On this date...

In 1774, First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts, in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.

 In 1797, USS Constitution first launched from Boston Harbor. It earned the nickname "Old Ironsides" during the War of 1812 because the cannonballs seem to bounce off the sides of the ship. The vessel is still a commissioned ship.

In 1861, Union troops suffer a devastating defeat in the second major engagement of the Civil War. The Battle of Ball’s Bluff in Virginia produced the war’s first martyr and led to the creation of a Congressional committee to monitor the conduct of the war.

In 1867, Medicine Lodge Treaty is signed. The talks, attended by more than 5,000 prominent chiefs and warriors, was one of the largest gatherings of Native American leaders for treaty negotiations in US history.

In 1902, A five-month strike by United Mine Workers ends in the US.

In 1915, William Jennings Bryan's successor as US Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, sends a note to Britain protesting interference with US shipping.

In 1917, American soldiers first saw action in World War I on the front lines in France.

In 1940, American novelist Ernest Hemingway published his classic novel For Whom the Bell Tolls; it was later adapted into an acclaimed film.

In 1959, Guggenheim Museum opens to the public.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon debated for the fourth and final time before the 1960 U.S. presidential election.

In 1967, Tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters marched in Washington, D.C.

In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon nominated Lewis F. Powell and William H. Rehnquist to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1976, Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to American Saul Bellow.

In 1987, Nobel Prize in Economics is awarded to American Robert Solow for his theory of economic growth.

In 1989, Bertram Lee and Peter Bynoe purchase the Denver Nuggets for $65 million, becoming the first African American owners of a major sports team.

In 2003, Invoking a hastily-passed law, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush ordered a feeding tube reinserted into Terry Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman at the center of a bitter right-to-die battle.

In 2012, Kateri Tekakwitha is canonized by Pope Benedict XVI, becoming the first Native American saint.