Events
- 1754 – French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces.
- 1775 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- 1778 – American Revolutionary War: British forces massacre 360 men, women and children in the Wyoming Valley massacre.
- 1819 – The first savings bank in the United States (The Bank of Savings in New York City) opens.
- 1839 – The first state normal school in the United States, the forerunner to today's Framingham State College, opens in Lexington, Massachusetts with 3 students.
- 1848 – Slaves are freed in the Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands) by Peter von Scholten.
- 1852 – Congress establishes the United States's 2nd mint in San Francisco, California.
- 1863 – U.S. Civil War: The final day of the Battle of Gettysburg culminates with Pickett's Charge.
- 1884 – Dow Jones published its 1st stock average.
- 1886 – The New York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand.
- 1890 – Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.
- 1898 – Spanish fleet, led by Pascual Cervera y Topete, destroyed by the U.S. Navy in Santiago, Cuba during the Spanish–American War.
- 1952 – Puerto Rico's Constitution is approved by the Congress of the United States.
- 1979 – US President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro–Soviet regime in Kabul.
- 1986 – US President Ronald Reagan presides over the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty.
- 1988 – United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
- 1994 – The deadliest day in Texas traffic history, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Forty six people were killed in crashes.