1859:
Abolitionist John Brown leads a small group on a raid against an arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
1934:
The embattled Chinese Communists break through Nationalist enemy lines and begin an epic flight from their encircled headquarters in southwest China.
1940:
Benjamin O. Davis becomes the U.S. Armys first African American Brigadier General.
1951:
F-86 Sabres shot down nine MiGs and damaged five more in one of the worst aerial defeats inflicted on the Chinese during the war.
1964:
The Peoples Republic of China joins the rank of nations with atomic bomb capability, after a successful nuclear test.
1968:
In a series of meetings with U.S. Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu insists that North Vietnam assent to three conditions prior to a bombing halt. He said the North Vietnamese had to (1) agree to respect the neutrality of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), (2) stop shelling South Vietnamese cities and towns, and (3) agree to South Vietnamese participation in the Paris talks.
1973:
Israeli General Ariel Sharon crosses the Suez Canal and begins to encircle two Egyptian armies.
