Historical Events on July 22

  • 1587: Another group of English settler arrive on Roanoke Island. This was to reestablish the deserted colony that disappeared off of this island off the North Carolina coast.
  • 1598: The Merchant of Venice is placed on Stationers’ Register. This register gives the Crown control over all published material.
  • 1686: Governor Thomas Dongan charters Albany in New York as an official municipality.
  • 1793: Alexander Mackenzie becomes the first recorded human to finish a transcontinental crossing of North America when he reaches the Pacific Ocean on this date.
  • 1797: British and Spanish naval forces clash at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife during the French Revolutionary Wars.
  • 1797: Rear-Admiral Nelson has his arm wounded during the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and it has to be partially amputated in order to prevent it from becoming gangrenous.
  • 1805: During the War of the Third Coalition, French and Spanish forces fight inconclusively.
  • 1864: General John Bell Hood leads Confederate forces against Union troops led by General William T. Sherman at the Battle of Atlanta during the American Civil War. The attack is unsuccessful.
  • 1937:S President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes that more justices be added to the Supreme Court of the U.S.; The U.S Senate votes down that proposal.
  • 1942: Gas is rationed among the civilian population to keep it available for military use during World War 2.
  • 1942: Jews are systematically deported from the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust.
  • 1943: The Italian city of Palermo is captured by Allied forces during World War 2.
  • 1943: A protest is dispersed in Athens, Greece by Axis occupation forces. Over 20 people are killed.
  • 1962: The Mariner 1 spacecraft begins to fly erratically after launch and has to be destroyed by NASA.
  • 1976: Japan finishes reparation to the Philippines for war crimes during World War 2.

Famous Birthdays on July 22

  • American poet and educator, Emma Lazarus is born in 1849.
  • Jewish-American biochemist and Nobel Prize laureate Selman Waksman is born in 1888.
  • American sculptor Alexander Calder is born in 1898.
  • American author Amy Vanderbilt is born in 1908.