Historical Events on August 24
- 1456: The printing of the Gutenberg Bible is finished.
- 1482: An English army captures the town and castle of Berwick upon Tweed.
- 1561: The duchess Anna of Saxony is wed to Willem of Orange.
- 1682: An area that is now known as the State of Delaware is received by William Penn who adds it to his holdings in Pennsylvania.
- 1781: An American Indian force ambushes a small militia out of Pennsylvania and overwhelmes them. This causes George Rogers Clark to scrap his plans to attack Detroit.
- 1812: During the Peninsular War, a coalition composed of British, Portuguese and Spanish forces force the lifting of an almost three year long siege of Cadiz.
- 1814: Washington D.C is invaded by British forces and many Washington buildings, including the White House, is set on fire.
- 1816: The Treaty of St. Louis is signed in Portage des Sioux, Missouri—just north of St.Louis.
- 1857: The Panic of 1857 starts.
- 1870: The Wolseley expedition reaches Manitoba to end the Red River Rebellion.
- 1875: Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim the English Channel.
- 1891: Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera.
- 1898: Count Muravyov, Foreign Minister of Russia presents a rescript that convoked the First Hague Peace Conference.
- 1909: The pouring of concrete for the Panama Canal begins on this day.
- 1914: German troops capture Namur during WWI.
- 1914: The Battle of Cer ends during WWI.
- 1931: Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly across the U.S non-stop from L.A to Newark, New Jersey.
- 1944: Allied forces began the attack on the city of Paris, France.
- 1949: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization goes into effect.
- 1950: Edith Sampson becomes the first ever African-American United States delegate to the U.N.
- 1995: Microsoft releases the operating system Windows 95 in North America.
- 1998: The first RFID (radio-frequency identification) implanted in humans is tested in the U.K.
Famous Birthdays on August 24
- American actor Steve Guttenberg is born in 1958
- American author Chris Offutt is born in 1958.
- English social worker and politician Meg Munn is born in 1959.
- American baseball player Cal Ripken Jr. is born in 1960.
- English actor Jared Harris is born in 1961.
- American journalist Major Garret is born in 1962.