On This Day in History: A particularly blood-stained date

Pulitzer-winning shot by Charles Porter

1775 – The first engagements of the American Revolution begin at the Battles of Lexington and Concord throughout Middlesex County, Massachusetts.  Colonialists earned victory on this day, but the War itself would not be decided for another eight years.

1861 – One week after the Battle of Fort Sumter, a group of secessionists and Southern sympathizers in Baltimore, Maryland attack the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment as they traveled en route to Washington, DC.  The ensuing riot resulted in 16 deaths, including 12 civilians.

1951 – Eight days after being relieved of command by President Truman, General Douglas MacArthur addressed a joint session of Congress with his famous Old Soldiers Never Die speech.

1961 – In an attempt to overthrow the regime implemented by Fidel Castro, the Bay of Pigs invasion of southern Cuba is quelled in three days.  Fifty years later, Cuba is all but in ruins.

1971 – Charles Manson was sentenced to death for his role in the Tate-LaBianca murders.  The ruling was commuted to life imprisonment a year later when the Supreme Court of California temporarily eliminated the state's death penalty.  Manson is currently incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison in central California.

1987 – The Simpsons premiered as a short cartoon on The Tracy Ullman Show.  I remember like it was yesterday.

1993 – Ending a siege that lasted for over seven weeks, the Mount Carmel Center – home of the Branch Davidian sect near Waco, Texas – burns to the ground, killing all 80 people inside.  Four ATF agents were also killed throughout the incident.

1995 – Said to be seeking vengeance against the federal government for its handling of the siege in Waco, among other raids, Timothy McVeigh carried out the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring 450.  At the time it was the deadliest act of terrorism ever committed on American soil.

Eventually convicted of 11 federal offenses, McVeigh was executed on June 11, 2001 – exactly three months prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.