Major Events
- 1576 Eighty Years' War: In Flanders, Spanish defeat Walloon and capture Antwerp
- 1841 First wagon train arrives in California after a five and a half month and 1,730 mile journey over the Sierra Nevada from Missouri [1]
- 1845 First nationally observed uniform election day in the United States, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November
- 1862 American inventor Richard Jordan Gatling patents the hand cranked Gatling machine gun in Indianapolis
- 1879 African American inventor Thomas Elkins patents the Refrigerating Apparatus [1]
- 1922 Howard Carter rediscovers the intact tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt
- 2008 Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be elected President of the United States, defeating Republican candidate John McCain
- More November 4 Events
Nov 4 in Film & TV
- 2001 "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" 1st film adaptation of the book series by J. K. Rowling starring Daniel Radcliffe, premieres in London (Titled "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in some markets)
Nov 4 in Music
- 1876 Johannes Brahms' 1st Symphony in C premieres in Karlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden
Nov 4 in Sport
- 1987 NBA announces 4 new franchises; Charlotte & Miami for 1988 & Minneapolis & Orlando for 1989
Did You Know?
James Ritty patents first cash register, to combat stealing by bartenders in his saloon in Dayton, Ohio
William B. Cushing
G. E. Moore
Harry Ferguson
Shakuntala Devi
Will Rogers
Walter Cronkite
Art Carney
Doris Roberts
Loretta Swit
Matthew McConaughey
Puff Daddy
Fun Fact About November 4
John Lennon utters his famous quip at a Royal Variety Performance "For our last number, I'd like to ask your help. The people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And for the rest of you, if you’ll just rattle your jewelry…" at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London
Famous Weddings
- 1773 American seamstress Elizabeth Griscom (Betsy Ross) weds American upholster John Ross at Huggs Tavern in Gloucester City, New Jersey
- 1817 German composer Carl Maria von Weber (30) weds opera singer Caroline Brandt
- 1842 American socialite Mary Todd (23) weds Illinois Congressman and lawyer Abraham Lincoln (33) in Springfield, Illinois
Famous Divorces
- 1940 American "A Farewell to Arms" novelist Ernest Hemingway (41) divorces 2nd wife American journalist Pauline Pfeiffer (44) divorce after 13 years of marriage
- 1993 Nia Peeples files for divorce from Howard Hewett
- 2009 R&B singer Usher (30) divorces hair stylist and wardrobe stylist Tameka Foster (38) due to irretrievably broken marriage after 2 years
More November 4 Weddings
Felix Mendelssohn
Manuel Azaña
Cy Young
Yitzhak Rabin
Michael Crichton
Sparky AndersonArticles, Photos and Quiz
Emigrants Crossing the Plains
Print from 1869 showing oxen-drawn covered wagons, men on horseback, oxen and a dog crossing the plains to California.
November 4, 1841
Strange Meeting for War Poet Owen's Brother
Soldier-poet Wilfred Owen was killed on this day in history – a death that his brother would sense in an extraordinary and inexplicable experience.
November 4, 1918
Iran Hostage Crisis
Iranian students storm the walls of the US Embassy in Tehran
November 4, 1979
