Milestones: April 9, 2024

April 9, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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DIGNIFIED SURRENDER — CONFEDERATE GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE SURRENDERED, on April 9, 1865, his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, at the Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia, thus ending the American Civil War. He had been forced to abandon Richmond, which at the time was the Confederate capital, and he was blocked from his other troops’ units. Reportedly, he showed up in full dress and immaculate uniform while Grant showed up with his boots muddied. Grant offered generous terms both to Lee and his soldiers, including full pardons, their personal property, particularly their horses and their side arms.

Lee’s troops would also be provided with Union food rations.

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‘DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?’ — EXACTLY A YEAR LATER, GRANT WAS ARRESTED — FOR SPEEDING, according to the National Intelligencer. The police report indicated he was “exercising his fast gray nag.” Although Grant initially offered to pay the fine, he drove off, unconvinced that they had the authority to arrest him. However, with some humility, he later acknowledged the warrant, appeared before the justice of the peace and paid the fine.

This wouldn’t be the last time, though. Grant was again arrested for speeding, at least once while he was President, although he did not show up in court. However, as no documents could be found for this particular incident, its accuracy was questioned.

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NASA DEBUTS FIRST ASTRONAUTS — THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA) on April 9, 1959, introduced America’s first astronauts to the press: Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Walter Schirra Jr., Alan Shepard Jr. and Donald Slayton. The seven men were all military test pilots, who had been carefully selected from a group of 32 candidates to participate in Project Mercury, America’s first manned space program. Alan Shepard was successfully launched into space on a suborbital flight on May 5, 1961, the year that NASA began manned orbital flights. John Glenn, who decades later would represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate, became the first American to orbit Earth on Feb. 20, 1962.

In 1998, 36 years after his first space flight, John Glenn traveled into space again some 3½ decades later, in 1998. Now 77 years old, Glenn became part of the Space Shuttle Discovery crew on a nine-day research that investigated a study of space flight and the aging process, among other tasks.

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SADDAM’S STATUE TOPPLED — U.S. FORCES TOOK ONLY THREE WEEKS AFTER THEIR MARCH 2003 INVASION of Iraq to take down the bronze statue of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, on April 9, 2003. This was not only an early victory for U.S.-led troops, but it also represented the end of Hussein’s long, strong-arm reign.

However, the Iraq War would become protracted, even though Saddam Hussein was captured later in 2003. The U.S. did not withdraw until December 2011.

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS — PUERTO RICAN ACTRESS RITA MORENO BECOMES THE FIRST HISPANIC WOMAN TO WIN an Oscar, for her role of Anita in “West Side Story” (1961), on April 9, 1962. Moreno, reprising Anita in the film remake of the musical “West Side Story,” was in her element, singing most of her own parts without being dubbed. One such highlight was “America,” a witty repartee between her and boyfriend Bernardo in which their characters both celebrate the experience of Puerto Rican immigrants and denounce their adopted country’s racism.

“West Side Story” won 10 Oscars including Best Picture. Her acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actress: “I can’t believe it. Good Lord! I leave you with that.”

See previous milestones, here.