October 23, 1855
Rival governments in bleeding Kansas
In opposition to the fraudulently elected pro-slavery legislature of Kansas, the Kansas Free State forces set up a governor and legislature under their Topeka Constitution, a document that outlaws slavery in the territory.
Trouble in territorial Kansas began with the signing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act by President Franklin Pierce in 1854. The act stipulated that settlers in the newly created territories of Nebraska and Kansas would decide by popular vote whether their territory would be free or slave. In early 1855, Kansas’ first election proved a violent affair, as more than 5,000 so-called Border Ruffians invaded the territory from western Missouri and forced the election of a pro-slavery legislature. To prevent further bloodshed, Andrew H. Reeder, the territorial governor appointed by President Pierce, reluctantly approved the election. A few months later, the Kansas Free State forces were formed, armed by supporters in the North and featuring the leadership of militant abolitionist John Brown.
In May 1856, Border Ruffians sacked the abolitionist town of Lawrence, and in retaliation a small Free State force under John Brown massacred five pro-slavery Kansans along the Pottawatomie Creek. During the next four years, raids, skirmishes, and massacres continued in “Bleeding Kansas,” as it became popularly known. In 1861, the irrepressible differences in Kansas were swallowed up by the outbreak of full-scale civil war in America.
“Rival governments in bleeding Kansas.” 2008. The History Channel website. 23 Oct 2008, 02:21 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5462.
1864 – During the U.S. Civil War, Union forces led by Gen. Samuel R. Curtis defeated the Confederate forces in Missouri that were under Gen. Stirling Price.
1910 – Blanche S. Scott became the first woman to make a public solo airplane flight.
1915 – Approximately 25,000 women demanded the right to vote with a march in New York City, NY.
1942 – During World War II, the British began a major offensive against Axis forces at El Alamein, Egypt.
1944 – During World War II, the Battle of Leyte Gulf began.
1946 – The United Nations General Assembly convened in New York for the first time.
1956 – Hungarian citizens began an uprising against Soviet occupation. On November 4, 1956 Soviet forces enter Hungary and eventually suppress the uprising.
1958 – Russian poet and novelist Boris Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. He was forced to refuse the honor due to negative Soviet reaction. Pasternak won the award for writing “Dr. Zhivago”.
1962 – During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S. naval “quarantine” of Cuba was approved by the Council of the Organization of American States (OAS).
1962 – The U.S. Navy reconnaissance squadron VFP-62 began overflights of Cuba under the code name “Blue Moon.”
1971 – The U.N. General Assembly voted to expel Taiwan and seat Communist China.
1989 – Hungary became an independent republic, after 33 years of Soviet rule.
October 23, -42
Brutus commits suicide
Marcus Junius Brutus, a leading conspirator in the assassination of Julius Caesar, commits suicide after his defeat at the second battle of Philippi.
Two years before, Brutus had joined Gaius Cassius Longinus in the plot against the Roman dictator Julius Caesar, believing he was striking a blow for the restoration of the Roman Republic. However, the result of Caesar’s assassination was to plunge the Roman world into a new round of civil wars, with the Republican forces of Brutus and Cassius vying for supremacy against Octavian and Mark Antony. After being defeated by Antony at a battle in Philippi, Greece, in October 42 B.C., Cassius killed himself. On October 23, Brutus’ army was crushed by Octavian and Antony at a second encounter at Philippi, and Brutus took his own life.
Antony and Octavian soon turned against each other, and in 27 B.C. the Roman Republic was lost forever with the ascendance of Octavian as Augustus Caesar, the first emperor of Rome.
“Brutus commits suicide.” 2008. The History Channel website. 23 Oct 2008, 01:35 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5461.
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