On this day: August 16
POSTED: 9:42 PM PDT August 13, 2012
UPDATED: 11:00 PM PDT August 15, 2012
Politics get ugly on the White House lawn, Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation, the Bambino and The King both die, and the Beatles find a new drummer, all on this day.
Public domain
1812: Facing what he believed to be superior forces, American Gen. William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit without a fight to the British Army during the War of 1812. The surrender not only costs the United States the village of Detroit, but control over most of the Michigan territory. Hull is later court-martialed and sentenced to be shot, but received a reprieve from President James Madison.
