Events

• 1513 – Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León reaches the northern end of The Bahamas on his first voyage to Florida.
• 1625 – Charles I becomes King of England, Scotland and Ireland as well as claiming the title King of France.
• 1782 – The Second Rockingham ministry assumes office in Great Britain and begins negotiations to end the American War of Independence.
• 1794 – The United States Government establishes a permanent navy and authorizes the building of six frigates.
• 1809 – Peninsular War: A combined Franco-Polish force defeats the Spanish in the Battle of Ciudad Real (refer to Napoleonic Wars).
• 1814 – War of 1812: In central Alabama, US forces under General Andrew Jackson defeat the Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
• 1836 – Texas Revolution: On the orders of General Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican Army massacres 342 Texian Army POWs at Goliad, Texas.
• 1886 – Geronimo, Apache warrior, surrenders to the US Army, ending the main phase of the Apache Wars.
• 1899 – Emilio Aguinaldo leads Filipino forces for the only time during the Philippine-American War at the Battle of Marilao River.
• 1901 – Philippine-American War: Emilio Aguinaldo, leader of the First Philippine Republic, is captured by the Americans.
• 1915 – Typhoid Mary, the first healthy carrier of disease ever identified in the United States, is put in quarantine for the second time, where she would remain for the rest of her life.
• 1918 – The National Council of Bessarabia proclaims union with the Kingdom of Romania.
• 1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Taierzhuang begins, resulting several weeks later in the war’s first major Chinese victory over Japan.
• 1941 – World War II: Yugoslav Air Force officers topple the pro-Axis government in a bloodless coup.
• 1942 – World War II: The Holocaust: Nazi Germany and Vichy France begin the deportation of 65,000 Jews from Drancy internment camp to German extermination camps.
• 1943 – World War II: Battle of the Komandorski Islands: In the Aleutian Islands the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.
• 1945 – World War II: Operation Starvation, the aerial mining of Japan’s ports and waterways begins.
  • Argentina declares war on the Axis Powers.
• 1958 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union.
• 1999 – Kosovo War: An American Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk is shot down by a Yugoslav Army SAM, the first and only Nighthawk to be lost in combat.
• 2004 – HMS Scylla, a decommissioned Leander-class frigate, is sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall, the first of its kind in Europe.
• 2014 – Philippines signs a peace accord with the largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, ending decades of conflict.
• 2015 – Al-Shabab militants attack and temporarily occupy a Mogadishu hotel leaving at least 20 people dead.
• 2020 – North Macedonia becomes the 30th member of NATO.
• Christian feast day: Alexander, a Pannonian soldier, martyred in 3rd century.
• Armed Forces Day (Myanmar).

People (Births)

• 1820 – Edward Augustus Inglefield, English admiral and explorer (d. 1894).
• 1843 – George Frederick Leycester Marshall, English colonel and entomologist (d. 1934).
• 1844 – Adolphus Washington Greely, American general and explorer, Medal of Honour recipient (d. 1935).
• 1877 – Oscar Grégoire, Belgian water polo player and swimmer (d. 1947).
• 1884 – Gordon Thomson, English rower and lieutenant (d. 1953).
• 1885 – Reginald Fletcher, 1st Baron Winster, English navy officer and politician, Secretary of State for Transport (d. 1961).
• 1889 – Leonard Mociulschi, Romanian general (d. 1979).
• 1890 – Harald Julin, Swedish swimmer and water polo player (d. 1967).
• 1890 – Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton, Scottish admiral (d. 1974).
• 1894 – René Fonck, French colonel and pilot (d. 1953).
• 1895 – Roland Leighton, English soldier and poet (d. 1915).
• 1903 – Leif Tronstad, Norwegian chemist and military leader (d. 1945).
• 1905 – Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, German general (d. 1980).
• 1912 – James Callaghan, English lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2005).
• 1913 – Theodor Dannecker, German SS officer (d. 1945).
• 1928 – Jean Dotto, French cyclist (d. 2000).
• 1933 – Lê Văn Hưng, South Vietnamese Brigadier general (d. 1975).
• 1941 – Liese Prokop, Austrian pentathlete and politician, Austrian Minister of the Interior (d. 2006).
• 1944 – Jesse Brown, American marine and politician, 2nd United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (d. 2002).
• 1953 – Herman Ponsteen, Dutch cyclist.
• 1961 – Tony Rominger, Swiss professional cyclist.
• 1968 – Irina Belova, Russian heptathlete.
• 1978 – Marius Bakken, Norwegian runner.
• 1981 – Jukka Keskisalo, Finnish runner.
• 1981 – Hilda Kibet, Kenyan runner.
• 1987 – Samuel Francis, Nigerian-Qatari sprinter.

People (Deaths)

• 973 – Hermann Billung, Frankish lieutenant (b. 900).
• 1875 – Juan Crisóstomo Torrico, Peruvian soldier and politician, President of Peru (b. 1808).
• 1913 – Richard Montgomery Gano, American minister, physician, and general (b. 1830).
• 1921 – Harry Barron, English general and politician, 16th Governor of Western Australia (b. 1847).
• 1968 – Yuri Gagarin, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1934).
• 1968 – Vladimir Seryogin, Russian soldier and pilot (b. 1922).
• 1972 – Lorenzo Wright, American athlete (b. 1926).
• 1990 – Percy Beard, American hurdler and coach (b. 1908).
• 1992 – James E. Webb, American colonel and politician, 16th Under Secretary of State (b. 1906).
• 1993 – Kamal Hassan Ali, Egyptian general and politician, Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1921).
• 2005 – Wilfred Gordon Bigelow, Canadian soldier and surgeon (b. 1913).
• 2014 – James R. Schlesinger, American economist and politician, 12th United States Secretary of Defence and first United States Secretary of Energy (b. 1929).
• 2015 – T. Sailo, Indian soldier and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of Mizoram (b. 1922).