The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga occurred on May 10, 1775, when a small
force of Green Mountain Boys led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict
Arnold overcame a small British garrison at the fort and looted the
personal belongings of the garrison. Cannons and other armaments from
the fort were transported to Boston and used to fortify Dorchester
Heights and break the stalemate at the Siege of Boston. After seizing
Ticonderoga, a small detachment captured the nearby Fort Crown Point on
May 11. On May 18, Arnold and 50 men boldly raided Fort Saint-Jean on
the Richelieu River in southern Quebec, seizing military supplies,
cannons, and the largest military vessel on Lake Champlain. Although
the scope of this military action was relatively minor, it had
significant strategic importance. It impeded communication between
northern and southern units of the British Army, and gave the nascent
Continental Army a staging ground for the invasion of Quebec later in
1775. It also involved two larger-than-life personalities in Allen and
Arnold, each of whom sought to gain as much credit and honor as
possible for these events.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Fort_Ticonderoga>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1893:
Mortimer Durand, Foreign Secretary of British India, and Abdur Rahman
Khan, Amir of Afghanistan, signed the Durand Line Agreement,
establishing what is now the international border between Afghanistan
and Pakistan.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line>
1942:
World War II: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal , the decisive engagement
in a series of naval battles between Allied and Japanese forces during
the months-long Guadalcanal campaign in the Solomon Islands, began.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Battle_of_Guadalcanal>
1970:
The Oregon Highway Division attempted to destroy a rotting beached
sperm whale near Florence, Oregon, with explosives, leading to the
exploding whale incident.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/exploding_whale>
1991:
In Dili, East Timor, Indonesian forces opened fire on student
demonstrators protesting the Indonesian occupation of East Timor,
killing at least 250 people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_massacre>
2006:
Although the Georgian government declared it illegal, South Ossetia
held a referendum on independence, with about 99 percent of voters
supporting to preserve the region's status as a de facto independent
state.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Ossetian_independence_referendum%2C_2006>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
enchorial (adj):
1. Indigenous, native.
2. Of, relating to, or written in the vulgar form of ancient Egyptian
hieratic writing
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/enchorial>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but
rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country
and mankind its citizens.
--Bahá'u'lláh
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27u%27ll%C3%A1h>
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