1 min read

Today is Wednesday, April 27, the 118th day of 2016. There are 248 days left in the year.

On this date:

In 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by natives in the Philippines.

In 1791, the inventor of the telegraph, Samuel Morse, was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

In 1822, the 18th president of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio.

Advertisement

In 1865, the steamer Sultana, carrying freed Union prisoners of war, exploded on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee; death toll estimates vary from 1,500 to 2,000.

In 1891, Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev was born in present-day Ukraine.


Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.