July 4

July 4 is the 185th day of the year (186th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 180 days remaining until the end of the year. The Aphelion, the point in the year when the Earth is farthest from the Sun, occurs around this date.

Events

836 – Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples
993 – Saint Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized.
1054 – A supernova is observed by the Chinese, the Arabs and possibly Amerindians near the star Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula.
1120 – Jordan II of Capua is anointed as prince after his infant nephew's death.
1187 – The Crusades: Battle of Hattin – Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem.
1253 – Battle of West-Capelle: John I of Avesnes defeats Guy of Dampierre.
1359 – Francesco II Ordelaffi of Forlì surrenders to the Papal commander Gil de Albornoz.
1456 – The Siege of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) begins. (Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe)
1534 – Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye.

Battle of Klushino on 4 July 1610

1569 – The King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund II Augustus finally sign the document of union between Poland and Lithuania, creating new country known as Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1610 – The Battle of Klushino between forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia during the Polish-Muscovite War.
1634 – The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France (Quebec, Canada)
1636 – City of Providence, Rhode Island forms.
1744 – The Treaty of Lancaster, in which the Iriquois ceded lands between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River to the British colonies, is signed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
1754 – French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French Capt. Louis Coulon de Villiers.
1774 – Orangetown Resolutions adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament's Coercive Acts

The United States becomes a nation

1776 – American Revolution: the United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress
1778 – American Revolutionary War: Forces under George Clark capture Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign.
1802 – At West Point, New York the United States Military Academy opens.
1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.
1810 – The French occupy Amsterdam.
1817 – At Rome, New York, United States, construction on the Erie Canal begins.
1827 – Slavery is abolished in New York State.
1837 – Grand Junction Railway, the world's first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool.
1838 – The Iowa Territory is organized.
1840 – The Cunard Line's 700 ton wooden paddle steamer RMS Britannia departs from Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic crossing with a scheduled end.
1845 – Near Concord, Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau embarks on a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond (see Walden).
1855 – In Brooklyn, New York, the first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, titled Leaves of Grass, is published.
1862 – Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.
1863 – American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg – Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege. 150 miles up the Mississippi River, a Confederate Army is repulsed at the Battle of Helena, Arkansas.
1865 – Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is published.
1878 – Thoroughbred horses Ten Broeck and Mollie McCarty run a match race, immortalized in the song Molly and Tenbrooks.
1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: the Zululand capital of Ulundi is captured by British troops and burnt to the ground, thus, ending the war and forcing King Cetshwayo to flee.
1881 – In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.
1886 – The people of France offer the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States.
1886 – The first scheduled Canadian transcontinental train arrives in Port Moody, British Columbia.
1887 – The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joins Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi.
1892 – Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, so that year there were 367 days in this country, with two occurrences of Monday, July 4.
1894 – The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.
1903 – Dorothy Levitt was reported as the first woman in the world to compete in a 'motor race'.
1910 – African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match sparking race riots across the United States.
1913 – President Woodrow Wilson addresses American Civil War veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913.
1918 – Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne.
1918 – Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date).
1927 – First flight of the Lockheed Vega.
1934 – Leo Szilard patents the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb.
1939 – Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, tells a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth" as he announces his retirement from major league baseball.
1941 – Nazi Germans massacre Polish scientists and writers in the captured Polish city of Lwów.
1946 – After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States.
1947 – The "Indian Independence Bill" is presented before British House of Commons, suggesting bifurcation of British India into two sovereign countries – India and Pakistan.
1950 – The first broadcast by Radio Free Europe.
1959 – With the admission of Alaska as the 49th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1960 – Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Act).
1961 – Walt Disney is one of the two main speakers on the Independence Day in The Rebuild Hills at Skørping in Denmark
1965 – Homophile activists picket at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the first in a series of Annual Reminders of the second-class status of LGBT people in the United States.
1966 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act goes into effect the next year.
1969 – Two teens (one male, one female) are attacked at Blue Rock Springs in California. They are the second (known) victims of the Zodiac Killer. The male survives.
1969 – The Ohio Fireworks Derecho kills 18 Ohioans and destroys over 100 boats on Lake Erie.
1976 – Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists.
1982 – Iranian diplomats kidnapping (1982): four Iranian diplomats are kidnapped by Lebanese militia in Lebanon.
1987 – In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the "Butcher of Lyon") is convicted of crimes against humanity and is sentenced to life imprisonment.
1993 – Sumitomo Chemical's resin plant in Nihama explodes killing one worker and injuring three others.
1997 – NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.
2004 – The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.
2005 – The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1.
2006 – Space Shuttle program: STS-121 Mission – Space Shuttle Discovery launches at 18:37:55 UTC.
2006 – North Korea tests four short-range missiles, one medium-range missile, and a long-range Taepodong-2. The long-range Taepodong-2 reportedly fails in mid-air over the Sea of Japan.
2008 – Cross-strait charter direct flight between mainland China and Taiwan started.
2009 – The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after 8 years, due to security reasons following the World Trade Center attacks.

Births

1330 – Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Japanese shogun (d. 1367)
1546 – Murat III, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1595)
1694 – Louis-Claude Daquin, French composer (d. 1772)
1715 – Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet (d. 1769)
1719 – Michel-Jean Sedaine, French dramatist (d. 1797)
1790 – George Everest, Welsh surveyor (d. 1866)
1799 – King Oscar I of Sweden, French general (d. 1859)
1804 – Nathaniel Hawthorne, American writer (d. 1864)
1807 – Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian patriot (d. 1882)
1816 – Hiram Walker, American grocer and distiller (d. 1899)
1826 – Stephen Foster, American songwriter (d. 1864)
1845 – Thomas Barnardo, Irish humanitarian (d. 1905)
1847 – James Anthony Bailey, American circus impresario (d. 1906)
1854 – Victor Babeş, Romanian bacteriologist (d. 1926)
1867 – Stephen Mather, American entrepreneur and conservationist (d. 1930)
1868 – Henrietta Swan Leavitt, American astronomer (d. 1921)
1872 – Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States (d. 1933)
1881 – Ulysses S. Grant III, American soldier (d. 1968)
1882 – Louis B. Mayer, American film producer (d. 1957)
1883 – Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist (d. 1970)
1895 – Irving Caesar, American lyricist and composer (d. 1996)
1896 – Mao Dun, Chinese writer (d. 1981)
1898 – Dr. Pilar Barbosa, Puerto Rican historian (d. 1997)
1898 – Gertrude Lawrence, English-born actress (d. 1952)
1902 – Meyer Lansky, Russian-born American gangster (d. 1983)
1902 – George Murphy, American entertainer (d. 1992)
1903 – Flor Peeters, Belgian composer, organist and teacher (d. 1986)
1904 – Angela Baddeley, English actress (d. 1976)
1905 – Irving Johnson, American adventurer (d. 1991)
1907 – Gordon Griffith, American director (d. 1958)
1907 – Howard Taubman, American music and theater critic (d. 1996)
1910 – Gloria Stuart, American actress
1911 – Mitch Miller, American entertainer
1912 – Viviane Romance, French actress (d. 1991)
1916 – Iva Toguri D'Aquino, American World War II figure (d. 2006)
1917 – Manolete, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1947)
1918 – Ann Landers, American advice columnist (d. 2002)
1918 – Abigail Van Buren, American advice columnist
1918 – King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV of Tonga (d. 2006)
1918 – Johnnie Parsons, American race car driver (d. 1984)
1920 – Norm Drucker, American basketball referee
1920 – Leona Helmsley, American hotel operator and real estate investor (d. 2007)
1921 – Gerard Debreu, French economist, Nobel laureate (d. 2004)
1921 – Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist (d. 2003)
1923 – Rudolf Friedrich, Swiss Federal Councilor
1924 – Eva Marie Saint, American actress
1926 – Alfredo Di Stéfano, Argentine-Spanish footballer
1927 – Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress
1927 – Neil Simon, American playwright
1928 – Giampiero Boniperti, Italian footballer
1929 – Al Davis, American businessman
1929 – Chuck Tanner, American baseball player
1929 – Bill Tuttle, American baseball player (d. 1998)
1930 – Frunzik Mkrtchyan, Armenian actor (d. 1993)
1930 – George Steinbrenner, American businessman
1930 – Yuri Tyukalov, Soviet Olympic rower
1931 – Stephen Boyd, Northern Irish actor (d. 1977)
1931 – Sébastien Japrisot, French author, film director and screenwriter (d. 2003)
1932 – Aurèle Vandendriessche, Belgian athlete
1934 – Colin Welland, English actor
1935 – Paul Scoon, Governor General of Grenada
1936 – Zdzisława Donat, Polish coloratura soprano
1937 – Sonja Haraldsen, Queen of Norway (spouse of King Harald V of Norway)
1937 – Thomas Nagel, American philosopher
1938 – Bill Withers, American singer and songwriter
1938 – Sergio Oliva, Cuban born American bodybuilder
1940 – Karolyn Grimes, American actress
1941 – Brian Willson, American peace activist
1942 – Hal Lanier, American baseball player
1942 – Floyd Little, American football player
1942 – Stefan Meller, Polish foreign minister (d. 2008)
1943 – Konrad "Conny" Bauer, German musician
1943 – Geraldo Rivera, American reporter
1943 – Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson, American musician (d. 1970)
1943 – Emerson Boozer, American football player
1943 – Milan Máčala, Czech football coach
1944 – Ray Meagher, Australian actor
1944 – Joe Berardo, Portuguese millionaire
1945 – Bruce French, American actor
1946 – Tish Howard, American model
1946 – Ron Kovic, American peace activist
1946 – Michael Milken, American financier
1946 – Ed O'Ross, American actor
1947 – Morganna Roberts, American entertainer
1948 – Ed Armbrister, baseball player
1948 – René Arnoux, French race car driver
1948 – Tommy Körberg, Swedish singer and actor
1948 – Jeremy Spencer, English musician
1948 – Phil Wheatley, Director-General of the National Offender Management Service
1950 – Philip Craven, British International Paralympic Committee president
1950 – David Jensen, Canadian-born British radio DJ
1951 – Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, American politician
1952 – Álvaro Uribe, President of Colombia
1954 – Jim Beattie, American baseball player
1955 – John Waite, English singer
1956 – Mark Belling, American radio talkshow host
1957 – Princess Chulabhorn of Thailand
1957 – Rein Lang, Estonian politician and diplomat
1958 – Kirk Pengilly, Australian musician
1958 – Carl Valentine, English-born Canadian former footballer
1959 – Victoria Abril, Spanish actress
1960 – Sid Eudy, American professional wrestler
1960 – Barry Windham, American professional wrestler
1960 – Roland Ratzenberger, Austrian racing driver (d. 1994)
1961 – Richard Garriott, English video game designer
1962 – Neil Morrissey, English actor
1962 – Pam Shriver, American former tennis player
1963 – Henri Leconte, French former tennis player
1963 – Matt Malley, American musician
1963 – José Oquendo, Puerto Rican baseball player
1964 – Cle Kooiman, American soccer player
1964 – Mark Slaughter, American singer
1964 – Mark Whiting, American filmmaker and actor
1965 – Horace Grant, American basketball player
1965 – Harvey Grant, American basketball player
1965 – Jo Whiley, English radio DJ
1966 – Minas Hantzidis, Greek footballer
1966 – Lee Reherman, American actor
1967 – Vinny Castilla, Mexican baseball player
1967 – Andy Walker (journalist), Canadian television personality
1967 – Rick Wilkins, American baseball player
1968 – Jack Frost, American musician
1969 – Todd Marinovich, American football player
1969 – Wilfred Mugeyi, Zimbabwean soccer player
1970 – Tony Vidmar, Australian former footballer
1970 – Christian Giesler, American bassist (Kreator)
1971 – Andy Creeggan, Canadian musician
1971 – Brendan Donnelly, American baseball player
1971 – Koko, sign-language gorilla
1971 – Ned Zelic, Australian soccer player
1972 – Nina Badrić, Croatian singer
1972 – Stephen Giles, Canadian canoer
1972 – William Goldsmith, American drummer
1972 – Mike Knuble, Canadian hockey player
1972 – Oleg Prudius, Ukrainian professional wrestler
1973 – Gackt, Japanese singer
1973 – Keiko Ihara, Japanese racing driver
1973 – Michael Johnson, English-born Jamaican footballer
1973 – Jan Magnussen, Danish racing driver
1973 – Tony Popovic, Australian soccer player
1973 – Elton Williams, Montserratian footballer
1974 – La'Roi Glover, American football player
1974 – Adrian Griffin, American basketball player
1974 – Vince Spadea, American tennis player
1975 – Tania Davis, Australian violist
1976 – Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (d. 2003)
1976 – Yevgeniya Medvedeva-Arbuzova, Russian cross-country skier
1977 – Jonas Kjellgren, Swedish musician (Scar Symmetry)
1978 – Katia Zygouli, Greek model
1978 – Vicky Kaya, Greek model and actress
1978 – Stephen McNally, British singer and songwriter (BBMak)
1978 – Emile Mpenza, Belgian footballer
1978 – Becki Newton, American actress
1980 – Max Elliott Slade, American film actor
1981 – Francisco Cruceta, Dominican baseball player
1981 – Dédé, Angolan soccer player
1982 – Hannah Harper, English porn star
1983 – Isabeli Fontana, Brazilian model
1983 – Ben Jorgensen, American musician
1983 – Andy Mrotek, American musician
1983 – Miguel Ángel Muñoz, Spanish actor and singer
1984 – Gina Glocksen, American singer
1984 – Akanishi Jin, Japanese singer
1985 – Kane Tenace, Australian rules footballer
1986 – Takahisa Masuda, Japanese singer
1990 – David Kross, German actor
1990 – Backer Aloenouvo, Togolese Soccer Player
2003 – Alessia di Matteo, Italian medical figure (d. 2005)
2008 – Princess Rayet Al Noor bint Hashim, daughter of Prince Hashim bin Al Hussein

Deaths

907 – Luitpold, Margrave of Bavaria
943 – Taejo of Goryeo, ruler of Korea (b. 877)
965 – Pope Benedict V, Italian Roman Catholic Pope (b. unknown)
973 – Ulrich of Augsburg, German bishop (b. 890)
1187 – Raynald of Chatillon, Prince of Antioch
1541 – Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish explorer (b. 1495)
1546 – Hayreddin Barbarossa, Admiral of the Ottoman Navy (b. 1478)
1551 – Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell of Oakham, Knight (b. 1514)
1603 – Philippe de Monte, Flemish composer (b. 1521)
1623 – William Byrd, English composer
1648 – Antoine Daniel, French Jesuit missionary, one of the Canadian Martyrs (b. 1601)
1742 – Guido Grandi, Italian mathematician (b. 1671)
1754 – Philippe Néricault Destouches, French dramatist and author (b. 1680)
1761 – Samuel Richardson, English writer (b. 1689)
1780 – Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Austrian military leader (b. 1712)
1787 – Charles de Rohan, prince de Soubise, Marshal of France (b. 1715)
1821 – Richard Cosway, English artist (b. 1742)
1826 – John Adams, 2nd President of the United States (b. 1735)
1826 – Thomas Jefferson 3rd President of the United States (b. 1743)
1831 – James Monroe, 5th President of the United States (b. 1758)
1848 – François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer (b. 1768)
1850 – William Kirby, English entomologist (b. 1759)
1854 – Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, German jurist (b. 1781)
1857 – William L. Marcy, American statesman (b. 1786)
1881 – Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Finnish statesman (b. 1806)
1882 – Joseph Brackett, American composer (b. 1797)
1891 – Hannibal Hamlin, U.S. Vice President (b. 1809)
1901 – Johannes Schmidt, German linguist (b. 1843)
1902 – Swami Vivekananda, Indian spiritual leader (b. 1863)
1905 – Élisée Reclus, French anarchist (b. 1830)
1910 – Melville Weston Fuller, 8th Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1833)
1910 – Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer (b. 1835)
1916 – Alan Seeger, American war poet (b. 1888)
1922 – Lothar von Richthofen, German pilot (b. 1894)
1926 – Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian Saint (b. 1901)
1931 – Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta, Italian aristocrat (b. 1869)
1931 – Buddie Petit, American jazz musician (b. 1895)
1934 – Maria Sklodowska-Curie, Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Physics (b. 1867)
1938 – Otto Bauer, Austrian Social Democratic politician (b. 1881)
1938 – Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player (b. 1899)
1941 – Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician (b. 1881)
1946 – Gerda Steinhoff, Nazi concentration camp overseer (b. 1922)
1948 – Monteiro Lobato, Brazilian writer (b. 1882)
1963 – Bernard Freyberg, Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1889)
1964 – Henry (Hank) Sylvern, U.S. radio personality (b. 1908)
1970 – Barnett Newman, American artist (b. 1905)
1970 – Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, member of the Vanderbilt family (b. 1884)
1971 – August Derleth, American writer and editor (b. 1909)
1975 – Georgette Heyer, English author (b. 1902)
1976 – Antoni Słonimski, Polish poet (b. 1895)
1977 – Gersh Budker, Russian physicist (b. 1918)
1979 – Lee Wai Tong, Chinese footballer (b. 1905)
1980 – Maurice Grevisse, Belgian grammarian (b. 1895)
1982 – Terry Higgins, early British AIDS death (b. 1945)
1984 – Jimmie Spheeris, American singer-songwriter (b. 1949)
1986 – Flor Peeters, Belgian composer, organist, and teacher (b. 1903)
1986 – Oscar Zariski, Russian mathematician (b. 1899)
1988 – Adrian Adonis, American professional wrestler (b. 1954)
1989 – Jack Haig, British actor (b. 1913)
1991 – Victor Chang, Australian physician (b. 1936)
1992 – Ástor Piazzolla, Argentinian composer (b. 1921)
1993 – Bona Arsenault, French Canadian politician and historian (b. 1903)
1994 - Ong Sin Wee, proud Singaporean and boyfriend.
1994 – Joey Marella, American professional wrestling referee (b. 1964)
1995 – Eva Gabor, Hungarian actress (b. 1919)
1995 – Bob Ross, American artist and television host (b. 1942)
1997 – Charles Kuralt, American television presenter (b. 1934)
1997 – John Zachary Young, English zoologist (b. 1907)
1999 – Leo Garel, American artist and cartoonist (b. 1917)
2000 – Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski, Polish writer (b. 1919)
2001 – Keenan Milton, American skateboarder (b. 1974)
2002 – Benjamin O. Davis Jr., American general (b. 1912)
2002 – Mansoor Hekmat, Iranian politician (b. 1951)
2002 – Winnifred Quick, American Titanic survivor (b. 1904)
2003 – André Claveau, French singer (b. 1915)
2003 – Barry White, American singer (b. 1944)
2004 – Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss conductor (b. 1920)
2004 – Frank Robinson (Xylophone Man), British street entertainer (b. 1932)
2005 – Hank Stram, American football coach (b. 1923)
2007 – Barış Akarsu, Turkish rock musician (b. 1979)
2007 – Bill Pinkney, American singer and performer (b. 1925)
2008 – Jesse Helms, American politician (b. 1921)
2008 – Evelyn Keyes, American actress (b. 1916)
2008 – Terrence Kiel, American football player (b. 1980)
2008 – Charles Wheeler, British journalist (b. 1923)
2009 – Brenda Joyce, American actress (b. 1917)
2009 – Allen Klein, American record label executive (b. 1931)
2009 – Drake Levin, American rock musician (b. 1946)
2009 – Steve McNair, American football player (b. 1973)
2009 – Lasse Strömstedt, Swedish writer (b. 1935)
2009 – Jean-Baptiste Tati Loutard, Congolese politician (b. 1938)
2009 – Jim Chapin, American drummer (b. 1919)

Holidays and observances

Christian Feast Day
- Andrew of Crete
- Bertha of Artois
- Elizabeth of Portugal, patron saint of Coimbra (city holiday), known there as Rainha Santa Isabela.
- Oda of Canterbury
- Ulrich of Augsburg
Filipino-American Friendship Day (Philippines)
Independence Day, celebrates the Declaration of Independence of the United States from Great Britain in 1776.
Liberation Day (Rwanda)

Saturday, September 25, 2010

I stay up every night hoping that maybe one day, you’ll come to your senses. And every morning when I check my phone, my heart gets a little more brok

Friday, September 24, 2010

Just because we don’t talk anymore, doesn’t mean that I don’t still think about you now and then.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Sunday, July 4, 2010

July 4

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Thursday, June 24, 2010