1066 - Westminster Abbey opens
1570 - Anti-Portugese uprising on Ternate, Moluccas
1653 - 3 Day Sea battle English beat Dutch
1667 - English colony Suriname in Dutch hands
1692 - Salem witch hunt begins
1704 - Indians attack Deerfield MA, kill 40, kidnap 100
1708 - Slave revolt, Newton, Long Island NY, 11 die
1778 - Rhode Island General Assembly authorizes enlistment of slaves
1826 - M. Biela, an Austrian officer, discovers Biela's Comet
1827 - 1st commercial railroad in US, Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) chartered
1844 - 12-inch gun aboard USS Princeton explodes
1847 - US defeats México in battle of Sacramento
1854 - Republican Party formally organized at Ripon, WI
1859 - Arkansas legislature requires free blacks to choose exile or slavery
1861 - Territories of Nevada & Colorado created
1863 - Confederate raider Nashville sinks near Fort McAllister, GA
1864 - Raid at Kilpatrick's, Richmond; Skirmish at Albemarle County Virginia (Burton's Ford)
1871 - 2nd Enforcement Act gives federal control of congressional elections
1878 - US congress authorizes large-size silver certificate
1888 - Ferry in San Pablo Bay explodes
1893 - Edward Acheson, Pennsylvania, patents an abrasive he names "carborundum"
1896 - France dismisses Queen Ranavalona of Madagascar
1900 - General Buller's troops relieve Ladysmith Natal
1908 - Failed assassination attempt on Shah Mohammed Ali in Teheran
1917 - AP reports México & Japan will ally with Germany if US enters WWI
1922 - Egypt regains independence from Britain, but British troops remain
1923 - Swedish, King Gustaaf V begins state visit to Netherlands
1924 - US begins intervention in Honduras
1925 - Congress authorizes a special handling stamp
1933 - 1st female in cabinet - Francis Perkins appointed Secretary of Labor; German President Von Hindenburg abolishes free expression of opinion; Hitler disallows German communist party (KPD)
1935 - Nylon discovered by Dr. Wallace H. Carothers
1939 - Great-Britain recognizes Franco-regime in Spain
1941 - 39 U Boats (197,000 ton) sunk this month; British-Italian dogfight above Albania
1942 - Japanese land in Java, last Allied bastion in Dutch East Indies; Race riot, Sojourner Truth Homes, Detroit; 1st weapon drop on Netherlands
1943 - 63 U Boats (359,300 ton) sinks this month
1951 - Senate committee reports of at least 2 major US crime syndicates; French government of Pleven dissolves
1953 - Stalin meets with Beria, Bulganin, Khrushchev & Malenkov
1956 - 13 die in a train crash in Swampscott, MA; Forrester issued a patent for computer core memory
1959 - Launch of Discoverer 1 (WTR)-1st polar orbit
1960 - US wins Olympics hockey gold medal by defeating Czechoslovakia 9-4; 8th Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, CA close
1961 - JFK names Henry Kissinger special advisor
1970 - Bicycles permitted to cross Golden Gate Bridge
1972 - President Richard Nixon ends historic week-long visit to China
1973 - Suriname government of Sedney arrests 13 union leaders
1974 - US & Egypt re-establish diplomatic relations after 7 years; Ethiopian government of Makonnen forms; Labour Party wins British parliamentary election; Taiwan police shoot into crowd
1981 - Calvin Murphy (Hou), sets NBA record with 78 consecutive free throws
1981 - China PR throws out Netherlands ambassador due to submarine sale to Taiwan
1982 - FALN (PR Nationalist Group) bombs Wall Street
1983 - Final TV episode of "MASH" airs (CBS); record 125 million watch
1988 - 15th Winter Olympics games close at Calgary, Canada; Anti-Armenian pogrom in Azerbaijan, 30 killed
1991 - US & allied forces grant Iraq a cease fire
1993 - Gun battle erupts at Waco, TX, between FBI & Branch Davidians
1994 - Brady Law, imposing a wait-period to buy a hand-gun, went into effect
1995 - Denver International Airport opens
1997 - in Pakistan, kills 45; Smokers must prove they are over 18 to purchase cigarettes in US

Birthdays
1690 - Aleksei P. Romanov Russia, son of Peter the Great
1712 - Louis Joseph de Montcalm, de Saint-Véran France, General
1786 - D. François J. Arago, French astronomer/physicist/politician
1792 - Henriette, countess d'Oultremont de Wégimont wife of King Willem I
1797 - W. Frederik K., prince of Netherlands/General/Admiral (10 day campaign)
1817 - James Craig, Union Brigadier General
1822 - Matthew Duncan Ector, Confederate Brigadier General
1824 - John Creed Moore, Confederate Brigadier General
1825 - Quincy Adams Gillmore, Union Major General
1833 - Alfred von Schlieffen, Count/Prussian General-field marshal
1882 - José Vasconcelos, Mexican politician/essayist/philosopher
1906 - Bugsy Siegel, gangster created casinos in Las Vegas
1915 - Sir Peter Medawar, zoologist, immunologist (Nobel 1953)
1920 - Jim Olin (Representative-VA)
1924 - Robert A. Roe (Representative-NJ)
1927 - John Swire, British aircraft magnate (Cathay Pacific)
1930 - Leon Cooper, US physicist (Nobel 1972)
1938 - Martin Olav Sabo (Representative-MN)
1943 - Hans F. Dijkstal, Dutch minister of the Interior

Passings
1261 - Hendrik, Duke of Brabant (1248-61)
1618 - Filips Willem, Prince of Orange, dies at 63
1665 - Lodewijk van Nassau, Dutch governor (Bois-le-Duc)
1781 - Richard Stockton, US attorney (signed Declaration of Independence), dies at 50
1844 - Abel P. Upshur, Secretary of State, dies in explosion on USS Princeton; Thommas W. Gilmer, Navy Secretary, dies in explosion on USS Princeton
1925 - Friedrich Ebert, Social-Democrat president of Germany
1935 - Alexander W.F. Idenburg, Governor-General of Netherlands Indies (1909-16), dies at 73
1940 - Johan C. Braakensiek, Dutch political cartoonist, dies at 81
1941 - Alfonso XIII de Borbón, King of Spain (1902-31)
1965 - Adolf Schärf President of Austria (1957-65), dies at 74
1966 - Charles A Bassett II astronaut, dies in a crash of T-38 jet at 34; Elliot McKay See, Jr., astronaut, dies in T-38 jet crash at 38
1979 - Mr Ed, talking horse
1986 - Olof Palme, Swedish PM, assassinated in Stockholm; Sven Olof Palme Swedish PM (1969-76, 82-86), assassinated at 59
1991 - Guillermo Ungo, member of El Salvador junta (1979-80)
1993 - Fer A. Olthoff, Dutch WWII resistance fighter (Het Parool)
1994 - Aisin Giorro Pu Chieh brother of Last Emperor of China, dies at 86; Pu Yi, last Chinese emperor, dies at 87

Reported Missing in Action
1967
Moore, James Rodney, USMC (NY); presumed KIA

1968
Coons, Henry A., USN (NY); A6A crashed (w/Stegman), presumed Killed

Hunt, Robert W., US Army (WV); M113 hit with RPG fire, possibly captured, DIC (w/Scuitier)

Stegman, Thomas, USN (MD); A6A crashed (w/Coons), presumed Killed

Scuitier, James J., US Army (NJ); M113 hit with RPG fire, captured (w/Hunt) - PRG says DIC January, 1973

1969
Long, Stephen, G., USAF (OR); O2A shot down, released by PL March, 1973 - retired as a Major - alive and well as of 1998
** earned Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Service Medal **

1970
Boyle, William, US Army SF (PA); had just finished loading wounded into a CH34 when it was hit with rocket fire, presumed KIA