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18981776 Club

Spain surrenders Guam; the garrison thought the opening shots were a salute

The Spanish captain sends a messenger to borrow powder so he can return the courtesy, and Captain Henry Glass has to explain that the United States is at war with Spain.

The Spanish garrison on Guam had not received a dispatch from Madrid since April 9, 1898 — and when the USS Charleston opened fire on Fort Santa Cruz on June 20, the Spanish captain of the port assumed it was a ceremonial salute. He sent a messenger asking to borrow powder so he could return it. Captain Henry Glass set him straight: those were hostile shots, and the United States was at war with Spain. Governor Don Juan Marina surrendered the following morning, and an American flag rose over Fort Santa Cruz on June 21 — ending 230 years of Spanish rule on the island without a single casualty…

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More from June 21
1768

Otis stands before the General Court and charges King and Parliament with tyranny

The Boston lawyer who called taxation without representation unlawful delivers his sharpest attack yet; word is already moving toward London.
1788

New Hampshire ratifies; the Constitution crosses the nine-state threshold

Eight states had approved it and it meant nothing; the Granite State's vote today makes the Philadelphia document the law of a real nation.
1942

Japanese submarine shells Fort Stevens; Doney orders blackout, holds his guns

Commander Tagami surfaces I-25 at the Columbia River mouth after dark, fires seventeen rounds, and slips away undamaged, leaving cut telephone lines on the Oregon coast.
20041776 Club
SpaceShipOne, built by Burt Rutan for roughly $25 million of Paul Allen's money, breaks a 43-year government monopoly on crewed spaceflight.
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Read the full June 21 edition →Everything that happened on June 21 →
More from Gilded Age & Progressive Era
1901

McKinley shot twice at point-blank range in a Buffalo music hall

The gun was wrapped in a handkerchief so guests in the receiving line wouldn't notice it.
1892

A new pledge, timed to fifteen seconds, goes into classrooms nationwide

Francis Bellamy's oath debuts in The Youth's Companion, built for Columbus Day observances in schools across the country.
1901

Roosevelt takes the oath in a borrowed library; at 42, he is the youngest president yet

McKinley died that morning; by afternoon Judge John Hazel had sworn in his successor at Ansley Wilcox's house.
1881

Arthur takes the oath before dawn, in his own parlor

A New York judge administers the presidency at 2:15 in the morning, hours after Garfield dies of his wounds.
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