*987 – Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty that would rule France until the French Revolution in 1792.
*1754 – French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces.
*1775 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington takes commandof the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
*1844 – The last pair of great auks is killed.
*1884 – Dow Jones & Company publishes its first stock average.
*1886 – Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first purpose-built automobile.
*1886 – The New-York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand.
*1938 – World speed record for a steam locomotive is set in England, by the Mallard, which reaches a speed of 125.88 miles per hour (202.58 km/h).
*1952 – The SS United States sets sail on her maiden voyage to Southampton. During the voyage, the ship takes the Blue Riband away from the RMS Queen Mary.
*1969 – Space Race: The biggest explosion in the history of rocketry occurs when the Soviet N-1 rocket explodes and subsequently destroys its launchpad.
*1979 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
*1988 – United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
Births
*321 – Valentinian I, Roman emperor (d. 375)
*1423 – Louis XI of France (d. 1483)
*1883 – Franz Kafka, Czech-Austrian author (d. 1924)
*1937 – Tom Stoppard, Czech-English playwright and screenwriter
*1959 – Ian Maxtone-Graham, American screenwriter and producer
Deaths
*896 – Dong Chang, Chinese warlord
*1642 – Marie de’ Medici, French queen consort and regent (b. 1573)
*1863 – Little Crow, American tribal leader (b. 1810)
*1881 – Hasan Tahsini, Albanian astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (b. 1811)
*1954 – Reginald Marsh, French-American painter, illustrator, and academic (b. 1898)