December 13: What Happened on This Day in History (High_school Level)?

(Page last edited 10/12/2017)

1. 1577 - Sir Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.
2. 1636 - The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. This organization is recognized today as the founding of the National Guard of the United States.
3. 1769 - Dartmouth College is founded by Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, with aroyal charter from King George III, on land donated by Royal governor John Wentworth.
4. 1809 - Dr. Ephraim McDowell performed the first ovariotomy, removing a 22 pound tumor
5. 1862 - American Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate GeneralRobert E. Lee defeats the Union Major General Ambrose Burnside.
6. 1938 - The Holocaust: The Neuengamme concentration camp opens in theBergedorf district of Hamburg, Germany.
7. 1962 - NASA launches Relay 1, the first active repeater communicationssatellite in orbit.
8. 1972 - Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or "Moonwalk" of Apollo 17. To date they are the last humans to set foot on the Moon.
9. 2002 - Enlargement of the European Union: The European Union announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members from May 1, 2004.
10. 2003 - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit (see Operation Red Dawn).
11. Famous Birthdays: Robert Plot (English chemist), Mary Todd Lincoln (American wife of Abraham Lincoln, 17th First Lady of the United States), Alvin York (American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient), Philip Warren Anderson (American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate), Dick Van Dyke (American actor, singer, and producer)

For famous birthdays and other daily events in history, visit our Daily Dose Activities.

Click Here for Yesterday in History: December 12

Click Here for Tomorrow in History: December 14

For more history resources on Internet 4 Classrooms, visit our Social Studies and History index. For Pre K-8th Grade Level History and Social Studies Resources, visit our Grade Level Index.