On this date...

Burning of Buffalo, 1813

In 1775, In his General Orders, Washington confronts the problem of expiring enlistments at year’s end: Soldiers may receive only one month’s overdue pay due to a shortage of cash; commissaries must supply rations for the men’s journeys home; and recruiters are authorized to enlist free Black soldiers, a significant shift.

In 1813, The British burned Buffalo, N.Y., during the War of 1812.

In 1853, The United States acquired nearly 30,000 square miles (78,000 square km) of northern Mexican territory with the signing of the Gadsden Purchase.

In 1854, Pennsylvania Rock Oil Co, 1st in US, incorporated in NYC.

In 1860, 10 days after South Carolina seceded from the Union, the state militia seized the United States Army arsenal in Charleston.

In 1861, Associated Banks in NYC halt gold payments to government and investors, to disrupt Abraham Lincoln's US bank reform program

In 1873, American Metrological Society forms (NYC) weights, measures & money.

In 1903, A fire in the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, Illinois, kills more than 600 people on. It was the deadliest theater fire in U.S. history. Blocked fire exits and the lack of a fire-safety plan caused most of the deaths.

In 1903, American Political Science Association founded at New Orleans.

In 1911, Philadelphia merchant John Wanamaker's flagship department store is officially dedicated by US President William Howard Taft; the Florentine style building designed by architect Daniel H. Burnham, with nine of its twelve floors for retail, features a grand court housing the world's largest pipe organ and a large bronze eagle statue which quickly becomes a popular meeting place.

In 1936, At 8 p.m., in one of the first sit-down strikes in the United States, autoworkers occupy the General Motors Fisher Body Plant Number One in Flint, Michigan.

In 1940, California's first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena, was officially opened.

In 1963, Congress authorizes Kennedy half dollar, in honor of John F. Kennedy.

In 1968, In a college gym in Spokane, Washington, a concertgoer makes the first live (bootleg) recording of rock band Led Zeppelin, five nights into their first US tour. An opening act for Vanilla Fudge, they were mistakenly billed as "Len Zefflin."

In 1972, The United States halted its heavy bombing of North Vietnam.

In 1988, Oliver North subpoenas US Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush as defense witnesses for his upcoming trial

In 1994, John Salvi III walks into two separate abortion clinics in Brookline, Massachusetts, and shoots workers with a rifle, killing two receptionists and wounding five other employees. He was captured the next day after firing 23 shots at a Norfolk, Virginia, medical clinic.

In 2003, The federal government announced it would ban the sale of ephedra, an herbal stimulant linked to 155 deaths and dozens of heart attacks and strokes.

In 2009, seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer were killed by a suicide bomber at a U.S. base in Khost, Afghanistan.

In 2015, Bill Cosby was charged with drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. (Cosby’s first trial ended in a mistrial after jurors deadlocked; he was convicted on three charges at his retrial in April 2018 and sentenced to three to 10 years in prison, but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the conviction in June 2021, setting Cosby free.)

In 2018, Patrick Mahomes becomes only the 2nd quarterback in NFL history to throw for 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns during KC Chiefs' 35-3 win over Oakland Raiders; achieves both marks with 3rd quarter 89-yard TD pass to Demarcus Robinson.