The bloodiest four years in American history begin when Confederate shore batteries under General P.G.T. Beauregard open fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina’s Charleston Bay. During the next 34 hours, 50 Confederate guns and mortars launched more than 4,000 rounds at the poorly supplied fort. On April 13, U.S. Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort. Two days later, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to quell the Southern “insurrection.” As early as 1858, the ongoing conflict between North and South over the issue of slavery had led Southern leadership to discuss a unified separation from the United States. By 1860, the majority…

Nazi era French Resistance leader dies – CNN.com By Tim Lister , CNN 2012-04-11T20:42:05Z CNN.com A photo of Raymond Aubrac taken May 5, 2009, shows the French Resistance leader in Paris. (CNN) — One of the heroes of the French Resistance against Nazi occupation, Raymond Aubrac, has died in Paris at the age of 97. With his passing, France has lost one of its few remaining links to an era that brought both humiliation and inspiration. French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid tribute to Aubrac Wednesday. “These heroes of the shadows who saved France’s honor at a time when it seemed lost are disappearing one after the other,” he said. Foreign…

The Wright Brothers Patent the Miracle of Flight This Day in 1903 On March 23, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright filed the first patent for their “Flying Machine” which they would fly successfully on December 17 of the same year. Other inventors were making strides elsewhere around the world, but the Wrights achieved the first “controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight.” A diagram of the “Flying Machine” from the 1903 patent filing,  which was granted in 1906.  http://www.theatlantic.com/video/archive/2012/03/wright-brothers-first-flight/254970/

The most deadly tornado to ever strike within the borders of the state of Oklahoma occurred on Wednesday, April 9, 1947 in the city of Woodward. The Woodward tornadic storm began in the Texas Panhandle during the afternoon of April 9, 1947, and produced at least six tornadoes along a 220 mile path that stretched from White Deer, TX (northeast of Amarillo) to St. Leo, KS (west of Wichita). The tornado that would strike Woodward began near Canadian, TX. Moving northeast, it continued on the ground continuously for about 100 miles, ending in Woods County, Oklahoma, west of Alva. The tornado was massive, up to 1.8 miles wide, and traveled…