Portal:United States/Anniversaries/April/April 12

1776 – With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its delegation to the Second Continental Congress to vote for independence from Britain.
1861 – The first battle of the American Civil War begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
1865 – Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union Army.
1934 – The Auto-Lite Strike begins, culminating in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strikers and picketers.
1945 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies while in office; vice-president Harry Truman (pictured) is sworn in as the 33rd President.
1981 – The Space Shuttle Columbia launches on the STS-1 mission, the first manned mission of the STS program.

On this day for the United States

Events

1776 - North Carolina's Provincial Congress authorized its delegates to the Second Continental Congress to vote for independence by issuing the Halifax Resolves.
1861 - American Civil War: The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
1864 - American Civil War: Fort Pillow massacre -- Confederate forces under General Nathan Bedford Forrest kill most of the African American soldiers who had surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.
1865 - American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union Army.
1934 - The strongest surface wind gust in the world, 231 mph, was measured by the staff of the Mount Washington Observatory on the summit of Mount Washington
1934 - The Auto-Lite Strike, which culminated in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strikers and picketers, began.
1945 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies while in office; vice-president Harry S. Truman is sworn in as the 33rd President of the United States.
1955 - The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.
1968 - Nerve gas accident at Skull Valley, Utah.