October 22
1707. A fleet of 21 ships under the direct command of Admiral of the Fleet (the highest ranking officer in the British Navy) Sir Cloudesley Shovell is returning to England, and heads into the Channel, or so it thinks. Relentless bad weather had put the ships badly off course, and left the navigators in error as to their position. They are in fact heading for the Isles of Scilly, upon the shoals of which four ships will sink, and Shovell and thousands of sailors will meet their demise.
1746. The College of New Jersey (not yet Princeton University) receives its charter.
1836. Sam Houston, formerly governor of Tennessee, is inaugurated as first President of the Republic of Texas. He will later go on to win election as Governor of Texas, as a Unionist, becoming the first and only man in US history to serve as governor of two different states. (how's that for a great trivia question?) Upon Texas's secession from the Union, however, he will be cast out of office, and break from his state in spectacular fashion writing, after refusing to swear an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy, as follows:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Sam Houston
Fellow-Citizens, in the name of your rights and liberties, which I believe have been trampled upon, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of the nationality of Texas, which has been betrayed by the Convention, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of the Constitution of Texas, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of my own conscience and manhood, which this Convention would degrade by dragging me before it, to pander to the malice of my enemies, I refuse to take this oath. I deny the power of this Convention to speak for Texas....I protest....against all the acts and doings of this convention and I declare them null and void.
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To avoid additional bloodshed in his state, however, he declined Lincoln's offer of 50,000 troops to help Texas stay in the Union. His failure to swear the oath, however, was not popular, and as he traveled back to his home, he was repeatedly harried by those demanding an explanation. Upon one occassion, from a hotel window, he told the crowd assembled below:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Sam Houston
Let me tell you what is coming. After the sacrifice of countless millions of treasure and hundreds of thousands of lives, you may win Southern independence if God be not against you, but I doubt it. I tell you that, while I believe with you in the doctrine of states rights, the North is determined to preserve this Union. They are not a fiery, impulsive people as you are, for they live in colder climates. But when they begin to move in a given direction, they move with the steady momentum and perseverance of a mighty avalanche; and what I fear is, they will overwhelm the South |
He died of pneumonia in 1863 and is buried in Huntsville, Texas where there is now a 67 foot tall statue of the man that helped lead Texas into the Union, and didn't want to see it leave.
1907. The Panic of 1907 begins, the last major panic/depression prior to the advent of the Federal Reserve system, and a major impetus for the creation of that system. The panic and depression were very severe, but would have been far worse had J.P. Morgan not stepped in to try to calm the markets, and convincing other bankers to do the same.
1944. After three weeks of heavy fighting, the city of Aachen falls to the Allies, the first German city to be lost by the Nazis.
1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis ramps up. After internal consultations, including with former president Dwight Eisenhower, President Kennedy announces that the United States has observed Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba, and that a naval quarantine on Cuba is in effect.