Today in History

657		Mu'awiyan defeats Caliph Ali in the Battle of Siffin in Mesopotamia.
1526		Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon and colonists leave Santo Domingo for Florida.
1529		Francisco Pizarro receives a royal warrant to "discover and conquer" Peru.
1758		British forces capture France's Fortress of Louisbourg after a seven-week siege.
1759		The French relinquish Fort Ticonderoga in New York to the British under General Jeffrey Amherst.
1775		The Continental Congress establishes a postal system for the colonies with Benjamin Franklin as the first postmaster general.
1790		An attempt at a counter-revolution in France is put down by the National Guard at Lyons.
1794		The French defeat an Austrian army at the Battle of Fleurus, France.
1830		King Charles X of France issues five ordinances limiting the political and civil rights of citizens.
1847		Liberia becomes the first African colony to become an independent state.
1848		The French army suppresses the Paris uprising.
1886		William Gladstone is replaced by Lord Salisbury as Prime Minister of England.
1918		Britain's top war ace, Edward Mannock, is shot down by ground fire on the Western Front.
1920		The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified.
1948		In an Executive Order, President Harry Truman calls for the end of discrimination and segregation in the U.S. armed forces.
2005		The shuttle Discovery launches on mission STS-114, marking a return to space after the shuttle Columbia crash of 2003.