| 1540 | Afghan chief Sher Khan defeats Mongul Emperor Humayun at Kanauj. | |
| 1630 | Italian Jesuit Niccolo Zucchi sees the belts on Jupiter’s surface. | |
| 1681 | Louis XIV sends an expedition to aid James II in Ireland. As a result, England declares war on France. | |
| 1756 | Britain declares war on France. | |
| 1792 | Merchants form the New York Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street. | |
| 1814 | Denmark cedes Norway to Sweden. | |
| 1863 | Union General Ulysses Grant continues his push towards Vicksburg at the Battle of the Big Black River Bridge. | |
| 1875 | The first Kentucky Derby is run in Louisville. | |
| 1881 | Frederick Douglass is appointed recorder of deeds for Washington, D.C. | |
| 1940 | Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium and begins the invasion of France. | |
| 1954 | The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rules for school integration in Brown v. Board of Education. | |
| 1973 | The Senate Watergate Committee begins its hearings. | |
| 1987 | In the Persian Gulf the American guided missile frigate USS Stark is struck by 2 Exocet missiles fired by an Iraqi aircraft; only one detonates, but 37 sailors are killed and 21 are wounded. Whether the launch was deliberate or a mistake is still debated. |
