Highlights of the day

  • 1755 George Washington Leads British Retreat After Defeat in a French Ambush.
  • 1953 Shakespeare’s Richard the Third opens the first season of the Stratford Festival, held in a tent.

List of Facts for July 13

  • 1609 Samuel de Champlain sets off up the Richelieu River with two other Frenchmen and a group of Algonquins; will discover Lake Champlain and Lake George. Sorel, Québec
  • 1661 René Ménard leaves to visit Hurons at Blackwater River, Wisconsin; lost while trying to escape Iroquois. Wisconsin
  • 1687 Jacques-René de Denonville burns several Seneca villages on the south shore of Lake Ontario with a canoe flotilla of 3,000 French troops and Indian allies; captures 200 Iroquois; returns across the Lake and camps on the site of Scarborough. Scarborough, Ontario
  • 1755 French and Indian War - General Edward Braddock dies of his wounds after he and his force of British troops and colonial militia were caught in a French and Indian ambush on the way to attack Fort Duquesne; his aide George Washington assumes command of the army and retreats from the small, circular Fort Necessity in southwestern Pennsylvania, leaving the French in control of the Ohio Valley. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • 1866 Captain James Anderson of the steamship Great Eastern begins a two week voyage to successfully lay the First working telegraph cable across the Atlantic between the British Isles and Newfoundland; completed July 27, 1866; science fiction novelist Arthur C, Clarke has described the venture as the Victorian equivalent of the Apollo project. Cork, Ireland
  • 1895 A.G. Blair appointed federal Minister of Railways and Canals. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1908 Opening of 4th Olympic Games in London; some Canadian athletes attend; women compete in modern Olympic events for the First time. London, England
  • 1908 Carl Bricker of Grenfell, Saskatchewan finishes third in the broad jump and fourth in the triple jump at the 4th Olympic Games. London, England
  • 1909 George Bannerman & Tom Geddes make gold discovery in Porcupine District; leads to Hollinger Mine, Dome Mine and McIntyre Mine. Cochrane, Ontario
  • 1922 Canada and US discuss revising Rush-Bagot Agreement of 1817; limited armaments on the Great Lakes. Washington, DC
  • 1941 Second World War - Canada approves the Anglo-Soviet treaty that follows the German invasion of USSR. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1942 Second World War - German U-Boats sink three more merchant ships in Gulf of St. Lawrence; Québec outcry for protection forces secret Commons session. Rimouski, Québec
  • 1949 Opening session of the First provincial Legislature of Newfoundland after Confederation with Canada. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1950 Korean War - Royal Canadian Navy destroyers HMCS Cayuga, HMCS Athabaskan, and HMCS Sioux arrive at Pearl Harbor escorted by cruiser HMCS Ontario; to join US naval task force to operate against the Communists in Korea as part of the United Nations contingent; war began June 25, 1950. Honolulu, Hawaii
  • 1953 British producer Tyrone Guthrie directs Alec Guinness in William Shakespeare’s Richard the Third, to open the First season of the Stratford Festival, held in a tent. Guinness speaks the first lines at the festival, the opening words of Richard III: “Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this son of York.” Organized by Tom Patterson, the First Stratford season runs six weeks and also features All’s Well That Ends Well. A permanent building, the Festival Theatre, will be opened in 1957, on the banks of the Avon River, with its tent design reflecting the humble beginnings. Stratford, Ontario
  • 1967 Malcolm Lindsay appointed Commissioner of the RCMP, succeeding George McLellan. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1971 Ottawa and Ontario to establish Pukaskwa National Park; semi-wilderness region on north shore of Lake Superior. Pukaskwa, Ontario
  • 1979 Ottawa raises export price of Canadian natural gas to $2.80 per thousand cubic feet; effective August 11, 1979. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1981 Publication of the First issue of The Record, a magazine for the Canadian music industry. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1982 Montréal Expos host First All-Star Game played outside the US; the National League defeats the American League 4-1, winning for the 11th consecutive year. Montréal, Québec
  • 1982 Queen Elizabeth II grants crest and supporters for Alberta coat of arms. Alberta
  • 1983 Gabrielle Roy dies at age 74; novels include Bonheur d’occasion (1945, translated as The Tin Flute); La Petite Poule d’eau (1950, Where Nests the Water Hen), Alexandre Chenevert (1954), La Montagne secrète (1961), La Rivière sans repos (1970), (Cet été qui chantait (1972), Un Jardin au bout du monde (1975), De quoi t’ennuies-tu, Eveline? 1982); reminiscences include Rue Deschambault (1955), La Route d’Altamont (1966, The Road to Altamount), Ces enfants de ma vie (1977). Québec, Québec
  • 1991 Gwich’in people of Mackenzie Delta settle land claim, getting 15,000 sq. km of land and $75 million; First regional settlement with northern native groups. Yellowknife, NWT
  • 1991 Bryan Adams’ ‘Everything I Do, I Do It For You’ (theme song of the Kevin Costner movie Robin Hood) hits #1 on the UK pop singles chart; stays there for record-breaking 16 weeks. Britain
  • 1991 Uniroyal Goodrich employees in Kitchener accept concessions to preserve 1,000 of 2,000 jobs. Kitchener, Ontario
  • 1993 Germans hold farewell ceremony at Lahr base for Canadian troops after 42 years of NATO service. Lahr, Germany
  • 1994 Transport Minister Doug Young outlines plan to lease 21 major airports to local authorities; also drop subsidies to over 100 smaller regional airports. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1995 Geddy Lee of the Toronto rock band Rush sings O Canada at major league baseball’s all-star game in Camden Yards. Baltimore, Maryland
  • 2005 Bernard Ebbers, an Edmonton, Alberta–born telecom entrepreneur and founder of Worldcom is sentenced by U.S. Federal Judge Barbara Jones to 25 years in prison for corporate fraud.
  • 2005 Canada Border Services Agency arrests an American named Dodge White for possession of an explosive device. Victoria, BC