July is National Picnic Month – therefore, it’s hardly surprising that the following are “official” national holidays to be celebrated this month: National Grilling Month, Hot Dog Month, Pickle Month, Horseradish Month, Baked Beans Month, Ice Cream Month, Watermelon Month, AND let’s not forget that July 6th is National Fried Chicken Day!
• The Battle of Gettysburg, July 1 to July 3, 1863, is considered by many military historians as the turning point of the American Civil War, because it marked the last major attempted invasion of the North by the Confederacy.
• Idaho, the 43rd State, was admitted into the Union on July 3, 1890.
• On July 8, 1497, Vasco da Gama left Lisbon. He rounded the Cape of Good Hope and on May 20, 1498 arrived in India. He returned to Portugal in September of 1499.
• On July 8th, 1835. The Liberty Bell was scheduled to toll for eight hours to mourn the death of Chief Justice John Marshall. But during the fifth hour, it cracked; the bell has been silent ever since.
• The Storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris, France on the morning of 14 July 1789. A large mob, looking for arms to fight off a royal attack, stormed the Bastille prison, believing it to contain munitions and a large number of political prisoners. Actually, only seven prisoners were in the Bastille on the day it was stormed.
• Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, New Mexico on July 14, 1881.
• St. Swithin’s Day is the 15th of July.
• The first parking meter in the world was installed in Oklahoma City, USA, on 19 July 1935.
• On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong, followed by Buzz Aldrin, were the first men who stepped onto the surface of the Moon. Michael Collins, the command module pilot of the Apollo 11 mission, remained in orbit around the moon, while the lunar module, “The Eagle” made its famous landing.
• John Dillinger was killed by federal agents on July 22, 1934 in Chicago, Illinois. Dillinger, who had been dubbed ‘Public Enemy Number One’ by J. Edgar Hoover was betrayed by a female companion, who told authorities she would be wearing a red dress while accompanying Dillinger from a movie theater. She was later dubbed ‘the lady in red.’
• New York, one of the original 13 colonies, became a state on July 26, 1788. It was the 11th state to join the new United States of America.
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