November 30

November 30 is the 335th day of the year, and the American record for it runs from 1864 to 2000 — a span of 136 years. The entry that anchors it: American Civil War, 1864.

By the middle of the nineteenth century the date carries heavier freight. In 1864, American Civil War — the Confederate Army of Tennessee led by General John Bell Hood suffers heavy losses in an attack on the Union Army of the Ohio under General John Schofield in the Battle of Franklin.

In the first half of the twentieth century the date turns technological. In 1942, World War II — Japanese warships defeated the U.S. Navy in a nighttime naval battle off Tassafaronga, Guadalcanal.

The postwar entries show a nation both expanding and contesting itself. In 1954, in Sylacauga, Alabama, United States, the Hodges meteorite crashes through a roof and hits a woman taking an afternoon nap; this is the only documented case in the Western Hemisphere of a human being hit by a rock from space. Then, in 1972, Vietnam War — White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler tells the press that there will be no more public announcements concerning American troop withdrawals from Vietnam because troop levels are now down to 27,000. Nine years on, in 1981, Cold War — in Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe. (The meetings end inconclusively on December 17.)

Closer to the present, the date is still accumulating. In 1995, U.S. President Bill Clinton visits Northern Ireland and speaks in favor of the "Northern Ireland peace process" to a huge rally at Belfast City Hall; he calls IRA fighters "yesterday's men" Four years on, in 1999, in Seattle, United States, demonstrations against a World Trade Organization meeting by anti-globalization protesters catch police unprepared and force the cancellation of opening ceremonies. A year later, in 2000, NASA launches STS-97, the 101st Space Shuttle mission.

The date is also a birthday. Among the Americans born on November 30: William Livingston (1723), American lawyer and politician, 1st Governor of New Jersey; Oliver Winchester (1810), American businessman and politician, founded the Winchester Repeating Arms Company; Mark Twain (1835), American novelist, humorist, and critic; Martha Ripley (1843), American physician; and Myron Grimshaw (1875), American baseball player.

November 30 is also a date of endings. Among the Americans who died on it: Patrick Cleburne (1864), Irish-American general; Mary Harris Jones (1930), American Labor organizer; Henry Walters (1931), American art collector and philanthropist; and Anthony M. Rud (1942), American journalist and author.

The date carries formal observance as well — National Day (Benin). 8 entries, 136 years, one square on the calendar. November 30 is a reminder that history is experienced as an ordinary day before it is remembered as a date.