10 Significant Events That Also Took Place on November 22

The United States recently observed the 61st anniversary of one of the country’s most tragic events. The assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, is sometimes referred to as a “Where were you?” moment. That is, people often remember where they were when they heard the 35th President of the United States was killed on that day.

However, both before and after 1963, other significant events in history—some sad, some inspiring, and some perhaps just interesting—also took place on November 22. Ten such events are listed chronologically below.

Related: 10 Eyewitness Accounts of History

10 Blackbeard the Pirate Dies, 1718

Edward Teach, also known as the Blackbeard, came under attack from two British naval navy ships—the Ranger and the Jane—near Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, on November 22, 1718. Although Blackbeard and his crew—who were on a ship called the Adventure—were able to retaliate by setting off their ship’s cannons and boarding the Jane, they were quickly ambushed by the ship’s crew. Reportedly, Blackbeard was shot five times and cut 20 times before he died alongside some of his crew.

When the Ranger and its crew arrived a short time later, they severely beat the surviving members of Blackbeard’s crew. Some tried to escape this wrath by jumping overboard and trying to swim away, but crew members of the Ranger and the Jane shot them to death. Nine of Blackbeard’s crew survived and were taken prisoner.^[1]

9 U.S. President John Adams Speaks to Congress, 1797

The yellow fever epidemic that was plaguing Philadelphia on November 22, 1797—the nation’s capital at the time—almost convinced U.S. President John Adams to move the location of his speech to Congress on that date elsewhere. However, Adams’s concerns about the inconvenience and the costs associated with the move, coupled with assurances that health risks from yellow fever were declining, apparently convinced him to go ahead with giving the speech in Philadelphia.

During Adams’s speech, he expressed concern regarding ongoing conflicts in Europe and the Atlantic Ocean but praised the peace in the newly declared United States of America. He also implored Congress to understand and thus preserve commerce’s importance to the new nation’s economy and various sectors such as agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, and the arts. He also asked Congress to raise funds to establish a way to defend the young country as much as possible with taxes rather than loans.^[2]

8 Mount St. Helens Volcano Erupts, 1842

Roughly 50 years after the first reported sighting by a European of a volcano in southwestern Washington and about 50 miles (80.5 km) northeast of Portland, Oregon, that would become known as Mount St. Helens, it was seen in an eruptive state on November 22, 1842. The blast was seen roughly 80 miles (129 km) south-southwest of the volcano in Champoeg, Oregon, and ash from the explosion traveled roughly 50 miles southeast of the volcano in The Dalles, Oregon.

The 1842 eruption occurred during what is now known as the Goat Rocks Eruptive Period of 1800 to 1857. Eruptions during this period likely put the last pieces of the volcano together before the well-known 1980 blast on May 8 that killed 57 people and many animals.^[3]

7 Labor Leader Eugene V. Debs Is Released from Prison, 1895

In 1894, Eugene V. Debs represented workers in an Illinois company town who were frustrated that their employer had lowered wages but not the cost of living in a dispute that is often referred to as the Pullman Strike. Those actions landed him in prison for six months on contempt of court charges.

While jailed, Debs read many things authored by Karl Marx and was greatly inspired by him. Upon Debs’s release from prison and arrival in Chicago on November 22, 1905, and for most of the rest of his life, he devoted his time to advancing socialism and criticizing capitalism, running for president multiple times on that platform.^[4]

6 Oil Is Discovered Near Tulsa Oklahoma, 1905

In the fall of 1905, about two years before Oklahoma went from being a territory to being a state, oil drilling began in a well owned by Ida E. Glenn and her husband Robert Glenn, near what is Sapulpa, Oklahoma. The town is approximately 94 miles east-northeast of Oklahoma City and approximately 15 miles (24 km) south-southwest of Tulsa. For several hundred feet, nothing was found, but on November 22, 1905, at about 1,481 feet (451 meters), the team struck oil. The well would go on to produce up to 85 barrels of crude oil daily.

The average hourly salary of union employees in Chicago 10 years later was between approximately $1.19 and $1.50 an hour. With the Glenns having allowed drilling at their well so long as they were paid $45 and received a one-eighth share of any petroleum or natural gas output from the well, the discovery suggests that they became rich. Several new and established companies also financially benefitted from the discovery, which also made Oklahoma the biggest oil producer at the time.^[5]

5 First Battle of Ypres Ends, 1914

Land near the northern Belgian city of Ypres was the site of multiple battles between Allied and German troops during World War I. The first of these started on October 19, 1914, and ended on November 22, 1914. Both sides lacked a commander who could develop and implement an awe-inspiring plan to engage their rival.

Thus, the First Battle of Ypres consisted of fighting, breaks in the action, and then resumptions of fighting, mostly through trench warfare. The Germans ultimately lost this battle, and so did 130,000 of its men.^[6]

4 New York Railroad Crash Kills Dozens, 1950

Shortly before 6:30 p.m. on November 22, 1950, which was Thanksgiving Eve that year, a commuter train was experiencing brake problems and stopped on the railroad’s tracks. Another commuter train rear-ended it, causing a crash that killed nearly 80 people.

The crash was initially attributed to the stopped commuter train’s engineer for not directing his brakeman to alert the oncoming train. Later, the engineer of the commuter train that rear-ended the stopped one was criticized for ignoring what was called a stop-and-proceed signal. Whatever the reason, in the aftermath of the crash, it became mandatory that a conductor or brakeman accompany an engineer in the first car of an electric train.^[7]

3 The Humane Society of the United States Is Established, 1954

Four members of the American Humane Association—Denver residents Fred Meyers, Helen Jones, Larry Andrews, and Marcia Glaser—disgruntled about other American Humane Association members who had criticized Meyers’s writing and other members’ seemingly acting nonjudgmental about an outside group claiming animals for medical research purposes—left the American Humane Association. On November 22, 1954, these four individuals incorporated what was then called the National Humane Society.

The new organization set up its operations in Washington, D.C., to give it more credibility as a national organization and be closer to the federal lawmakers whose support they needed to help champion animals’ rights. To avoid a legal battle against the older organization, members of the new organization changed the group’s name to what it is known as today: The Humane Society of the United States.^[8]

2 Mount Merapi Erupts, 1994

On November 22, 1994, the volcano known as Mount Merapi in the center of the island of Java in Indonesia experienced its first major eruption since 1976. The 1994 eruption spurred a river of volcanic material, ash, and gas that killed 64 people.

In the immediate aftermath of the eruption, hundreds were said to be hurt or left homeless, and about two dozen employees of a water treatment plant near Mount Merapi were said to be missing. In addition, although about 6,000 people living near the volcano were evacuated, some were hesitant to leave, citing the sacredness of it.^[9]

1 Angela Merkel Becomes German Chancellor, 2005

When Angela Merkel was sworn in as the German Chancellor at age 51 on November 22, 2005, she became the first woman, the first East German, and the youngest person to hold that position. At the time, the former scientist’s country’s unemployment rate was 11%, and its relationship with the United States was in the process of healing after some turmoil.

On those fronts, during her tenure, she increased the number of hours in a work week and improved her country’s relationships with the countries of North America. In 2021, Merkel stepped down from the German chancellor position, two weeks shy of establishing a new record of time served in that position.^[10]