Today in History

216 BC		Hannibal Barca wins his greatest victory over the Romans at Cannae. After avidly studying the tactics of Hannibal, Scipio Africanus eventually bested his Carthaginian adversary.
47 BC		Caesar defeats Pharnaces at Zela in Syria and declares, "veni, vidi, vici," (I came, I saw, I conquered).
1552		The treaty of Passau gives religious freedom to Protestants living in Germany.
1553		An invading French army is destroyed at the Battle of Marciano in Italy by an imperial army.
1589		During France's religious war, a fanatical monk stabs King Henry II to death.
1776		The Continental Congress, having decided unanimously to make the Declaration of Independence, affixes the signatures of the other delegates to the document.
1790		The first US census begins enumerating the population.
1802		Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed "Consul for Life" by the French Senate after a plebiscite from the French people.
1819		The first parachute jump from a balloon is made by Charles Guille in New York City.
1832		Troops under General Henry Atkinson massacre Sauk Indian men, women and children who are followers of Black Hawk at the Bad Axe River in Wisconsin. Black Hawk himself finally surrenders three weeks later, bringing the Black Hawk War to an end.
1847		William A. Leidesdorff launches the first steam boat in San Francisco Bay.
1862		Union General John Pope captures Orange Court House, Virginia.
1862		The Army Ambulance Corps is established by Maj. Gen. George McClellan.
1876		Wild Bill Hickok is shot while playing poker.
1914		Germany invades Luxembourg.
1918		A British force lands in Archangel, Russia, to support White Russian opposition to the Bolsheviks.
1923		Vice President Calvin Coolidge becomes president upon the death of Warren G. Harding.
1934		German President Paul von Hindenburg dies and Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor.
1943		Lt. John F. Kennedy, towing an injured sailor, swims to a small island in the Solomon Islands. The night before, his boat, PT-109, had been split in half by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri.
1950		The U.S. First Provisional Marine Brigade arrives in Korea from the United States.
1964		U.S. destroyer Maddoxis reportedly attacked by North Vietnamese patrol boats.
1965		Newsman Morley Safer films the destruction of a Vietnamese village by U.S. Marines.
1990		Iraqi forces invade neighboring Kuwait.
1997		Author William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch), considered the godfather of the "Beat Generation" in American literature, dies at age 83.