Today in History

1315		Swiss soldiers ambush and slaughter invading Austrians in the battle of Morgarten.
1533		The explorer Francisco Pizarro enters Cuzco, Peru.
1626		The Pilgrim Fathers, who have settled in New Plymouth, buy out their London investors.
1777		The Articles of Confederation, instituting perpetual union of the United States of America, are adopted by Congress.
1805		Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and their party reach the mouth of the Columbia River, completing their trek to the Pacific.
1806		Explorer Zebulon Pike discovers the Colorado Peak that bears his name, despite the fact that he didn’t climb it.
1864		Union Major General William T. Sherman‘s troops set fires that destroy much of Atlanta’s industrial district prior to beginning Sherman’s March to the Sea.
1881		The American Federation of Labor is founded.
1909		R. Metrot takes off in a Voisin biplane from Algiers, making the first manned flight in Africa.
1917		Kerensky flees and Bolsheviks take command in Moscow.
1920		Forty-one nations open the first League of Nations session in Geneva..
1922		It is announced that Dr. Alexis Carrel has discovered white corpuscles.
1930		General strikes and riots paralyze Madrid, Spain.
1937		Eighteen lawsuits are brought against the Tennessee Valley Authority, calling for its dissolution.
1942		An American fleet defeats a Japanese naval force in a clash off Guadalcanal.
1946		The 17th Paris Air Show opens at the Grand Palais des Champs-Elysees. It is the first show of this kind since World War II.
1952		Newark Airport in New Jersey reopens after closing earlier in the year because of an increase in accidents.
1957		Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev asserts Soviet superiority in missiles, challenging the United States to a rocket-range shooting match.
1960		The first submarine with nuclear missiles, the USS George Washington, takes to sea from Charleston, South Carolina.
1962		Cuba threatens to down U.S. planes on reconnaissance flights over its territory.
1963		Argentina voids all foreign oil contracts.
1965		In the second day of combat, regiments of the 1st Cavalry Division battle on Landing Zones X-Ray against North Vietnamese forces in the Ia Drang Valley.
1969		A quarter of a million anti-Vietnam War demonstrators march in Washington, D.C.
1976		A Syrian peace force takes control of Beirut, Lebanon.
1984		Baby Fae dies 20 days after receiving a baboon heart transplant in Loma Linda, California.
1985		An Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald.
1988		The Palestinian National Council proclaims an independent State of Palestine.
1990		The People’s Republic of Bulgaria is replaced by a new republican government.
2007		Cyclone Sidr strikes Bangladesh, killing an estimated 5,000 people.