August 14

Today in History
• 1457 - Oldest known exactly dated printed book (c 3 years after Gutenberg)
• 1498 - Christopher Columbus landed at the Orinoco River in what is now Venezuela
• 1765 - Massachusetts colonists challenge British rule by an Elm (Liberty Tree)
• 1813 - British warship Pelican attacks and captures US war brigantine Argus
• 1820 - 1st US eye hospital, the NY Eye Infirmary, opens in NYC
• 1846 - Henry David Thoreau jailed for refusing to pay taxes
• 1848 - Oregon Territory created
• 1873 - "Field and Stream" begins publishing


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Anniversary of the Recovery Oued Ed-Dahab
• Falklands Day
• National Spirit of ’45 Day
• Navajo Code Talkers Day
• Pakistan Independence Day
• Pramuka Day
• US Victory Day
• Vigil of Assumption Day

Birthdays
• 1297 - Emperor Hanazono, 95th Emperor of Japan
• 1473 - Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury
• 1479 - Princess Catherine of York
• 1642 - Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
• 1688 - Frederik Willem I, King of Prussia
• 1742 - Pius VII, Italian bishop of Imola and Pope (1800-23)
• 1777 - Francis I, King of the Two Sicilies (1825-30)
• 1876 - Alexander I Obrenovic, King of Serbia/Yugoslavia (1922-34)s