April is a month rich in history. Here’s your monthly history lesson compliments of Wells Brothers!
April 1, sometime in the 1500’s, is the best guess for the start of the April Fool’s Day festivities.
April 3, 1948 President Harry S. Truman signed the European Recovery Program better known as the Marshall Plan. It was intended to stop the spread of Communism and rebuild the economies of Europe devastated by World War II.
April 6, 1917 the Congress approved a declaration of war with Germany and the United States entered World War I.
April 9, 1866 the Civil Rights Bill of 1866 was passed by Congress granting blacks the rights and privileges of U.S. citizenship despite a veto by President Andrew Johnson.
April 9, 1942 in the Philippines, the Bataan Death March began. American and Filipino prisoners were forced on a six-day, 60 mile march from Bataan to Cabanatuan without food or water.
April 10, 1945 the 6th Armored Division, part of the Third Army liberated The Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald. Of a total of 238,980 Buchenwald inmates, 56,545 perished.
April 14, 1865 President Abraham Lincoln was shot while watching a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater in Washington. He died April 15 at 7:22 a.m.
April 18, 1775 The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and William Dawes occurred as the two men rode out of Boston to warn patriots of the approaching British.
