TODAY IN HISTORY

1862

The Civil War Battle of Shiloh began in Tennessee as Confederate forces launched a surprise attack against Union troops, who beat back the Confederates the next day.

1886

The Canadian city of Vancouver, British Columbia, was incorporated.

1896

The first modern Olympic games formally opened in Athens.

1909

American explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson and four Inuits became the first men to reach the North Pole.

1917

The United States entered World War I as the House joined the Senate in approving a declaration of war against Germany that was then signed by President Woodrow Wilson.

1954

Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., responding to CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow’s broadside against him on “See It Now,” said in remarks filmed for the program that Murrow had, in the past, “engaged in propaganda for Communist causes.”