
1783 – USS Alliance under Captain Barry fought and won last naval battle of US Revolutionary War off Cape Canaveral
1791 – John Stone of Concord, Massachusetts, patented a pile driver
1801 – First official census in Great Britain, revealed a population of approximately 10 million
1849 – Abraham Lincoln applied for a patent (only US President to do so) for a device to lift a boat over shoals and obstructions
1862 – US issued 1st paper money in the form of $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1000 notes
1864 – Ullyses Grant was named commander of the Union armies
1864 – Red River campaign began in Louisiana by Union forces
1876 – First telephone call; Alexander Graham Bell said “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you” to his assistant Thomas Watson
1893 – New Mexico State University canceled its 1st graduation ceremony; its only graduand Sam Steele was robbed & killed the night before
1902 – A United States court of appeals ruled that Thomas Edison did not invent the movie camera
1906 – Europe’s worst mining accident when a coal dust explosion killed 1,060 at Courrieres, France
1910 – Republic of China officially abolished slavery
1933 – Nevada became 1st US state to regulate narcotics
1960 – USSR agreed to stop nuclear testing
1964 – Simon and Garfunkel recorded the first version of “The Sound of Silence” at Columbia Studios in New York City
1965 – “I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail” album by Buck Owens was released (Billboard Album of the Year 1965)
1969 – James Earl Ray pled guilty to the murder of Martin Luther King Jr.
1971 – US Senate approved amendment lowering voting age to 18
1972 – USSR performed nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR (see 1960 above)
1975 – “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” opened at Belasco Theater in New York City
1975 – Dog spectacles werebpatented in England
1978 – “The Incredible Hulk”, starring Bill Bixby as David Banner, premiered on CBS
1981 – “Bette Davis Eyes” single was released by Kim Carnes (Billboard Song of the Year 1981)
1988 – Avalanche at Swiss Ski resort Klosters nearly killed Prince Charles
1997 – “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, created by Joss Whedon and starring Sarah Michelle Geller, premiered on WB Television Network
2015 – The family of Marvin Gaye won a record $7.3 million lawsuit for music copyright infringement against Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and T.I.
2018 – 16 people died after being struck by lightning at a church in Nyaruguru District, Rwanda