Today in History

4004 BC		According to 17th century divine James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, and Dr. John Lightfoot of Cambridge, the world was created on this day, a Sunday, at 9 a.m.
1641		A rebellion takes place in Ireland. Catholics, under Phelim O’Neill, rise against the Protestants and massacre men, women and children to the number of 40,000 (some say 100,000).
1694		American colonial forces led by Sir William Phips, fail in their attempt to seize Quebec.
1707		The first Parliament of Great Britain meets.
1783		Virginia emancipates slaves who fought for independence during the Revolutionary War.
1861		President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C. for all military-related cases.
1864		Two union forces under Major General Samuel R. Curtis decisively defeat an outnumbered Confederate force under Major General Sterling Price at Westport, Missouri, near Kansas City. The Battle of Westport, which some will call the “Gettysburg of the West,” forces Price’s army to retreat and ends his Missouri expedition, the last major Confederate offensive west of the Mississippi River.
1918		President Woodrow Wilson feels satisfied that the Germans are accepting his armistice terms and agrees to transmit their request for an armistice to the Allies. The Germans have agreed to suspend submarine warfare, cease inhumane practices such as the use of poison gas, and withdraw troops back into Germany.
1929		The first transcontinental air service begins from New York to Los Angeles.
1942		The Western Task Force, destined for North Africa, departs from Hampton Roads, Virginia.
1952		The Nobel Prize for Medicine is awarded to Ukranian-born microbiologist Selmart A. Waksman for his discovery of an effective treatment of tuberculosis.
1954		In Paris, an agreement is signed providing for West German sovereignty and permitting West Germany to rearm and enter NATO and the Western European Union.
1973		A U.N. sanctioned cease-fire officially ends the Yom Kippur war between Israel and Syria.
1983		A truck filled with explosives, driven by a Muslim terrorist, crashes into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The bomb kills 237 Marines and injures 80. Almost simultaneously, a similar incident occurs at French military headquarters, where 58 die and 15 are injured.
1989		The Hungarian Republic replaces the communist Hungarian People’s Republic.
1998		Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a “land for peace” agreement.
2002		Chechen terrorists take 700 theater-goers hostage at the House of Culture theater in Moscow.
2004		An earthquake in Japan kills 35, injures 2,200, and leaves 85,000 homeless or displaced.
2011		The Libyan National Transition Council declares the Libyan civil war over.
2012		The world’s oldest teletext service, BBC’s Ceefax, ceases operation.