March 13 in History

Historical Events on March 13

1862 American Civil War: The U.S. federal government forbids all Union army officers from returning fugitive slaves, thus effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.

1865 American Civil War: The Confederate States of America agree to the use of African-American troops.

1900 Second Boer War: British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State.

1930 The news of the discovery of Pluto is telegraphed to the Harvard College Observatory.

1933 Great Depression: Banks in the U.S. begin to re-open after President Franklin D. Roosevelt mandates a "bank holiday".

1943 The Holocaust: German forces liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Kraków.

1957 Cuban student revolutionaries storm the presidential palace in Havana in a failed attempt on the life of President Fulgencio Batista.

1969 Apollo program: Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.

2013 Pope Francis is elected, in the papal conclave, as the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church.

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Famous Birthdays on March 13

1884 Hugh Walpole

1911 L. Ron Hubbard

1950 Charles Krauthammer

1972 Common (rapper)

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Famous Deaths on March 13

1881 Alexander II of Russia

1901 Benjamin Harrison

1906 Susan B. Anthony

2016 Hilary Putnam

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