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American history, reported as it happened
Made for the 250thOn this day › November 6
What happened on November 6 in American history
November 6 is the 310th day of the year (the 311th in leap years). Patriot Compass has published 6 stories from November 6 spanning 1860 to 2012. Among them: in 1860, Lincoln wins the presidency on less than 40 percent of the vote; and in 1863, Union troops defeat a Confederate force on Droop Mountain in Pocahontas County.
1860
Lincoln wins the presidency on less than 40 percent of the vote
A Republican who opposes slavery's spread takes 180 electoral votes against three rivals, and carries no slave state.
1863Member story · 1776 Club
Union troops defeat a Confederate force on Droop Mountain in Pocahontas County
West Virginia is only months old as a Union state, and the fight for its mountain back country goes to the North.
1944Member story · 1776 Club
Hanford's B Reactor turns out its first plutonium
Six weeks after the chain reaction began, the graphite pile beside the Columbia River starts making what it was built to make.
1956
Britain calls a ceasefire at Suez one day after its paratroopers land
Britain announces a ceasefire under Eisenhower's pressure on the day Americans vote him a second term.
1971
The AEC sets off a five-megaton bomb under Amchitka; the ground lifts 20 feet
Environmentalists had warned of earthquakes and a tsunami; the Supreme Court refused to stop the test by 4 votes to 3.
2012Member story · 1776 Club
Wisconsin elects Tammy Baldwin to the Senate, the first openly gay member chosen
The seven-term congresswoman from Madison's district beats former governor Tommy Thompson for the seat Herb Kohl is leaving.
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