March 17

Today in History
• 0432 - St. Patrick, a bishop, is carried off to Ireland as a slave
• 0455 - Roman senator Petronius Maximus becomes Emperor
• 1190 - Crusades complete massacre of Jews of York England
• 1521 - Ferdinand Magellan discovers the Philippines
• 1672 - England declares war on Netherlands
• 1753 - 1st official St. Patrick's Day
• 1755 - Transylvania Land Co. buys Kentucky for $50,000 from a Cherokee chief
• 1766 - Britain repeals Stamp Act


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Camp Fire Girls Day
• Doctor Patient Trust Day
• Evacuation Day in Massachusetts
• National Corned Beef and Cabbage Day
• Saint Gertrude of Nivelles Day
• Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Birthday
• St. Patrick's Day
• World Sleep Day

Birthdays
• 1473 - James IV, king of Scotland, 1488-1513
• 1775 - Ninian Edwards, American politician, Governor of Illinois Territory
• 1777 - Roger Brooke Taney, 5th Chief Justice of U.S. Supreme Court
• 1780 - Thomas Chalmers, 1st moderator, Free Church of Scotland 1843-47
• 1781 - Dominique J de Eerens, governor-general of Neth Indies
• 1804 - James Bridger, American scout, fur trader and mountain man
• 1834 - Gottlieb Daimler, engineer/inventor/designed 1st motorcycle
• 1873 - Chard Somerset, 1st woman Cabinet minister, 1929-31