This Day In History, June 14th

What happened on this day in history: Uncle Tom's Cabin author Harriet Beecher Stowe is born, Hezbollah hijacks TWA Flight 847, and more important events from June 14th.

1789: Survivors Of The Mutiny Aboard The HMS Bounty Reach Timor

Seven weeks after his crew on the HMS Bounty mutinied, Captain William Bligh and 18 of his supporters make it to the island of Timor. Cast adrift in a small boat with water, bread, pork, rum, and wine by the mutineers, Bligh and the others miraculously survived the 3,600-mile journey to land.


1811: Harriet Beecher Stowe Is Born

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Public DomainHarriet Beecher Stowe in 1852.

Harriet Beecher Stowe is born in Litchfield, Connecticut. An author and abolitionist, Stowe is best known for her 1852 book Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which depicted the horrors of slavery. Her novel contributed to the slavery debate leading up to the Civil War, and Abraham Lincoln allegedly said that Stowe was “the little lady who made this big war.”


1969: Dennis Martin Disappears

Dennis Martin

Family Photo/Knoxville News Sentinel ArchiveDennis Martin disappeared shortly before his 7th birthday.

Six-year-old Dennis Martin goes missing while hiking with his grandfather, father, and brother in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Martin and some other boys had briefly hidden in the woods to play a prank on the adults, but Martin never returned. A subsequent storm covered up any of his tracks, and despite a large search effort, no sign of him has ever been found.


1985: Hezbollah Hijacks TWA Flight 847

Hezbollah terrorists hijack TWA Flight 847 en route a from Athens to Rome. Rerouting the plane to Beirut, Lebanon, they demanded to know which passengers had “Jewish names,” information that one fearless flight attendant named Uli Derickson refused to disclose. Some hostages were quickly released, but one was killed and others were held until June 30th.