Today in History

Today is Friday, Aug. 27, the 239th day of 2021. There are 126 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On August 27, 1776, the Battle of Long Island began during the Revolutionary War as British troops attacked American forces who ended up being forced to retreat two days later.

On this date:

In 1859, Edwin L. Drake drilled the first successful oil well in the United States, at Titusville, Pennsylvania.

In 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa erupted with a series of cataclysmic explosions; the resulting tidal waves in Indonesia's Sunda Strait claimed some 36,000 lives in Java and Sumatra.

In 1949, a violent white mob prevented an outdoor concert headlined by Paul Robeson from taking place near Peekskill, New York. (The concert was held eight days later.)

In 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson accepted his party's nomination for a term in his own right, telling the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, "Let us join together in giving every American the fullest life which he can hope for."

In 1967, Brian Epstein, manager of the Beatles, was found dead in his London flat from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills; he was 32.

In 1979, British war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten and three other people, including his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas, were killed off the coast of Ireland in a boat explosion claimed by the Irish Republican Army.

In 1998, two suspects in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya were brought to the United States to face charges. (Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali (moh-HAH'-mehd rah-SHEED' dah-ood ahl-oh-WAHL'-ee) and Mohammed Saddiq Odeh (sah-DEEK' oh-DAY') were convicted in 2001 of conspiring to carry out the bombing; both were sentenced to life in prison.)

In 2001, Israeli helicopters fired a pair of rockets through office windows and killed senior PLO leader Mustafa Zibri.

In 2005, coastal residents jammed freeways and gas stations as they rushed to get out of the way of Hurricane Katrina, which was headed toward New Orleans.

In 2006, a Comair CRJ-100 crashed after trying to take off from the wrong runway in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49 people and leaving the co-pilot the sole survivor.

In 2008, Barack Obama was nominated for president by the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

In 2009, mourners filed past the closed casket of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. Jaycee Lee Dugard, kidnapped when she was 11, was reunited with her mother 18 years after her abduction in South Lake Tahoe, California.

Ten years ago: Hurricane Irene, after striking Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, pushed up the U.S east coast, prompting evacuations in New York City and leaving major flood damage in Vermont.

Five years ago: Republican Donald Trump warned of a "war on the American farmer," telling a crowd in Iowa that rival Hillary Clinton wanted "to shut down family farms" and implement anti-agriculture policies; Trump's speech at the annual "Roast and Ride" fundraiser for GOP Sen. Joni Ernst came hours after Clinton received her first national security briefing as the Democratic presidential nominee.

One year ago: Speaking on the White House South Lawn, President Donald Trump accepted his party's renomination, blasting Joe Biden as a hapless career politician who would endanger Americans' safety and painting a grim portrait of violence in American cities run by Democrats; Trump spoke for more than a hour to a tightly-packed and largely maskless crowd. Hurricane Laura roared ashore as a Category 4 storm near Cameron, Louisiana, bringing 150 mile-an-hour winds, torrential rains and a storm surge as high as 15 feet; the storm, one of the strongest ever to strike the U.S., would leave more than 20 people dead in Louisiana and Texas. A white supremacist who slaughtered 51 worshippers at two New Zealand mosques, Brenton Tarrant, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole; it was the first time that maximum available sentence had been imposed in New Zealand.

Today's Birthdays: Author Lady Antonia Fraser is 89. Actor Tommy Sands is 84. Bluegrass singer-musician J.D. Crowe is 84. Actor Tuesday Weld is 78. Actor G.W. Bailey is 77. Actor Marianne Sagebrecht is 76. Country musician Jeff Cook is 72. Actor Paul Reubens is 69. Rock musician Alex Lifeson (Rush) is 68. Actor Peter Stormare is 68. Actor Diana Scarwid is 66. Rock musician Glen Matlock (The Sex Pistols) is 65. Golfer Bernhard Langer is 64. Country singer Jeffrey Steele is 60. Gospel singer Yolanda Adams is 60. Movie director Tom Ford (Film: "Nocturnal Animals") is 60. Writer-producer Dean Devlin is 59. Rock musician Mike Johnson is 56. Rap musician Bobo (Cypress Hill) is 54. U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines is 52. Country singer Colt Ford is 52. Actor Chandra Wilson is 52. Rock musician Tony Kanal (No Doubt) is 51. Rapper Mase is 46. Actor Sarah Chalke is 45. Actor RonReaco Lee is 45. Actor-singer Demetria McKinney is 43. Actor Aaron Paul is 42. Rock musician Jon Siebels (Eve 6) is 42. Actor Shaun Weiss is 42. Contemporary Christian musician Megan Garrett (Casting Crowns) is 41. Actor Kyle Lowder is 41. Actor Patrick J. Adams is 40. Actor Karla Mosley is 40. Actor Amanda Fuller is 37. Singer Mario is 35. Actor Alexa PenaVega is 33. Actor Ellar Coltrane is 27. Actor Savannah Paige Rae is 18.