October 8 - This Day in History

October 8: General Interest
1871: Great Chicago Fire begins

On this day in 1871, flames spark in the Chicago barn of Patrick and Catherine O'Leary, igniting a two-day blaze that kills between 200 and 300 people, destroys 17,450 buildings, leaves 100,000 homeless and causes an estimated $200 million (in 1871 dollars; $3 billion in 2007 dollars) in damages. Legend has it that a cow kicked over a lantern in the O'Leary barn and started the fire, but other theories hold that humans or even a comet may have been responsible... read more


American Revolution
1778 : Continentals raid Unadilla
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/continentals-raid-unadilla


Automotive
1869 : Frank Duryea, winner of the first American "horseless carriage" race, is born
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/frank-duryea-winner-of-the-first-american-horseless-carriage-race-is-born


Civil War
1862 : Union troops stop Rebels at the Battle of Perryville
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-perryville


Cold War
1970 : Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wins the Nobel Prize in literature
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-wins-the-nobel-prize-in-literature


Crime
2009 : Self-help guru's sweat lodge ceremony turns deadly
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/self-help-gurus-sweat-lodge-ceremony-turns-deadly


Disaster
1871 : Fire rips through Chicago
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fire-rips-through-chicago


General Interest
1919 : First transcontinental air race
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-transcontinental-air-race

1967 : Che Guevara defeated
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/che-guevara-defeated

2005 : Massive earthquake hits Kashmir region
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/massive-earthquake-hits-kashmir-region


Hollywood
1970 : Matt Damon born
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/matt-damon-born


Literary
1937 : Lord Peter Wimsey marries Harriet Vane
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lord-peter-wimsey-marries-harriet-vane


Music
1957 : Jerry Lee Lewis records "Great Balls Of Fire" in Memphis, Tennessee
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jerry-lee-lewis-records-quotgreat-balls-of-firequot-in-memphis-tennessee


Old West
1871 : The Great Fire destroys much of Chicago
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-great-fire-destroys-much-of-chicago


Presidential
1998 : U.S. House of Representatives initiates Clinton impeachment inquiry
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/us-house-of-representatives-initiates-clinton-impeachment-inquiry


Vietnam War
1968 : U.S. and South Vietnamese navies commence Operation Sealords
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/us-and-south-vietnamese-navies-commence-operation-sealords

1970 : Communists reject Nixon's peace proposal
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/communists-reject-nixons-peace-proposal

1972 : Possible breakthrough at Paris peace talks
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/possible-breakthrough-at-paris-peace-talks


World War I
1918 : U.S. soldier Alvin York displays heroics at Argonne
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/us-soldier-alvin-york-displays-heroics-at-argonne


World War II
1941 : Germans overrun Mariupol, in southern Russia
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-overrun-mariupol-in-southern-russia