Today in History – October 13th
- 54, Roman Emperor Claudius is poisoned to death under mysterious circumstances.
- 409, Vandals and Alans cross the Pyrenees and appear in Hispania.
- 1582, due to implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
- 1644, A SwedishaE”Dutch fleet defeats the Danes and captures about 1,000 prisoners.
- 1710, Port Royal, the capital of French Acadia, falls in a siege by British forces.
- 1773, The Whirlpool Galaxy is discovered by Charles Messier.
- 1775, The US Continental Congress orders the establishment of the Continental Navy (later renamed the US Navy).
- 1792, In Washington, D.C., the cornerstone of the US Executive Mansion (known as the White House since 1818) is laid.
- 1812, Sir Isaac Brock, British general (b. 1769) died.
- 1843, In New York City, Henry Jones and 11 others found B’nai B’rith (the oldest Jewish service organization in the world).
- 1845, majority of voters in Republic of Texas approve proposed constitution, when accepted by US Congress, made Texas a US state.
- 1881, Revival of the Hebrew language as Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and friends agree to use Hebrew exclusively in their conversations.
- 1884, Greenwich, in London, England, is established as Universal Time meridian of longitude.
- 1885, The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is founded in Atlanta, US.
- 1892, Edward Emerson Barnard discovers D/1892 T1, 1st comet discovered by photographic means, on the night of October 13aE”14.
- 1909, Herbert “Herblock” Block, American cartoonist (d. 2001) was born.
- 1911, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, becomes the only Governor-General of Canada of royal descent.
- 1915, The Battle for the Hohenzollern Redoubt marks the end of the Battle of Loos in northern France, WWI.
- 1917, Burr Tillstrom, American puppeteer (d. 1985) was born.
- 1917, The “Miracle of the Sun” is witnessed by an estimated 70,000 people in the Cova da Iria in F







