Today in History

1676		Indian chief King Philip, also known as Metacom, is killed by English soldiers, ending the war between Indians and colonists.
1862		Mistakenly believing the Confederate Army to be in retreat, Union General John Pope attacks, beginning the Battle of Groveton. Both sides sustain heavy casualties.
1914		Three German cruisers are sunk by ships of the Royal Navy in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, the first major naval battle of World War I.
1938		The first degree given to a ventriloquist’s dummy is awarded to Charlie McCarthy–Edgar Bergen’s wooden partner. The honorary degree, “Master of Innuendo and Snappy Comeback,” is presented on radio by Ralph Dennis, the dean of the School of Speech at Northwestern University.
1941		The German U-boat U-570 is captured by the British and renamed Graph
1944		German forces in Toulon and Marseilles, France, surrender to the Allies.
1945		Chinese communist leader Mao Tse-Tung arrives in Chunking to confer with Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek in a futile effort to avert civil war.
1963		One of the largest demonstrations in the history of the United States, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, takes place and reaches its climax at the base of the Lincoln Memorial when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I have a dream” speech.
1965		The Viet Cong are routed in the Mekong Delta by U.S. forces, with more than 50 killed.
1968		A clash between police and anti-war demonstrators during the Democratic Party’s National Convention in Chicago takes place.
1979		An Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb explodes under a bandstand in Brussels’ Great Market as British Army musicians prepare for a performance; four British soldiers are wounded.
1981		John Hinckley Jr. pleads not guilty to attempting to assassinate Reagan.
1982		The first Gay Games are held, in San Francisco.
1983		Israeli’s prime minister Menachem Begin announces his resignation.
1986		Bolivian president Victor Paz Estenssoro declares a state of siege and uses troops and tanks to halt a march by 10,000 striking tin miners.
1986		US Navy officer Jerry A. Whitworth is given a 365-year prison term for spying for the USSR.
1993		Two hundred twenty-three die when a dam breaks at Qinghai (Kokonor), in northwest China.
2003		A power blackout affects a half-million people in southeast England and halts 60% of London’s underground trains.
2005		Hurricane Katrina reaches Category 5 strength; the Louisiana Superdome is opened as a “refuge of last resort” in New Orleans.
2012		The wingnut coven nominates Romney as the cabal’s pretender candidate.