1861 - American Civil War: Maryland's House of Delegates votes not to secede from the Union.
1862 - American Civil War: New Orleans, Louisiana falls to Union forces under Admiral David Farragut.
1864 - The Theta Xi fraternity is founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.
1882 - The "Elektromote" – forerunner of the trolleybus – is tested by Ernst Werner von Siemens in Berlin.
1903 - A 30 million cubic-metre landslide kills 70 in Frank, Alberta, Canada.
1916 - World War I: The British 6th Indian Division surrenders to Ottoman Forces at Kut. One of the largest surrenders of British forces up to that point.
1916 - Easter Rebellion: Martial law in Ireland is lifted and the rebellion is officially over with the surrender of Irish nationalists to British authorities in Dublin.
1945 - World War II: The German Army in Italy unconditionally surrenders to the Allies.
1945 - The Dachau concentration camp is liberated by United States troops.
1946 - Former Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo and 28 former Japanese leaders are indicted for war crimes.
1951 - A Tibetan delegation to the Chinese government is presented with a draft treaty regarding the Chinese occupation of Tibet.
1953 - The first U.S. experimental 3D-TV broadcast showed an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV.
1965 - Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) successfully launches its seventh rocket in their Rehber series.
1967 - After refusing induction into the United States Army the day before (citing religious reasons), Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title.
1968 - The controversial musical Hair opens on Broadway.
1970 - Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to hunt Viet Cong.
1974 - Watergate Scandal: President Richard Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings related to the scandal.
1975 - Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate US citizens from Saigon prior to an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end.
1980 - Corazones Unidos Siempre Chi Upsilon Sigma National Latin Sorority Inc. is founded.
1986 - Roger Clemens then of the Boston Red Sox sets a major league baseball record with 20 strikeouts in nine innings against the Seattle Mariners.
1986 - A fire at the Central library of the City of Los Angeles Public Library damages or destroys 400,000 books and other items.
1991 - 1991 Bangladesh cyclone strikes the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 155 mph, killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as 10 million homeless.
1992 - 1992 Los Angeles riots: Riots in Los Angeles, California, following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. Over the next three days 53 people are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed.
1997 - The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 enters into force, outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons among its signatories.
1999 - Avala TV Tower near Belgrade is destroyed in NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
2002 - The United States is re-elected to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, one year after losing the seat it had held for 50 years.
2004 - Dick Cheney and George W. Bush testify before the 9/11 Commission in a closed, unrecorded hearing in the Oval Office.
2004 - Oldsmobile builds its final car ending 107 years of production.
2005 - Syria completes withdrawal from Lebanon, ending 29 years of occupation.
2005 - New Zealand's first civil union takes place.
