The 6th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia was a peacetime infantry regiment that was activated by the Union army in the American Civil War. On April 19, 1861, the regiment was on its way to Washington, D.C. in response to President Abraham Lincoln's initial call for troops when it was attacked by a crowd in Baltimore, Maryland, during the Baltimore Riot. Private Luther C. Ladd of the 6th Massachusetts was wounded and later died, becoming the war's first Union soldier to be killed in action. April 19 was the anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord, which began the American Revolution in 1775, and the men of the 6th Massachusetts (some of whom were descended from soldiers of that war) were often called the "Minutemen of '61". After proceeding to Washington, the regiment returned to Baltimore to guard locations within the city as well as the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad station at Elkridge, Maryland. In April and May 1863, the regiment saw action near Suffolk, Virginia, in the Siege of Suffolk and the Battle of Carrsville. (Full article...)

Heraclid on 1563 coinage

• ... that before taking over Moldavia in 1561, Iacob Heraclid (pictured) had been executed in effigy and staged his own death?
• ... that the Oak at the Gate of the Dead was the first Welsh entry for the European Tree of the Year awards?
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• ... that the Gujarati poetry collection Kusumamala includes a translation of "The Cloud" by English romantic poet Shelley?
• ... that in South Carolina, the flat bullhead is threatened by pollution and sedimentation, as well as by the introduction of non-native catfish?
• ... that Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane was praised by critics for its portrayal of strong and healthy sibling relationships?
• ... that Guido Jung was dismissed from the Royal Italian Army after the enactment of the Italian Racial Laws, despite having served as Minister of Finance under Mussolini?
• ... that the robot CISBOT once found a baseball under New York City?

Augusta National Golf Club

• The United States, United Kingdom and France strike multiple government targets in Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma.
• At least 257 people are killed as an Algerian Air Force Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft crashes in Algeria.
• In golf, Patrick Reed wins the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club (pictured) in the United States.
• In the Hungarian parliamentary election, a coalition led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wins its third consecutive supermajority in the Hungarian National Assembly.

April 19: Feast of Saint Alphege (Western Christianity); Independence Day in Israel (2018)

Mae West

• 797 – Byzantine emperor Constantine VI was captured, blinded, and imprisoned by the supporters of his mother Irene.
• 1713 – With no living male heirs, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI issued the Pragmatic Sanction to ensure one of his daughters would inherit the Habsburg lands.
• 1903 – A two-day anti-Jewish riot began in Kishinev, Bessarabia (now in Moldova), causing the death of nearly 50 Jews and focusing worldwide negative attention on the persecution of Jews in Russia.
• 1927 – American actress Mae West (pictured) was sentenced to ten days in jail for "corrupting the morals of youth" for her play Sex.
• 1971 – The first space station, Salyut 1, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam, Kazakh SSR, USSR.

Uesugi Kenshin (d. 1578) · Sydney Barnes (b. 1873) · Denis O'Brien (b. 1958)