Precursor of the modern machine gun, the rapid-firing weapon the Gatling gun saw limited action during the Civil War, specifically in the Petersburg Campaign in 1864. The hand-crank-operated gun, capable of firing hundreds of rounds a minute, was patented by Richard J. Gatling in 1862.
James Naismith was teaching at The YMCA Training College, now Springfield College, in Springfield, Massachusetts when he invented basketball. Naismith invented the game for his students in the winter of 1891-92 to provide indoor exercise between the football and baseball seasons.
Europeans discovered Alaska in the 18th century. Vitus Bering, a Dane working for the Russians, and Alexei Chirikov discovered Alaska and the Aleutian Islands in 1741.
The forerunner to the modern movie theater, the nickelodeon, first opened in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, in 1905. The nickelodeon showed motion pictures with musical accompaniment.
The Dust Bowl was the name given to the region of the Great Plains wracked by drought in 1934-37 during the Great Depression. It contained portions of several states, including Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico.
The two candidates for the U.S. Senate in Illinois in 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, held seven debates. Democrat Douglas was reelected. But Lincoln’s strong performance in the campaign led to his nomination as the Republican candidate for president in 1860.