TODAY IN HISTORY: JUNE 15

June 15 1776: Delaware declares independence
On this day in 1776, the Assembly of the Lower Counties of Pennsylvania declared itself independent of British and Pennsylvanian authority, thereby creating the state of Delaware.

Delaware did not exist as a colony under British rule. As of 1704, Pennsylvania had two colonial assemblies: one for the “Upper Counties,” originally Bucks, Chester and Philadelphia, and one for the “Lower Counties on the Delaware” of New Castle, Kent and Sussex. All of the counties shared one governor.

Thomas McKean and Caesar Rodney, the same two men who represented the Lower Counties in the Stamp Act Congress of 1765, proposed the Lower Counties’ simultaneous separation from Pennsylvania and the British crown. McKean and Rodney, along with George Read, represented the Lower Counties at the First Continental Congress in 1774 as well as the Second Continental Congress in 1775-76. When Read refused to vote for independence, McKean had famously summoned an ailing Rodney, who rode overnight from Dover, Delaware, to Philadelphia in order to cast his vote in favor of independence and break the Delaware delegation’s stalemate.

McKean and Rodney were punished for their zealous pursuit of independence in an area heavily populated by Loyalists. The first Delaware General Assembly, a body that owed its existence to McKean and Rodney, chose not to return them to the Continental Congress in October 1776. But, after Wilmington, Delaware, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, fell under British occupation, the second General Assembly returned the two Patriots to the Continental Congress in October 1777. Both men went on to serve as president of the state of Delaware. Rodney held the post from March 31, 1778, to November 6, 1781. McKean served briefly as the acting president from September 22 until October 20, 1777, while George Read traveled from Philadelphia to assume the post, left vacant by John McKinly’s capture by British troops.

June 15 1863: Lincoln calls for help
On this day in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln called for help in protecting Washington, D.C., America’s capital city.

Throughout June, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was on the move. He had pulled his army from its position along the Rappahannock River around Fredericksburg, Virginia, and set it on the road to Pennsylvania. Lee and the Confederate leadership decided to try a second invasion of the North to take pressure off Virginia and to seize the initiative against the Army of the Potomac. The first invasion, in September 1862, failed when the Federals fought Lee’s army to a standstill at the Battle of Antietam in Maryland.

Lee later divided his army and sent the regiments toward the Shenandoah Valley, using the Blue Ridge Mountains as a screen. After the Confederates took Winchester, Virginia, on June 14, they were situated on the Potomac River, seemingly in a position to move on Washington, D.C. Lincoln did not know it, but Lee had no intention of attacking Washington. All Lincoln knew was that the Rebel army was moving en masse and that Union troops could not be certain as to the Confederates’ location.

On June 15, Lincoln put out an emergency call for 100,000 troops from the state militias of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, and West Virginia. Although the troops were not needed, and the call could not be fulfilled in such a short time, it was an indication of how little the Union authorities knew of Lee’s movements and how vulnerable they thought the Federal capital was.

June 15 1904: River excursion ended in tragedy
More than 1,000 people taking a pleasure trip on New York City’s East River were drowned or burned to death when a fire swept through the boat. This was one of the United States’ worst maritime disasters.

The riverboat-style steamer General Slocum was built in 1890 and used mostly as a vehicle for taking large groups on day outings. On June 15, the St. Mark’s German Lutheran Church assembled a group of 1,360 people, mostly children and teachers, for their annual Sunday School picnic. The picnic was to take place at Locust Point in the Bronx after a cruise up the East River on the General Slocum.

At about 9 a.m., the dangerously overcrowded boat left its dock in Manhattan with Captain William Van Schaik in charge. As the boat passed 83rd Street, accounts indicate that a child spotted a fire in a storeroom and reported it to Captain Van Schaik. Reportedly the captain responded, “Shut up and mind your own business.” But as the smoke became more obvious, crew members were sent to investigate. By this time, the storeroom, filled with a combination of oil and excelsior (wood shavings used for packing), was blazing out of control. The onboard fire hose, which had never been used, tested or inspected, did not work.

Captain Van Schaik made a fateful decision at this time. Instead of directing the boat to the nearest dock where firefighters could engage the fire, he pointed the boat toward a small island in the East River. He later told investigators that he did not want to risk spreading the fire to the dock and the rest of the city, but the strategy proved deadly for the passengers. Instead of grounding the boat on the sand, the boat crashed onto the rocks of the island’s shore.

At this point, other factors also combined to exacerbate the situation. The lifeboats were so firmly tied to the steamer that they could not be released. The life preservers had not been filled with cork, but a non-buoyant material that made them weighty. The children who used them sank to the bottom of the river. Other children were trampled to death in the panic. More people were killed when the raging fire collapsed some of the decks, plunging them into the fire.

In all, 630 bodies were recovered and another 401 were missing and presumed dead. A cannon was brought to the scene and fired over the river the next day to loosen bodies from the river mud. The boat’s crew, and officers in the Knickerbocker Company, owner and operator of the General Slocum, were charged with criminal negligence. However, only Captain Van Schaik received a prison sentence. He was supposed to serve 10 years, but was pardoned due to old age in 1908. President Theodore Roosevelt fired the chief inspector of the U. S. Steamboat Inspection Service in the aftermath of the accident; wholesale changes in the industry followed. A mass grave was set up in Queens for the victims and a yearly memorial was held to honor their memory.

June 15 1941- World War II: Operation BATTLEAXE
British forces suffer setbacks in the second day of Operation BATTLEAXE. Rommel's forces reach Sidi Rezegh.

June 15 1949
DF Malan's Herenigde Nationale Party (HNP, Re-united National Party) government approved the Citizenship Bill which required Britons to wait five years before achieving citizenship.

June 15 1956
Tunisia's autonomy in foreign affairs was confirmed when an agreement was signed with the French government.

June 15 1964
As France pulled out of Algeria, only 10,000 troops were still in the country - stationed at Mers El-Kebir, Sahara.

Source: history.com, africanhistory.about.com