Today in History

715   St. Gregory II begins his reign as Catholic Pope.  
1535   French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail for North America. 1536   Anne Boleyn is beheaded on Tower Green.  
1568   Defeated by the Protestants, Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England where Queen Elizabeth imprisons her.  
1588   The Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon, Spain.  
1608   The Protestant states form the Evangelical Union of Lutherans and Calvinists.  
1635   Cardinal Richelieu of France intervenes in the great conflict in Europe by declaring war on the Hapsburgs in Spain.  
1643   The French army defeats a Spanish army at Rocroi, France.  
1780   Near total darkness descends on New England at noon. No explanation is found.  
1856   Senator Charles Sumner speaks out against slavery.  
1858   A pro-slavery band led by Charles Hameton executes unarmed Free State men near Marais des Cygnes on the Kansas-Missouri border.  
1863   Union General Ulysses S. Grant's first attack on Vicksburg is repulsed.  
1864   The Union and Confederate armies launch their last attacks against each other at Spotsylvania, Virginia.  
1921   Congress sharply curbs immigration, setting a national quota system.  
1935   The National Football League adopts an annual college draft to begin in 1936.  
1964   U.S. diplomats find at least 40 microphones planted in the American embassy in Moscow.  
1967   U.S. planes bomb Hanoi for the first time.