On this day in history...

1776 - Part of New York City is burned shortly after being occupied by British forces.

1780 - Benedict Arnold gives the British the plans to West Point.

1792 - The National Convention declares France a republic and abolishes the monarchy.

1827 - Joseph Smith, Jr. is reportedly visited by the angel Moroni, who gave him a record of gold plates, one-third of which Smith has translated into The Book of Mormon.

1897 - The "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" editorial is published in the New York Sun.

1937 - J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is published.     

1938 - The Great Hurricane of 1938 makes landfall on Long Island in New York.  The death toll is estimated at 500 - 700 people.

1942 - On the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, NAZIS send over 1,000 Jews of Pidhaytsi (west Ukraine) to Belzec extermination camp.

1942 -  In Poland, at the end of Yom Kippur, Germans order Jews to permanently evacuate Konstantynow and move to the Ghetto in Biala Podlaska, established to assemble Jews from seven nearby towns, including Janow Podlaski, Rossosz and Terespol.

1942 - In Dunaivtsi, Ukraine, NAZIS murder 2,588 Jews.

1942 - The B-29 Superfortress makes its maiden flight.

1961 - Maiden flight of the CH-47 Chinook transportation helicopter.

1964 - The North American XB-70 Valkyrie, the world's first Mach 3 bomber, makes its maiden flight from Palmdale, California.

1976 - Orlando Letelieris assassinated in Washington D.C.  He is a member of the Chilean socialist government of Salvador Allende, overthrown in 1973 by Augusto Pinochet.

1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor is unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate as the first female Supreme Court Justice.