April 15 in History

Historical Events on April 15

1783 Preliminary articles of peace ending the American Revolutionary War (or American War of Independence) are ratified.

1861 President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 Volunteers to quell the insurrection that soon became the American Civil War.

1865 President Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening by actor John Wilkes Booth. Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes President upon Lincoln's death.

1892 The General Electric Company is formed.

1900 Philippine-American War: Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack on U.S. infantry and begin a four-day siege of Catubig, Philippines.

1912 The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 710 of 2,227 passengers and crew on board survive.

1947 Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color line.

1955 McDonald's restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois

2013 Two bombs explode near the finish line at the Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts, killing three people and injuring 264 others.

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Famous Birthdays on April 15

1452 Leonardo da Vinci

1894 Nikita Khrushchev

1959 Emma Thompson

1991 Javier Fernández López

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Famous Deaths on April 15

1865 Abraham Lincoln

1912 Sinking of the RMS Titanic

1990 Greta Garbo

1998 Pol Pot

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