Historical Events on April 28
- 1503: The Battle of Cerignola becomes the first battle in history won using gunpowder and small arms.
- 1788: Maryland ratifies the U.S Constitution on this day. It’s the 7thS State to do so.
- 1789: During the Mutiny on the Bounty, 18 sailors and Lieutenant William Bligh are set adrift while the rebel crew returns to Tahiti and then to Pitcairn Island.
- 1792: The French Revolutionary Wars begins when the Austrian Netherlands is invaded by France.
- 1869: 10 miles of track is laid in one for the Central Pacific Railroad by Irish and Chinese laborers. It’s a feat that hasn’t been matched since.
- 1881: Billy the Kid breaks out of the Lincoln County Jail in the town of Mesilla in New Mexico.
- 1944: 9 German Schnellboots (or as the Allies called them: E Boats) attack units from the U.S and the U.K as they were practicing Exercise Tiger – a rehearsal for the Normandy landings. Over 946 servicemen are killed.
- 1945: Benito Mussolini and his mistress are executed by a firing squad.
- 1952: General Dwight D. Eisenhower steps down as the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.
- 1952: The occupation of Japan by the United States ends when the Treaty of San Francisco comes into effect.
- 1969: Charles de Gaulle steps down as France’s President.
- 1970: American troops are officially authorized to fight communist sanctuaries in Cambodia by United States President Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War.
Famous Birthdays on April 28
- American solder and 5th President of the U.S., James Monroe is born in 1758.
- American scholar Ezra Abbot is born in 1819.
- Dutch lawyer and Nobel prize laureate, Tobias Asser is born in 1838.
- Portuguese painter Jose Malhoa is born in 1855.
- American actor and director, Lionel Barrymore is born in 1878.
- Czech-German businessman Oskar Schindler is born in 1908.
- American historian and author, Bill Blackbeard is born in 1926.
- American novelist Harper Lee is born in 1926.
- American actress Carolyn Jones is born in 1930.
- American actress, singer and dancer, Ann Margret is born in 1941.
- American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate, Karl Barry Sharpless is born in 1941.
- American director and producer, Elizabeth LeCompte is born in 1944.