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Made for the 250thOn this day › October 12
What happened on October 12 in American history
October 12 is the 285th day of the year (the 286th in leap years). Patriot Compass has published 6 stories from October 12 spanning 1492 to 2000. Among them: in 1492, Land ho: Columbus reaches a Caribbean island he takes for the Indies; and in 1692, a governor's letter ends the Salem hangings.
1492
Land ho: Columbus reaches a Caribbean island he takes for the Indies
A lookout aboard the Pinta spots the shore first, ten weeks after three ships left Spain.
1692Member story · 1776 Club
A governor's letter ends the Salem hangings
William Phips bars spectral evidence from the court, closing the door on further executions.
1892Member story · 1776 Club
Schoolchildren across the country recite a new pledge to the flag
A magazine's Columbus Day promotion puts fifteen seconds of verse into classrooms nationwide.
1901
Roosevelt makes it official: the Executive Mansion is now the White House
An executive order settles a name the public had already used for ninety years.
1970Member story · 1776 Club
Nixon pledges 40,000 more troops home by Christmas
The withdrawal leans harder on an ARVN still absorbing the U.S. divisions it is replacing.
2000
A small boat pulls alongside the USS Cole; the blast kills 17 sailors in line for lunch
Two suicide bombers detonate explosives against the destroyer's hull while it refuels in Aden harbor.
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