k here for a spectacular view of the California Poppy State Reserve]
1896 The first modern Olympic games open in Athens, Greece.

1895 Oscar Wilde arrested ^top^
      Writer Oscar Wilde is arrested after losing a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry. Wilde had been engaged in an affair with the marquess's son since 1891, but when the outraged marquess denounced him as a homosexual, Wilde sued the man for libel. However, he lost his case when evidence strongly supported the marquess's observations. Homosexuality was classified as a crime in England at the time, and Wilde was arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to two years of hard labor.
     Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Oscar Wilde was born on 16 October 1854 and grew up in Ireland. He went to England to attend Oxford, where he graduated with honors in 1878. A popular society figure known for his wit and flamboyant style, he published his own book of poems in 1881. He spent a year lecturing on poetry in the United States, where his dapper wardrobe and excessive devotion to art drew ridicule from some quarters.
      After returning to Britain, Wilde married and had two children, for whom he wrote delightful fairy tales, which were published in 1888. Meanwhile, he wrote reviews and edited Women's World. In 1890, his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was published serially, appearing in book form the following year. He wrote his first play, The Duchess of Padua, in 1891 and wrote five more in the next four years. His plays, including The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), were successful and made him a popular and well-known writer.
      Wilde was released from prison in 1897 and fled to Paris, where his many loyal friends visited him. He started writing again, producing The Ballad of Reading Gaol, based on his experiences in prison. He died of on 30 November 1900 from an ear infection that had spread to his brain turning into acute meningitis, in a Paris hotel room after saying of the room's wallpaper: "One of us had to go."
     Oscar Wilde won the Newdigate Prize in 1878 with a long poem, Ravenna. In 1881 he published Poems. In 1888 he published The Happy Prince and Other Tales, a romantic allegory in the form of a fairy tale. His only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray was published in 1890. In Intentions (1891), he grouped previously published essays. In 1891 also, he published two volumes of stories and fairy tales: Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, and Other Stories and A House of Pomegranates. Wilde is best known as the writer of the plays Lady Windermere's Fan, Salomé (in French), A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband and, above all, The Importance of Being Earnest.
Other sites for WILDE ONLINE: Collected Works — Lady Windermere's Fan

1886 Declaration of Berlin neutralizes Tonga
1883 Start of Sherlock Holmes Adventure of the Speckled Band
1868 Mormon church leader Brigham Young, 67, married his 27th and last wife. (In all, Brigham Young's wives bore him 47 children.)
1865 Battle of Sayler's Creek (Sailor's Creek), Virginia, 1/3rd of Lee's army cut off.
1865 Siege of Spanish Fort, Alabama, continues
1862 Battle of Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing), Tennessee begins (Union will defeat Confederacy in SW Tennessee).
1862 Siege of Yorktown, Virginia continues.
1859 US recognizes Liberal government in Mexico's War of the Reform.
1848 Jews of Prussia granted equality.

1846 Dred Scott claims freedom. ^top^
     Slave Scott files a declaration according to which, two days earlier, his owner had "beat, bruised, and ill-treated him" and imprisoned him for twelve hours. Scott adds that he claims to be a free man by virtue of his past residence in free territories.
     Scott's beginnings were quite humble. Born somewhere in Virginia around 1800, he was taken by his owner, Peter Blow, to Alabama and then, in 1830, to St. Louis, Missouri. Two years later Peter Blow died; Scott was subsequently bought by army surgeon Dr. John Emerson, who later took Scott to Fort Armstrong in the free state of Illinois. In the spring of 1836, after a stay of two and a half years, Emerson moved to Fort Snelling in the Wisconsin Territory (closed to slavery by the Missouri Compromise of 1820), taking Scott along. While there, Scott met and married Harriet Robinson, a slave owned by a local justice of the peace. Ownership of Harriet was transferred to Emerson.
      Scott's extended stay in Illinois, a free state, gave him the legal standing to make a claim for freedom, as did his extended stay in Wisconsin, where slavery was also prohibited. But Scott never made the claim while living in the free lands -- perhaps because he was unaware of his rights at the time, or perhaps because he was content with his master.
      After two years, the army transferred Emerson to the south: first to St Louis, then to Fort Jessup in Louisiana. A little over a year later, a recently-married Emerson summoned his slave couple. Instead of staying in the free territory of Wisconsin, or going to the free state of Illinois, the two travelled over 1600 km, apparently unaccompanied, down the Mississippi River to meet their master.
      Only after Emerson's death in 1843, after Emerson's widow hired Scott out to an army captain, did Scott seek freedom for himself and his wife. First he offered to buy his freedom from Mrs. Emerson -- then living in St. Louis -- for $300. The offer was refused. Scott then sought freedom through the courts, starting the legal process with the declaration he made on 06 April 1846. He had strong legal backing for his claim to freedom; the Supreme Court of Missouri had freed many slaves who had traveled with their masters in free states. In the Missouri Supreme Court's 1836 Rachel v. Walker ruling, it decided that Rachel, a slave taken to Fort Snelling and to Prairie du Chien in Illinois, was free.
      Despite these precedents, Scott lost the first Scott v. Emerson trial, in June 1847, on a technicality -- he couldn't prove that he and Harriet were owned by Emerson's widow. The following year the Missouri Supreme Court decided that the case should be retried. In an 1850 retrial, the St Louis circuit court ruled that Scott and his family were free.
      By the early 1850's, however, sectional conflict had arisen again and uglier than ever, and most Missourians did not encourage the freeing of slaves. Even judicially Scott was at a disadvantage; the United States Supreme Court's Strader v. Graham decision (1851) set some precedents that were unfavorable to Scott, and two of the three justices who made the final decision in Scott's appearance before the Missouri Supreme Court were proslavery. As would be expected, they ruled against Scott in 1852, with the third judge dissenting.
     Scott and his lawyers then took his case out of the state judicial system and into the federal judicial system by bringing it to the US Circuit Court for the District of Missouri. In 1854, the Circuit Court upheld the decision of the Missouri Supreme Court.
      There was now only one other place to go. Scott appealed his case to the United States Supreme Court. The nine justices of the Supreme Court of 1856 certainly had biases regarding slavery. Seven had been appointed by pro-slavery presidents from the South, and of these, five were from slave-holding families. Still, if the case had gone directly from the state supreme court to the federal supreme court, the federal court probably would have upheld the state's ruling, citing a previously established decision that gave states the authority to determine the status of its inhabitants.
      But, in his attempt to bring his case to the federal courts, Scott had claimed that he and the case's defendant (Mrs. Emerson's brother, John Sanford, who lived in New York) were citizens from different states. The main issues for the Supreme Court, therefore, were whether it had jurisdiction to try the case and whether Scott was indeed a citizen.
      The decision of the court was read in March of 1857. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney -- a staunch supporter of slavery -- wrote the "majority opinion" for the court. It stated that because Scott was black, he was not a citizen and therefore had no right to sue. The decision also declared the Missouri Compromise of 1820, legislation which restricted slavery in certain territories, unconstitutional.
      While the decision was well-received by slaveholders in the South, many northerners were outraged. The decision greatly influenced the nomination of Abraham Lincoln to the Republican Party and his subsequent election, which in turn led to the South's secession from the Union.
      Peter Blow's sons, childhood friends of Scott, had helped pay Scott's legal fees through the years. After the Supreme Court's decision, the former master's sons purchased Scott and his wife and set them free. Dred Scott died nine months later.

1832 Black Hawk War begins ^top^
      Determined to resist the growing presence of Anglo settlers on traditional tribal lands, the Sauk warrior Black Hawk is drawn into war with the United States. Called Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak by his people, Black Hawk was born in 1767 in the village of Saukenuk in the present-day state of Illinois. He quickly earned a reputation as a fierce and courageous fighter in the frequent skirmishes between the Sauk and their principle enemy, the Osage.
      By the early 1800s, however, Black Hawk began to realize that the real threat to his people was the rapidly growing numbers of White people streaming into the region. In 1804, representatives of the Sauk and Fox (Mesquakie) Indians signed a treaty that ceded all of their territory east of the Mississippi River to the United States. Black Hawk, however, maintained the treaty was invalid and had been signed by drunken Indian representatives. In 1816, he reluctantly confirmed the treaty with his own signature, but he later said he did not understand that this meant he would someday have to cede his home village of Saukenuk on the Rock River. As the US Army built more forts and droves of settlers moved into the territory during the next 15 years, Black Hawk grew increasingly angry. Finally, in 1831, settlers began to occupy the village of Saukenuk, an area that would later become Rock Island, Illinois. Regardless of the provisions of the 1804 treaty, Black Hawk refused to leave his own home. He began to prepare for war.
      Early in 1832, General Edmund P. Gaines arrived in the area with a sizeable force of US soldiers and Illinois militiamen. Initially, Black Hawk withdrew his large band of warriors, women, and children to the west side of the Mississippi. On 05 April, however, he led them back into the disputed territory, believing that other Indian forces and the British to the north would support him in a confrontation. The following day, a large army of soldiers caught up to Black Hawk and his followers near the Rock River of northern Illinois.
      When neither the British nor his Indian allies came to his support, Black Hawk attempted to surrender. Unfortunately, one of his truce bearers was killed in the confusion, and the Black Hawk War began. In May, Black Hawk's warriors won a significant victory that left the US troops badly demoralized. As subsequent generations of Indian fighters would learn, however, the mighty force of the US government was relentless. On 02 August, US soldiers nearly annihilated Black Hawk's band as it attempted to escape west across the Mississippi, and Black Hawk finally surrendered.
      Casualties in the 15-week war were grossly one-sided. An estimated 70 settlers or soldiers lost their lives; estimates for the number of Indians killed are between 442 and 592. Black Hawk was captured and incarcerated for a time in Fortress Monroe, Virginia. In order to demonstrate the futility of further resistance to the powerful Americans, Black Hawk was taken on a tour of the major eastern cities before being relocated to an Iowa Indian agency. He lived the remaining six years of his life under the supervision of a Sauk chief who had once been his enemy. Unlike Black Hawk, the Sauk chief had cooperated with the United States government.

1789 first US Congress begins regular sessions, Federal Hall, NYC

1712 First major slave rebellion in the Colonies ^top^
      In New York City, Colonial America's first major slave rebellion occurred as some twenty African-American slaves, armed with guns and clubs, set fire to houses along the northern edge of the city. Nine whites were killed before a militia arrived to suppress the uprising. The rebellious slaves who were not killed outright were publicly executed, along with several innocent slaves, over the next few days.
      Three decades later, in 1741, a rash of suspicious fires caused fears of another slave rebellion to sweep the city. Although no conclusive evidence of a slave conspiracy were uncovered, several slaves were coerced into confessing and implicating others. By the time the hysteria died down, thirty-one slaves and four whites had been hanged.
      In the years after the American Revolution, the state of New York enacted legislation to gradually emancipate its slaves. By the first decade of the nineteenth century, the institution of slavery had ceased to exist in New York and most other northern states.

1663 King Charles II signs Carolina Charter
1327 Italian poet Petrarch first sets eyes on his beloved Laura
0610 Lailat-ul Qadar, the night the koran descended to Earth
0006 BC This day is believed by some Biblical scholars to be the actual date of the historical birth of Jesus Christ.
--648 -BC- Earliest total solar eclipse chronicled (by Greeks)

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Deaths which occurred on an April 06: ^top^
2003 Yousef Abu Hadi, 13; and Marwan Abu Jiab, 23, Palestinians, shot as helicopter-backed Israeli troops attack the El-Ma'azi refugee camp, Gaza Strip.
2003:: 17 Kurd peshmerga soldiers and Kamaran Abdurazaq Muhamed, a BBC translator, by bombs dropped by mistake by 2 US planes on a stopped convoy of some nine 4-wheel-drive vehicles, including 2 of the US Special Forces, during fighting against Iraqi forces near Dibagah, Iraqi-claimed Kurdistan. BBC reporter John Simpson and his cameraman, some US soldiers, and 40 peshmergas are wounded, including Kurdistan Democratic Party military commanders Saeed Abdullah, Abdul Rahman, Mamasta Hehman, and Wajy Barzani [03 Apr 2003 photo below], younger brother of KDP leader Massoud Barzani, who controls the western half of Iraqi-claimed Kurdistan. Mansor Barzani, son of Massoud, was also slightly injured. [peshmerga = “those who face death”, Kurdish autonomist fighters which the US is now, at least temporarily, using as allies].

2002 Juan Ramón Núñez and Joaquín Quebrada, shortly after being mortally wounded by gunmen at 19:00 in the church of La Argentina (Huila) Colombia, where Quebrada was among the congregation at the Saturday evening mass being celebrated by the Catholic pastor of the parish, Father Núñez.
2000 Habib Bourguiba, 96, former president for life and founder of modern-day Tunisia.
2002 Álvaro Menéndez Leal, Salvadoran writer.

1994 Juvenal Habyarimana, president of Rwanda, Cyprien Ntyamira, president of Burundi, and others on their plane which is downed by rocket fire on its journey back from a peace conference in Tanzania. ^top^
      The death of President Habyarimana, the leader of Rwanda since 1973, exasperates an already tense internal situation in Rwanda, and, as soon as word of his death arrives in Kigali the next day, violence breaks out between the Patriotic Front rebel group, dominated by Rwanda's Tutsi people, and government soldiers and militias, dominated by the Hutus. Gangs of youth, police, and other groups join in the chaotic fighting, which within twenty-four hours results in the deaths of Agathe Uwilingiyimana, the prime minister of Rwanda; Joseph Kavaruganda, the president of the Supreme Court; and hundreds of others.
      The fighting and racial massacres quickly spread to the rest of the country, and in the ensuing civil war, the Hutu-dominated government and militia forces were gradually driven into neighboring central African countries by the Tutsi-led Patriotic Front. During their retreat, the Hutu soldiers and militiamen massacred over 500'000 Tutsi civilians and tens of thousands of Hutu civilian moderates. The genocide was conducted in a particularly brutal manner, with most victims hacked to death with machetes or bludgeoned to death with clubs.
      In 1996, the massacres resumed as the former Hutu government forces, militiamen, and other refugees were expelled from Zaire and Tanzania and re-entered Rwanda, now controlled by a Tutsi-led government.

1993 John Charles Burkill, English mathematician born on 01 February 1900, equally well known for his research in analysis and the excellent teaching books which he wrote, such as The Lebesgue integral (1951), A first course in mathematical analysis (1962), A second course in mathematical analysis (1970). Burkill introduced the Burkill integral and applied it to extend the work of W.H.Young [20 Oct 1863 — 07 Jul 1942] on the definition of the area of a curved surface.
1992 Isaac Asimov, of heart and kidney failure, biochemistry professor, science fiction writer, born on 02 January 1920 in Soviet Russia, came tu the US in 1923. Some of his nearly 500 books: Pebble in the Sky (1950) — I, Robot (1950; in which he invented the 3 Laws of Robotics: 1. Robots may not injure a human or, by inaction, allow a human to be harmed. — 2. Robots must obey humans' orders unless doing so conflicts with the first law. — 3. Robots must protect their own existence unless doing so conflicts with the first two laws) — Foundation (1951) — Foundation and Empire (1952) — Second Foundation (1953) — The Caves of Steel (1954) — The End of Eternity (1955) — The Naked Sun (1957) — The Human Body (1963) — Asimov's Guide to the

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Bible (1968) — The Shaping of England (1969) — ABC's of Ecology (1972) — Asimov's Annotated Paradise Lost (1974) — Asimov on Chemistry (1974) — Lecherous Limericks (1975) — Animals of the Bible (1978) — In Joy Still Felt (1980) — Counting the Eons (1983) — The Roving Mind (1983) — The Robots of Dawn (1983) — Robots and Empire (1985) — Foundation and Earth (1986) — Prelude to Foundation (1988) — Nemesis (1989) — Asimov Laughs Again (1992)
1975 Chiang Kai-Shek, 87, Nationalist Chinese leader
1971 Igor Stravinsky, in New York City, Russian-born composer.
1931 William Lionel Wyllie, British artist born on 06 July 1851. — MORE ON WYLLIE AT ART “4” APRIL with links to images.
1922 Jennie Becker, beaten over the head with a wrench by her husband Abraham Becker, who then buries her in a grave prepared with the help of Reuben Norkin. Abraham Becker puts his four children in an orphanage, has his mistress move in with him, and brags. It results in his going to the electric chair in 1924.
1893 George Vicat Cole, British artist born on 17 April 1833. — MORE ON COLE AT ART “4” APRIL with links to images.
1890 Joseph Carey Merrick “elephant man”, at 13:30 of asphyxiation. He was deformed from birth (05 August 1862), probably suffering from Proteus Syndrome.
1860 James Kirke Paulding, born on 22 August 1778, N.Y. state dramatist, novelist, and public official chiefly remembered for his early advocacy and use of native American material in literature. At 18 he went to New York City, where he formed a lasting friendship with the Irving brothers. This association aroused his enthusiasm for literature, and he, with William and Washington Irving [03 Apr 1783 – 28 Nov 1859], founded the Salmagundi (1807–1808), a periodical consisting mainly of light satires on local subjects. The outbreak of hostilities between England and the US encouraged the assertion of Paulding's nationalism. He satirized England's conduct toward the US during the war in The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan (1812) and The Lay of the Scottish Fiddle: A Tale of Havre de Grace (1813), the latter a burlesque of Sir Walter Scott [15 Aug 1771 – 21 Sep 1832]. The same spirit of nationalism found expression in two later satires also directed at the British: A Sketch of Old England: by a New England Man (1822) and John Bull in America (1825). The advantages and hardships of western migration are the theme of The Backwoodsman (1818), a poem written to call the US author home in his search of literary themes. Novels such as Koningsmarke, the Long Finne, a Story of the New World (1823), Westward Ho! (1832), and The Old Continental, or, the Price of Liberty (1846) represent Paulding's attempts to employ the US scene in fiction. His popular play, The Lion of the West (first performed 1831; first published 1954), introduced frontier humor to the stage by depicting a character resembling Davy Crockett and helped during the 1830s to contribute to the growing legend of Crockett. His Life of Washington (1835) illustrates Paulding's Americanism. Plain, even at times vulgar in style, he yet possessed a playful irony that he shared with the New York writers of his day. He held several public posts in New York and from 1838 to 1841 served as Secretary of the Navy. His literary work, however, overshadows his routine labors as a government official.
1829 Niels Henrik Abel, Norwegian mathematician born on 05 August 1802. In 1824 he proved the impossibility of solving algebraically the general equation of the fifth degree.
1825 Willem van Leen, Dutch artist born on 19 February 1753.

1794 (17 germinal an II) Condamnés à mort par la Révolution: ^top^
Par le tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris:
BARRON Philippe, (dit Chanoirà), ex-noble, domicilié à Genillé, canton de Loches, département de l'Indre et Loire, comme conspirateur.
HANNAPIER Louis, (dit Desormes), âgé de 45 ans, cultivateur, ci-devant maître particulier des eaux et forêts de Beaugency, né à Orléans, département du Loiret, domicilié à St Hilaire-St Mesmin, même département, comme convaincu d’avoir tenu des propos contre-révolutionnaire, et dit que nous aurions un roi avant le premier mai.
Par le tribunal criminel du département des Bouches du Rhône:
BONNECORSE François Ignace, ex noble et ancien capitaine de marine, domicilié à Marseille, département des Bouches du Rhône, comme contre-révolutionnaire.
BOUIS Jean Joseph Charles, ci-devant officier de marine, domicilié à Martigues, canton de Salon, département des Bouches du Rhône, comme fédéraliste.
CAUDIERE Michel François, homme de loi, domicilié à Martigne, département des Bouches du Rhône, comme fédéraliste.
CAUQUE François, tailleur de pierre, forçat à Rochefort, département de la Charente Inférieure, pour avoir voulu briser ses fers.
A Arras, les ex-chanoines:
BUISSY François Lamoral, 64 ans, né à Douai — HARDUIN Philippe Guillaume Alphonse, 39 ans, né à Arras — LEROUX Alexis Stanislas Augustin, 71 ans, né à Arras — VINCLY Charles Louis Guislain Joseph (DE FRANCE), marquis de Noyelle Vion, âgé de 71 ans, né à Vaulx.
Ailleurs:
BRANCHAND Jean, laboureur, domicilié à Pié-de-Cerf, canton de la Châtaigneraye, département de la Vendée, par le tribunal criminel du département des Deux-Sèvres.
JANVRE Célestre, (dit Labouchetière), officier au ci-devant régiment du roi, infanterie, domicilié à Bonpère, département des Deux-Sèvres, , par la commission militaire établie à Bruxelles comme émigré.
CHAMALET Jean Antoine, canonnier au 3ème bataillon de l’Hérault, domicilié à Chauvin-Fragon, département des Basses Pyrénées, comme déserteur, par le tribunal du 1er arrondissement de l’armée des Pyrénées Occidentales.
MEQUIGNON Philippine Josèphe, veuve Roux, ménagère, domiciliée à Lemplume département du Nord, condamnée à mort par le tribunal criminel du département du Nord, comme distributrice de faux assignats.
VALLET Pierre J. Jacques, déserteur du bataillon de Cambresis, domicilié à Ligny, département du Nord, comme distributeur de faux assignats, par le tribunal criminel dudit département.
POUTIER Barthélémi (dit Castres), caporal au 36ème régiment d'infanterie, domicilié à Castres, département du Tarn, comme contre-révolutionnaire, par le tribunal militaire du quartier général de l'armée du Nord.
SOUDE René, hussard au dixième régiment en dépôt à Chaâlon, domicilié à Châlon, département de la Marne, comme contre-révolutionnaire, par le tribunal criminel dudit département.
TRUCHIES François, (dit Dumoule) ancien capitaine d'infanterie, domicilié à Calais, département de Saône et Loire, par le tribunal criminel dudit département comme émigré.
Et un guillotineur guillotiné:
RIPERT Jean, l’aîné, âgé de 58 ans, natif de Grenoble, département de l’Isère, exécuteur des jugements criminel, domicilié à la Guillotière, faubourg de Lyon, département du Rhône, par la commission révolutionnaire de Lyon, comme s’étant pas abstenu, en sa qualité d’exécuteur, fonctionnaire public, de prêter les mains à l’exécution du jugement de mort rendu contre Châlier, comme ayant pu se dispenser de se rendre pour cette exécution du faubourg de la Guillotière où il demeurait, à Lyon, et comme n’ayant pas usé de toutes les précautions nécessaires en pareil cas, pour épargner à Châlier tous les tourments qu’il lui a fait souffrir en lui portant quatre à cinq coups de hache sur le cou. On assure qu’il a été exécuté par son frère, exécuteur des jugements criminel du département de l’Isère, qui l’aidait précédemment dans ses exécutions à Lyon. (Note: BERNARD Jean, âgé de 26 ans, natif de Grenoble, adjoint de l'exécuteur des jugements criminel de la Guillotière, canton de Lyon, département du Rhône, le 7 germinal an 2, par la commission révolutionnaire de Lyon, comme assassin de Châlier, c'est-à-dire pour l'avoir guillotiné d'après le jugement.)

1793 BROUSSE Raimond, FOSSAT (dit la Tempête), et LAVAL, meunier, domiciliés à Moissac, canton de Lauzette, département du Lot, condamnés à mort comme chefs de révolte, par le tribunal criminel dudit département.
1777 Jan Evert Morel, Dutch artist born on 08 February 1777.
1667 Jean Tassel, French artist born on 20 March 1608.
1660 Michelangelo “delle Battaglie” Cerquozzi, Italian painter born on 02 February 1602. — MORE ON CERQUOZZI AT ART “4” APRIL with links to images.
1641 Domenico Zampieri “il Domenichino”, Italian painter born on 06 April 1581. — MORE ON DOMENICHINO AT ART “4” APRIL with links to images.
1624 Jean-Baptiste Saive de Namur, Flemish artist born in 1540
1528 Albrecht Dürer, artist and mathematician, born on 21 May 1471.— MORE ON DÜRER AT ART “4” APRIL with links to images.
1520 Raffaello Sanzio “Raphael”, the great painter dies on his 37th birthday. — MORE ON RAPHAEL AT ART “4” APRIL with links to images.
1348 Petrarch's Laura, of plague
1199 Richard I the Lion-hearted, 41, King of England (1189-1199), by an arrow at the siege of the castle of Chaluz in France.

Births which occurred on an April 06: ^top^

When neither the British nor his Indian allies came to his support, Black Hawk attempted to surrender. Unfortunately, one of his truce bearers was killed in the confusion, and the Black Hawk War began. In May, Black Hawk's warriors won a significant victory that left the US troops badly demoralized. As subsequent generations of Indian fighters would learn, however, the mighty force of the US government was relentless. On 02 August, US soldiers nearly annihilated Black Hawk's band as it attempted to escape west across the Mississippi, and Black Hawk finally surrendered.
Casualties in the 15-week war were grossly one-sided. An estimated 70 settlers or soldiers lost their lives; estimates for the number of Indians killed are between 442 and 592. Black Hawk was captured and incarcerated for a time in Fortress Monroe, Virginia. In order to demonstrate the futility of further resistance to the powerful Americans, Black Hawk was taken on a tour of the major eastern cities before being relocated to an Iowa Indian agency. He lived the remaining six years of his life under the supervision of a Sauk chief who had once been his enemy. Unlike Black Hawk, the Sauk chief had cooperated with the United States government.

1789 first US Congress begins regular sessions, Federal Hall, NYC

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1993 John Charles Burkill, English mathematician born on 01 February 1900, equally well known for his research in analysis and the excellent teaching books which he wrote, such as The Lebesgue integral (1951), A first course in mathematical analysis (1962), A second course in mathematical analysis (1970). Burkill introduced the Burkill integral and applied it to extend the work of W.H.Young [20 Oct 1863 — 07 Jul 1942] on the definition of the area of a curved surface.
1992 Isaac Asimov, of heart and kidney failure, biochemistry professor, science fiction writer, born on 02 January 1920 in Soviet Russia, came tu the US in 1923. Some of his nearly 500 books: Pebble in the Sky (1950) — I, Robot (1950; in which he invented the 3 Laws of Robotics: 1. Robots may not injure a human or, by inaction, allow a human to be harmed. — 2. Robots must obey humans' orders unless doing so conflicts with the first law. — 3. Robots must protect their own existence unless doing so conflicts with the first two laws) — Foundation (1951) — Foundation and Empire (1952) — Second Foundation (1953) — The Caves of Steel (1954) — The End of Eternity (1955) — The Naked Sun (1957) — The Human Body (1963) — Asimov's Guide to the Bible (1968) — The Shaping of England (1969) — ABC's of Ecology (1972) — Asimov's Annotated Paradise Lost (1974) — Asimov on Chemistry (1974) — Lecherous Limericks (1975) — Animals of the Bible (1978) — In Joy Still Felt (1980) — Counting the Eons (1983) — The Roving Mind (1983) — The Robots of Dawn (1983) — Robots and Empire (1985) — Foundation and Earth (1986) — Prelude to Foundation (1988) — Nemesis (1989) — Asimov Laughs Again (1992)
1975 Chiang Kai-Shek, 87, Nationalist Chinese leader
1971 Igor Stravinsky, in New York City, Russian-born composer.
1931 William Lionel Wyllie, British artist born on 06 July 1851. — MORE ON WYLLIE AT ART “4” APRIL with links to images.
1922 Jennie Becker, beaten over the head with a wrench by her husband Abraham Becker, who then buries her in a grave prepared with the help of Reuben Norkin. Abraham Becker puts his four children in an orphanage, has his mistress move in with him, and brags. It results in his going to the electric chair in 1924.
1893 George Vicat Cole, British artist born on 17 April 1833. — MORE ON COLE AT ART “4” APRIL with links to images.
1890 Joseph Carey Merrick “elephant man”, at 13:30 of asphyxiation. He was deformed from birth (05 August 1862), probably suffering from Proteus Syndrome.
1860 James Kirke Paulding, born on 22 August 1778, N.Y. state dramatist, novelist, and public official chiefly remembered for his early advocacy and use of native American material in literature. At 18 he went to New York City, where he formed a lasting friendship with the Irving brothers. This association aroused his enthusiasm for literature, and he, with William and Washington Irving [03 Apr 1783 – 28 Nov 1859], founded the Salmagundi (1807–1808), a periodical consisting mainly of light satires on local subjects. The outbreak of hostilities between England and the US encouraged the assertion of Paulding's nationalism. He satirized England's conduct toward the US during the war in The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan (1812) and The Lay of the Scottish Fiddle: A Tale of Havre de Grace (1813), the latter a burlesque of Sir Walter Scott [15 Aug 1771 – 21 Sep 1832]. The same spirit of nationalism found expression in two later satires also directed at the British: A Sketch of Old England: by a New England Man (1822) and John Bull in America (1825). The advantages and hardships of western migration are the theme of The Backwoodsman (1818), a poem written to call the US author home in his search of literary themes. Novels such as Koningsmarke, the Long Finne, a Story of the New World (1823), Westward Ho! (1832), and The Old Continental, or, the Price of Liberty (1846) represent Paulding's attempts to employ the US scene in fiction. His popular play, The Lion of the West (first performed 1831; first published 1954), introduced frontier humor to the stage by depicting a character resembling Davy Crockett and helped during the 1830s to contribute to the growing legend of Crockett. His Life of Washington (1835) illustrates Paulding's Americanism. Plain, even at times vulgar in style, he yet possessed a playful irony that he shared with the New York writers of his day. He held several public posts in New York and from 1838 to 1841 served as Secretary of the Navy. His literary work, however, overshadows his routine labors as a government official.
1829 Niels Henrik Abel, Norwegian mathematician born on 05 August 1802. In 1824 he proved the impossibility of solving algebraically the general equation of the fifth degree.
1825 Willem van Leen, Dutch artist born on 19 February 1753.

Births which occurred on an April 06: ^top^

1909 Phoumi Vongvichit, Laotian Communist leader. ^top^
     In the revolutionary movement in Laos ( the Pathet Lao), Phoumi's stature was comparable with its other leading personalities — Kaysone Phomvihan, Nouhak Phoumsavanh, and Souphanouvong, behind whom he consistently ranked in the Politburo of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP).
      Tall, patrician, intellectual, Phoumi had none of the air of a veteran revolutionary. To those who met him after 1975, he seemed courteous, rather aloof, yet he had been a tough negotiator for the Pathet Lao, and even his political enemies recognized his qualities. He was, above all, a Lao nationalist. His deep interest in and knowledge of Lao history made him acutely aware of the tenuous nature of Lao independence, and of the need to strengthen Lao national culture and identity. Despite the political alliance of the Pathet Lao with the Vietnamese communist movement, Phoumi believed that neither Thai nor Vietnamese should be permitted to exercise too much influence in Lao affairs.
      Phoumi Vongvichit was born on 06 April 1909 at Xieng Khouang, the son of a civil servant in the French administration. He was educated in Vientiane, after which he too joined the colonial civil service. After postings in Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Xieng Khouang, he was promoted to the grade of chao muang and served in Xieng Khouang (1939) and Vientiane (1940-1945). In January 1945 he was appointed Chao Khoueng of Houaphan province where he remained until the Japanese surrender in August 1945. The following month, Phoumi cooperated with Free French forces when they briefly seized Sam Neua town, but subsequently he joined the Lao Issara (Free Laos) movement and worked closely with the Viet Minh to oppose the return of the French.
      In 1946, after French forces had reoccupied Laos, Phoumi made his way to northern Thailand where for the next three years he was active in the Lao Issara. At the end of 1949, having refused to accept the offer of amnesty upon dissolution of the Lao Issara government-in-exile in Thailand, Phoumi was one of the handful of Lao who joined Souphanouvong in northern Vietnam. There he attended the founding congress of the Neo Lao Issara (the Free Laos Front). Phoumi was nominated both Secretary-General of the Front, and Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister in the Pathet Lao Resistance government that the Front established in opposition to the Royal Lao government in Vientiane. The Resistance government gained no international recognition, but Phoumi nominally retained both positions until the Geneva Agreements of 1954 brought the First Indochina War to an end.
      In 1954 and 1955, Phoumi led Pathet Lao delegations in negotiations with the Royal Lao government over reintegration of the provinces of Phong Saly and Houaphan. In March 1955, Phoumi was one of the founding members of the Lao People's Party and was elected to its Political Bureau. The following January he was elected to the Central Committee of the Lao Patriotic Front (Neo Lao Hak Xat). In 1956, Phoumi continued to be involved in negotiations over integration which eventuated in the signing of a series of agreements, known as the Vientiane Agreements, the following year. These opened the way for formation of the First Coalition government in which Phoumi served as Minister of Religion and Fine Arts. (The other Pathet Lao minister was Souphanouvong at the Ministry of Economy and Plan.) From this time, Phoumi took a lively interest in the Buddhist Sangha (the monastic order), recognizing its potential as a propaganda organ for opposition to the Americanization of Lao society, but also as a vehicle for the propagation of Lao cultural values.
      In the supplementary elections of May 1958, Phoumi was elected Deputy from Luang Prabang in the National Assembly. In the political crisis that followed the electoral success of the left, Phoumi lost his ministry. In July 1959 he was arrested along with other Pathet Lao deputies, and imprisoned without ever being brought to trial. In May 1960 he escaped with other leading Pathet Lao prisoners and their guards, and made the long march to the Pathet Lao zone in Xieng Khouang.
      After the Battle of Vientiane in December 1960 and the subsequent retreat of Neutralist forces to the Plain of Jars, Phoumi was instrumental in arranging for Pathet Lao-Neutralist collaboration. He led the Pathet Lao delegation to the Geneva Conference on the neutrality of Laos in 1962, and served as Minister of Information, Propaganda and Tourism in the Second Coalition government. In 1964, after a series of political assassinations, Phoumi left Vientiane with other Pathet Lao ministers.
      By this time Laos had been dragged into the Second Indochina War between the United States and North Vietnam. For the next ten years, Phoumi alternated between living in the limestone caverns of Vieng Xai and leading various Pathet Lao delegations to international communist gatherings. He retained his positions in both the Politburo and the Lao Patriotic Front, and took a leading role in negotiations leading to formation of the Third Coalition government in 1974, in which he served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
      After formation of the Lao People's Democratic Republic in December 1975, Phoumi was named Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Sport and Religious Affairs. In the reorganization that followed the Third Congress of the LPRP in 1982, Phoumi became a member of the Inner Cabinet with overall responsibility for education, information and culture. In 1986, when Souphanouvong was forced to step down from the Presidency for reasons of health, Phoumi was named Acting President of the LPDR and Chairman of the Lao Front for National Construction. He retired from the Acting Presidency and the Politburo at the Fifth Party Congress in March 1991.
      In December last year, just a month before Phoumi's death, I was in Vientiane for the First International Colloquium on Lao Studies, and asked Dr. Mayoury Ngaosyvathn to arrange an interview with Phoumi Vongvichit. I had first met him as a young journalist at Khang Khay on the Plain of Jars in 1964. I again met him in 1985 and 1990. The interview took place in his residence on the road to Chinaimo. Phoumi welcomed us to his specious, formally arranged living room where we sat before the obligatory soft drinks. He was a little more stooped than I remembered him, a little grayer, and spoke a little more slowly, but he was still mentally alert and interested in what we had to say.
      We began by talking about history, which has always been one of Phoumi's great interests. He told us that he had just completed a history of the Lao communist movement, and was about to begin a new project close to his heart - a history of the Phuan kingdom of Xieng Khouang. The history of the communist movement will be an important contribution to Lao historiography, by someone who was close to the center of the movement from its inception. But we will have to wait to see if Phoumi reveals any detailed inside information.
      As the member of the Politburo charged with overseeing education, information and culture, Phoumi was responsible for bringing together a group of Lao historians to write an official three volume history of Laos. Although all three volumes have been written, at least in draft, only the third has as yet been published. This covers the modern history of Laos from the arrival of the French in 1893 to the present. The first and second volumes cover respectively the period before and after the founding of the Kingdom of Lan Xang by Fa Ngum in the mid-fourteenth century.
      So why have the first two volumes not been published? The answer says much about Phoumi Vongvichit and the exercise of power in the Lao People's Democratic Republic. The first two volumes have not been published because Phoumi was not satisfied with them, and refused to give them his stamp of approval. He apparently had his own ideas about the vexed question of the origin of the Lao people, where they had come from and when, and wanted more research done. Also there were problems about how to deal with the history of the Kingdom of LAN Xang from a Marxist perspective, and about the historic relations between Laos and neighboring states.
      History in Laos today is a highly political endeavor, which requires the approval of the Party. No history could be published during the 1980s without the agreement of Phoumi himself. Still no debate is possible between Lao historians. Much of what happened in the past, especially relations between the Pathet Lao and the Vietnamese during the "thirty-years struggle" from 1945 to 1975, is still considered too sensitive to reveal, even though the Vietnamese themselves have revealed the extent to which the Pathet Lao were dependent on Vietnamese advice and support. Recently published memoirs by both Phoumi himself and by Singkapo Sikhotchounamaly have been criticized for this reason. They reveal too much that the regime still believes should be kept secret.
      The other subject that Phoumi was eager to discuss with Dr. Mayoury and myself was the future of Lao culture and the moral state of Lao youth today, which caused him much concern. I asked him how he felt about the new Mitthaphap bridge across the Mekong. It was not the bridge per se he was worried about, however, but the influence of Thailand in a much broader sense. The Thai economic stake in Laos is large and growing, and so is Thai cultural influence in general.
      Phoumi expressed concern over the transmission over Thai television of values that were harmful to Lao youth. He was particularly worried about the effect the culture of consumption and sexual permissiveness was having on young Lao, whom he saw as lacking in discipline and commitment to the country. Time and again in our discussion Phoumi referred to the alternative values taught by Buddhism, stressing the need for young Lao to take to heart the Buddha's message of self-control and mental discipline.
      These were themes Phoumi had sounded before. On a couple of occasions in the year before he died, Phoumi spoke out on the need to instill a revolutionary morality in Lao youth, especially in the sons of the Party elite. I was told when I was in Vientiane that the Party had provided funds for certain Buddhist monasteries to teach courses in Buddhist ethics for members of the Lao People's Revolutionary Youth.
      For some it may seem ironical that a veteran revolutionary Marxist like Phoumi should have come to realize the importance of Buddhism. But Marxism has never been strongly rooted in Laos, even among senior cadres of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party. There have been no Lao Marxist intellectuals. Nationalism was always a stronger motivating force than Marxism.
      It was as a Lao nationalist that Phoumi Vongvichit turned to Buddhism as a source of Lao cultural values — just as Kaysone turned to Buddhism for personal consolation in the last year of his life. He was the first member of the Politburo regularly to attend Buddhist ceremonies in the early years of the regime, and he would have pleased to hear himself praised in the eulogy in his honor for having "made an important contribution to the preservation of the faith in Buddhism".
      So how will history judge Phoumi Vongvichit, he who was so fascinated by history? His own writings, including his autobiography, provide better sources for an evaluation than are available for any other leading figure in the present regime. However he is judged, as patriot or villain, his place in Lao history is assured.
      Phoumi Vongvichit would die on 07 January 1994, from coronary heart disease.

1893 Mormon temple in Salt Lake City dedicated
1874 Harry Houdini famous illusionist / escape artist.
1851 Raffaele Ragione, Italian artist who died in November 1925.
1849 John William “Nino” Waterhouse, English painter who died on 10 February 1917. — MORE ON WATERHOUSE AT ART “4” APRIL with links to images.

1830 Mormon Church established ^top^
      In Fayette, New York, Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon religion, organized the Church of Christ during a meeting with a small group of believers.
      In 1823, Smith, born in Vermont in 1805, claimed that he been visited by a Christian angel named Moroni who told him about an ancient Hebrew text that had lost been lost for 1500 years. The holy text, supposedly engraved on gold plates by a Native-American historian in the fourth century, related the story of Jewish peoples who had lived in America in ancient times. Over the next six years, Smith dictated an English translation of this text to his wife and other scribes, and, in 1830, The Book of Mormon was published. In the same year, Smith founded the Church of Christ, later known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Fayette, New York.
      The religion rapidly gained converts and Smith set up Mormon communities in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. However, the Christian sect was also heavily criticized for its unorthodox practices and, on 27 June 1844, Smith and his brother were murdered in a jail cell by an anti-Mormon mob in Carthage, Illinois.
      Two years later, Smith's successor, Brigham Young, led an exodus of persecuted Mormons from Nauvoo, Illinois, along the western wagon trails in search of religious and political freedom. In July 1847, the 148 initial Mormon pioneers reached Utah's Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Upon viewing the valley, Young declared, "This is the place," and the pioneers began preparations for the tens of thousands of Mormon migrants who would follow

1830 James Augustine Healy, first Black (slightly) Roman Catholic bishop in US. His parents were an Irish planter and a slave on a plantation near Macon, Georgia.
1826 Gustave Moreau, French Symbolist painter who died on 18 April 1898. — MORE ON MOREAU AT ART “4” APRIL with links to images
1824 Lucas Schaeffels, Belgian artist who died on 17 Sep 1885.
1822 Jan David Col, Belgian artist who died in 1900.
1819 Georg Bergmann, German artist who died on 14 October 1870.

1808 The American Fur Company is incorporated. ^top^
John Jacob Astor [17 Jul 1763 – 29 Mar 1848] incorporates the American Fur Company to exploit the area west of the Mississippi opened up by Lewis and Clark's famous expedition. Astor makes himself as the sole stockholder of his New York City-based company and proceeds to make inroads into the fur business. Indeed, in a few short years, he was able to mount a serious challenge to industry leaders like the North West Company. Astor soon started expanding his fur concern: in 1810, he created the Pacific Fur Company; the following year, he established the South West Fur Company. Astor's new companies boosted his ability to capitalize on the US's burgeoning regional markets and cemented his rise to the top of the fur trade. By 1828, Astor and his mighty fur empire stood as unrivaled kings of the fur industry.

1793 Le Comité de Salut Public is created in Revolutionary France.

1773 James Mill ^top^
     British philosopher-economist, the father of John Stuart Mill [20 May 1806 – 08 May 1873]; he expounded and developed the utilitarian doctrine of the British philosopher Jeremy Bentham. Mill was born in Northwater Bridge, Angus County, Scotland, and educated at the University of Edinburgh.
      In 1803, he became the editor of the London Literary Journal, and in 1805 he became editor of St. James' Chronicle. From 1806 to 1818 he was engaged in writing his History of India. Although he sharply criticized the East India Company and the British administration in India, in 1819 he was appointed to a position in the examiner's office of the India House in London. During this period Mill became a close associate of Bentham.
      As one of the leading exponents of chrestomathic, or useful, learning on a nonsectarian basis, Mill played a prominent role in the establishment of the University of London in 1825. Mill was also the founder of philosophic radicalism, a system of thought based on the teachings of the British economist David Ricardo and presented by Mill in Elements of Political Economy (1821) . In his Analysis of the Phenomena of the Mind (1829), Mill applied utilitarian doctrines to psychology, basing his theory of the human mind on the principles of associationism. He died on 23 June 1836.
JAMES MILL ONLINE: Elements of Political Economy

1766 Wilhelm Alexander Wolfgang von Kobell, German painter who died on 15 July 1853. — MORE ON VON KOBELL AT ART “4” APRIL with links to images
1671 Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French dramatist and poet who died, exiled (because of a satirical verse) and impoverished, on 17 March 1741. — Not to be confused with Jean-Jacques Rousseau [28 Jun 1712 – 02 Jul 1778] —. J-B ROUSSEAU ONLINE: Odes, cantates, épîtres et poésies diverses
1595 Pieter de Molyn, Dutch painter who died on 22 March 1661. — MORE ON DE MOLYN AT ART “4” APRIL with links to images
1589 Jan Tilens, Flemish artist who died on 25 July 1630.
1483 Raffaello Sanzio “Raphael”, in Urbino, Duchy of Urbino [Italy], painter. He would die on his 37th birthday (see above).

Holidays / Ethiopia : Victory Day / South Africa : Van Riebeeck Day-founding of Capetown / Thailand : Chakri Day / Switzerland : Glarius Festival (1388)- ( Thursday )

Religious Observances:: Unification Church : Parents Day / Luth : Albrecht Dürer, Michelangelo, artists
Palm Sunday in 1879, 1884, 1941, 1952, 2031, 2036, 2104.
Holy Thursday in 1882, 1939, 1944, 1950, 2023, 2034, 2045, 2102
Good Friday in 1483, 1917, 1928, 2007, 2012, 2091.
Easter Sunday in 0397, 1890, 1947, 1958, 1969, 1980, 2042, 2053, 2064, 2110, 2121.

Thoughts for the day: “Even the smallest candle burns brighter in the dark.”
“To be really cosmopolitan, a man must be at home even in his own country.” — Thomas Wentworth Higginson, US clergyman-author [22 Dec 1823 – 09 May 1911].

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