On August 30, 1776, General George Washington gives the New York Convention three reasons for the American retreat from Long Island. That same day, he rejects British General William Howe’s second letter of reconciliation.

With Howe and a superior British force having recently landed at Long Island—they handed the Continentals a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Brooklyn Heights on August 27—Washington gave these reasons for his decision to retreat: the need to reunite his forces, the extreme fatigue of his soldiers and the lack of proper shelter from the weather.

For his part, Howe had attempted to reconcile with the Patriots before blood was spilled, but had been rejected by Washington because he had failed to use Washington’s title of “general” when addressing the letter. Even after beating the Continentals at Brooklyn Heights, Howe looked for a peaceful resolution, allowing Washington and his army to escape by boat to Manhattan and sending yet another letter to Washington through American General John Sullivan. Washington refused to accept the missive, but gave Sullivan permission to deliver it to Congress in Philadelphia.

On September 11, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and other congressional representatives accepted Howe’s offer and reopened talks on Staten Island. The negotiations fell through when the British refused to accept American independence as a condition for peace.

1146 – European leaders outlawed the crossbow.

1645 – American Indians and the Dutch made a peace treaty at New Amsterdam. New Amsterdam later became known as New York. 

1682 – William Penn sailed from England and later established the colony of Pennsylvania in America. 

1780 – General Benedict Arnold secretly promised to surrender the West Point fort to the British army. 

1806 – New York City’s second daily newspaper, the “Daily Advertiser,” was published for the last time.

1809 – Charles Doolittle Walcott first discovered fossils near Burgess Pass. He named the site Burgess Shale after nearby Mt. Burgess.

1862 – The Confederates defeated Union forces at the second Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, VA.

1928 – The Independence of India League was established in India.

1941 – During World War II, the Nazis severed the last railroad link between Leningrad and the rest of the Soviet Union.

1945 – General Douglas MacArthur set up Allied occupation headquarters in Japan.

1951 – The Philippines and the United States signed a defense pact.

1956 – In Louisianna, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway opened. 

1960 – A partial blockade was imposed on West Berlin by East Germany.

1963 – The “Hotline” between Moscow and Washington, DC, went into operation. 

1965 – Thurgood Marshall was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a Supreme Court justice. Marshall was the first black justice to sit on the Supreme Court.

1982 – P.L.O. leader Yasir Arafat left Beirut for Greece.

1983 – The space shuttle Challenger blasted off with Guion S. Bluford Jr. aboard. He was the first black American to travel in space. 

1984 – The space shuttle Discovery lifted off for the first time. On the voyage three communications satellites were deployed.

1984 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan, and several others, were inducted into the Sportscasters Hall of Fame.

1991 – The Soviet republic of Azerbaijan declared its independence.

1993 – On CBS-TV “The Late Show with David Letterman” premiered.

1994 – Rosa Parks was robbed and beaten by Joseph Skipper. Parks was known for her refusal to give up her seat on a bus in 1955, which sparked the civil rights movement. 

1994 – The largest U.S. defense contractor was created when the Lockheed and Martin Marietta corporations agreed to a merger.

1996 – An expedition to raise part of the Titanic failed when the nylon lines being used to raise part of the hull snapped.

1999 – The residents of East Timor overwhelmingly voted for independence from Indonesia. The U.N. announced the result on September 4.

2002 – Conoco Inc. and Phillips Petroleum merged to create ConocoPhillips. The new company was the third largest integrated energy company and the second largest refining company in the U.S.

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Jeanne Theoharis

(WOMENSENEWS)–Rosa Parks‘ most historic hour may have occurred on the bus in December 1955 but a moment that perhaps revealed more of her strength of character came 40 years later.

On Aug. 30, 1994, at the age of 81, Parks was mugged in her own home by a young black man, Joseph Skipper. Skipper broke down her back door and then claimed he had chased away an intruder. He asked for a tip. When Parks went upstairs to get her pocketbook, he followed her. She gave him the $3 he initially asked for, but he demanded more. When she refused, he proceeded to hit her.

“I tried to defend myself and grabbed his shirt,” she explained. “Even at 81 years of age, I felt it was my right to defend myself.”

He hit her again, punching her in the face and shaking her hard, and threatened to hurt her further. She relented and gave him all her money–$103. Hurt and badly shaken, she called Elaine Steele who lived across the street and had become a key source of support. Steele called the police who took 50 minutes to arrive. Meanwhile, the word went out that someone had mugged Parks.

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