1493 – Christopher Columbus leaves the New World and sets sail for Spain.
1777 – Vermont declares independence from New York.
1865 – Drunken sailor attacks munitions at Fort Fisher NC, 40 die.
1868 – Refrigerator car patented by William Davis, a fish dealer in Detroit.
1883 – Pendleton Act creates basis of US Civil Service system.
1900 – The US gains control over Tutuila in Samoa and several smaller Pacific islands.
1920 – Georgia declares independence.
1936 – 1st photo finish camera installed at Hialeah Race track in Hialeah, Florida.
1941 – US Vice Admiral Bellinger warns of an assault on Pearl Harbor.
1951 – World’s largest gas pipeline opens (Brownsville, Texas, to 134th St. New York City)
1958 – William Gibson’s “Two for the Seesaw” premieres in NYC.
1963 – Tennessee Williams’ “Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore” premieres.
1967 – Lucius American, becomes 1st southern (Alabama) African American sheriff in 20th century.
1974 – “Jaws” by Peter Benchley is published by Doubleday.
1974 – Landslide kills 9 in Canyonville, Oregon.
1986 – First meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force.
2001 – US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish-American War.
2002 – UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and freezes assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the members of the Taliban.
2003 – The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry.
2016 – First ever flower grown in space – a zinnia aboard the International Space Station using NASA Veggie system.