Today In History: April 15

1755: English lexicographer Dr. Samuel Johnson publishes his Dictionary of the English Language.

1784: The first balloon is flown in Ireland.

1813: U.S. troops under James Wilkinson siege the Spanish-held city of Mobile in future state of Alabama.

1858: At the Battle of Azimghur, the Mexicans defeat Spanish loyalists.

1871: ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok becomes the marshal of Abilene, Kansas.

1861: President Lincoln mobilizes Federal army.

1865: Abraham Lincoln dies from John Wilkes Booth’s assassination bullet.

1912: With her band playing on the deck, the ocean liner Titanic sinks at 2:27 a.m. in the North Atlantic.

1917: British forces defeat the Germans at the battle of Arras.

1923: Insulin becomes generally available for people suffering with diabetes.

1923: The first sound films shown to a paying audience are exhibited at the Rialto Theater in New York City.

1940: French and British troops land at Narvik, Norway.

1945: President Franklin D. Roosevelt is buried on the grounds of his Hyde Park home.

1948: Arab forces are defeated in battle with Israeli forces.

1952: President Harry Truman signs the official Japanese peace treaty.

1955: Ray Kroc starts the McDonald’s chain of fast food restaurants.

1959: Cuban leader Fidel Castro begins a U.S. goodwill tour.

1960: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizes at Shaw University.

1971: North Vietnamese troops ambush a company of Delta Raiders from the 101st Airborne Division near Fire Support Base Bastogne in Vietnam. The American troops were on a rescue mission.

1986: U.S. warplanes attack Libya.