Today in History

1635		The French colony of Guadeloupe is established in the Caribbean.
1675		Frederick William of Brandenburg crushes the Swedes.
1709		Russians defeat the Swedes and Cossacks at the Battle of Poltava.
1776		Colonists repulse a British sea attack on Charleston, South Carolina.
1778		Mary “Molly Pitcher” Hays McCauley, wife of an American artilleryman, carries water to the soldiers during the Battle of Monmouth.
1839		Cinque and other Africans are kidnapped and sold into slavery in Cuba.
1862		Fighting continues between Union and Confederate forces during the Seven Days’ campaign.
1863		General George Meade replaces General Joseph Hooker three days before the Battle of Gettysburg.
1874		The Freedmen’s Bank, created to assist former slaves in the United States, closes. Customers of the bank lose $3 million.
1884		Congress declares Labor Day a legal holiday.
1902		Congress passes the Spooner bill, authorizing a canal to be built across the isthmus of Panama.
1911		Samuel J. Battle becomes the first African-American policeman in New York City.
1914		Austria’s Archduke Francis Ferdinand is assassinated at Sarajevo, Serbia.
1919		Germany signs the Treaty of Versailles under protest.
1921		A coal strike in Britain is settled after three months.
1930		More than 1,000 communists are routed during an assault on the British consulate in London.
1938		Congress creates the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to insure construction loans.
1942		German troops launch an offensive to seize Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus and the city of Stalingrad.
1945		General Douglas MacArthur announces the end of Japanese resistance in the Philippines.
1949		The last U.S. combat troops are called home from Korea, leaving only 500 advisers.
1950		General Douglas MacArthur arrives in South Korea as Seoul falls to the North.
1954		French troops begin to pull out of Vietnam’s Tonkin province.
1964		Malcolm X founds the Organization for Afro-American Unity to seek independence for blacks in the Western Hemisphere.
1967		14 people are shot during race riots in Buffalo, New York.
1970		Muhammad Ali [Cassius Clay] stands before the Supreme Court regarding his refusal of induction into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.
1971		The Supreme Court overturns the draft evasion conviction of Muhammad Ali.
1972		Nixon announces that no new draftees will be sent to Vietnam.
1976		The first women enter the U.S. Air Force Academy.