The holiday we know as Columbus Day is a relative latecomer to the American calendar. It started out as a regional observance and wasn't canonized until 1937 and recognizes the arrival of Christopher Columbus and his Spanish-backed troupe of explorers in the New World on October 12, 1492. As you may know, Columbus' discovery of the Americas was a result of what amounts to a fifteenth century equivalent of bad MapQuest instructions. He had set out to chart a passage to China however after two months at sea he arrived in the Bahamas. It would take two more crossings of the Atlantic before Columbus realized he hadn't actually arrived in China, but discovered a continent previously unknown to Europeans.
The first Columbus Day celebrated in the United States was held by the Columbian Order (better known as Tammany Hall) in New York in 1792 as a commemoration of the 300th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the Americas and in 1892 Indiana's own Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation asking that Americans mark the 400th anniversary writing:
"On that day let the people, so far as possible, cease from toil and devote themselves to such exercises as may best express honor to the discoverer and their appreciation of the great achievements of the four completed centuries of American life."
In 1937 lobbying by the Knights of Columbus paid off and Franklin D. Roosevelt made Columbus Day a national holiday to be observed every October 12th and in 1973 the day became fixed as the second Monday in October.
