2006—Speaking to amputee vets of his Iraq War, George W.[MD] Bush says “I have an injury myself [from] combat with a cedar. I eventually won.”
1994—NAFTA screws unions, farmers, and the environment, but the Zapatistas stand up to fight back.
1975—Nixon cronies H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and John Mitchell are convicted of felonies.
1959—Castro’s commies take Cuba.
1880—Elmer J. McCurdy, a miner, soldier, and bank and train robber, is born in Washington, Maine. Shot dead in 1911, he then begins a longer career as a sideshow attraction and movie extra. He’s buried in 1977.
1877—Three Medal of Honor recipients, Claron Windus, Adam Paine, and Isaac Payne, attend a party in Brackettville, Texas. Deputy Sheriff Windus was supposed to arrest Paine for murder, but killed him instead with a shotgun blast to the belly—or back. Payne splits on a stolen horse.
1863—President Lincoln proclaims emancipation, but only in states which had seceeded.
1804—Haiti proclaims independence as the world’s first Black republic, the result of a successful revolution.
1781—Troops at Morristown, N.J. seize artillery and march to confront Congress, seeking back pay.
1636—Fishermen on Richmond Island, Maine, including the editor’s 10x great-grandpa William Freethy, stage the second strike in North America.