432 – St. Patrick, a bishop, was carried off to Ireland as a slave.
He was captured by Irish pirates from his home in Britain, and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After becoming a cleric, he returned to northern and western Ireland. In later life, he served as an ordained bishop, but little is known about the places where he worked. By the seventh century, he had already come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day is observed on 17 March, which is said to be the date of his death. It is celebrated inside and outside Ireland as a religious and cultural holiday. In the dioceses of Ireland, it is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation; it is also a celebration of Ireland itself.
    1734 - Forty-two families of German Protestant refugees landed in the American colonies. Sponsored by the British Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (SPCK), the 78 religious pilgrims soon founded the town of Ebenezer, 30 miles from Savannah, Georgia.
http://historicaltextarchive.com/salzburger/ebenezer.html
http://www.sip.armstrong.edu/Transportation/FullView/Trans_Img6.html
http://www.loc.gov/rr/european/imde/ebenezer.html
http://www.gasalzburgers.org/
http://www.holtzendorff.com/gavacation/ebenezer/ebenezer.html
    1753 – The first official celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.
    1755 - Transylvania Land Co buys Kentucky for $50,000 from a Cherokee chief
http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/H/HendersoR1.asp
http://www.bartelby.com/65/tr/TransylCo.html
http://wolves.dsc.k12.ar.us/cyberace/sbgone/gen/fam1/history/ky/transylvania.htm
    1756 – NYC’s first celebration of St. Patrick’s Day was at Crown and Thistle Tavern
    1776 - Having seized Dorchester Heights, George Washington forced the British under William Howe to evacuate Boston. On a tour of the Boston area, I saw where the cannon were poised around the British. It was amazing that they were able to be put into place over such rough land, poor weather, and by an under-strength crew. The British did not know that they had little dry powder to fire the cannon, and many lacked the cannon ball, but Washington surrounded them and bluffed them into leaving Boston. I would highly recommend a visit to Boston and the surrounding area for the history, great restaurants, and people. Best is to hire a personal tour by one of the professional history storytellers who will take you to the sites, including the famous cemetery with a fabulous view of the city. I would recommend Robert of Exciting Tours of Boston, 69 Prescott Avenue, Boston, MA. 02150, Phone 617-699-6140 Fax: 617-889-3011 e-mail:exciting.tours@verizon.net Four Hour Maximum is a lot. Plan it so he can drop you off to one of his favorite Italian restaurants. You will not be disappointed.
http://patriotresource.com/events/bostonevac.html
http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/Our_Country_vol_2/britishev_he.html
http://www.mountalverniahs.org/mahs/hist-lit10/Dorchester/Battle.htm
http://www.artunframed.com/images/artmis63/stuart42.jpg
    1777 - Roger B. Taney’s birthday in Calvert County, MD.  He became the first presidential nominee to be rejected by the Senate and later became Supreme Court Justice who ruled on the Dred Scott decision. Taney served as Attorney General under President Andrew Jackson. Nominated as Secretary of the Treasury, his rejection by the Senate centered on his strong stance against the Bank of the United States as a central bank and his role in urging President Jackson to veto the congressional bill extending its charter. The states wanted to control banking, and not allow the federal government to do so. In reality, the first federal bank failed during a terrible recession and bad decisions by its then president, which ended the contest between federal and state control. A year after being rejected later as Secretary of the Treasury, he was nominated to the Supreme Court as an associate justice by Jackson, but his nomination was stalled until the death of Chief Justice John Marshall on July 6, 1835.  Taney was nominated to fill Marshall's place on the bench and after much resistance he was sworn in as the 5th Chief Justice in March, 1836. His tenure on the Supreme Court is most remembered for the Dred Scott decision that decided a Black man would not be recognized as a “free man” in U.S. territories.
    1780 - George Washington granted the Continental Army a holiday "as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence".
    1804 - Frontiersman Jim Bridger was born at Richmond VA.  American fur trader and scout, he is believed to be the first white man to visit (in 1824) the Great Salt Lake.  He also established Fort Bridger in southwestern Wyoming as a fur-trading post and a way station for pioneers heading west on the Oregon Trail. Bridger National Forest in western Wyoming is named for him. The son of a surveyor and an innkeeper, Bridger moved with his family to St. Louis in 1818. There, Bridger apprenticed to a blacksmith, learned to handle boats, and became a good shot and skilled woodsman. When the Ashley-Henry fur trading company advertised for "enterprising young men" to travel the Missouri River to trade with the Indians, Bridger was among the first to respond, and he was hired in 1822.  Though he lacked much formal education, Bridger demonstrated a brilliant ability for finding his way and surviving in the wilderness. As part of the Ashley-Henry team, he helped construct the first fur trading post on the Yellowstone River. At the age of 21, Bridger became the first Anglo known to have seen the Great Salt Lake, though he mistakenly thought it was the Pacific Ocean at the time. He was adept at learning Indian dialects and culture, and he had a tremendous memory for geographical detail. For several years, Bridger worked as an independent trapper and, in 1830, he joined with three partners to gain control of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. Bridger never really enjoyed the life of the businessman, though, and he sold out in 1834. That same year, he married Cora, the daughter of a Flathead Indian chief, and she accompanied him on his fur trapping expeditions. Yet by 1840, Bridger had grown tired of the nomadic trapper life. He was convinced that the emigrant traffic through the West had become heavy enough to support a trading post. He founded Fort Bridger along the Green River section of the Oregon Trail, in present-day southern Wyoming. Fort Bridger quickly became a regular stopping place for overland emigrants, and Bridger happily settled down with Cora, with whom he had three children. Bridger's idyllic life did not last, though. Cora died, Indians killed one of his daughters, and a second wife died in childbirth. Bridger retreated to the mountains to trap and hunt after each of these tragedies, often living for a time with Indians. In 1850, he married the daughter of a Shoshoni chief, and thereafter he and his bride - whom he called Mary - divided their time between summers at Fort Bridger and winters with the Shoshoni. In 1853, Mormons, resenting the competition from Bridger's fort, tried to arrest him as an outlaw. He escaped into the mountains with Mary and his children, but a band of Mormons burnt and gutted the fort, destroying all his supplies. Concerned for his family's safety, Bridger bought a farm near Westport, Missouri, where he left Mary and the children during all of his subsequent western journeys. He sold Fort Bridger in 1858, and spent the next decade working as a guide and an army scout in the early Indian wars. By 1868, Bridger's eyesight was failing, and he increasingly suffered from rheumatism. He retired to his Westport farm, where he cared for his apple trees and no doubt fondly recalled the rugged western mountains he had known so well. He died at the age of 76 on July 17, 1881.
    1811 - The first Ohio River steamboat leaves Pittsburgh for New Orleans; it arrived three months later.
http://www.dobyns.com/dobyns.genealogy/nrpreble.htm
http://www.perrycountyindiana.org/attract/fultonhill.html
http://www.cincinnati.com/tallstacks/history_2centuries.html
    1834 – Gottlieb Daimler was born in Schorndorf, Germany.  With business partner Wilhelm Maybach, he founded Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft in 1890. In 1885, they designed a precursor of the modern petrol (gasoline) engine which they subsequently fitted to a two-wheeler, the first internal combustion motorcycle and, in the next year, to a stagecoach and a boat. Daimler called it the grandfather clock engine (Standuhr) because of its resemblance to a large pendulum clock.  After his death in 1900, through a management agreement, DMG combined with Benz & Cie, and merged to become Daimler Benz in 1926.
    1836 – Texas abolished slavery
    1841 - Birth of James R. Murray, American sacred music editor. A veteran of the American Civil War, Murray is better remembered today as composer of the hymn tune “MUELLER”, to which we sing the Christmas carol, "Away in a Manger."
    1842 - Female Relief: Society of Nauvoo Organized. Twenty Mormon women formally initiated this organization at Nauvoo, IL, which is now known as the Relief Society and has grown to almost four million members. Information furnished by Church of Latter-Day Saints, Public Affairs Department.
http://www.nauvoohistorical.org/about.htm
    1854 - Worcester, Massachusetts became the first US city to purchase land for a park.  
    1862 - Martha Platt Falconer was born.  One the greatest of all pioneers in changing holding area of delinquent or homeless girls from virtual jails to homes for rehabilitation, education, and social adjustments. She pioneered her work at Sleighton Farm in Pennsylvania and the idea was gradually accepted throughout the nation.
http://search.eb.com/women/articles/Falconer_Martha_Platt.html
    1863 - Battle of Kelly's Ford, Virginia. Union cavalry attack Confederate cavalry at Kelly's Ford, Virginia. Although the Yankees were pushed back and failed to take any ground, the engagement proved that the Federal troopers could hold their own against their Rebel counterparts. In the war's first two years, Union cavalry fared poorly in combat. This was especially true in the eastern theater, where Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart boasted an outstanding force comprised of excellent horsemen. On several occasions, Stuart embarrassed the Union cavalry with his daring exploits. During the Peninsular Campaign of 1862, Stuart rode around the entire 100,000-man Union army in four days. Later that year, he made a daring raid to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and returned unmolested to Virginia after inflicting significant damage and capturing tons of supplies. In February 1863, a raid by General Fitzhugh Lee (son of Confederate commander Robert E. Lee) left the Federals running in circles in search of the enemy force. Now, General Joseph Hooker assumed command of the Federal Army of the Potomac. He sought to bring an end to the Confederate raids by stopping Stuart's cavalry. Hooker assigned General William Averell to attack the Rebel cavalry near Culpeper Court House. Averell assembled 3,000 men for the mission, but he left 900 behind to protect against a rumored Confederate presence near Catlett's Station. Averell led the rest of his men towards Kelly's Ford, a crossing of the Rappahannock River east of Culpeper Court House. Fitzhugh Lee learned of the advance and positioned his cavalry brigade, which was part of Stuart's corps, to block the ford and dig rifle pits above the river. On the morning of March 17, Averell's men reached Kelly's Ford and were welcomed by fire from 60 Confederate sharpshooters. It took four attacks for Averell's men to capture the rifle pits and by noon the entire force was across the Rappahannock. Now, Fitzhugh Lee arrived with 800 troopers and two pieces of artillery. As the Confederates approached, the cautious Averell ordered his men to form a defensive line, thus giving the initiative to the Confederates. Lee arrived and ordered his men to attack, but Yankee fire drove them back. He attacked again and was again repulsed. Averell had a chance to score a major rout with a counterattack, but he instead withdrew across the Rappahannock River. He later said that the arrival of Stuart on the battlefield signaled the possible approach of additional Confederate cavalry. Averell lost 78 men killed, wounded, and captured during the day's fighting. The Confederates lost a total of 133 men. Among the Rebel dead was Major John Pelham, perhaps the best artillery officer in the Confederate army. He happened to be visiting Stuart when the battle began, and he rode forward to see the action. Pelham was mortally wounded by a shell splinter as he observed the Confederate attacks in the afternoon. Although Kelly's Ford was a Union defeat, it signaled a new phase of the cavalry war in the east. The Yankees were closing the gap with the Confederate horsemen. In the next four months, the Union cavalry fought their Confederate counterparts to a standstill at Brandy Station, and then scored a major victory at the Battle of Gettysburg.
    1868 - Postage stamp canceling machine patent issued but it had nothing to do with Pitney or Bowes.
    1870 - Massachusetts legislature authorizes incorporation of Wellesley Female Seminary
http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Media/facts.html
    1871 – The National Association of Professional Base-Ball Players organized.  It was the first professional league and played from 1871-75.  A weak central structure meant that the Association had no power to police its members.  In 1876, the stronger teams revolted and broke off to form their own National League that would avoid the Association's worst problems. NL membership would be by invitation only. Teams were required to pay substantial dues and were subject to League discipline including the possibility of expulsion for severe misbehavior. Six of the strongest NA teams, the Boston Red Stockings, Philadelphia Athletics, Hartford Dark Blues, St. Louis Brown Stockings, Chicago White Stockings, and New York Mutuals joined the new league, together with the Louisville Grays and the Cincinnati Red Stockings. With the loss of its strongest teams, the NA was finished. 
    1876 - The Battle of Powder River--In the first of a series of battles over the Black Hills, Colonel Joseph Reynolds leads troops in an attack on a peaceful camp of Northern Cheyenne and Oglala Sioux near the Powder River. From positions on ledges and behind rocks, the Indians hold the soldiers at bay until women and children can escape across the river. Then the soldiers burn the tepees and everything inside, including the winter food supply, and drive away all the Indians' ponies. After dark, however, the Indians raid the Army encampment and recover their stolen horses.  This lead to a court martial of Colonel Reynolds. The fighting near the Powder River culminates at the Little Big Horn and the ultimate destruction of freedom for the northern plains Indians.
    1876 - BRYAN, WILLIAM C., Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Hospital Steward, U.S. Army. Place and date: At Powder River, Wyo., 17 March 1876. Entered service at: St. Louis, Mo. Born: 9 September 1850, Zanesville, Ohio. Date of issue: 15 June 1899. Citation: Accompanied a detachment of cavalry in a charge on a village of hostile Indians and fought through the engagements, having his horse killed under him. He continued to fight on foot, and under severe fire and without assistance conveyed 2 wounded comrades to places of safety, saving them from capture.
    1884 - John Joseph Montgomery made the first glider flight, in Otay, California
1886 - First Issue of “The Sporting News”, published in St. Louis at a price of two cents per copy by Alfred H. Spink, a director of the St. Louis Browns. The Sporting News, long known as “The Bible of Baseball” and a multi-sport magazine since 1942, is the oldest continuously published sports publication in the country.  After 122 years as a weekly publication, the magazine switched to a biweekly publishing schedule in 2008 and to a monthly schedule in 2011. In December 2012, the magazine announced it would go digital-only starting in 2013.
http://www.sportingnews.com/
   1892 - A winter storm in southwestern and central Tennessee produced 26 inches of snow at Riddleton, and 18.5 inches at Memphis. It was the deepest snow of record for those areas.
    1894 - Novelist and playwright Paul Green is born. He won the 1927 Pulitzer Prize for his play “In Abraham's Bosom.” Although Green was white, his work examined the problems of blacks in the South, based on his observations of his native state, North Carolina. Green studied at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He began writing plays for the theater group Carolina Playmakers in 1919, drawing on Southern folklore for his themes. During the Depression, his work took on a tone of social protest and included plays like “Hymn to the Rising Sun” (1936), about a chain gang. In 1941, he worked with novelist Richard Wright to dramatize Wright's book “Native Son”. Interested in the interplay of words and music, he wrote a series of symphonic dramas, including “The Stephen Foster Story” (1959) and “The Lone Star” (1977). He died in Chapel Hill in 1981.
http://www.ncwriters.org/pgreen.htm
http://www.qbsaul.demon.co.uk/
    1894 - U.S. and China signed a treaty preventing Chinese laborers from entering U.S.    
    1897 - For the first time, motion pictures were shot of a championship prize fight, as ‘Sunny' Bob Fitzsimmons knocked out ‘Gentleman' Jim Corbett to win the world heavyweight title. Many of these films are available on line from the Library of Congress for free. With fast connections today, they are fascinating to view.
    1897 - Emilie Grace Briggs became the first woman in America to graduate from a Presbyterian theological school, when she received her Bachelor of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary, in New York City.
http://www.uts.columbia.edu/projects/AWTS/exhibit/briggs1.html
http://www.uts.columbia.edu/projects/AWTS/exhibit/briggs5.html
    1898 – The first practical submarine submerged, New York City, for 1 hour 40 minutes.
    1902 - Golfer Bobby Jones’ birthday in Atlanta, GA. Robert Tyre Jones, Jr., was the first golfer to win the Grand Slam - the four major British and American tournaments - in the same year.   Jones founded and helped design the Augusta National Golf Club, and co-founded the Masters Tournament.  Jones was the most successful amateur golfer ever to compete on a national and international level. During his peak as a golfer from 1923 to 1930, he dominated top-level amateur competition, and competed very successfully against the world's best professional golfers. Jones often beat stars such as Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen, the era's top pros. Jones earned his living mainly as a lawyer, and competed in golf only as an amateur, primarily on a part-time basis, and chose to retire from competition at age 28, though he earned significant money from golf after that, as an instructor and equipment designer.  He is unrelated to the course designer Robert Trent Jones.  He died in Atlanta on December 18, 1971.
http://www.bobbyjones.com/
    1903 - Radie Britain, composer, writer, teacher born near Amarillo, TX.  She won more than 50 national and international awards for her more than 150 classical compositions, trained at the American Conservatory in piano, organ, and composition, with advanced work and master classes in Germany. She taught at the Chicago Conservatory. Her daughter Lerae taught anthropology in Hawaii.
http://www.musicweb.uk.net/classrev/2001/June01/Radie.htm
http://www.music.indiana.edu/collections/britain/symph.html
http://orion-1.library.ucla.edu/web2/tramp2.exe/do_ccl_search/guest?SETTING_KEY=
Englishandservers=1uclaandquery=07-ARE-3971andindex=dbcn
http://findaid.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/ft5d5nb0k4
    1905 – Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt married in New York.
    1906 - In a speech given to the Gridiron Club in Washington, DC, President Theodore Roosevelt coined the word ‘muckrake'.
http://staff.killingly.k12.ct.us/~cmarcotte/CP%20US%20documents/progressive%20era/
progressivism_and_the_republican.htm
    1906 - The temperature at Snake River, Wyoming dipped to 50 degrees below zero -- a record for the US for the month of March.
    1908 – In the quickest knockout in heavyweight boxing history, 88 seconds, Tommy Burns KO’d Jem Roche
    1910 - Luther and Charlotte Gulick founded the Camp Fire Girls organization at Lake Sebago, Maine. The group's catch phrase is “Wohelo”, an acronym of the words: WOrk, HEalth and LOve. It continues today, though the name has been changed to Camp Fire Boys and Girls, when boys began being accepted into the organization. 
http://www.campfire.org/start.asp
    1910 – David A. “Sonny as in Money” Werblin was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn.  After graduating from Rutgers, he went to work for Music Corporation of America (MCA) in 1932 and was so successful that in 1951 he was made president of M.C.A.'s television division.  At M.C.A., Werblin made a considerable name at identifying and managing talent. His managed a list of major stars, a who's who in not only music, but also movies and television.  Werblin left M.C.A. and found a new business vehicle soon after, The American Football League, which he revolutionized. His impact on professional sports is still well-felt today. His M.C.A. connections at NBC allowed him to singlehandedly negotiate the AFL's contract there, quickly elevating the league to near-parity with the rival senior NFL, and leading to the development of The Super Bowl as a television event. The concept of The Sport Star as known today was first largely developed by Werblin, whose first developed “star " was New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath, whom he signed in 1964 for the then ridiculous contract of $427,000.  Namath became the greatest star athlete in America under Werblin's guidance in the mid and late 1960s. It was also Werblin who signed for his Jets, the team he named and colored, football talent scout and Coach Weeb Ewbank.  When the Jets won the 1969 Super Bowl against the heavily-favored Baltimore Colts, it precipitated discussions that ultimately led to the merger of the AFL into the NFL, changing pro football forever.  Werblin died in 1991.
    1914 – Slingin’ Sammy Baugh was born Samuel Adrian Baugh in Temple, TX.  Arguably one of the NFL’s greatest ever players, Baugh spent his entire career with the Washington Redskins.  He was the league’s best QB and also played DB and punted.  By the time he retired, Baugh set 13 NFL records in those three positions.  He was the first to play the position of quarterback as it is played today, the first to make the forward pass an effective weapon rather than an "act of desperation”.  Baugh died in 2008.
    1917 - In St. Louis, Missouri, America's first bowling tournament for women began with almost 100 women participating in the event.
    1919 - Pianist Leroy Lovett piano born Philadelphia PA
    1919 - Nat “King” Cole was born in Montgomery, AL.  Cole was one of the first African Americans to host a television variety show, “The Nat King Cole Show,” (1956-7).  Beginning in the late 1940s, Cole began recording and performing pop-oriented material for mainstream audiences, in which he was often accompanied by a string quartet. His stature as a popular icon was cemented during this period by hits such as "The Christmas Song" (Cole recorded the song four times: on June 14, 1946, as a Trio recording, on August 19, 1946, with an added string section, on August 24, 1953, and in 1961 for the double album “The Nat King Cole Story”; this final version, recorded in stereo, is the one most often heard today); "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" (1946), "Nature Boy" (1948), "Mona Lisa" (1950), "Too Young" (the #1 song in 1951), and his signature tune “Unforgettable” (1951). While this shift to pop music led some jazz critics and fans to accuse Cole of selling out, he never completely abandoned his jazz roots; as late as 1956 he recorded an all-jazz album “After Midnight” . Cole had one of his last major hits in 1963, two years before his death, with "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer", which reached #6 on the Pop chart. "Unforgettable” was made famous again in 1991 by Cole's daughter Natalie when modern recording technology was used to reunite father and daughter in a duet. The duet version rose to the top of the Pop charts, almost forty years after its original popularity.  The Capitol Records Building in Hollywood, shaped like a stack of 45s, is known as "The House That Nat Built".  He died in 1965.  "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, & be loved in return."
— from the song "Nature Boy"
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Bayou/3168/nkcbio.html
http://www.nat-king-cole.org/
http://www.tip.net.au/~bnoble/natkcole/nat_cole.htm
    1926 - In New York City, the musical "The Girl Friend" for a run of 409 performances.
http://home.istar.ca/~townsend/early_years/blue_room.htm
    1927 – The US declined to sign the League of Nations disarmament treaty
    1930 - Composer/flutist Paul Horn born, New York, New York.
http://www.harmonies.com/biographies/horn.htm
http://www.canyonrecords.com/arthorn.htm
    1930 - Trombone player Grover Mitchell born Whatley AL, now directs the Count Basie Band, who play all the old charts with enthusiasm.
http://www.trombone.org/articles/library/grovermitchell-int.asp
http://members.tripod.com/~isaziz/mitch.htm
http://www.mamajazz.org/pages/biobasie.html
    1932 – German police stormed the Nazi headquarters of Adolph Hitler.
    1935 – Singer Adam Wade was born Patrick Henry Wade in Pittsburgh.  He is noted for his stint as the host of the 1975 CBS game show, “Musical Chairs”, which made him the first African - American game show host.  Wade worked for a time as a lab assistant to Dr. Jonas Salk on the polio research team. He wanted to pursue a recording career and signed with Coed Records in late 1959. He had his first major hit with a song called "Ruby" in early 1960. Wade was popular in the early 1960s with vocal styling similar to that of Johnny Mathis.   In 1961, three of Wade's recordings ("Take Good Care of Her" (#7), "As If I Didn't Know" (#10) and "The Writing on the Wall" (#5) made the Billboard Top Ten..
    1938 - Guitarist Eddie Giles born Shreveport, LA
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/stax.site/egiles.htm
    1938 – Singer Zola Taylor of The Platters was born in LA.  She was their original female member from 1954 to 1962, when the group produced most of their popular singles.  Taylor died in 2007.
    1939 - Dean Mathis of the 1960's rock group the Newbeats, was born in Hahira, Georgia. Dean and his brother, Mark, along with Larry Henley, formed the trio in 1964. The Newbeats first record, "Bread and Butter," went to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964 and was the biggest of their half dozen hits.
http://www.bartsnel.nl/music/newbeats.htm 
http://www.centrohd.com/biogra/n1/newbeats_this_distinctive_pop_tr.htm
http://donnymason.tripod.com/hayridesunshineshow/
    1940 - Vito Picone, lead singer with the Elegants, was born in Staten Island, New York. The Elegants took their recording of "Little Star" to number one on the Billboard chart in 1958.
http://www.doowop.de/reviews/review.asp?id=77
http://www.the-accelerators.co.uk/elegants.html
http://www.northendboston.com/dellacavafeast.html
http://www.bxtimes.com/News/2002/0411/Boroughwide_News/040.html
    1941 - In Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art was officially opened by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
http://www.nga.gov/
    1941 - Paul Kantner was born in San Francisco.  Guitarist with Jefferson Airplane: Somebody to Love, White Rabbit, LP: Crown, Wooden Ships; Starship: LPs: Dragonfly, Red Octopus, Spitfire, Earth; KBC Band; solo LP: Blows Against the Empire, Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra)
http://www.warr.org/jefferson.html
http://www.airplane.freeserve.co.uk/paul.htm
http://www.geocities.com/dan_paolino/JSTpaul.html 
http://www.chesapeake.net/~paolino/trionic/chaos.html
    1942 – General Douglas MacArthur arrived in Australia to become Supreme Commander.
    1942 – Mass murderer John Wayne Gacy was born in Chicago.
    1944 - Singer and songwriter John Sebastien, founder of the Lovin' Spoonful, was born in Greenwich Village, New York City. Sebastien formed the Spoonful in 1964, and they had seven successive top-ten singles in 1965 and '66. The Lovin' Spoonful hit number one with "Summer in the City." After the group broke up at the end of the '60s, Sebastien began a moderately successful solo career in 1970 with an appearance at Woodstock. In 1976, he had a number-one record with "Welcome Back," the theme from the TV show "Welcome Back, Kotter."
http://www.johnbsebastian.com/bio.html
http://johnbsebastian.com/
    1948 - Top Hits
“Now is the Hour” - Bing Crosby
“I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover” - The Art Moonie Orchestra
“Beg Your Pardon” - Francis Craig
“I'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms)” - Eddy Arnold
    1948 - Science Fiction author William Gibson born, Conway, South Carolina. He is credited with having coined the term 'Cyberspace' and with having envisioned both the Internet and virtual reality before most people had even heard of them. An early notable book by Gibson is Count Zero, whose characters are a mixture of eccentric low-lifes and nonconformists who find themselves confronting representatives of vast egomaniacal individuals whose wealth and power result directly from their ability to control information.
    1949 – Actor Patrick Duffy was born in Townsend, MT. He is best known for his role on the CBS primetime soap opera “Dallas”, where he played Bobby Ewing from 1978 to 1985 and from 1986 to 1991. Duffy returned to reprise his role as Bobby in a continuation of “Dallas”, which aired on TNT from 2012 to 2014.
    1953 – Bill Veeck offered to sell 80% of the St. Louis Browns for $2.5 MM.  They would move later to Baltimore to become the Orioles for the 1954 season.
    1956 – Carl Perkins made his television debut on the ABC variety show “Ozark Jamboree”. No word on the color of the shoes he wore that night.
    1956 – “Rock Around The Clock”, starring Little Richard, The Platters, and Bill Haley and his Comets (of course), premiered in Washington DC.
    1956 – “St. Patrick's big snow" fell at Boston, Massachusetts. Nearby Blue Hill observatory recorded 12.6 inches.
    1956 - Top Hits
“Lisbon Antigua” - Nelson Riddle
“Why Do Fools Fall in Love” - Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers
“Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)” - Perry Como
“Heartbreak Hotel” - Elvis Presley
    1957 – Elvis purchased Graceland, featuring 23 rooms and 10,000 square feet of space on 13.8 acres, for $102,500.
    1960 – President Eisenhower signed the National Security Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action program that will ultimately lead to the doomed Bay of Pigs Invasion.
    1961 – The man who was drafted ahead of Michael Jordan, Sam Bowie, was born.
    1962 - The Shirelles' "Soldier Boy" is released on Sceptor Records. The tune became the girl group's biggest hit, climbing to Number One, selling over a million copies and earning a gold record.
    1963 - The Boston Celtics' Bob Cousy, played his last regular season basketball game after spending 13 years in the National Basketball Association.  Cousy played with the Celtics from 1950 to 1963 and briefly with the Cincinnati Royals in the 1969–70 season.  Cousy had a very successful career with the Celtics, playing on six championship teams, being voted into 13 All-Star games and 12 All-NBA First and Second Teams and winning the NBA MVP Award in 1957.
http://www.webcom.com/collectr/bk/couseyb.html
    1964 - Top Hits
“I Want to Hold Your Hand” - The Beatles
“She Loves You” - The Beatles
“Please Please Me” - The Beatles
“Saginaw, Michigan” - Lefty Frizzell
    1965 - 1,600 demonstrate at Montgomery, Alabama courthouse.
    1966 - César Chávez and the National Farm Workers Association march from Delano to Sacramento, California, from March 17 to April 11, arriving on Easter Sunday.
    1967 - "Peanuts" comic strip characters, Snoopy and Charlie Brown, were on the cover of "LIFE" magazine.
http://www.life.com/Life/covers/1967/cv031767.html
    1967 - Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumkins is born.
    1968 - DEVORE, EDWARD A., Jr., Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Specialist Fourth Class, U.S. Army, Company B, 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Saigon, Republic of Vietnam, 17 March 1968. Entered service at: Harbor City, Calif. Born: 15 June 1947, Torrance, Calif. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp4c. DeVore, distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on the afternoon of 17 March 1968, while serving as a machine gunner with Company B, on a reconnaissance-in-force mission approximately 5 kilometers south of Saigon. Sp4c. DeVore's platoon, the company's lead element, abruptly came under intense fire from automatic weapons, Claymore mines, rockets and grenades from well-concealed bunkers in a nipa palm swamp. One man was killed and 3 wounded about 20 meters from the bunker complex. Sp4c. DeVore raced through a hail of fire to provide a base of fire with his machine gun, enabling the point element to move the wounded back to friendly lines. After supporting artillery, gunships and air strikes had been employed on the enemy positions, a squad was sent forward to retrieve their fallen comrades. Intense enemy frontal and enfilading automatic weapons fire pinned down this element in the kill zone. With complete disregard for his personal safety, Sp4c. DeVore assaulted the enemy positions. Hit in the shoulder and knocked down about 35 meters short of his objectives, Sp4c. DeVore, ignoring his pain and the warnings of his fellow soldiers, jumped to his feet and continued his assault under intense hostile fire. Although mortally wounded during this advance, he continued to place highly accurate suppressive fire upon the entrenched insurgents. By drawing the enemy fire upon himself, Sp4c. DeVore enabled the trapped squad to rejoin the platoon in safety. Sp4c. DeVore's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty in close combat were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the 39th Infantry, and the U.S. Army.
    1968 - The Bee Gees make their U.S. television debut on the "Ed Sullivan Show." They perform "To Love Somebody" and "Words."
    1969 - Cardinal first baseman Orlando Cepeda is traded to the Braves for catcher/first baseman Joe Torre.
    1970 - Eddie Holman was awarded a gold record for the single, "Hey There Lonely Girl", which was originally a hit for Ruby and the Romantics titled, "Hey There Lonely Boy" in the 1960s. While singing this song, dedicated to his daughter, Holman died on stage at a New Jersey performance in the mid-1970s.
http://discomuseum.com/EddieHolman.html
http://www.allbutforgottenoldies.net/eddie-holman.html
    1972 - Top Hits
“Without You” - Nilsson
“Heart of Gold” - Neil Young
“The Lion Sleeps Tonight” - Robert John
“My Hang-Up is You” - Freddie Hart
    1976 - Boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter's murder case was reopened, largely due to the attention brought upon it by Bob Dylan's recent hit song, “Hurricane”.
    1978 – Perhaps the greatest film about the 50's rock and roll scene, “American Hot Wax”, a film based on the story of Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed, who introduced rock 'n' roll to teenage American radio audiences in the 1950's, opened in Cleveland. The film featured featuring performances by Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and Frankie Ford, a young Fran Drescher as Sheryl and Jay Leno as Mookie in one of their early film roles.
    1980 - Top Hits
“Crazy Little Thing Called Love” - Queen
“Longer” - Dan Fogelberg
“Another Brick in the Wall” - Pink Floyd
“My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys” - Willie Nelson
    1985 - A strong (F3) tornado tore through Venice, Florida during the early morning hours. 55 homes were destroyed and 220 were damaged. 2 people were killed and 45 were injured.
    1985 – Serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the "Night Stalker", committed the first two murders in his Los Angeles murder spree.
    1988 - Top Hits
“Never Gonna Give You Up” - Rick Astley
“I Get Weak” - Belinda Carlisle
“Man in the Mirror” - Michael Jackson
“Too Gone Too Long” - Randy Travis
    1989 - Strong northerly winds ushered snow and arctic cold into the north central U.S. Winds gusted to 58 mph at Sydney, NE and Scottsbluff, NE, Cadillac, MI received 12 inches of snow, and International Falls, MN reported a record low of 22 degrees below zero.
    1990 - Showers and thunderstorms associated with a slow moving cold front produced torrential rains across parts of the southeastern U.S. over a two day period. Flooding claimed the lives of at least 22 persons, including thirteen in Alabama. Up to 16 inches of rain deluged southern Alabama, with 10.63 inches reported at Mobile, AL in 24 hours. The town of Elba, AL was flooded with 6 to 12 feet of water causing more than 25 million dollars damage, and total flood damage across Alabama exceeded 100 million dollars. Twenty-six counties in the state were declared disaster areas.
    1990 - Carly Simon, Whitney Houston, Air Supply, Dionne Warwick and Milli Vanilli were among those who turned out in New York for a benefit billed as the single largest fund-raising event for AIDS. About two million dollars was raised. The concert was sponsored by Arista Records, which was celebrating its 15th anniversary.
    1994 – Smoking in the ballpark is banned by the Cleveland Indians…ironic, isn’t it?
    1995 - Chicken Pox vaccine was approved for public use. Marketed by Merck and Company, Whitehouse Station, NJ, under the trade name Variva, the vaccine was believed to be 70 to 90 percent effective.
    1995 - Madonna holds the "world's biggest pajama party" as 1500 guests gather with pj's and teddy bears. This was all for the premiere of her new "Bedtime Stories" video.
    1997 - The US Supreme Court declined to hear the San Francisco's argument that the cross on Mt. Davidson is a cultural landmark. The cross was purchased for $26,000 by The Council of Armenian American Organizations of Northern California.  Mount Davidson is the highest natural point in The City with an elevation of 928 feet, near the geographical center,
    1997 - The Recording Industry Association of America announced that the Eagles "Greatest Hits" album had tied Michael Jackson's "Thriller" as the all-time best-selling album in the US. Each had sold more than 24 million copies. "Thriller" was still the top-seller worldwide, with estimated sales of 46 million copies.
http://www.rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=96
    1998 - USA Women's Hockey Team beats Canada for 1st Olympics Gold medal
http://www.jwen.com/hock/whock/whock.html
    1998 - Van Halen releases their latest album, "Van Halen 3," which is their first album with new lead singer Gary Cherone. That night they hold a record signing for fans at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square.
    2008 - Eight years to the day that their romance became public, model and activist Heather Mills was awarded $48.6 million in her divorce settlement from Paul McCartney.
    2012 - An internal investigation launched by Pope Benedict XVI revealed leaks of confidential documents that allege corruption, financial mismanagement and power struggles among senior church officials.
    2013 - The largest meteorite since NASA started observing the moon in 2005 hit the moon.