Sunday · September 27, 2026
Edited daily
American history, reported as it happened
Made for the 250th
On this day › July 7

What happened on July 7 in American history

July 7 is the 188th day of the year (the 189th in leap years). Patriot Compass has published 14 stories from July 7 spanning 1777 to 2019. Among them: in 1777, Fraser's troops overtake Warner's rear guard at Hubbardton; Francis is killed, 200 taken; and in 1846, Sloat raises the flag over Monterey; Mexico's California falls without a shot.

1777Member story · 1776 Club

Fraser's troops overtake Warner's rear guard at Hubbardton; Francis is killed, 200 taken

Riedesel's Germans arrive singing hymns to mask their numbers, and St. Clair's main army slips away into the Vermont wilderness.
1846

Sloat raises the flag over Monterey; Mexico's California falls without a shot

Sailors and marines from three warships walk ashore unopposed, ending both Mexican rule and the weeks-old California Republic declared at Sonoma.
1865Member story · 1776 Club

Four Lincoln conspirators hang at the Arsenal; Surratt is the first woman executed by the U.S. government

Powell, Herold, Atzerodt, and Surratt drop from the scaffold eighty-three days after Lincoln died, on sentence of a military tribunal; Booth himself was killed eleven weeks ago in a Virginia barn.
1898

McKinley signs the Newlands Resolution; Hawaii is annexed, and its $4 million debt with it

The House voted 209 to 91 and the Senate 42 to 21, with a Pacific war making the islands' coaling station and anchorage look essential to Washington.
1928Member story · 1776 Club

Chillicothe bakery sells the first machine-sliced loaves; Rohwedder's invention reaches the public on his 48th birthday

The Kleen Maid Sliced Bread hits shelves today, cut by Otto Rohwedder's automatic slicer, as the company calls it "the greatest forward step in baking since bread was wrapped."
1941Member story · 1776 Club

Marston's Marines land at Reykjavík; U.S. relieves British garrison while still at peace

The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, sailed from Charleston via Argentia, begins disembarkation on an island the U.S. has no treaty obligation to defend.
1944Member story · 1776 Club

4,300 starving men charge at Saipan before dawn; the fighting lasts fifteen hours

General Saitō leads walking wounded and civilians into the 105th Infantry's 1st and 2nd Battalions near Tanapag, out of food, ammunition, and nearly out of island.
1946Member story · 1776 Club

Pope Pius XII canonizes Frances Cabrini; the naturalized American is now the first U.S. saint

She died in 1917 wrapping gifts for children, leaving behind 67 institutions across four continents built for the immigrants no parish would seat at the front pew.
1952Member story · 1776 Club

SS United States passes Bishop Rock; America holds the Blue Riband for the first time in a century

Crossing from Ambrose Lightship in 3 days, 10 hours, and 40 minutes at 35.59 knots, she takes the Hales Trophy from the British liners that have ruled the Atlantic.
1958

Eisenhower signs Alaska into the union; the territory has waited forty years for this moment

The House voted 210-166, the Senate 64-20; Alaska is cleared to become the 49th state, though formal admission is not yet complete.
1981Member story · 1776 Club

Reagan nominates O'Connor; no woman has ever sat on the Supreme Court in 192 years

The Arizona appeals court judge is tapped to fill the seat of retiring Justice Potter Stewart, a pledge Reagan made on the campaign trail last year.
1983Member story · 1776 Club

Samantha Smith, 10, lands in the Soviet Union; Andropov's pen pal sees Moscow for herself

The Maine girl who asked the Soviet leader "are you going to vote to have a war or not?" tours Moscow, Leningrad, and a Black Sea pioneer camp at his personal invitation.
2003Member story · 1776 Club

Opportunity lifts off for Mars; a Delta II Heavy flies that configuration for the first time

The second of two twin rovers heads for Meridiani Planum, built to last 90 Martian days, with a January landing ahead and one question to answer: did water ever flow there?
2019Member story · 1776 Club

Rapinoe converts the penalty, Lavelle finishes from 17 yards; U.S. beats Netherlands 2-0 for fourth World Cup title

Seven games, no losses, 26 goals scored: the Americans leave Lyon with more Women's World Cup titles than any nation in the tournament's history.