June 3

June 3 is the 155th day of the year, and the American record for it runs from 1781 to 2013 — a span of 232 years. The entry that anchors it: American Civil War, 1864.

In the years around independence, the date turns political. In 1781, American Revolutionary War — Jack Jouett rode 40 miles (64 km) to warn Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia legislature of British cavalry who had been sent to capture them.

By the middle of the nineteenth century the date carries heavier freight. In 1861, American Civil War — Battle of Philippi (also called the Philippi Races): Union forces rout Confederate troops in Barbour County, Virginia, now West Virginia. Two years on, in 1863, American Civil War — Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia begin marching to invade the North for a second time, starting the Gettysburg campaign. A year later, in 1864, American Civil War — Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant sustain heavy casualties attacking Confederate troops under Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Cold Harbor in Hanover County, Virginia.

In the first half of the twentieth century the date turns technological. In 1943, in Los Angeles, California, white U.S. Navy sailors and Marines attack Latino youths in the five-day Zoot Suit Riots.

The postwar entries show a nation both expanding and contesting itself. In 1965, the launch of Gemini 4, the first multi-day space mission by a NASA crew. Ed White, a crew member, performs the first American spacewalk.

Closer to the present, the date is still accumulating. In 2006, the union of Serbia and Montenegro comes to an end with Montenegro's formal declaration of independence. Seven years on, in 2013, the trial of United States Army private Chelsea Manning for leaking classified material to WikiLeaks begins in Fort Meade, Maryland.

The date is also a birthday. Among the Americans born on June 3: John Hale (1636), American minister; Jefferson Davis (1808), American colonel and politician, President of the Confederate States of America from 1861 - 1865; Garret Hobart (1844), American lawyer and politician, 24th Vice President of the United States; Theodore Robinson (1852), American painter and academic; and Ransom E. Olds (1864), American businessman, founded Oldsmobile and REO Motor Car Company.

June 3 is also a date of endings. Among the Americans who died on it: Thomas Hutchinson (1780), American businessman and politician, Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay; Stephen A. Douglas (1861), American lawyer and politician, 7th Secretary of State of Illinois; John Maxwell (1906), American golfer; and William Muldoon (1933), American wrestler.

The date carries formal observance as well — Confederate Memorial Day (Kentucky, and Tennessee, United States). 8 entries, 232 years, one square on the calendar. June 3 is a reminder that history is experienced as an ordinary day before it is remembered as a date.