Today in History
1787The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia approves the constitution for the United States of America.
1796President George Washington delivers his "Farewell Address" to Congress before concluding his second term in office.
1862The Battle of Antietam in Maryland, the bloodiest day in U.S. history, commences. Fighting in the corn field, Bloody Lane and Burnside's Bridge rages all day as the Union and Confederate armies suffer a combined 26,293 casualties.
1868The Battle of Beecher's Island begins, in which Major George "Sandy" Forsyth and 50 volunteers hold off 500 Sioux and Cheyenne in eastern Colorado.
1902U.S. troops are sent to Panama to keep train lines open over the isthmus as Panamanian nationals struggle for independence from Colombia.
1903Turks destroy the town of Kastoria in Bulgaria, killing 10,000 civilians.
1916Germany's "Red Baron," Manfred von Richthofen, wins his first aerial combat.
1917The German Army recaptures the Russian Port of Riga from Russian forces.
1939With the German army already attacking western Poland, the Soviet Union launches an invasion of eastern Poland.
1942British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meets with Soviet Premier Josef Stalin in Moscow as the German Army rams into Stalingrad.
.1944British airborne troops parachute
into Holland to capture the Arnhem bridge as part of Operation Market-Garden. The plan called for the airborne troops to be relieved by British troops, but they were left stranded and eventually surrendered to the Germans.
1947James Forestall is sworn in as first the U.S. Secretary of Defense.
1957The Thai army seizes power in Bangkok.
1959The X-15 rocket planemakes its first flight.
1962The first federal suit to end public school segregation is filed by the U.S. Justice Department.
1976The Space Shuttle is unveiled to the public.
.1978Egypt and Israel sign the Camp David Accords.
1980Nationwide independent trade union Solidarity established in Poland.
1983Vanessa Williams becomes the first black Miss America; relinquished crown early after scandal over nude photos.
2001The New York Stock Exchange reopens for the first time since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers; longest period of closure since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
2006Alaska's Fourpeaked Mountain erupts for the first time in at least 10,000 years.
2011Occupy Wall Street movement calling for greater social and economic equality begins in New York City's Zuccotti Park, coining the phrase "We are the 99%
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