Historical Events on October 19
- 1789: The first Chief Justice of the United States – John Jay – is sworn into office.
- 1805: Austrian General Mack surrenders to Napoleon’s army at the Battle of Ulm during the Napoleonic Wars. Over thirty thousand prisoners are captured.
- 1812: Napoleon Bonaparte withdraws from Moscow.
- 1864: Philip Sheridan leads Union forces to destroy Confederate forces at the Battle of Cedar Creek during the American Civil War.
- 1900: Planck’s Law is created when Max Planck discovers the principles behind black body radiation.
- 1935: Because fascist Italy invaded Ethiopia, the League of Nations puts economic sanctions on it on this day.
- 1943: Rutgers University comes up with the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis. It’s called Streptomycin.
- 1943: Allied aircraft attack and sing the cargo vessel Sinfra at Souda Bay, Crete. As a result, over 2,000 Italian POWs drown as they go down with the ship.
- 1944: United States forces arrive in the Philippines as a prelude to the arrival of U.S. General Douglas MacArthur.
- 1960: An almost complete trade embargo is levied against Cuba by the United States during the Cold War.
- 1973: When an Appeals Court decides that President Richard Nixon should turn over the Watergate tapes, he rejects the idea.
- 1987: The U.S Navy begins Operation Nimble Archer – by attacking two Iranian oil platforms located in the Persian Gulf.
- 1987: In what would later be called Black Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 508 points – or about 22-percent – on this day.
Famous Birthdays on October 19
- English poet Leigh Hunt is born in 1784.
- Greek painter Theodoros Vryzakis is born in 1814.
- Belgian-English botanist and zoologist, George Albert Boulenger is born in 1858.
- American writer and poet Emma Bell Miles is born in 1879.
- American-English author Tracy Chevalier is born in 1962.
- American boxer Evander Holyfield is born in 1962.
- American carpenter and TV host, Ty Pennington is born in 1965.
- American novelist and short story writer, David Vann is born in 1966.