MOMENTS IN TIME - Oct. 29, 2009

The History Channel

On Nov. 10, 1775, the Continental Congress passes a resolution stating that “two Battalions of Marines be raised” for service as landing forces for the Continental Navy. The resolution created the Continental Marines and is now observed as the birth date of the United States Marine Corps.

On Nov. 14, 1851, “Moby Dick,” a novel by Herman Melville about the voyage of the whaling ship Pequod, is published. Initially the book was a flop. By the 1920s, scholars had rediscovered Melville’s work, and “Moby Dick” became a staple of high-school reading lists across the United States...