Today is Friday, August 16, the 229th day of the year 2024. There are 137 days left in the year.

On August 16, 1977, Elvis Presley died at the age of 42 at his Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee; 41 years later, in 2018, singer Aretha Franklin, known as the “Queen of Soul,” died in Detroit at the age of 76.

In 1777, American forces won the Battle of Bennington, which is considered a turning point in the War of Independence.

In 1812, Detroit fell to British and Indian forces in the War of 1812.

In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln issued Proclamation 86, which prohibited states of the Union from trading with states in rebellion—that is, the Confederacy.

In 1896, gold was discovered in Canada’s Yukon Territory, sparking “Klondike fever,” which attracted tens of thousands of people to the region in search of their fortune.

In 1948, baseball legend Babe Ruth died in New York at the age of 53.

The first issue of “Sports Illustrated” was published in 1954.

In 1962, the Beatles fired their original drummer Pete Best and replaced him with Ringo Starr.

In 1978, James Earl Ray, the convicted murderer of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., testified at a hearing on Capitol Hill that he did not commit the crime because he was set up by a mysterious man named “Raoul.”

In 1987, people around the world began a two-day celebration of the “Harmonic Convergence,” which believers called the beginning of a new, purer age of humanity.

In 2014, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency and a curfew in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson. In the week since 18-year-old black man Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer, there have been repeated clashes between police and protesters.

In 2020, a lightning strike in California sparked the August Complex wildfire. Over the next three months, more than 4,500 square kilometers burned – more than the area of ​​Rhode Island.

Birthdays today: Actress Julie Newmar is 91. Film director Bruce Beresford is 84. Actor Bob Balaban is 79. Ballerina Suzanne Farrell is 79. Actress Lesley Ann Warren is 78. Actor Reginald VelJohnson is 72. Singer/writer/TV personality Kathie Lee Gifford is 71. Singer JT Taylor (Kool and the Gang) is 71. Film director James Cameron is 70. Singer/actress Madonna is 66. Actress Angela Bassett is 66. Actor Timothy Hutton is 64. Actor Steve Carell is 62. Country music artist Emily Strayer (The Chicks) is 52. Actor/filmmaker Taika Waititi is 49. Singer Vanessa Carlton is 44. Country music singer Dan Smyers (Dan & Shay) is 37. Actor Rumer Willis is 36. American swimmer and Olympic gold medalist Caeleb Dressel is 28. Tennis player Jannik Sinner is 23.