March 13 in History

Historical Events on March 13

1697 Nojpetén, capital of the last independent Maya kingdom, fell to Spanish conquistadors, the final step in the Spanish conquest of Guatemala.

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.

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

1954 First Indochina War: Viet Minh forces under Võ Nguyên Giáp unleashed a massive artillery barrage on the French to begin the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, the climactic battle in the First Indochina War.

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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