1811 – The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought at Prophetstown, near the junction of the Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers. Native American forces, led by the “Prophet” Tenskwatawa, the brother of Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, attacked United States soldiers led by General William Henry Harrison. The battle, which lasted two hours in the middle of the night, was a victory for Harrison’s army. The defeat broke Tecumseh’s dream of a Native American Confederation.
1904 – Charles W. Fairbanks was elected Vice President of the United States. He served four years under President Theodore Roosevelt. Born in a log cabin in Ohio, Fairbanks moved to Indiana to work as a lawyer for the railroads. He represented the state as a United States Senator for eight years before his election as Vice President. The city of Fairbanks, Alaska, was named for him in recognition of his service on a commission which settled the Alaska boundary dispute.
1921 – Mayoral elections were held around the state. In Indianapolis, Samuel L. Shank was elected to a second term (his first term was from 1909 to 1913.) William J. Hosey was elected mayor in Fort Wayne, Benjamin Bosse in Evansville, Dr. John C. Quick in Muncie, Blanchard J. Horne in Anderson, Ora Davis in Terre Haute, and R. O. Johnson in Gary.
1965 – Newspapers reported that more Indiana men were being inducted into the Army. The numbers in recent months had increased four times over the previous year. The growing conflict in Vietnam had resulted in the need for more soldiers. Many men as young as 19 were receiving letters from the 155 draft boards around the state.
1967 – World War I “Flying Ace” Eddie Rickenbacker was in the book department at the L. S. Ayres Department Store in downtown Indianapolis. He was signing copies of his autobiography, Rickenbacker. Race cars and airplanes had been at the center of his long and adventurous life. He owned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 1927 to 1945.
1986 – Hoosiers premiered at the Circle Theater in Indianapolis. Loosely based on the 1954 Milan High School basketball team, the movie was shot entirely in Indiana. Film critic Roger Ebert awarded the picture a full five stars. “Hoosiers works a magic,” he wrote, “in getting us to care about the fate of the team and the people depending on it. It is a movie that is all heart.”