, Jumbo, arrived in America from the London Zoo. P.T. Barnum purchased the seven-ton animal for $10,000. His name entered the English language to describe anything oversized.
Happy Birthday! Hugh Hefner, Tom Lehrer, Dennis Quaid
1682 - Robert La Salle claimed the lower Mississippi River and all lands that touch it for France.
1770 - Captain James Cook discovered Botany Bay on the Australian continent.
1865 - At Appomattox Court House, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate Army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant in the parlor of Wilmer McClean's home. Grant allowed Rebel officers to keep their sidearms and permitted soldiers to keep their horses and mules. Though there were still Confederate armies in the field, the war was officially over. The four years of fighting had killed 360,000 Union troops and 260,000 Confederate troops.
1867 - The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty with Russia that purchased the territory of Alaska by one vote.
1869 - The Hudson Bay Company ceded its territory to Canada.
1913 - The Brooklyn Dodgers' Ebbets Field opened.
1940 - Germany invaded Norway and Denmark.
1945 - National Football League officials decreed that it was mandatory for football players to wear socks in all league games.
1959 - NASA announced the selection of America's first seven astronauts.
1967 - The first Boeing 737 was rolled out for use.
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