1777
Musket fire greets Hessian dragoons at Cooch's Bridge; some say the Stars and Stripes flew over the fight
Some who were there later said this was the first time the Stars and Stripes flew over American troops in a fight.
1783
Peace is signed at the Hôtel d'York; the United States is free and independent
Eight years of war end with four signatures in a rented Paris hotel room.
1838Member story · 1776 Club
Disguised as a sailor, Frederick Douglass rides the rails out of Baltimore to free soil
Borrowed papers and a uniform from Anna Murray carry him through Wilmington and Philadelphia to New York in under a day.
1861Member story · 1776 Club
Polk breaks Kentucky's neutrality; Confederate troops occupy Columbus
Residents wave rebel flags at the landing, but the bishop-general has just handed the state to the Union.
1925Member story · 1776 Club
A thunderstorm tears the Navy airship Shenandoah into three pieces over Ohio
Fourteen aboard die, including the commander who had warned this kind of weather was dangerous and asked that the flight be delayed.
1976
Viking 2 sets down on Mars, tilted on a rock at Utopia Planitia
A stray radar echo fires the thrusters early, cracking the ground beneath the lander's feet.