| 1755 |
|
English lexicographer Dr. Samuel Johnson publishes his Dictionary of the English Language. |
| 1784 |
|
The first balloon is flown in Ireland. |
| 1813 |
|
U.S. troops under James Wilkinson siege the Spanish-held city of Mobile in future state of Alabama. |
| 1858 |
|
At the Battle of Azimghur, the Mexicans defeat Spanish loyalists. |
| 1871 |
|
‘Wild Bill’ Hickok becomes the marshal of Abilene, Kansas. |
| 1861 |
|
President Lincoln mobilizes Federal army. |
| 1865 |
|
Abraham Lincoln dies from John Wilkes Booth’s assassination bullet. |
| 1912 |
|
With her band playing on the deck, the ocean liner Titanic sinks at 2:27 a.m. in the North Atlantic. |
| 1917 |
|
British forces defeat the Germans at the battle of Arras. |
| 1919 |
|
British troops kill 400 Indians at Amritsar, India. |
| 1923 |
|
Insulin becomes generally available for people suffering with diabetics. |
| 1923 |
|
The first sound films shown to a paying audience are exhibited at the Rialto Theater in New York City. |
| 1940 |
|
French and British troops land at Narvik, Norway. |
| 1945 |
|
President Franklin D. Roosevelt is buried on the grounds of his Hyde Park home. |
| 1948 |
|
Arab forces are defeated in battle with Israeli forces. |
| 1952 |
|
President Harry Truman signs the official Japanese peace treaty. |
| 1955 |
|
Ray Kroc starts the McDonald’s chain of fast food restaurants. |
| 1959 |
|
Cuban leader Fidel Castro begins a U.S. goodwill tour. |
| 1960 |
|
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizes at Shaw University. |
| 1971 |
|
North Vietnamese troops ambush a company of Delta Raiders from the 101st Airborne Division near Fire Support Base Bastogne in Vietnam. The American troops were on a rescue mission. |
| 1986 |
|
U.S. warplanes attack Libya. |
|
Born on April 15 |
| 1452 |
|
Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, scientist and visionary |
| 1684 |
|
Catherine I, empress of Russia |
| 1741 |
|
Charles Wilson Peale, portrait painter and inventor |
| 1800 |
|
Sir James Clark Ross, Scottish explorer who located the Magnetic North Pole. |
| 1832 |
|
Wilhelm Busch, German painter and poet, created the precursor to the comic strip. |
| 1843 |
|
Henry James, writer and critic. |
| 1874 |
|
George Harrison Shull, American botanist, developer of hybrid corn. |
| 1874 |
|
Johannes Stark, Novel Prize-winning German physicist. |
| 1880 |
|
Max Wertheimer, Czech-born psychologist. |
| 1889 |
|
Thomas Hart Benton, painter, muralist. |
| 1889 |
|
Asa Phillip Randolph, American labor leader and Civil Rights advocate. |
| 1898 |
|
Bessie Smith, American blues singer. |
| 1904 |
|
Arshile Gorky, abstract painter. |
| 1922 |
|
Harold Washington, first black mayor of Chicago |
| 1922 |
|
Neville Mariner, conductor. |
| 1932 |
|
Eva Figes, British novelist. |
| 1940 |
|
Jeffrey Archer, English novelist and politician (Kane and Abel, Honor Among Thieves). |
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