Today in History

1588		The Spanish Armada, which attempted to invade England, is destroyed by a British fleet.
1776		The British occupy Manhattan.
1788		An alliance between Britain, Prussia and the Netherlands is ratified at the Hague.
1858		The Butterfield Overland Mail Company begins delivering mail from St. Louis to San Francisco. The company's motto is: "Remember, boys, nothing on God's earth must stop the United States mail!"
1862		Confederates capture Harpers Ferry, securing the rear of Robert E. Lee's forces in Maryland.
1891		The Dalton gang holds up a train and takes $2,500 at Wagoner, Oklahoma.
1914		President Woodrow Wilson orders the Punitive Expedition out of Mexico. The Expedition, headed by General John Pershing, had been searching for Pancho Villa, a Mexican revolutionary.
1916		Armored tanks are introduced by the British during the Battle of the Somme.
1928		Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovers, by accident, that the mold penicillin has an antibiotic effect.
1935		In Berlin, the Reich under Adolf Hitler adopts the swastika as the national flag.
1937		Prime Minister of England Neville Chamberlain flies to Germany to discuss the future of Czechoslovakia with Adolf Hitler.
1939		The Polish submarine Orzel arrives in Tallinn, Estonia, after escaping the German invasion of Poland.
1950		U.N. Forces, lead by the U.S. Marine Corps, invade occupied Korea at the port of Inchon. Considered the greatest amphibious attack in history, it is the zenith of General Douglas MacArthur's career.
1963		Four young African-American girls are killed by the bombing of a church in Montgomery, Alabama.
1971		The environmental group Greenpeace is founded.