Events

• 1339 – The Milanese army and the St. George’s (San Giorgio) Mercenaries of Lodrisio Visconti clash in the Battle of Parabiago; Visconti is defeated.
• 1472 – Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark.
• 1521 – Juan Ponce de León sets out from Spain for Florida with about 200 prospective colonists.
• 1685 – René-Robert Cavelier establishes Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France’s claim to Texas.
• 1798 – Louis-Alexandre Berthier (a French Marshal who served during the French Revolutionary Wars) removes Pope Pius VI from power.
• 1813 – Manuel Belgrano defeats the royalist army of Pío de Tristán during the Battle of Salta.
• 1846 – Polish insurgents lead an uprising in Kraków to incite a fight for national independence.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Olustee: The largest battle fought in Florida during the war.
• 1865 – End of the Uruguayan War, with a peace agreement between President Tomás Villalba and rebel leader Venancio Flores, setting the scene for the destructive War of the Triple Alliance.
• 1931 – An anarchist uprising in Encarnación briefly transforms the city into a revolutionary commune.
• 1933 – Adolf Hitler secretly meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party’s upcoming election campaign.
• 1942 – World War II: Lieutenant Edward O’Hare becomes America’s first World War II flying ace.
• 1943 – World War II: American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.
• 1943 – World War II: The Saturday Evening Post publishes the first of Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms in support of United States President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms.
• 1944 – World War II: The “Big Week” began with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.
• 1944 – World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Atoll.
• 1956 – The United States Merchant Marine Academy becomes a permanent Service Academy.
• 1959 – The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.
• 1968 – The China Academy of Space Technology, China’s main arm for the research, development, and creation of space satellites, is established in Beijing.
• 1971 – The United States Emergency Broadcast System is accidentally activated in an erroneous national alert.
• 2009 – Two Tamil Tigers aircraft packed with C4 explosives en route to the national airforce headquarters are shot down by the Sri Lankan military before reaching their target, in a kamikaze style attack.

People (Births)

• 1552 – Sengoku Hidehisa, Daimyō (d. 1614)
• 1631 – Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English politician, Treasurer of the Navy (d. 1712)
• 1726 – William Prescott, American colonel (d. 1795)
• 1753 – Louis-Alexandre Berthier, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (d. 1815)
• 1774 – Vicente Sebastián Pintado, Spanish cartographer, engineer, military officer and land surveyor of Spanish Louisiana and Spanish West Florida (d. 1829)
• 1888 – Georges Bernanos, French soldier and author (d. 1948)
• 1901 – Muhammad Naguib, Egyptian general and politician, 1st President of Egypt (d. 1984)
• 1912 – Pierre Boulle, French soldier and author (d. 1994)
• 1912 – Johnny Checketts, New Zealand flying ace of the Second World War (d. 2006)
• 1919 – James O’Meara, English soldier and pilot (d. 1974)
• 1926 – Bob Richards, American Olympic track and field athlete
• 1961 – Steve Lundquist, American swimmer

People (Deaths)

• 1408 – Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English politician, Earl Marshal of the United Kingdom (b. 1342)
• 1806 – Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-American general and politician (b. 1725)
• 1810 – Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean rebel leader (b. 1767)
• 1850 – Valentín Canalizo, Mexican general and politician. 14th President (1843–1844) (b. 1794)
• 1893 – P.G.T. Beauregard, American general (b. 1818)
• 1920 – Robert Peary, American admiral and explorer (b. 1856)
• 1966 – Chester W. Nimitz, American admiral (b. 1885)
• 1993 – Ernest L. Massad, American general (b. 1908)
• 2003 – Mushaf Ali Mir, Pakistani air marshal (b. 1947)
• 2003 – Orville Freeman, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 29th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1918)
• 2010 – Alexander Haig, American general and politician, 59th United States Secretary of State (b. 1924)
• 2014 – Walter D. Ehlers, American lieutenant, Medal of Honour recipient (b. 1921)