This Day…

1846 – Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican–American War

1889 – A 1.9 million-acre tract of Indian Territory for white colonial settlement in Oklahoma officially starts at 12pm

1906 – San Francisco earthquake and fire kills nearly 4,000 while destroying 75% of the city

1941 – American actress Doris Day (19) weds trombonist Albert Jorden

1862  – American poet Emily Dickinson first corresponds with author and future literary mentor Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a relationship that lasts the rest of her life

1872 – Jesse James‘ gang robs a bank of $1,500 in Columbia, Kentucky, 1 dead

1912 – RMS Titanic sets sail from Southampton for her maiden (and final) voyage

1893 – The Critic reports that ice cream soda is America’s national drink

1887 – Anne Sullivan makes the breakthrough to Helen Keller by spelling “water” in the manual alphabet.

1860 – The Pony Express mail delivery system, which used continuous horse-and-rider relays along a 1,800-mile (2,900-km) route between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, was launched in the United States.