1765: In the U.S., The Stamp Act Congress met and drew up a declaration of rights and liberties.
1781: British General Charles Lord Cornwallis surrendered to U.S. General George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia. It was to be the last major battle of the American Revolutionary War.
1812: Napoleon Bonaparte's French forces began their retreat out of Russia after a month of chasing the retreating Russian army.
1885: Charles Merrill, founder of Merrill-Lynch, was born.
1914: In the U.S., government owned vehicles were first used to pick up mail in Washington, DC.
1915: The U.S. recognized General Venustiano Carranza as the president of Mexico. The U.S. imposed embargo to all parts of Mexico except where Carranza was in control.
1933: Basketball was introduced to the 1936 Olympic Games by the Berlin Organization Committee.
1937: "Woman's Day" was published for the first time.
1937: "Big Town" made its debut on CBS.
1943: The Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers began in Russia during World War II. Delegates from the U.S.S.R., Great Britain, the U.S., and China met to discuss war aims and cooperation between the nations.
1944: The play "I Remember Mama" opened on Broadway. Marlon Brando made his debut with his appearance.
1944: The U.S. Navy announced that black women would be allowed into Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES).
1950: The United Nations forces entered the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
1951: U.S. President Truman singed an act officially ending the state of war with Germany.
1959: Patty Duke, at the age of 12, made her Broadway debut in "The Miracle Worker." The play lasted for 700 performances.
1960: The United States imposed an embargo on exports to Cuba covering all commodities except medical supplies and certain food products.
1969: U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew referred to anti-Vietnam War protesters "an effete corps of impudent snobs."
1974: The news program "Weekend" debuted on NBC.
1977: The Concorde made its first landing in New York City.
1983: The U.S. Senate approved a bill establishing a national holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.
1984: Four U.S. employees of the CIA were killed in El Salvador when their plane crashed.
1987: The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 508 points. It was the worst one-day percentage decline, 22.6%, in history.
1989: The Guilford Four were cleared of all charges and released after 14 years in prison. The charges were from the 1975 IRA bombings of public houses in Guildford and Woolrich, England.
1989: The U.S. Senate rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that barred the desecration of the American flag.
1993: Benazir Bhutto was returned to the premiership of Pakistan.
1998: In Washington, DC, Microsoft went on trial to defend against an antitrust case.
1998: Fires in Nigeria swept through villages killing 500 people.
1998: Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson got his boxing license back after he had lost it for biting Evander Holyfield's ear during a fight.
2001: Two U.S. Army Rangers were killed in a helicopter crash in Pakistan. The deaths were the first American deaths of the military campaign in Afghanistan.
2001: It was reported that a New Jersey postal worker and a New York Post employee had tested positive for skin anthrax.
2002: In York, PA, former mayor Charlie Robertson was acquitted and two other men were convicted in the shotgun murder of a young black woman during race riots in 1969.
2003: In London, magician David Blaine emerged from a clear plastic box that had been suspended by a crane over the banks of the Thames River. He survived only on water for 44 days. Blaine had entered the box on September 5.
2006: The Dow Jones industrial average ended the day at 12,011.73. It was the first close above 12,000.
