On this day, July 4...
--1804, Author Nathaniel Hawthorne, born;
---1826, in one of history's notable coincidences, former U.S. Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died, 50 years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was adopted;
---1863, Union troops defeated Confederate forces in a battle at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Independence Day was not celebrated in that city for many, many years after;
--1872, - Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States, born;
---1895, the poem America the Beautiful, by Wellesley College Professor Katherine Lee Bates, was published. The poem with music by Samuel A. Ward was published as a song in 1910;
---1939, Lou Gehrig gave his "...luckiest man on the face of the Earth..." speech in announcing his retirement from the New York Yankees;
---1986, more than 250 sailing ships and the United States' biggest fireworks display honored the Statue of Liberty in its 100th birthday year;
---1997, NASA's Pathfinder reached Mars to become the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the planet in more than two decades;
--1998, Malia Obama, daughter of former President Barack Obama, born.
Happy Fourth, everyone! Stay safe! Enjoy!
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