October 1
331 B.C., Alexander the Great defeated Darius III of Persia at the battle of Gaugamela.
1800, Spain ceded the territory of Louisiana to France.
1880, John P. Sousa became leader of the U.S. Marine Corps Band.
October 2
1187, Saladin’s siege of Jerusalem ends recapturing the city from Crusaders.
October 3
1835, the Staedtler Company is founded in Nuremberg, Germany. Staedtler is a producer of writing instruments, drafting and artist supplies. The Staedtler family had already been making pencils for generations, dating back into the 1660’s. Staedtler celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2010 and is still making pens today.
October 4
1955, Having lost seven previous attempts, the Brooklyn Dodgers won their first and last World Series.
October 5
1947, President Truman makes first TV address.
October 7
1763, British King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 declaring all lands north and west of the Alleghenies off-limits to settlement for the colonists.
October 12
1492, Christopher Columbus landed on the islands of the Bahamas, believing he had reached eastern Asia.
October 14
1954, Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” began filming on location in Egypt with a cast of 25,000 people.
October 15
1582, Pope Gregory XIII implemented the Gregorian calendar.
October 16
1773, Pennsylvania Gazette publishes the first article denouncing Britain’s unfair tea tax, leading up to the Boston Tea Party two months later.
October 17
1933, Albert Einstein fled from Nazi Germany to the U.S.
October 19
1765, the American colonies Stamp Act Congress passed the Declaration of Rights and Grievances in response to the British imposed Stamp Act.
1781, British General Cornwallis surrenders to Washington at Yorktown, Virginia, ending the Revolutionary War.
October 20
1944, General Douglas MacArthur returned to the Philippines, fulfilling his promise to return when he was forced to leave by presidential order in 1942.
October 25
1760, in Britain, King George III succeeded his grandfather, King George II, as ruler of the British empire.
October 26
1881, the shootout at the OK corral occurred in Tombstone, Arizona.
October 27
312, Constantine the Great was said to have had his vision of the conquering cross on this day. The next day, he met the Roman Emperor Maxentius and defeated him.
1682, the city of Philadelphia, (Pennsylvania) was founded.
1795, the United States and Spain signed the Treaty of Madrid establishing navigation rights on the Mississippi River and the boundaries between the U.S. and the Spanish-American territories.
October 28
306, Maxentius was proclaimed the Roman Emperor, but six years later, he is defeated by Constantine I at the battle of Milvian Bridge.
1775, the British impose a proclamation forcing all citizens of Boston to confinement within the city.
October 29
1886, President Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty followed by the first ever ticker tape parade in New York City.
October 31
1939, drilling ceased on the creation of the Mount Rushmore memorial. The original design was to include the Presidents’ likeness from head to waist, but lack of funding curtailed the work and only head busts were carved.