Today in History

Today in History

1777 The Marquis de Lafayette arrives in the American colonies to help in their rebellion against Britain.

1863 Confederate forces on their way to Gettysburg clash with Union troops at the Second Battle of Winchester, Virginia.

1920 The U.S. Post Office Department rules that children may not be sent by parcel post.

1923 The French set a trade barrier between occupied Ruhr and the rest of Germany.

1927 Charles Lindbergh receives the Distinguished Flying Cross and is treated to a ticker-tape parade to celebrate his successful crossing of the Atlantic.

1940 Paris is evacuated as the Germans advance on the city.

1943 German spies land on Long Island, New York, and are soon captured.

1944 The first Germany V-1 buzz-bomb hits London.

1949 Installed by the French, Bao Dai enters Saigon to rule Vietnam.

1971 The New York Times begins publishing the Pentagon Papers.

1978 Israelis withdraw the last of their invading forces from Lebanon.

1979 Sioux Indians are awarded $105 million in compensation for the 1877 U.S. seizure of the Black Hills in South Dakota.

1983 Pioneer 10, already in space for 11 years, leaves the solar system.

Born

40 Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman general.

1752 Fanny Burney, English writer.

1786 Winfield Scott, U.S. Army general.

1831 James C. Maxwell, scientist.

1865 William Butler Yeats, Irish poet and dramatist.

1893 Dorothy Leigh Sayers, English detective writer, creator of Lord Peter Wimsey.

1894 Mark Van Doren, American poet, writer and educator.

1903 Harold “Red” Grange, American football player.

History