Top 10+ Single Deadliest Days In American History
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| The Single Deadliest Days In US History. Photo: KnowInsiders.com |
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The United States of America has been a witness to a great deal of tragedy, including terrorist bombings that resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent people.
KnowInsiders.com have compiled a list of the 13 days that were the deadliest on their own. The majority of them recorded the highest number of fatalities in the entire history of the United States.
However, some of them reported that an important person had been murdered, which was sufficient to make it sufficient enough to call it "the worst day."
Top 13 Single Deadliest Days In US History
(Selected and recommended by KnowInsiders.com)
1. September 8, 1900: Galveston Hurricane - 8,000 Estimated Deaths
The fact that the hurricane that hit Galveston in 1900 is still considered to be the deadliest natural disaster in American history is a testament to the devastation that it caused. The Category 4 hurricane that ripped through the city in Texas on September 8 at speeds of 135 miles per hour and killed between 8,000 and 12,000 people is locally known as the 1900 Storm.
When the storm hit Galveston, it tore over 3,600 houses and commercial establishments off of their foundations as easily as paper. Even though it is unlikely that earlier warnings would have prevented the destruction of infrastructure, it is possible that the death toll could have been reduced if not for the incompetence of the United States Weather Bureau.
The United States Weather Bureau, the organization that would later become the National Weather Service, had only been in existence for ten years at the time, and the science of monitoring hurricanes as they crossed the Atlantic was in its infancy. According to Kerry Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric science at MIT, "any modestly educated weather forecaster would've known" where the storm was headed.
2. February 4, 2021: COVID-19 Pandemic - 5,000 Deaths
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| People wait in line to get tested for COVID-19 at a mobile testing site in Times Square. Photo: The Hill |
The US recorded more than 5,000 Covid-19 deaths on Feb 4, 2021.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the increase, which brought the total number of deaths to their highest point to date, appears to be largely due to a backlog of data that was just released from Indiana, which added 1,500 deaths to the total for the country.
Even though the number of reported cases has been decreasing overall, the death toll is typically a lagging indicator of the virus's spread, so it is often a reflection of what occurred in the weeks prior to the most recent count. According to data provided by Johns Hopkins University, there were a total of 5,077 deaths in the United States yesterday, and 122,473 new cases.
| COVID-19 has changed Americans' lives. Americans were mostly alone during the pandemic. Over 975,000 Americans lost loved ones to COVID-19. Millions lost their jobs and employer-provided health insurance during the recession. To provide frontline services, 31.6 million people had to work, while others worked from home. Online education has replaced classroom instruction. Parents struggled to balance work and caregiving. Despite the hopelessness, emergency personnel and medical staff worked extra hours to save lives. |
3. September 17, 1862: Battle of Antietam, US Civil War - 3,650 Deaths
The Union was able to hold its own against the Confederate army in the Eastern theater thanks to Antietam, the bloodiest single-day combat in American military history. Additionally, it gave Abraham Lincoln the self-assurance to make the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in a strong rather than desperate moment.
On September 17, 1862, after twelve hours of brutal fighting, 23,000 soldiers were dead, wounded, or missing. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's first incursion into the North was put an end by the Battle of Antietam, which also prompted Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation's preliminary version.
READ MORE: What Are The First War Ships of US Navy - Top 10 Oldest
4. August 8, 1899: San Ciriaco Hurricane - 3,389 Deaths
The hurricane's area had grown by the time it made landfall on Montserrat on August 7, 1899, and the barometer had dropped by nearly two inches since August 3.(Monthly Weather Review, October 1900) The wind was blowing with hurricane force, causing immense damage and loss of life, and the rainfall was excessive, having reached 27.45 inches. The material that had just been laid in for the pier's extension was blown out to sea along with the pier itself. There are homeless women and kids swarming the courthouse and a school. There is not a single church or parsonage on the island. There have been about 100 fatalities and 1400 injuries so far.
Buildings all over the island were destroyed by the hurricane, which also destroyed crops. The winds stripped the mountain sides bare. There were 100 fatalities, 1,000 injuries, and 9,000 homeless people.
5. April 18, 1906: San Francisco Earthquake & Fire - 3,000+ Deaths
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| Photo Yale Environment Review |
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck without prior notice or opportunity for preparation. The majority were still asleep when the grounds beneath them shifted at 5:12 a.m. on April 18 as a 7.9-magnitude tremor. From Los Angeles to Oregon, the San Andreas Fault experienced a tectonic slip that caused the shaking.
San Jose, Salinas, and Santa Rosa were among the towns that suffered destruction near the fault line, but none of them were as badly affected as San Francisco. Fires broke out there almost immediately after the earthquake itself ended.
6. September 16, 2017: Hurricane Maria - 3,059 Deaths
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| Photo ABC News |
Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 storm that devastated the Caribbean Islands from September 16–30 of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, is well-known for its destruction in Puerto Rico and Dominica. It arrived shortly after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which together cost the United States $265 billion in damages and made 2017 the most expensive year on record for weather-related disasters.
A record-breaking hurricane, Maria also caused significant damage to other Caribbean islands, including the Lesser Antilles island chain and the Dominican Republic. It shares the distinction with Hurricane Wilma (2005), which gained it when it went from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in just 54 hours.
7. September 11, 2001: Terrorist Attacks - 2,977 Deaths
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| Photo history |
Before this day, Americans believed that terrorism was a problem that only other nations had to deal with and that our distance from the Middle East would protect us. Americans were stunned by the 9/11 attacks' sheer scale, which served as a reminder of their frailty in a potentially terrifying world.
Additionally, it exposed the level of animosity some Muslims have for Americans and the lengths they will go to murder Americans (2,976 on this single day). Following these attacks, Americans accepted intrusive laws, a government with unprecedented investigative powers, and military intervention in the Middle East out of a sense of insecurity.
8. September 13, 1928: Okeechobee Hurricane - 2,823 Deaths
In September of the 1928 Atlantic hurricane season, the Okeechobee Hurricane, also known as Hurricane San Felipe Segundo, made landfall in Florida and caused fatalities in the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Florida. As of 2006, it remained the only hurricane ever to hit Puerto Rico at Category 5 strength and one of the ten most intense hurricanes ever to make landfall in the United States. It was the first hurricane ever to reach Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale in the Atlantic basin.
All along its path, the hurricane left destruction in its wake. In Guadeloupe, up to 1,200 people perished. At its strongest, the storm directly hit Puerto Rico, killing at least 300 people and displacing hundreds of thousands. When Lake Okeechobee's storm surge breached the dike surrounding the lake in south Florida, flooding an area hundreds of square miles, at least 2,500 people died. At least 4,075 people were killed by the hurricane, and its path resulted in damages totaling $100 million ($800 million in 2005 US dollars).
9. June 6, 1944: D-Day WW2 - 2,501 Deaths
In an operation that proved to be a crucial turning point in World War II, more than 156,000 American, British, and Canadian soldiers stormed 50 miles of the fiercely guarded beaches in Normandy on June 6, 1944, in northern France. The epic Allied invasion's planning and execution are summarized in the table below.
The largest amphibious invasion in military history took place on D-Day. The invasion, officially known as "Operation Overlord," included 156,115 U.S., British, and Canadian soldiers, 6,939 ships and landing craft, 2,395 aircraft, and 867 gliders that transported troops airborne.
| Unlike V-E Day ("Victory in Europe") and V-J Day ("Victory over Japan"), the "D" in D-Day is not an abbreviation for "departure" or "decision." The term D-Day was first used by the American military to indicate a mission's launch date during World War I. One reason was to prevent spies from knowing the actual date; another was to act as a stand-in until the real date was determined. In addition, they employed H-Hour for the precise launch time. |
10. December 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor Bombing - 2,467 Deaths
More than 2,300 Americans were killed when Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor External U.S. Naval Base in Hawaii Territory on December 7, 1941. The U.S.S. Oklahoma capsized, and the U.S.S. Arizona was totally destroyed. The attack totaled twelve ships, of which twelve were lost or beached, and nine more were damaged. Over 160 aircraft were lost, and another 150 were damaged.
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| Photo veterans |
The first official report of the attack on the poorly fortified Pearl Harbor base was sent hastily to all major navy commands and fleet units by Admiral Husband Edward Kimmel, Commander in Chief of the United States Pacific Fleet, the highest ranking American naval officer stationed in Pearl Harbor. It simply read: THIS IS NOT A DRILL, AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR X.
11. July 1-3, 1863: Battle of Gettysburg US Civil War - 2,300+ estimated Deaths per day for 3 days
From July 1 to July 3, 1863, the battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania lasted three days. More than 40,000 soldiers were left on the battlefield dead or wounded as a result. The Civil War battle claimed the lives of 7,000–10,000 men, it became clear after the deafening gunfire subsided and the smoke cleared.
3,903 men had died by the end of the third day, bringing Confederate casualties close to 60%. 5,425 of them had either been taken prisoner or had vanished, leaving 18,735 of them injured. The Union's losses were lower, though still horrific, when General Lee withdrew on the wet afternoon of July 4.
The Union victory hardly felt like one with 3,155 soldiers killed, 14,529 wounded, and 5,365 captured or missing. Never before had soldiers on both sides of a conflict of this magnitude engaged in combat, leaving many of them traumatized or permanently disfigured.
12. November 22, 1963: Assassination of JFK
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| Photo Critics Rant |
The 35th president of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, is killed while driving through Dallas, Texas, in an open-top convertible.
Rarely did First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy accompany her husband on political outings, but on November 22 she rode alongside him for a 10-mile motorcade through downtown Dallas alongside Texas Governor John Connally and his wife. The Kennedy and Connally families waved to the large and jubilant crowds gathered along the parade route while seated in a Lincoln convertible. At 12:30 p.m., President Kennedy was shot three times from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building as their car passed by, killing him and seriously hurting Governor Connally. Thirty minutes later, at Dallas' Parkland Hospital, Kennedy was declared dead. He was 46.
READ MORE: How Many US Presidents Have Been Assassinated?
13. April 14, 1865: Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
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| Photo The Mommies Reviews |
At Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on the evening of April 14, 1865, renowned actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth killed President Abraham Lincoln. The Confederate General Robert E. Lee's massive army's surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively put an end to the American Civil War, but the attack happened just five days later.
John Wilkes Booth: Who Was He?
John Wilkes Booth was a native of Maryland who was born in 1838 into a famous acting family. In the end, Booth would perform on stage, making his Baltimore debut in 1855's production of Shakespeare's Richard III.
Despite supporting the Confederacy, Booth remained in the North during the Civil War and built a prosperous acting career. The plot to kidnap the president and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital, was hatched by him and a number of his associates as the war approached its conclusion.
Abraham Lincoln's failure to show up on March 20, 1865, the day of the intended kidnapping, prevented Booth and his fellow conspirators from carrying out their planned abduction. General Robert E. Lee gave up at Appomattox Court House on April 9 after Union forces captured Richmond two weeks earlier. Booth's desire to save the Confederacy drove him to develop an even more evil scheme.
| Did you know? The search for John Wilkes Booth was one of the largest manhunts in history, with 10,000 federal troops, detectives and police tracking down the assassin. |
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