John Cameron (died 1917)

In 1836, on October 22nd, Sam Houston was inaugurated as the first elected President of the Republic of Texas, which was formed in 1836 as a result of Texas' independence from Mexico. He served two years, per the Texas Constitution - subsequent Presidents could serve three years.

In 1842, on August 14th, General William J. Worth declared that the Florida War - also called the Second Seminole War - was over. It was the "the longest and most costly of the Indian conflicts of the United States", lasting from 1835 to 1842. By the end of the war, it was costing $93,300 per month - plus the pay of the regular soldiers. An agreement allowed the Seminole either to move west or to move to a reservation in southwest Florida.

In 1856, on March 31st, The Treaty of Paris was signed by the Russian Empire and the allied forces of the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, the French Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The Treaty ended the Crimean War which had begun almost 3 years earlier.

In 1877, on March 2nd, the U.S. presidential election of 1876 was ended with the selection of Rutherford B. Hayes as the winner. Samuel J. Tilden had won the popular vote in November 1876 but 20 votes in the electoral college were in dispute. An informal agreement was made in which Hayes agreed to remove federal troops from South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana, ending Reconstruction in the South. So, on March 4th, Rutherford B. Hayes became the 19th President of the United States.

In 1917, in the year of John Cameron's passing, in April, the U.S. entered World War I, declaring war against Germany. President Wilson had previously declared neutrality in the war - a position supported by the majority of Americans - but after Germany declared that they would sink all ships trading with Great Britain and sunk U.S. ships, public opinion began to change. Then the Lusitania was sunk, killing 1,201 - including 128 Americans - and more U.S. ships were sunk. The U.S. could stand aside no longer.