Theodore Roosevelt’s presidential visit showing parade viewed from a nearby building, Seattle, May 23, 1903

Source via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On May 23, 1776, Congress appointed a committee made up of Mr. Harrison, Mr. R. H. Lee and Mr. J. Adams, Mr. Wilson and Mr. Rutledge to confer with General Washington, Major General Gates, and Brigadier General Mifflin, upon the most speedy and effectual means of supporting the American Cause in Canada.

Source: https://archive.org/details/journalsofcongre00unit_12/page/186/mode/1up

“Six weeks exactly after his return, on Friday afternoon the 23d day of May 1783, a heavy cloud suddenly arose, and the greater part of the family were collected in one of the rooms to wait till the shower should have past. Otis, with his cane in one hand, stood against the post of the door which opened from this apartment into the front entry. He was in the act of telling the assembled group a story, when an explosion took place which seemed to shake the solid earth, and he fell without a struggle, or a word, instantaneously dead, into the arms of Mr. Osgood, who seeing him falling, sprang forward to receive him. This flash of lightning was the first that came from the cloud, and was not followed by any others that were remarkable. There were seven or eight persons in the room, but no other was injured. No mark of any kind could be found on Otis, nor was there the slightest change or convulsion in his features.”

According to some accounts, James Otis-the patriot recognized for his bold declaration, “Taxation without representation is tyranny”
—once voiced an uncanny wish: to be taken from this world by a flash of lightning. On May 23, 1783, his words became reality as a bolt struck him down, fulfilling his own prophecy.

Source of the first excerpt above: The Life of James Otis by William Tudor, published in 1823

On May 23, 1788, South Carolina became the 8th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

Image: Ichnography of Charleston, South-Carolina from a survey done in 1788 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

American General Ambrose E. Burnside was born on May 23, 1824 in Liberty, Indiana.

About a year after the American Civil War he became the Governor of Rhode Island.

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Snapshot of the spot in Louisiana where Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed and killed on May 23, 1934

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“Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, & Mary Pickford”

– 1919

Douglas Fairbanks was born on May 23, 1883
in Denver, Colorado.

via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

N.L. Batting Champion of 1918, Zack Wheat, was born on May 23, 1888 in Hamilton, Missouri.

After retiring from baseball he owned a farm, but lost it during the Great Depression. He later co-owned a bowling alley and then became a police officer. After recovering from near fatal accident during a high speed chase he decided to open a hunting and fishing resort in Missouri.
He passed away in 1972.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Red Skelton with Rosemary Clooney in late 1962 on the Red Skelton Hour

On May 23, 1928, American singer and actress Rosemary Clooney was born in Maysville, Kentucky.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Mule Deer at Mammoth, Yellowstone National Park

May 23, 1916

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On May 23, 1900, American Civil War Veteran William Harvey Carney received the Medal of Honor.

During the attack on Fort Wagner in 1863, despite being wounded, he continued to carry the regimental colors of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry.
He said “Boys, I only did my duty; the old flag never touched the ground.”

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Grand review at Washington–Sheridan’s Calvary passing through Pennsylvania Avenue, May 23, 1865

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