August 16

1691 | Yorktown, Virginia, was founded.

1777 | War of Independence: Americans defeat British forces at the Battle of Bennington, Vermont (also fought at Walloomsac, New York).

1780 | War of Independence: Battle of Camden, South Carolina.

1812 | War of 1812: Tecumseh and British forces capture Fort Detroit, Michigan.

1854 | Entrepreneur Duncan Phyfe died.

1858 | POTUS: Democrat President Buchanan received the first transatlantic telegram sent by Queen Victoria.

1861 | POTUS: Republican President Lincoln bars Union states from commercial trade with Confederate states.

1888 | Chemist and entrepreneur John Pemberton (investor of Coke) died.

1892 | Cartoonist Otto Messmer was born.

1894 | Indian Wars: Chiefs from the Sioux and Onondaga tribes met to urge their people to renounce Christianity and Western ways.

1896 | George Carmack, Keish, Skookum Jim, and Dawson Charlie discovered gold at Bonanza Creek in the Yukon, triggering the Klondike Gold Rush.

1904 | Biochemist Wendell Stanley was born.

1908 | Novelist William Maxwell was born.

1922 | Journalist Louis Lomax was born.

1925 | Actor Fess Parker was born.

1929 | Cleric and activist Wyatt Tee Walker was born.

1931 | Entrepreneur Forrest E. Mars Jr. was born.

1938 | Musician Robert Johnson died at 27 under mysterious circumstances in Greenwood, Mississippi.

1948 | Baseball Pro Babe Ruth died.

1949 | Author Margaret Mitchell died.

1952 | Painter Lydia Field Emmet died.

1953 | Media personality Kathie Lee Gifford was born.

1954 | The magazine “Sports Illustrated” was first published.

1957 | Actress Laura Innes was born in Pontiac, Michigan.

1958 | Entertainer Madonna was born in Bay City, Michigan.

1959 | Admiral William Halsey Jr. died.

1960 | Actor Timothy Hutton was born.

1962 | Actor Steve Carell was born.

1977 | Entertainer Elvis Presley died.

1987 | Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed in Detroit, Michigan.

1995 | Radio personality J. P. McCarthy died.

1998 | Author Dorothy West died.

2016 | Journalist John McLaughlin died.

2018 | Entertainer Aretha Franklin died.