August 16

Today in History
• 1691 - Yorktown, Virginia founded
• 1777 - American militiamen defeat British forces at the Battle of Bennington
• 1780 - British decisively defeat Americans in Battle of Camden
• 1787 - Turkey declares war on Russia (Russo-Turkish War 1787-92)
• 1861 - US President Abraham Lincoln prohibits Union states from trading with Confederacy
• 1896 - Gold first discovered in Klondike
• 1898 - Edwin Prescott patents roller coaster
• 1904 - NYC begins building Grand Central Station


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Bennington Battle Day
• National Airborne Day
• National Energy Multiplier Day
• National Independent Worker Day
• National Roller Coaster Day
• Parsi New Year
• Restoration Day
• World Calligraphy Day

Birthdays
• 1355 - Philippa, 5th Countess of Ulster
• 1378 - Hongxi Emperor [Zhu Gaochi], fourth Emperor of Ming Dynasty of China
• 1397 - Albrecht II von Habsburg, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Germany
• 1573 - Anna of Austria, queen of Poland
• 1815 - John Bosco, Italian priest, youth worker, educator, founder of the Salesian Society
• 1831 - John Jones Ross, Canadian politician, 7th Premier of Quebec (1884-87)
• 1845 - Gabriel Lippmann, French physicist and inventor
• 1894 - George Meany, labor leader (headed AFL-CIO)