On this date...

In 1775, Portland, Maine, is burned by the British.

In 1780, Royalton and Tunbridge, Vermont, experience the last major raid of the American Revolutionary War

In 1846, William Thomas Green Morton first demonstrated the use of ether as a general anesthetic before a gathering of physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

In 1848, The first US homeopathic medical college, the Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was later renamed Hahnemann Medical College after its founder, Samuel Hahnemann, and eventually merged to become the Drexel University College of Medicine.

In 1847, English novelist Charlotte Brontë (under the pseudonym Currer Bell) published Jane Eyre, which became a classic noted for giving new truthfulness to the Victorian novel.

In 1854, an obscure lawyer and Congressional hopeful from the state of Illinois named Abraham Lincoln delivers a speech regarding the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which Congress had passed five months earlier. In his speech, the future president denounced the act and outlined his views on slavery, which he called “immoral.”

In 1859, John Brown, a militant abolitionist, made his legendary raid on the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry.

In 1867, Alaska adopts the Gregorian calendar and crosses the International Date Line

In 1869, The Cardiff Giant was “discovered” in New York state; originally thought to be a petrified prehistoric man, it was later revealed to be a hoax.

In 1875, Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah

In 1901, Booker T. Washington and his family are invited to dine at the White House with Teddy and Edith Roosevelt, prompting condemnation from the South

In 1909, the first meeting of the presidents of the United States and Mexico took place. William Howard Taft met with Porfirio Díaz in El Paso and Ciudad Juárez.

In 1916, Margaret Sanger, an activist for women's reproductive rights, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, in Brooklyn, New York.

In 1923, The Walt Disney Co. founded by Walt Disney and his brother Roy in Hollywood, CA.

In 1925, Texas School Board prohibits the teaching of evolution

In 1957, British Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip visit Williamsburg, Virginia.

In 1958, Chevrolet begins to sell a car-truck hybrid that it calls the El Camino.

In 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis began as President John F. Kennedy was informed that reconnaissance photographs had revealed the presence of nuclear missile bases in Cuba.

In 1968, During the awards ceremony for the 200-metre race at the Mexico City Olympics, American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave a Black-power salute, for which they were later ordered to leave the Games.

In 1969, The New York Mets, a previously hapless expansion team, won the World Series 4 games to 1 over American League powerhouse the Baltimore Orioles.

In 1982, Secretary of State George P. Shultz warns that the US will withdraw from the UN if it votes to exclude Israel.

In 1986, US government shuts down due to disputes between President Reagan and the House.

In 1987, in an event that had viewers around the world glued to their televisions, 18-month-old Jessica McClure is rescued after being trapped for 58 hours in an abandoned water well in Midland, Texas.

In 1991, George Jo Hennard drives his truck through a window in Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, and then opens fire on a lunch crowd of over 100 people, killing 23 and injuring 20 more.

In 1995, An enormous crowd consisting mostly of African American men demonstrates on the National Mall, an event known a the Million Man March. Driven by their desire to see Congress act in the interests of African Americans, and to combat negative stereotypes of Black men, a disputed but undeniably high number of attendees converge for over 12 hours of speeches by leaders from many different corners of the civil rights movement.

In 2002, President George W. Bush signed a congressional resolution authorizing war against Iraq.

In 2011, The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was formally dedicated in Washington, D.C.

In 2017, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been captured and held by the Taliban for five years after walking away from his post in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty to desertion and endangering his comrades.