On this date...

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore"

In 1776, from Philadelphia, John Hancock assures Washington that Congress applauds his call for reinforcements to Canada and still hopes, even after the failed assault on Quebec, that the loss might be retrieved. He also confirms congressional approval of sending Charles Lee to New York to prepare against a British invasion. 

In 1785, in a surprising announcement, John Hancock resigned as Governor of Massachusetts, allegedly due to his failing health.

In 1802, John Beckley of Virginiawas appointed the first Librarian of Congress

In 1845, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" was first published.

In 1850, Henry Clay introduced in the Senate a compromise bill on slavery that included the admission of California into the Union as a free state.

In 1861, Kansas was admitted as the 34th state in the Union.

In 1863, the Bear River Massacre: American soldiers slaughter hundreds of Native Americans at the confluence of the Bear River and Beaver Creek in present-day Idaho.

In 1872, Francis L Cardoza was elected State Treasurer of South Carolina.

In 1879, the Custer Battlefield National Monument was established in Montana

In 1900, the American League of Professional Baseball Clubs was organized in Philadelphia.

In 1907, Republican Charles Curtis of Kansas became the first Native American US Senator.

In 1912, Martial law was declared during the textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

In 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. When it went into effect in 1920, it imposed a federal ban on alcoholic beverages and kicked off the Prohibition era.

In 1920, Walt Disney started work as an artist with KC Slide Co for $40 a week

In 1924, the first machine for rolling ice cream cones was patented by Carl Rutherford Taylor of Cleveland.

In 1929, The Seeing Eye, the first US school to train guide dogs for people with vision impairment, opened in Tennessee. For reporters skeptical of the idea, co-founder Morris Frank showcased his own dog, Buddy, on busy New York streets.

In 1932, A groundbreaking exhibition of Surrealist art—“Surrealism Paintings, Drawings and Photographs”—opened at Julien Levy Gallery in New York City. The exhibition introduced gallerygoers to works by Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, and Marcel Duchamp. The centerpiece of the exhibit was Salvador Dalí's The Persistence of Memory (1931).

In 1936, the Baseball Hall of Fame announces first inductees. Among them are Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb.

In 1944, USS Missouri, the last battleship commissioned by the US Navy, was launched.

In 1958, Murderer Charles Starkweather was captured by police in Wyoming.

In 1975, the First American Annual Comedy Awards were hosted by Alan King

In 1979, Brenda Spencer killed two men and wounded nine children as they entered the Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego.

In 1979, Deng Xiaoping, deputy premier of China, met President Jimmy Carter, and together they signed historic new accords that reversed decades of U.S. opposition to the People’s Republic of China.

In 1979, US President Jimmy Carter commuted Patty Hearst's 7-year jail sentence to time served (22 months)

In 1989, the Episcopal Church of the United States, Diocese of Massachusetts, elected Barbara Harris as its first female bishop.

In 1993, the US Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating chemist Percy Lavon Julian

In 1995, the San Francisco 49ers became the first team to win five Super Bowl titles when they beat the San Diego Chargers 49-26 in Super Bowl XXIX.

In 1998, a bomb exploded at an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Ala., killing an off-duty policeman and severely wounding a nurse. (The bomber, Eric Rudolph, was captured in May 2003 and is serving a life sentence.)

In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush, delivering a State of the Union address, described Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as an “axis of evil” for their attempts to develop nuclear, chemical, or biological weaponry.

In 2006, the US Postal Service released a 39-cent stamp featuring Hattie McDaniel in the dress she wore in 1940 when she became the 1st African-American actress to accept an Academy Award.

In 2009, the Illinois Senate voted to remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office.

In 2013, the Justice Department ended its criminal probe of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster and Gulf of Mexico oil spill, with a U.S. judge agreeing to let London-based oil giant BP PLC plead guilty to manslaughter charges for the deaths of 11 rig workers and pay a record $4 billion in penalties.

In 2025, a midair collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet killed all 67 people aboard both aircraft as the jet was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C. At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy Potomac River.