Today in History

Today in History

Today is Sunday, Nov. 15, the 320th day of 2020. There are 46 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 15, 1864, during the Civil War, Union forces led by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh (teh-KUM'-seh) Sherman began their "March to the Sea" from Atlanta; the campaign ended with the capture of Savannah on Dec. 21.

On this date:

In 1777, the Second Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation.

In 1806, explorer Zebulon Pike sighted the mountaintop now known as Pikes Peak in present-day Colorado.

In 1937, at the U.S. Capitol, members of the House and Senate met in air-conditioned chambers for the first time.

In 1942, the naval Battle of Guadalcanal ended during World War II with a decisive U.S. victory over Japanese forces.

In 1958, actor Tyrone Power, 44, died in Madrid, Spain, while filming "Solomon and Sheba." (Power's part was recast with Yul Brynner.)

In 1959, four members of the Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas, were found murdered in their home. (Ex-convicts Richard Hickock and Perry Smith were later convicted of the killings and hanged in a case made famous by the Truman Capote book "In Cold Blood.")

In 1966, the flight of Gemini 12, the final mission of the Gemini program, ended successfully as astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. splashed down safely in the Atlantic after spending four days in orbit.

In 1974, the disaster movie "Earthquake" was released by Universal Pictures in "Sensurround," which bombarded the audience with low-frequency sound waves during the quake scenes.

In 1984, Stephanie Fae Beauclair, the infant publicly known as "Baby Fae" who had received a baboon's heart to replace her own congenitally deformed one, died at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California three weeks after the transplant.

In 2007, baseball player Barry Bonds was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice, charged with lying when he told a federal grand jury that he did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs. (Bonds was later convicted on the obstruction of justice count; the conviction was overturned in 2015.)

Ten years ago: A House ethics committee panel began closed-door deliberations on 13 counts of alleged financial and fundraising misconduct by U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who walked out of the proceeding after pleading unsuccessfully for more time to raise money for a lawyer. (Rangel was convicted the next day of 11 rules violations.) San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey and Texas Rangers closer Neftali Feliz were voted the Rookies of the Year.

Five years ago: World leaders vowed a vigorous response to the Islamic State group's terror rampage in Paris as they opened a two-day meeting in Turkey, with President Barack Obama calling the violence an "attack on the civilized world" and Russian President Vladimir Putin urging "global efforts" to confront the threat. P.F. Sloan, 70, the troubled songwriter behind such classic 1960s tunes as Johnny Rivers' "Secret Agent Man" and Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction," died in Los Angeles.