585 BC Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victories over the Sabines, and the surrender of Collatia.
509 BC The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Rome’s Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides of September.
64 Julia Flavia (born), Roman daughter of Titus (died 91)
81 Titus (died), Roman emperor (born 39)
335 Emperor Constantine the Great consecrated the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
533 Belisarius of the Byzantine Empire defeats Gelimer and the Vandals at the Battle of Ad Decimum, near Carthage, North Africa.
1475 Cesare Borgia (born), Italian cardinal (died 1507)
1501 Michelangelo begins work on his statue of David.
1502 John Leland (born), English poet and antiquarian (died 1552)
1504 Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand issue a Royal Warrant for the construction of a Royal Chapel (Capilla Real) to be built.
1541 After three years of exile, John Calvin returns to Geneva to reform the church under a body of doctrine known as Calvinism.
1583 Girolamo Frescobaldi (born), Italian pianist and composer (died 1643)
1592 Michel de Montaigne (died), French philosopher (born 1533)
1601 Jan Brueghel the Younger (born), Flemish painter (died 1678)
1609 Henry Hudson reaches the river that would later be named after him – the Hudson River.
1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham: the British defeat the French near Quebec City in the Seven Years’ War, known in the United States as the French and Indian War.
1766 Samuel Wilson (born), American meat-packer, namesake of Uncle Sam (died 1854)
1788 The Philadelphia Convention sets the date for the first presidential election in the United States, and New York City becomes the country’s temporary capital.
1812 War of 1812: A supply wagon sent to relieve Fort Harrison is ambushed in the Attack at the Narrows.
1814 In a turning point in the War of 1812, the British fail to capture Baltimore. During the battle, Francis Scott Key composes his poem “Defence of Fort McHenry“, which is later set to music and becomes the United States’ national anthem.
1819 Clara Schumann (born), German pianist and composer (died 1896)
1847 Mexican–American War: Six teenage military cadets known as Niños Héroes die defending Chapultepec Castle in the Battle of Chapultepec. American troops under General Winfield Scott capture Mexico City in the Mexican–American War.
1848 Vermont railroad worker Phineas Gage survives a 3-foot (0.91 m)-plus iron rod being driven through his head; the reported effects on his behavior and personality stimulate thinking about the nature of the brain and its functions.
1850 First ascent of Piz Bernina, the highest summit of the eastern Alps.
1851 Walter Reed (born), American physician and biologist (died 1902)
1857 Milton S. Hershey (born), American businessman, founded The Hershey Company (died 1945)
1860 John J. Pershing (born), American general (died 1948)
1862 American Civil War: Union soldiers find a copy of Robert E. Lee’s battle plans in a field outside Frederick, Maryland. It is the prelude to the Battle of Antietam.
1872 Ludwig Feuerbach (died), German anthropologist and philosopher (born 1804)
1874 Arnold Schoenberg (born), Austrian composer and painter (died 1951)
1891 Max Pruss (born), German airship commander, most notably during the Hindenburg disaster (died 1960)
1893 Larry Shields (born), American musician (Original Dixieland Jass Band) (died 1953)
1898 Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film.
1899 Henry Bliss is the first person in the United States to be killed in an automobile accident.
1899 Mackinder, Ollier and Brocherel make the first ascent of Batian (5,199 m – 17,058 ft), the highest peak of Mount Kenya.
1903 Claudette Colbert (born), French-American actress and singer (died 1996)
1906 First flight of a fixed-wing aircraft in Europe.
1916 Roald Dahl (born), English pilot, author, and screenwriter (died 1990)
1919 Mary Midgley (born), English philosopher and author
1924 Maurice Jarre (born), French composer and conductor (died 2009)
1925 Mel Tormé (born), American singer-songwriter and actor (died 1999)
1933 Elizabeth McCombs becomes the first woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament.
1933 Lewie Steinberg (born), American bass player (Booker T. & the M.G.’s)
1938 Judith Martin (born), American journalist and author
1939 Richard Kiel (born), American actor
1941 David Clayton-Thomas (born), English-Canadian singer-songwriter (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
1941 Elias Disney (died), Canadian-American father of Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney (born 1859)
1942 World War II: Second day of the Battle of Edson’s Ridge in the Guadalcanal Campaign. U.S. Marines successfully defeated attacks by the Imperial Japanese Army with heavy losses for the Japanese forces.
1943 The Municipal Theatre of Corfu is destroyed during an aerial bombardment by Luftwaffe.
1944 Jacqueline Bisset (born), English actress
1944 Peter Cetera (born), American singer and musician (Chicago)
1944 W. Heath Robinson (died), English cartoonist (born 1872)
1948 Margaret Chase Smith is elected senator, and becomes the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the United States Senate.
1950 Jacky Robert (born), French-American chef
1952 Randy Jones (born), American singer (Village People)
1953 Nikita Khrushchev is appointed secretary-general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1956 Alain Ducasse (born), French chef
1956 The IBM 305 RAMAC is introduced, the first commercial computer to use disk storage.
1957 Vinny Appice (born), American musician (Black Sabbath, Dio, and Heaven & Hell)
1965 Zak Starkey (born), English drummer (The Icicle Works The Semantics, ASAP, The Lightning Seeds, and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band)
1967 Stephen Perkins (born), American musician, songwriter, and producer (Jane’s Addiction, Porno for Pyros, The Panic Channel, Banyan, Infectious Grooves, and Methods of Mayhem)
1967 Tim “Ripper” Owens (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Iced Earth, Judas Priest, Beyond Fear, and Charred Walls of the Damned)
1971 People’s Republic of China: Chairman Mao Zedong’s second in command and successor Marshal Lin Biao flees the country via plane after the failure of alleged coup against Mao. The plane crashes in Mongolia, killing all aboard.
1971 State police and National Guardsmen storm New York’s Attica Prison to end a prison revolt.
1975 Joe Don Rooney (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Rascal Flatts)
1977 Leopold Stokowski (died), English conductor (born 1882)
1987 Goiânia accident: A radioactive object is stolen from an abandoned hospital in Goiânia, Brazil, contaminating many people in the following weeks and causing some to die from radiation poisoning.
1989 Largest anti-Apartheid march in South Africa, led by Desmond Tutu.
1993 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shakes hands with PLO chairman Yasser Arafat at the White House after signing the Oslo Accords granting limited Palestinian autonomy.
1994 Ulysses probe passes the Sun’s south pole.
1996 Tupac Shakur (died), American rapper, producer, and actor (Digital Underground and Outlawz) (born 1971)
1998 George Wallace (died), American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 45th Governor of Alabama (born 1919)
1999 Benjamin Bloom (died), American psychologist (born 1913)
2000 Betty Jeffrey (died), Australian nurse (born 1908)
2001 Civilian aircraft traffic resumes in the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
2001 Dorothy McGuire (died), American actress (born 1916)
2002 George Stanley (died), Canadian soldier, historian, and author, designed the Flag of Canada (born 1907)
2004 Luis E. Miramontes (died), Mexican chemist, co-invented the birth-control pill (born 1925)
2006 Ann Richards (died), American educator and politician, 45th Governor of Texas (born 1933)
2006 Kimveer Gill kills one student and injures 19 more in the Dawson College shooting.
2007 The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.
2008 Hurricane Ike makes landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast of the United States, causing heavy damage to Galveston Island, Houston and surrounding areas.
2013 Robert J. Behnke (died), American biologist (born 1929)
2013 Taliban insurgents attack the United States consulate in Herat, Afghanistan, with two members of the Afghan National Police reported dead and about 20 civilians injured.
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017