| 1792 | | The United States authorizes the minting of the $10 Eagle, $5 half-Eagle & 2.50 quarter-Eagle gold coins as well as the silver dollar, dollar, quarter, dime & half-dime. |
| 1796 | | Haitian revolt leader Toussaint L'Ouverture takes command of French forces at Santo Domingo. |
| 1801 | | The British navy defeats the Danish at the Battle of Copenhagen. |
| 1865 | | Confederate President Jefferson Davis flees Richmond, Virginia as Grant breaks Lee's line at Petersburg. |
| 1910 | | Karl Harris perfects the process for the artificial synthesis of rubber. |
| 1914 | | The U.S. Federal Reserve Board announces plans to divide the country into 12 districts. |
| 1917 | | President Woodrow Wilson presents a declaration of war against Germany to Congress. |
| 1917 | | Jeannette Pickering Rankin is sworn in as the first woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. |
| 1931 | | Virne "Jackie" Mitchell becomes the first woman to play for an all-male pro baseball team. In an exhibition game against the New York Yankees, she strikes out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. |
| 1932 | | Charles Lindbergh pays over $50,000 ransom for his kidnapped son. |
| 1944 | | Soviet forces enter Romania, one of Germany's allied countries. |
| 1958 | | The National Advisory Council on Aeronautics is renamed NASA. |
| 1963 | | Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King begins the first non-violent campaign in Birmingham, Alabama. |
| 1982 | | Argentina invades the British-owned Falkland Islands. |
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