Today in History

1099		The Crusaders launch their final assault on Jerusalem.
1534		Ottoman armies capture Tabriz in northwestern Persia.
1558		Led by the Count of Egmont, the Spanish army defeats the French at Gravelines, France.
1585		A group of 108 English colonists, led by Sir Richard Grenville, reaches Roanoke Island, North Carolina.
1643		In England, the Roundheads, led by Sir William Waller, are defeated by Royalist troops under Lord Wilmot in the Battle of Roundway Down.
1754		George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to the French, leaving them in control of the Ohio Valley.
1787		Congress, under the Articles of Confederation, enacts the Northwest Ordinance, establishing rules for governing the Northwest Territory, for admitting new states to the Union and limiting the expansion of slavery.
1798		English poet William Wordsworth visits the ruins of Tintern Abbey.
1832		Henry Schoolcraft discovers the source of the Mississippi River in Minnesota.
1862		Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest defeats a Union army at Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
1863		Opponents of the draft begin three days of rioting in New York City.
1866		The Great Eastern begins a two week voyage to complete a 12-year effort to lay telegraph cable across the Atlantic between Britain and the United States.
1878		The Congress of Berlin divides the Balkans among European powers.
1939		Frank Sinatra records his first song, “From the Bottom of My Heart,” with the Harry James Band.
1941		Britain and the Soviet Union sign a mutual aid pact, providing the means for Britain to send war materiel to the Soviet Union.
1954		In Geneva, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China and France reach an accord on Indochina, dividing Vietnam into two countries, North and South, along the 17th parallel.
1971		The Army of Morocco executes 10 leaders accused of leading a revolt.