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Made for the 250thOn this day › October 7
What happened on October 7 in American history
October 7 is the 280th day of the year (the 281st in leap years). Patriot Compass has published 7 stories from October 7 spanning 1691 to 2001. Among them: in 1691, a new charter folds Massachusetts and Plymouth into one crown province; and in 1763, George III draws a line down the Appalachians and forbids the colonies to cross it.
1691Member story · 1776 Club
A new charter folds Massachusetts and Plymouth into one crown province
Increase Mather asked for the old Puritan charter back; William and Mary gave him a different colony instead.
1763Member story · 1776 Club
George III draws a line down the Appalachians and forbids the colonies to cross it
Land west of the mountains is reserved for Indigenous nations; Crown officials alone may buy it.
1777Member story · 1776 Club
Burgoyne attacks again at Bemis Heights, and his line breaks
Stripped of command days earlier, Benedict Arnold rides into the fighting anyway and helps throw the British back.
1780Member story · 1776 Club
Patriot militia surround a Loyalist ridge; Ferguson falls with seven balls in him
The only British officer on the field is dead within the hour, and his men have nowhere left to run.
1940
A Navy memo floats a plan: push Japan into firing the first shot
Lieutenant Commander Arthur McCollum sends his superiors eight ways to pressure Tokyo, and admits Washington isn't ready to declare war without one.
1943
Ninety-eight American prisoners are shot on a Wake Island beach
The civilian contractors had survived twenty-two months of occupation; their captors gave no warning before the killing.
2001
American bombs fall on Afghanistan; Bush says "time is running out"
Air strikes hit Taliban defenses and al-Qaeda camps as U.S. special forces move in to back the Northern Alliance.
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