June 30: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 30, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1863, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published the following dispatch from Harrisburg, Pa.: “I have ascertained, on inquiry at official quarters, the following authentic particulars. They are all exact and reliable: Nearly all of the rebel army, General Lee commanding in person, is now in the state. Hill and Longstreet, as well as Ewell, are at the head of the invading corps, so that it will be at once realized that the whole rebel Army of Northern Virginia are invading Pennsylvania. The enemy are attempting to cross at Bainbridge, but are being sharply resisted. A rebel force is also approaching Perryville. There was more cannonading at the fortifications this afternoon. Every moment we expect an attack, but will meet it manfully.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1913, the Eagle reported, “GETTYSBURG, PA. — Twenty-five thousand veterans in Blue and Gray, the biggest army of its kind that has been gathered together in fifty years, woke today on the field of Gettysburg to the call of reveille and the rattle of pots and pans in a score of mess tents. Veterans who sat about camp fires until late at night were up long before the sun climbed over the hills of the Blue Ridge. Before the electric lights of this modern camp were turned out, to make way for the sun, the veterans were singing the songs of war time, and the wide streets of the tented city echoed with the ‘ki-yi’ of the ‘Johnny Reb’ and the hoarser yell of his Yankee brother from the North.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1929, the Eagle reported, “Fully 1,000,000 persons are expected to leave New York City proper over July 4, according to the estimate of a railroad official. The volume of vacation traffic on railroads radiating from New York is growing daily. New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and New England will get the bulk of holiday makers. Special excursions are being run to various points on July 4, over the New York Central lines, the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Jersey Central, the Lackawanna, the Erie, the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, and other rail companies. Swelling the travel are many groups of boys and girls entraining for summer camps.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1940, the Eagle reported, “In an effort to cut down the annual Fourth of July toll of killed and maimed, the National Safety Council has issued an appeal to ‘put a blockade on fireworks.’ Another organization seeking reduction of accidents due to explosives on the day of the national celebration is the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness. The council has called upon every citizen to help enforce this ‘blockade,’ and has urged police departments in every state and city to set up a fatality patrol over the holiday period. ‘There is only one kind of safe fireworks,’ Col. John Stillwell, president of the council, said, ‘and that is the kind that you stay away from.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1941, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — The tenure of Charles Evans Hughes as Chief Justice of the United States ends today. The venerable jurist, who resigned his post at the age of 79, is vacationing with Mrs. Hughes in the Canadian Rockies. His voluntary retirement becomes effective at midnight. It was understood that Harlan F. Stone, who was elevated by President Roosevelt to be Chief Justice, would take the oath tomorrow, probably in a private ceremony in Colorado, where he is vacationing.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1943, the Eagle reported, “Brooklyn children today dashed madly out of classrooms for the last time until fall — ten joyous weeks away. For many of the city’s 900,000 school children, however, the war will dominate their vacation work and play. Victory gardening, volunteer farm work and other war work will take up most of their time. And this summer the usual trips to the country and seashore will be curtailed or cut out altogether, due to gasoline and travel difficulties. Teachers will also contribute time to the war emergency with each required to serve one week without pay on emergency duty during the vacation. In addition, the Board of Education requires that they remain within one day’s traveling time of the city to enable them to return to supervise the children in the event of a bombing.”

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David Alan Grier
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Paul Berg, who was born in Brooklyn in 1926; “Too Close for Comfort” star Nancy Dussault, who was born in 1936; N.Y. Mets World Series hero Ron Swoboda, who was born in 1944; “Married … With Children” star David Garrison, who was born in 1952; “In Living Color” star David Alan Grier, who was born in 1956; “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” star Vincent D’Onofrio, who was born in Brooklyn in 1959; guitar legend Yngwie Malmsteen, who was born in 1963; International Boxing Hall of Famer Mike Tyson, who was born in Brooklyn in 1966; “Along Came a Spider” star Monica Potter, who was born in 1971; “Castle Rock” star Lizzy Caplan, who was born in 1982; “American Idol” champion Fantasia Barrino, who was born in 1984; and Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Michael Phelps, who was born in 1985.

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LEADING LADY: Lena Horne was born on this day in 1917. The native of Bedford-Stuyvesant began singing with the chorus line at the Cotton Club in Harlem at age 16. A career on Broadway and in Hollywood followed in rapid succession and she soon became the symbol for African-American actors and singers trying to break the color barrier. She found success with both black and white audiences, although she did face her share of racial prejudice. She died in 2010. A forever stamp depicting her was issued in 2018.

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HERE AND NOW: The National Organization for Women was founded in Washington, D.C., on this day in 1966 by attendees of the Third National Conference on the Commission on the Status of Women. NOW’s purpose is to take action to bring women into full partnership in the mainstream of American society, exercising all privileges and responsibilities in equal partnership with men.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

Quotable:

“It’s so nice to get flowers while you can still smell the fragrance.”

— singer Lena Horne, who was born in Brooklyn on this day in 1917