Today in History

1492		Christopher Columbus and his crew land in the Bahamas.
1576		Rudolf II, the king of Hungary and Bohemia, succeeds his father, Maximillian II, as Holy Roman Emperor.
1609		The song "Three Blind Mice" is published in London, believed to be the earliest printed secular song.
1702		Admiral Sir George Rooke defeats the French fleet off Vigo.
1722		Shah Sultan Husayn surrenders the Persian capital of Isfahan to Afgan rebels after a seven month siege.
1809		Meriwether Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark expedition, dies under mysterious circumstances in Tennessee.
1899		The Anglo-Boer War begins.
1872		Apache leader Cochise signs a peace treaty with General Howard in Arizona Territory.
1933		Alcatraz Island is made a federal maximum security prison.
1943		The U.S. Fifth Army begins an assault crossing of the Volturno River in Italy.
1949		Eugenie Anderson becomes the first woman U.S. ambassador.
1970		President Richard Nixon announces the pullout of 40,000 more American troops in Vietnam by Christmas.
1971		The House of Representatives passes the Equal Rights Amendment 354-23.