Cousin Sam: July 9 in history

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Events

455 – The Roman military commander Avitus is proclaimed Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

491 – Odoacer makes a night assault with his Heruli guardsmen, engaging Theoderic the Great in Ad Pinetam. Both sides suffer heavy losses, but in the end Theodoric forces Odoacer back into Ravenna.

660 – Battle of Hwangsanbeol: Korean forces under general Kim Yu-shin defeat the army of Baekje at Nonsan (South Korea).

869 – A magnitude 8.6Ms earthquake and subsequent tsunami strikes the area around Sendai in the northern part of Honshu, Japan.

1357 – Emperor Charles IV assists in laying the foundation stone of Charles Bridge in Prague.

1386 – The Old Swiss Confederacy makes great strides in establishing control over its territory by soundly defeating the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Sempach.

1540 – King Henry VIII of England annuls his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.

1572 – Nineteen Catholics suffer martyrdom for their beliefs in the Dutch town of Gorkum.

1609 – Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II is forced to grant to Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic) the so-called Letter of Majesty, which contained far-reaching concessions to the Protestants.

1640 – John Punch became the first legally recognized slave in the American colonies. This is considered a key milestone in the development of the institution of slavery in the United States.

1701 – War of the Spanish Succession: A Bourbon (French) force under Nicolas Catinat withdraws from a smaller Habsburg (Austrian) force under Prince Eugene of Savoy in the Battle of Carpi.

1745 – War of the Austrian Succession: French victory in the Battle of Melle allows them to capture Ghent in the days after.

1755 – French and Indian War: Braddock Expedition: In its attempt to capture Fort Duquesne in what is now downtown Pittsburgh, British troops and colonial militiamen are ambushed and suffer a devastating defeat by a smaller French and Native American force.

1776 – George Washington orders the Declaration of Independence to be read out loud to members of the Continental Army in New York, New York, while thousands of British troops on Staten Island prepare for the Battle of Long Island.

1777 – New York elects Brigadier General George Clinton as the first governor of the independent state of New York. Clinton would go on to become New York’s longest-serving governor, as well as the longest-serving governor in the United States, holding the post until 1795, and again from 1801 to 1804. In 1805, he was elected vice president of the United States, a position he held under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, until his death in 1812. History

1789 – In Versailles, the National Assembly reconstitutes itself as the National Constituent Assembly and begins preparations for a French constitution.

1790 – Russo-Swedish War: Second Battle of Svensksund: The Swedish Navy captures one third of the Russian Baltic fleet.

1793 – The Act Against Slavery is passed in Upper Canada and the importation of slaves into Lower Canada is prohibited.
The Act Against Slavery is passed in Upper Canada banning the importation of slaves and freeing those who are born into slavery after the passage of the Act at 25 years of age.

1807 – The Treaties of Tilsit are signed by Napoleon I of France and Alexander I of Russia.

1810 – Napoleon annexes the Kingdom of Holland as part of the First French Empire.

1811 – Explorer David Thompson posts a sign at the confluence of the Columbia and Snake Rivers near what is now Sacajawea State Park in Washington state, claiming the the Columbia District for the United Kingdom.

1815 – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord becomes the first Prime Minister of France.

1816 – Argentina declares independence from Spain.

1821 – Four hundred seventy prominent Cypriots including Archbishop Kyprianos are executed in response to Cypriot aid to the Greek War of Independence.

1850 – U.S. President Zachary Taylor dies suddenly of cholera after eating raw fruit and iced milk. Vice President Millard Fillmore becomes President.

1850 – Persian prophet Báb is executed in Tabriz, Persia.

1863 – American Civil War: The Siege of Port Hudson ends, giving the Union complete control of the Mississippi River.

1864 – Franz Muller commits the first known murder on a British train.

1868 – The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship and all persons in the United States due process under the law.

1875 – The Herzegovina Uprising against Ottoman rule begins, which would last until 1878 and have far-reaching implications throughout the Balkans.

1877 – The first Wimbledon Championships begins at the All-England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club.

1893 – Chicago surgeon Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performed the first successful open-heart surgery.

1896 – William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech advocating bimetallism at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

1900 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom gives Royal Assent to an Act creating Australia, thus uniting separate colonies on the continent under one federal government.

1900 – Boxer Rebellion: The Governor of Shanxi province in North China orders the execution of 45 foreign Christian missionaries and local church members, including children.

1903 – Future Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is exiled to Siberia for three years.

1918 – Great Train Wreck of 1918: In Nashville, Tennessee, an inbound local train collides with an outbound express, killing 101 and injuring 171 people, making it the deadliest rail accident in United States history.

1922 – Johnny Weissmuller swims the 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds breaking the world swimming record and the 'minute barrier'.

1932 – The state of São Paulo revolts against the Brazilian Federal Government, starting the Constitutionalist Revolution.

1937 – The silent film archives of Fox Film Corporation are destroyed by the 1937 Fox vault fire.

1943 – World War II: Operation Husky: Allied forces perform an amphibious invasion of Sicily. The Allied invasion of Sicily soon causes the downfall of Mussolini and forces Hitler to break off the Battle of Kursk.

1944 – World War II: Battle of Normandy: Operation Charnwood gives British and Canadian forces control of Caen north of the Odon and Orne rivers, as well as the Carpiquet airfield.

1944 – World War II: Battle of Saipan: American forces take Saipan in the Mariana Islands, bringing the Japanese archipelago within range of B-29 raids, and causing the downfall of the Tojo government.

1944 – World War II: Battle of Tali-Ihantala: Finland wins the Battle of Tali-Ihantala, the largest battle ever fought in northern Europe. The Red Army withdraws its troops from Ihantala and digs into a defensive position, thus ending the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive.

1955 – The Russell–Einstein Manifesto is released by Bertrand Russell in London, England, United Kingdom, calling for a reduction of the risk of nuclear warfare.

1955 – Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" hits No. 1 on Billboard magazine's best-seller records chart, marking what some consider the beginning of the rock 'n' roll era.

1956 – The 7.7 Mw Amorgos earthquake triggers a destructive tsunami that affects the Aegean Sea. The mainshock was followed minutes later by a damaging M7.2 aftershock. Fifty-three people were killed and 100 were injured.

1956 – Dick Clark debuts as the host of American Bandstand.

1958 – 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami: A 7.8 Mw strike-slip earthquake in Alaska causes a landslide that produces a megatsunami. The runup from the waves reached 525 m (1,722 ft) on the rim of Lituya Bay and a wave that traveled across the bay with a crest reported by witnesses to be on the order of 98 feet (30 m) in height, the largest in recorded history. Due to the remote location, only five people were killed.

1960 – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev threatened the United States with rockets if U.S. forces attempted to oust the communist government of Cuba.

1961 – Turkish voters approve the Turkish Constitution of 1961 in a referendum.

1962 – The Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test is conducted by the United States.

1962 – Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans exhibition opens at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles.

1972 – The Troubles: In Belfast, British Army snipers shoot five civilians dead in the Springhill Massacre.

1979 – A car bomb destroys a Renault motor car owned by the famed "Nazi hunters" Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. A note purportedly from ODESSA claims responsibility.

1981 – Donkey Kong, a video game created by Nintendo, is released. The game marks the debut of Nintendo's future mascot, Mario.

1982 – Pan Am Flight 759, a Boeing 727 jetliner, crashes in Kenner, Louisiana, shortly after takeoff from New Orleans, killing all 145 people on board and eight others on the ground.

1986 – The New Zealand Parliament passes the Homosexual Law Reform Act legalising homosexuality in New Zealand.

1992 – Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Clinton picked U.S. Sen. Al Gore, D. TN, as his running mate.

1993 – The Parliament of Canada passes the Nunavut Act leading to the 1999 creation of Nunavut, dividing the Northwest Territories into arctic (Inuit) and sub-arctic (Dene) lands based on a plebiscite.

1995 – The Navaly church bombing is carried out by the Sri Lanka Air Force killing 125 Tamil civilian refugees.

1999 – Days of student protests begin after Iranian police and hardliners attack a student dormitory at the University of Tehran.

2002 – The Major League Baseball All-Star Game ended in an 11-inning 7-7 tie when Commissioner Bud Selig halted proceedings, saying the teams had run out of pitchers.

2004 – A report by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence accused the CIA and other intelligence agencies of producing false and misleading pre-war information about Iraq's weapons program.

2006 – An S7 Airlines (Siberia Airlines) Airbus A310 passenger jet from Moscow, taking children to a vacation area in Siberia, veers off the runway and crashes while landing in wet conditions at Irkutsk Airport in Siberia, killing about 122 of the 203 people aboard.

2010 – The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution condemning North Korea's alleged sinking of a South Korean naval vessel. North Korea repeatedly denied involvement in the attack that left 46 people dead..

2011 – After more than a half century of struggle and violence that claimed an estimated 2 million lives, the Republic of South Sudan declared its independence and seceded from Sudan, becoming Africa's 54th nation.

2013 – Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, held captive in a Cleveland house for almost a decade before they were freed, broke two months of media silence with a video on YouTube thanking the public for its support.

2014 – Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, convicted in February of bribery, money laundering and other offenses, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

2014 – A gunman kills six people including four children near Spring, Texas.