Sunday · September 27, 2026
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American history, reported as it happened
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On this day › July 15

What happened on July 15 in American history

July 15 is the 196th day of the year (the 197th in leap years). Patriot Compass has published 7 stories from July 15 spanning 1806 to 2009. Among them: in 1806, Pike leaves Fort Bellefontaine with twenty soldiers; Washington still has no map of its own territory; and in 1862, CSS Arkansas steams alone through two Union fleets; Vicksburg's guns shelter her by nightfall.

1806Member story · 1776 Club

Pike leaves Fort Bellefontaine with twenty soldiers; Washington still has no map of its own territory

Wilkinson orders the lieutenant to chart the Great Plains and find the headwaters of the Red River, three years after the Purchase doubled the nation's size.
1862

CSS Arkansas steams alone through two Union fleets; Vicksburg's guns shelter her by nightfall

Lt. Brown's ironclad fights down the Yazoo, batters the Carondelet, Lancaster, and Pinola at close range, and reaches port with 30 casualties.
1870

Georgia is readmitted; the last Confederate state formally returns to the Union

Five years after Appomattox, Georgia completes the steep terms of Reconstruction, ratifying the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and seating Black legislators under the new rules.
1916Member story · 1776 Club

Boeing and Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products in a Seattle boat works

A broken Martin hydroaeroplane and months-long waits for parts pushed the timber heir and his Navy engineer friend to build planes themselves.
1979

Carter tells the nation it suffers a 'crisis of confidence'; he never says the word malaise

With gas lines stretching for hours and inflation gnawing at paychecks, the President goes on live television to diagnose a mood, not announce a fix.
2006Member story · 1776 Club

Twttr goes public; Dorsey's SMS side project escapes the podcasting company that built it

Born inside Odeo, a podcasting firm losing ground to iTunes, the short-message service lets users broadcast to small groups in 140 characters by text.
2009Member story · 1776 Club

Endeavour lifts off on sixth try; thirteen people are now in orbit at once

STS-127 clears the pad at 6:03 p.m. carrying the final pieces of Japan's Kibō laboratory, the last major addition to the station's Japanese wing.