Posted by
Defend America on Monday, October 12, 2009 10:07:18 PM
October 12,
1492
Columbus reaches the New World
After
sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, Italian explorer Christopher
Columbus sights a Bahamian island, believing he has reached East Asia.
His expedition went ashore the same day and claimed the land for
Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, who sponsored his attempt to find a
western ocean route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice
islands of Asia.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=VideoArticle&id=7048
October 12,
1870
Robert E. Lee dies
General
Robert Edward Lee, the commander of the Confederate Army of Northern
Virginia, dies peacefully at his home in Lexington, Virginia. He was 63
years old.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=2350
1892 - In celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Columbus landing
the original version of the Pledge of Allegiance was first recited in
public schools.
1950 - The Kefauver Crime Commission convened in New York to investigate interstate organized crime.
October 12,
2000
USS Cole attacked by terrorists
At
12:15 p.m. local time, a motorized rubber dinghy loaded with explosives
blows a 40-by-40-foot hole in the port side of the USS Cole, a
U.S. Navy destroyer that was refueling at Aden, Yemen. Seventeen
sailors were killed and 38 wounded in the attack, which was carried out
by two suicide terrorists alleged to be members of Saudi exile Osama
bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=5429