1692 - The last people hanged for witchcraft in the American colonies.
1776 - Nathan Hale is hanged for spying during the American Revolution. His last words were reported to be "I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country".
1789 - The office of United States Postmaster General is established.
1823 - Joseph Smith, Jr. states he found the golden plates on this date after being directed by God through the Angel Moroni to the place where they were buried.
1862 - A preliminary version of the Emancipation Proclamation is released.
1893 - The first American-made automobile, built by the Duryea Brothers, is displayed.
1919 - The steel strike of 1919, led by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, begins in Pennsylvania before spreading across the Untied States.
1941 - On Jewish New Year Day, the German SS murder 6,000 Jews in Vinnytsya, Ukraine. Those are the survivors of the previous killings that took place a few days earlier in which about 24,000 Jews were executed.
1944 - World War II: the Red Army enters Tallinn.
1975 - Sara Jane Moore tries to assassinate President Gerald Ford but is foiled by Oliver Sipple.
1980 - Iraq invades Iran.
1993 - A barge strikes a railroad bridge near Mobile, Alabama, causing the deadliest train wreck in Amtrak history, 47 passengers are killed.
1995 - An E-3B AWACS crashes outside Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska after multiple bird strikes to two of the four engines soon after takeoff; all 24 on board are killed.
