1620 – The Mayflower Compact was signed in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod.
1724 – Joseph Blake, alias Blueskin, a highwayman known for attacking “Thief-Taker General” (and thief) Jonathan Wild at the Old Bailey, was hanged in London.
1750 – The F.H.C. Society, also known as the Flat Hat Club, was formed at Raleigh Tavern, Williamsburg, Virginia. It was the first college fraternity.
1778 – Cherry Valley massacre: Loyalists and Seneca Indian forces attacked a fort and village in eastern New York during the American Revolutionary War, killing more than forty civilians and soldiers.
1813 – War of 1812: Battle of Crysler’s Farm: British and Canadian forces defeated a larger American force, causing the Americans to abandon their Saint Lawrence campaign.
1831 – In Jerusalem, Virginia, Nat Turner was hanged after inciting a violent slave uprising.
1839 – The Virginia Military Institute was founded in Lexington, Virginia.
1887 – August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer and George Engel were executed as a result of the Haymarket affair.
1889 – The State of Washington was admitted as the 42nd state of the United States.
1911 – Many cities in the Midwestern United States broke their record highs and lows on the same day as a strong cold front rolled through.
1918 – World War I: Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car in the forest of Compiègne.
1919 – The Industrial Workers of the World attacked an Armistice Day parade in Centralia, Washington, which ultimately resulted in the deaths of five people.
1921 – The Tomb of the Unknowns was dedicated by US President Warren G. Harding at Arlington National Cemetery.
1923 – Adolf Hitler was arrested in Munich for high treason for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch.
1926 – The United States Numbered Highway System was established.
1930 – Patent number US1781541 was awarded to Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd for their invention, the Einstein refrigerator.
1938 – Kate Smith first sang Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” on network radio.
1958 – Hank Ballard and the Midnighters recorded “The Twist.” This version was a moderate hit in 1960. Chubby Checker’s cover version gave rise to the Twist dance craze.
1965 – United Airlines Flight 227 crashed at Salt Lake City International Airport and killed 43.
1966 – NASA launched Gemini 12.
1967 – Vietnam War: In a propaganda ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, three American prisoners of war were released by the Viet Cong and turned over to “new left” antiwar activist Tom Hayden.
1969 – Jim Morrison (Doors) and Tom Bakker was jailed for “interfering with the flight of an intercontinental aircraft and public drunkenness.” The charges were eventually dropped.
1972 – Vietnam War: Vietnamization: The United States Army turned over the massive Long Binh military base to South Vietnam.
1972 – Berry Oakley (The Allman Brothers) was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was 24 years old.
1989 – In Germany, Melissa Etheridge and Joe Cocker entertained Germans that were celebrating the newly tumbled Berlin Wall.
1993 – A sculpture honoring women who served in the Vietnam War was dedicated at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
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