Born August 1, 1843, in Springfield, Illinois, Robert Todd Lincoln entered the world as the first son of Abraham and Mary Lincoln (their only child to survive into adulthood) and spent much of his life navigating the weight of that lineage. A Harvard-educated lawyer and a statesman who served as Secretary of War and ambassador to Great Britain, Robert often felt wanted only for his name. He was also a grieving brother, a reluctant heir to myth, and the anguished son who, in 1875, committed his mother to a sanitarium for about four months. Though Mary Todd Lincoln never forgave the act, Robert believed he was protecting her—and perhaps himself—from the unraveling grief that haunted their family. That grief deepened in 1890, when his own son, Abraham Lincoln II, died at sixteen while the family was living in London. His later years at Hildene offered refuge from public expectation, but the emotional cost of duty and legacy lingered.
Image of Robert Todd Lincoln via Wikimedia Commons
Born August 1, 1779 Francis Scott Key had a long career as lawyer and amateur poet. He’s depicted here, inspired by the sight of his country’s flag after an intense battle during the War of 1812. Key’s poem, “Defence of Fort M’Henry” would become The Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem.
Smithsonian, CCA-SA 4.0 International via Wikimedia Commons.
On August 1, 1876, Colorado became the 38th State.
Image: Estes Park, Colorado, Whyte’s Lake by Albert Bierstadt c. 1870s via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
August 1, 1873 is believed to be the date when the Clay Street Hill Railroad, the world’s first practical cable car system, began operations in San Francisco.
Image: The First Cable Train — Taken a Few Days After the Opening of the Road via Wikimedia Commons, no known restrictions
August 1, 1906 is considered to be the date when a farmer named John Wesley Huddleston discovered diamonds in what is now known as Crater of Diamonds State Park in Pike County, Arkansas.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
William Clark of the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition, was born on August 1, 1770 in Caroline County, Virginia.
Following the expedition William got married and later named his first son after Meriwether Lewis.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
On August 1, 1971 Apollo 15 Astronaut James Irwin was photographed saluting the U.S. flag on the moon
Image by NASA via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
“We Americans are the peculiar chosen people – the Israel of our time; we bear the ark of the liberties of the world.”
American novelist Herman Melville who was born on August 1, 1819 in New York City.
On August 1, 1801, west of Malta, the USS Enterprise—under Lieutenant Andrew Sterett—engaged the Tripolitan corsair Tripoli in a brutal three-hour battle that marked the first U.S. naval victory of the First Barbary War. The Tripoli, commanded by Admiral Rais Mahomet Rous, repeatedly feigned surrender to launch surprise boarding attempts, all of which were repelled. With no authority to seize prizes, Sterett disabled the enemy vessel—cutting down its masts and casting its guns into the sea—before allowing it to limp back to port. The Enterprise suffered no casualties; the Tripoli lost 30 men, with 30 more wounded, including Rous himself. Back in Tripoli, Rous was publicly humiliated and punished, while in the United States, the victory galvanized support for naval action against piracy and tribute demands. The clash set a precedent for American resolve in defending its sovereignty on the world stage.
Image: The fight between USS Enterprise and the Barbary Corsair, Tripoli, August 1, 1801. Photograph of a painting by G. A. Traver. From National Museum of the U.S. Navy via Wikimedia Commons
Bayou Bourbeau plantation, a Farm Security Administration cooperative, vicinity of Natchitoches, Louisiana.
Three African American children sitting on the porch of a house.
August 1940
Image via LOC, no known restrictions
A Presidential Gift, Still Resonant
Photo of the drawing room at The Andrew Johnson Homestead taken on August 1, 1901
In 1869, just months after leaving office, Andrew Johnson paid $575.00 for the Steinway square-grand piano, a lavish gift for his daughter and granddaughter living in Henderson Station (now Afton), Tennessee. Though originally shipped there, the piano was later relocated to the Greeneville Homestead, where Johnson spent his final years. It appears in this 1901 photograph, already a fixture of the drawing room, and remains there today—tuned, intact, and full of sound. More than an heirloom, it embodies the domestic rhythms of a post-presidential life and the curatorial choices that shape how we remember it.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
On August 1, 1911 Harriet Quimby became the first woman in the U.S. to earn a pilot’s certificate from the Aero Club of America. In April, 1912 she was the first woman to pilot across the English Channel but tragically fell to her death from her Bleriot monoplane in July of that year.
Image from LOC via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Maria Mitchell, America’s first female professional astronomer was born on August 1, 1818 in Nantucket, Massachusetts.
Quote: “Every formula which expresses a law of nature is a hymn of praise to God.”
Image of Maria Mitchell by Herminia B. Dassel c.1851 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
August 1, 1893 – Henry Perky obtains a patent for Shredded Wheat, a breakfast food he describes as “little whole wheat mattresses.” When offered to buy the patent Dr. John Henry Kellogg of Corn Flakes fame declined, saying that Perky’s invention tasted “like eating a whisk broom.” Ouch!
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US.
American entertainer and comedian Dom DeLuise was born on August 1, 1933 in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Back in the 70s and 80s DeLuise often co-starred in films with Burt Reynolds.
He and Reynolds had voice roles in the 1989 animated film All Dogs Go to Heaven.
Image: Dom DeLuise c. 1980s from Ralph Dominguez/MediaPunch via Alamy
