Today:
1471 – The Battle of Tewkesbury occurs during the Wars of the Roses, with the Yorkists defeating the Lancastrians decisively.
1675 – King Charles II of England orders the construction of the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
1776 – Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.
1814 – Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte arrives at the island of Elba to begin his exile.
1863 – The Battle of Chancellorsville ends as Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats the Union Army.
1886 – A labor protest in Chicago’s Haymarket Square turns violent during the Haymarket affair.
1904 – The United States begins construction on the Panama Canal.
1926 – The British general strike begins in support of coal miners.
1970 – The Kent State shootings occur when Ohio National Guard troops fire on students protesting the Vietnam War, killing four.
1994 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign an accord granting Palestinian autonomy in Jericho and the Gaza Strip.