Today in History

1515		King Francis of France defeats the Swiss army under Cardinal Matthaus Schiner at Marignano, northern Italy.
1549		Pope Paul III closes the first session of the Council of Bologna.
1564		On the verge of attacking Pedro Menendez’s Spanish settlement at San Agostin, Florida, Jean Ribault’s French fleet is scattered by a devastating storm.
1759		British troops defeat the French on the plains of Abraham, in Quebec.
1774		Anne Robert Turgot, the new controller of finances, urges the king of France to restore the free circulation of grain in the kingdom.
1782		The British fortress at Gibraltar comes under attack by French and Spanish forces.
1788		The Constitutional Convention authorizes the first federal election resolving that electors in all the states will be appointed on January 7, 1789.
1789		Guardsmen in Orleans, France, open fire on rioters trying to loot bakeries, killing 90.
1846		General Winfield Scott takes Chapultepec, removing the last obstacle to U.S. troops moving on Mexico City.
1862		Union troops in Frederick, Maryland, discover General Robert E. Lee‘s attack plans for the invasion of Maryland wrapped around a pack of cigars. They give the plans to General George B. McClellan who sends the Army of the Potomac to confront Lee but only after a delay of more than half a day.
1863		The Loudoun County Rangers route a company of Confederate cavalry at Catoctin Mountain in Virginia.
1905		U.S. warships head to Nicaragua on behalf of American William Albers, who was accused of evading tobacco taxes.
1918		U.S. and French forces take St. Mihiel, France in America’s first action as a standing army.
1945		Iran demands the withdrawal of Allied forces.
1951		In Korea, U.S. Army troops begin their assault in Heartbreak Ridge. The month-long struggle will cost 3,700 casualties.
1961		An unmanned Mercury capsule is orbited and recovered by NASA in a test.
1976		The United States announces it will veto Vietnam’s UN bid.
1988		Hurricane Gilbert becomes the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere, based on barometric pressure. Hurricane Wilma will break that record in 2005.
1993		The Oslo Accords, granting limited Palestinian autonomy, are signed by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat at the White House.
2007		UN adopts non-binding Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
2008		Five synchronized bomb blasts occur in crowded locations of Delhi, India, killing at least 30 people and injuring more than 100; four other bombs are defused.
2008		Hurricane Ike makes landfall in Texas; it had already been the most costly storm in Cuba’s history and becomes the third costliest in the US.