Today:
1822 – The Florida Territory was created in the United States.
1842 – Anesthesia was used for the first time in surgery by Dr. Crawford Long in Jefferson, Georgia.
1855 – Border Ruffians from Missouri invaded Kansas and forced the election of a pro-slavery legislature.
1867 – The United States agreed to purchase Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million, a deal later known as “Seward’s Folly.”
1870 – The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, granting African American men the right to vote.
1909 – The Queensboro Bridge (now officially called the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge) opened in New York City.
1945 – The Soviet Union invaded Austria during World War II.
1981 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C.
2002 – The Queen Mother of the United Kingdom, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, died at the age of 101.
2017 – SpaceX successfully launched and landed a previously flown Falcon 9 rocket booster, marking a milestone in reusable spaceflight.