Today:
1777: During the American Revolutionary War, American forces led by General John Stark defeated British and Hessian troops at the Battle of Bennington in New York.
1812: In the War of 1812, American General William Hull surrendered Fort Detroit to a smaller British and Native American force without a fight.
1858: The first transatlantic telegraph message was sent by Britain’s Queen Victoria to US President James Buchanan. The cable, however, only worked for a few months.
1896: Gold was discovered in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada’s Yukon Territory, which triggered the famous Klondike Gold Rush.
1920: Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch from Carl Mays of the New York Yankees. Chapman died the next day, becoming the only player to die from an on-field injury in Major League Baseball history.
1948: Baseball legend Babe Ruth died from cancer at age 53.
1954: The first issue of Sports Illustrated magazine was published.
1960: Cyprus gained its independence from Britain and became a republic.
1977: The “King of Rock and Roll,” Elvis Presley, died at his Graceland home in Memphis, Tennessee, at the age of 42.
1987: Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed on takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing 156 people. A four-year-old girl was the sole survivor.