Today in History

1620
The Pilgrims sight Cape Cod.
1828
In Vienna, Composer Franz Schubert dies of syphilis at age 31.
1861
Julia Ward Howe writes “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” while visiting Union troops near Washington.
1863
Lincoln delivers the “Gettysburg Address” at the dedication of the National Cemetery at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg.
1885
Bulgarians, led by Stefan Stambolov, repulse a larger Serbian invasion force at Slivnitsa.
1873
James Reed and two accomplices rob the Watt Grayson family of $30,000 in the Choctaw Nation.
1897
The Great “City Fire” in London breaks out.
1905
100 people drown in the English Channel as the steamer Hilda sinks.
1911
New York receives the first Marconi wireless transmission from Italy.
1915
The Allies ask China to join the entente against the Central Powers.
1923
The Oklahoma State Senate ousts Governor Walton for anti-Ku Klux Klan measures.
1926
Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Politburo in the Soviet Union.
1942
Soviet forces take the offensive at Stalingrad.
1949
Prince Ranier III is crowned the 30th Prince of Monaco.
1952
Scandinavian Airlines opens a commercial route from Canada to Europe.
1969
Apollo 12 touches down on the moon.
1973
The New York stock market takes its sharpest drop in 19 years.
1976
Patty Hearst is released from prison on $1.5 million bail.
1981
U.S. Steel agrees to pay $6.3 million for Marathon Oil.
1985
Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, meet for the first time.
1985
In the largest civil verdict in US history, Pennzoil wins $10.53 billion judgement against Texaco.
1990
Pop duo Milli Vanilli are stripped of their Grammy Award after it is learned they did not sing on their award-winning Girl You Know Its True album.
1996
Canada’s Lt. Gen. Maurice Baril arrives in Africa to lead a multinational force policing Zaire.
1998
The US House of Representatives begins impeachment hearings against President Bill Clinton.
2010
New Zealand suffers its worst mining disaster since 1914 when the first of four explosions occurs at the Pike River Mine; 29 people are killed.