Today in History: November 15, Union troops begin ‘Sherman’s March’

Today is Sunday, Nov. 15, the 319th day of 2026. There are 46 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Nov. 15, 1864, late in the U.S. Civil War, Union forces led by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh (teh-KUM’-seh) Sherman began their “March to the Sea” from Atlanta; the campaign ended with the capture of Savannah, Georgia, on Dec. 21.

Also on this date:

In 1777, the Second Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation.

In 1806, explorer Zebulon Pike sighted the mountain now known as Pikes Peak in present-day Colorado.

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

In 1959, four members of the Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas, were found murdered in their home. (Two men were later convicted of the killings and hanged in a case made famous by the Truman Capote book “In Cold Blood.”)

In 1966, the spaceflight of Gemini 12, the final mission of NASA's Gemini program, ended successfully as astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. splashed down safely in the Atlantic after spending four days in orbit.

In 1969, a quarter of a million protesters staged a peaceful demonstration in Washington against the Vietnam War.

In 2012, the Justice Department announced that BP had agreed to plead guilty to a raft of charges in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill and pay a record $4.5 billion, including nearly $1.3 billion in criminal fines.

In 2019, Roger Stone, a longtime friend and ally of President Donald Trump, was convicted of all seven counts in a federal indictment accusing him of lying to Congress, tampering with a witness and obstructing the House investigation into whether Trump coordinated with Russia during the 2016 campaign. The president commuted Stone’s 40-month sentence days before Stone was to report to prison and fully pardoned him in December 2020.

In 2022, the world population reached 8 billion, based on United Nations projections.

Today’s Birthdays: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is 91. Singer Petula Clark is 94. Actor Sam Waterston is 86. Classical conductor Daniel Barenboim is 84. Pop singer Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad (ABBA) is 81. Fashion designer Jimmy Choo is 78. Actor Beverly D’Angelo is 75. Former “Tonight Show” bandleader Kevin Eubanks is 69. Actor Jonny Lee Miller is 54. Actor Sean Murray is 49. Golf Hall of Famer Lorena Ochoa is 45. Actor Shailene Woodley is 35. NBA All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns is 31. Actor Sadie Stanley is 25.