History Tap No. 24: October 22, 2026

Round 1: historic event

Boston Tea Party

Happened in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773.

• Disguised as American Indians, members of the Sons of Liberty boarded the merchantman Dartmouth on the night of December 16 after it had docked in Boston with a major shipment of EIC tea and threw 340 or 342 chests into Boston Harbor.
• Nine days later, on December 25, during the Philadelphia Tea Party, a group of Patriots forced the merchantmen Polly, which was transporting a shipment of tea, to return to England without unloading her cargo.
• Parliament responded in 1774 with the Intolerable Acts, which, among other provisions, ended local self-government in Massachusetts and closed Boston's commercial port.

Round 2: pop culture

2025 Daytona 500

Happened in Florida, on February 16, 2025.

• William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports won his second straight Daytona 500 after Denny Hamlin, Cole Custer, and Chase Briscoe made contact while battling for the lead on the final lap, causing a crash that took out most of the field.
• Two-time race champion and seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson finished 3rd.
• Byron, who was seventh at the time of the contact, avoided the crash on the high line and held off Tyler Reddick for the final third of the lap to win.

Round 3: historic event, world

Deepwater Horizon oil spill

Happened in Gulf of Mexico, on April 15, 2010.

• The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is regarded as one of the largest environmental disasters in world history.
• The United States federal government estimated the total discharge at 4.9 million barrels (210,000,000 US gal; 780,000 m3).
• Reports in early 2012 indicated that the well site was still leaking.

Round 4: landmark

Millennium Park

Established in Chicago, Illinois, in 2004.

• Because the park sits atop parking garages, the commuter rail Millennium Station and rail lines, it is considered the world's largest rooftop garden.
• In 2017, Millennium Park was the top tourist destination in Chicago and in the Midwest, and placed among the top ten in the United States with 25 million annual visitors.
• Construction began in October 1998, and Millennium Park opened in a ceremony on July 16, 2004, four years behind schedule.

Round 5: historic event, world

First Battle of the Marne

Happened in Aulnois, France, on September 8, 1914.

• The German army invaded France with a plan for winning the war in 40 days by occupying Paris and destroying the French and British armies.
• With the battlefield reverses of August, Field Marshal John French, commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), lost faith in the French and began to plan for a British retreat to port cities on the English Channel for an evacuation to Britain.
• In what is called the Great Retreat the Germans pursued the retreating French and British forces more than 250 km (160 mi) southwards.