Fort Loudoun, Virginia Colony — July 29, 1757

In the thick of the French and Indian War, Colonel George Washington issued orders to his company captains from Fort Loudoun.

He wrote:
“Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all; and may in a peculiar manner to us, who are in the way to be joined to Regulars in a very short time, and of distinguishing thro’ this means, from other Provincials.”

For Washington, discipline was more than drill—it was moral infrastructure. At age 25, he was already shaping the ethos that would later define military leadership across a revolutionary generation.

Image: George Washington in his Virginia Regiment uniform, painted by Rembrandt Peale after Charles Willson Peale, 1795.
Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

On July 29, 1775, William Tudor was appointed Judge Advocate of the Continental Army by George Washington.

Image of William Tudor via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On July 29, 1958, NASA was formed when Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division aboard the USS General Leroy Eltinge (AP-154) as it arrives in Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam

July 29, 1965

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On July 29, 1914, the man-made waterway known as the Cape Cod Canal was opened. The seven mile canal basically changed Cape Cod from being a peninsula into an island.

Image: Postcard showing Cape Cod Canal during sunset via Wikimedia Commons, no known restrictions

Prof. Chas. W. Gilmore, Dinosaur egg casts

– July 29, 1924

via Library of Congress, no known restrictions

Rain in Grand Canyon National Park

– July 29, 2016

via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Born July 29, 1885, Theodosia Goodman made silent movie history as Theda Bara – The Vamp. Despite publicists claiming that she was “the daughter of an Arab sheik and a French woman”, Theda was from Ohio. She made over 40 films, all silent. Six survive, the rest were lost to a 1937 fire at Fox studios.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
in the US.

Over 5,000 Japanese, who had occupied the island of Kiska of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska for over a year, evacuated the island on July 29, 1943.

When U.S. & Allied Forces landed on the island only a few weeks later, they discovered that Kiska was totally abandoned.

Image: Abandoned Japanese submarines on Kiska in 1943 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On July 29, 1862 Confederate spy Belle Boyd was arrested by Federal officers.

Upon the search of her bedroom, officers found and confiscated her pistol. In her memoirs Belle wrote: “The pistol now occupies a conspicuous place in the War Department at Washington, and is entered in the catalogue of spoils in the following words: — “A trophy captured from the celebrated rebel Belle Boyd.”

Image: Belle Boyd sometime before 1900 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Rawlins, Wyoming Territory — July 29, 1878

As the moon crossed the sun, a rare alliance gathered beneath the sky: inventors, astronomers, and trail guides convened in Rawlins to witness a total solar eclipse. Among them stood Thomas Edison (second from right), eager to test his new tasimeter. Though the experiment fell short, the moment fused science with spectacle—where frontier grit met celestial precision.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Smoky Joe Wood’s No-Hit Prelude to Greatness

On a sweltering 102-degree afternoon, July 29, 1911, 21-year-old Smoky Joe Wood dazzled 17,000 fans at Boston’s Huntington Avenue Grounds, striking out 12 and allowing no hits in a 5–0 win over the St. Louis Browns. It was the fifth no-hitter in franchise history—and a performance that had the Boston Herald crowning him “Cy Young’s successor hereabouts.” Though this gem came during his 1911 season—not yet the towering heights of 1912—it foreshadowed the dominance to come: Wood would win 34 games the following year and lead the Red Sox to a World Series title. Fans that day weren’t just cheering a win—they were witnessing the ignition of a legend.


Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

American actor William Powell was born on July 29, 1892 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

In the early 1930s he was married to Carole Lombard for just a few years.
Years after their marriage, Powell was deeply saddened when he learned that Lombard was killed in a plane crash.

Image: Carole Lombard and William Powell in My Man Godfrey, 1936 by Universal Pictures via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

American actress Clara Bow was born on July 29, 1905 in Brooklyn, New York.

By 1929 “The It Girl” made the successful transition from silent films to talkies. Mary Pickford even said that Bow “was a very great actress.”

Image: Clara Bow sometime in the 1920s by Albert Witzel via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On July 29, 1957, Tonight starring Jack Paar debuted on NBC.

Image: Jack Paar, Hugh Downs and Jose Melis on the third anniversary of Jack Paar’s Tonight Show in 1960 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain