Events

• 1513 – Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León first sights land in what is now the United States state of Florida.
• 1755 – Commodore William James captures the Maratha fortress of Suvarnadurg on west coast of India.
• 1800 – The Treaty of Constantinople establishes the Septinsular Republic, the first autonomous Greek state since the Fall of the Byzantine Empire.
• 1801 – French Revolutionary Wars: The British capture the Danish fleet.
• 1863 – American Civil War: The largest in a series of Southern bread riots occurs in Richmond, Virginia.
• 1865 – American Civil War: Defeat at the Third Battle of Petersburg forces the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate government to abandon Richmond, Virginia.
• 1900 – The United States Congress passes the Foraker Act, giving Puerto Rico limited self-rule.
• 1917 – World War I: United States President Woodrow Wilson asks the US Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
• 1921 – The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government encompassing the modern state of Iran, is established.
• 1930 – After the mysterious death of Empress Zewditu, Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia.
• 1972 – Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States for the first time since being labeled a communist during the Red Scare in the early 1950s.
• 1975 – Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from Quảng Ngãi Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.
• 1979 – A Soviet bio-warfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock.
• 1982 – Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.
• 1989 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba, to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.
• 2002 – Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem into which armed Palestinians had retreated.
• 2014 – A spree shooting occurs at the Fort Hood army base in Texas, with four dead, including the gunman, and 16 others injured.

People (Births)

• 742 – Charlemagne, Frankish king (d. 814).
• 1789 – Lucio Norberto Mansilla, Argentinian general and politician (d. 1871).
• 1792 – Francisco de Paula Santander, Colombian general and politician, 4th President of the Republic of the New Granada (d. 1840).
• 1814 – Henry L. Benning, American general and judge (d. 1875).
• 1827 – William Holman Hunt, English soldier and painter (d. 1910).
• 1875 – William Donne, English cricketer and captain (d. 1942).
• 1910 – Paul Triquet, Canadian general, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1980).
• 1919 – Delfo Cabrera, Argentinian runner and soldier (d. 1981).
• 1920 – Gerald Bouey, Canadian lieutenant and civil servant (d. 2004).
• 1927 – Carmen Basilio, American boxer and soldier (d. 2012).
• 1927 – Howard Callaway, American soldier and politician, 11th United States Secretary of the Army (d. 2014).
• 1943 – Michael Boyce, Baron Boyce, South African-English admiral and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.
• 1953 – Rosemary Bryant Mariner, 20th and 21st-century US Navy aviator.

People (Deaths)

• 872 – Muflih al-Turki, Turkish general.
• 991 – Bardas Skleros, Byzantine general.
• 1787 – Thomas Gage, English general and politician, Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (b. 1719).
• 1845 – Philip Charles Durham, Scottish admiral and politician (b. 1763).
• 1865 – A. P. Hill, American general (b. 1825).
• 1891 – Albert Pike, American lawyer and general (b. 1809).
• 1923 – Topal Osman, Turkish colonel (b. 1883).
• 1936 – Jean Baptiste Eugène Estienne, French general (b. 1860).
• 1953 – Hugo Sperrle, German field marshal (b. 1885).
• 1972 – Franz Halder, German general (b. 1884).
• 2008 – Yakup Satar, Turkish World War I veteran(b. 1898).
• 2012 – Jesús Aguilarte, Venezuelan captain and politician (b. 1959).
• 2016 – Robert Abajyan, Armenian sergeant (b. 1996).