On this date...

Gemini Flight 12

In 1626, The Pilgrim Fathers, who settled in New Plymouth, bought out their London investors.

In 1763, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon began surveying Mason-Dixon Line between Pennsylvania and Maryland.

In 1775, Washington reports the verdicts of several courts martial — acquittals, fines, lashings, and dismissals — and gives his approval. Mutiny, drunkenness, and insubordination will not threaten the army’s unity.

In 1777, Articles of Confederation is adopted by Continental Congress.

In 1783, John Hanson, the first president of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation, dies in his home state of Maryland.

In 1805, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and their party reached the mouth of the Columbia River, completing their trek to the Pacific.

In 1806, Approaching the Colorado foothills of the Rocky Mountains during his second exploratory expedition, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike spots a distant mountain peak that looks “like a small blue cloud.” The mountain was later named Pike’s Peak in his honor.

In 1827, Creek Indians lost all their property in US. The Creek Indians consisted of more than one tribe of Indians.

In 1863, Fort Moultrie opened a heavy, evening bombardment on Union Army positions at Cumming’s Point, Morris Island.

In 1864, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman began his March to the Sea across Georgia from Atlanta to Savannah, laying waste to the economic resources of the state as he sought to crush white Southern civilians' support of the Confederate cause. His campaign helped end the American Civil War.

In 1881, American Federation of Labor (AFL) founded (Pittsburgh).

In 1904, American inventor King Camp Gillette was granted a U.S. patent for the first razor with disposable blades.

In 1909, American chocolatier Milton S. Hershey and his wife Catherine donate a 486-acre piece of farmland, to establish the Hershey Industrial School for "poor, healthy, white male orphans" between four and eight years old, providing them room board, and education until age 18.

In 1919, The US Senate 1st invoked cloture to end a filibuster over the Versailles Treaty.

In 1923, Mamie Snow, a mentally disabled white woman from Waukegan, Illinois, claims that James Montgomery, a Black veteran and factory worker, raped her. Montgomery, who was promptly thrown in jail, spent more than 25 years in prison before his conviction was overturned and he was released.

In 1926, The National Broadcasting Co. debuted with a radio network of 24 stations.

In 1937, The 1st US congressional session in air-conditioned chambers took place.

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

In 1939, The first unemployment compensation law, under the Social Security Act, that of the District of Columbia, was approved for grants by the Social Security Board.

In 1956, Love Me Tender, featuring the singer Elvis Presley in his big-screen debut, premieres in New York City at the Paramount Theater.

In 1957, In a long and rambling interview with an American reporter, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev claims that the Soviet Union has missile superiority over the United States and challenges America to a missile “shooting match” to prove his assertion.

In 1959, The Clutter family was discovered murdered on their Kansas farm, and their deaths—as well as the capture, conviction, and execution of two drifters—inspired Truman Capote's classic nonfiction novel In Cold Blood.

In 1966, the flight of Gemini 12, the final mission of the Gemini program, ended successfully as astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. splashed down safely in the Atlantic after spending four days in orbit.

In 1969, a quarter of a million protesters staged a peaceful demonstration in Washington against the Vietnam War.

In 1969, Wendy's Hamburgers, American fast food restaurant chains founded by Dave Thomas opens in Columbus, Ohio.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter welcomes Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran, and his wife, Empress (or “Shahbanou”) Farrah, to Washington. Over the next two days, Carter and Pahlavi discussed improving relations between the two countries.

In 1990, US President George H. W. Bush signs Clear Air Act of 1990.

In 1993, A judge in Mineola, N.Y., sentenced Joey Buttafuoco to six months in jail for the statutory rape of Amy Fisher, who shot and wounded Buttafuoco's wife, Mary Jo.

In 2001, Microsoft releases first Xbox gaming console.

In 2004, A grilled cheese sandwich with toast marks bearing an image of the Virgin Mary sells on eBay for $28,000. The Florida-based seller claimed the 10-year-old sandwich had miraculously never sprouted any mold.

In 2007, Baseball home run king Barry Bonds was indicted on charges related to grand jury testimony during which he denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. (Bonds was later convicted of obstruction of justice; his lawyers are appealing.)

In 2011, Hundreds of police officers in riot gear raided the Occupy Wall Street encampment in New York City, evicting hundreds of protesters and then demolishing the tent city.

In 2012, the Justice Department announced that BP had agreed to plead guilty to a raft of charges in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill and pay a record $4.5 billion, including nearly $1.3 billion in criminal fines.

In 2019, Roger Stone, a longtime friend and ally of President Donald Trump, was convicted of all seven counts in a federal indictment accusing him of lying to Congress, tampering with a witness and obstructing the House investigation of whether Trump coordinated with Russia during the 2016 campaign. The president commuted Stone’s 40-month sentence days before he was to report to prison.

In 2022, The world population tops 8 billion.