Today in History

1787		The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia approves the constitution for the United States of America.
1796		President George Washington delivers his “Farewell Address” to Congress before concluding his second term in office.
1862		The Battle of Antietam in Maryland, the bloodiest day in U.S. history, commences. Fighting in the corn field, Bloody Lane and Burnside’s Bridge rages all day as the Union and Confederate armies suffer a combined 26,293 casualties.
1868		The Battle of Beecher’s Island begins, in which Major George “Sandy” Forsyth and 50 volunteers hold off 500 Sioux and Cheyenne in eastern Colorado.
1902		U.S. troops are sent to Panama to keep train lines open over the isthmus as Panamanian nationals struggle for independence from Colombia.
1903		Turks destroy the town of Kastoria in Bulgaria, killing 10,000 civilians.
1916		Germany’s “Red Baron,” Manfred von Richthofen, wins his first aerial combat.
1917		The German Army recaptures the Russian Port of Riga from Russian forces.
1939		With the German army already attacking western Poland, the Soviet Union launches an invasion of eastern Poland.
1942		British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meets with Soviet Premier Josef Stalin in Moscow as the German Army rams into Stalingrad.
1944		British airborne troops parachute into Holland to capture the Arnhem bridge as part of Operation Market-Garden. The plan called for the airborne troops to be relieved by British troops, but they were left stranded and eventually surrendered to the Germans.
1947		James Forestall is sworn in as first the U.S. Secretary of Defense.
1957		The Thai army seizes power in Bangkok.
1959		The X-15 rocket plane makes its first flight.
1962		The first federal suit to end public school segregation is filed by the U.S. Justice Department.
1976		The Space Shuttle is unveiled to the public.
1978		Egypt and Israel sign the Camp David Accords.
1980		Nationwide independent trade union Solidarity established in Poland.
1983		Vanessa Williams becomes the first black Miss America; relinquished crown early after scandal over nude photos.
2001		The New York Stock Exchange reopens for the first time since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers; longest period of closure since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
2006		Alaska’s Fourpeaked Mountain erupts for the first time in at least 10,000 years.
2011		Occupy Wall Street movement calling for greater social and economic equality begins in New York City’s Zuccotti Park, coining the phrase “We are the 99%.”