Today in History

1242		Russian troops repel an invasion by Teutonic knights.
1614		Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe.
1792		George Washington casts the first presidential veto.
1843		Queen Victoria proclaims Hong Kong a British crown colony.
1861		Gideon Welles, the Secretary of the Navy issues official orders for the USS Powhatan to sail to Fort Sumter.
1865		As the Confederate army approaches Appomattox, it skirmishes with Union forces at Amelia Springs and Paine’s Cross Road.
1908		The Japanese Army reaches Yalu River as Russians retreat.
1919		Eamon de Valera becomes president of Ireland.
1930		Mahatma Gandhi defies British law by making salt in India instead of buying it from the British.
1941		German commandos secure docks along the Danube River in preparation for Germany’s invasion of the Balkans.
1943		The British 8th Army attacks the next blocking position of the retreating Axis forces at Wadi Akarit.
1951		Americans Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are sentenced to death for espionage.
1955		Winston Churchill resigns as British prime minister.
1986		A bomb explodes in a West Berlin disco packed with American soldiers.