July 4
is the 185th day of the year (186th in
leap years) in the
Gregorian Calendar, with 180 days remaining.
*
836 -
Pactum Sicardi, peace between the
Principality of Benevento and the
Duchy of Naples*
993 - Saint
Ulrich of Augsburg canonized.
*
1054 - A
supernova is observed by the
Chinese, the
Arabs and possibly
Amerindians near the
star ζ
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 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*
1636 - City of
Providence,
Rhode Island forms.
*
1712 - 12 slaves are executed in New York for starting an uprising that killed 9 whites
*
1774 -
Orangetown Resolutions adopted in
Tappan, New York in
Rockland County.
*
1776 -
American Revolutionary War: The
Continental Congress approves a
Declaration of Independence from the
Kingdom of Great Britain.
*
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, 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 passenger cruise.
*
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.
*
1859 -
Austro-Sardinian War: The
Battle of Magenta.
*
1862 -
Lewis Carroll tells
Alice Liddell a story that would grow into
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.
*
1863 -
American Civil War:
Battle 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.
*
1881 - In
Alabama, the
Tuskegee Institute opens.
*
1886 - First scheduled Canadian transcontinental train arrives in
Port Moody,
British Columbia.
*
1887 - Founder of
Pakistan,
Qauid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah joined
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.
*
1910 -
African-American boxer
Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer
Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight
boxing match sparking
race riots across the
United States.
*
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 -
Joe Louis wins his first professional
boxing match.
*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 considered himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth" as he announces his retirement from major league
baseball.
*
1941 -
Mass murder of Polish scientists and writers, committed by
Nazi Germans in captured
Polish city of
Lwów.
*
1946 - After 381 years of colonial rule, the
Philippines is granted full independence by the
United States.
*
1947 - "Indian Independence Bill" is presented before
British House of Commons, suggesting bifurcation of
British India into two sovereign coutries -
India and
Pakistan.
*
1950 - 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).
*
1966 -
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the
Freedom of Information Act into
United States law. The act goes into effect the next year.
*
1970 - Popular syndicated radio show, "
American Top 40", hosted by "
Casey Kasem, debuts.
*
1976 -
Israeli commandos raid
Entebbe airport in
Uganda, rescuing all of the passengers and crew of an
Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists.
*1976 - The
United States celebrates its
bicentennial.
*
1982 - Four
Iranian diplomats 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.
*
1992 -
USS George Washington (CVN-73), a
Nimitz Class aircraft carrier of the
United States Navy is commissioned at
Norfolk, Virginia.
*
1997 -
NASA's
Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of
Mars.
*
1999 - David Beckham marries Victoria Adams in Ireland
*
2004 - The cornerstone of the
Freedom Tower is laid on the site of the
World Trade Center in
New York City. (This was largely a symbolic event; actual construction would not start for several weeks)
*
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 . The first
Independence Day shuttle launch.
*2006 -
North Korea tests four short-range missiles one medium-range missile, and a long-range
Taepodong-2. The latter reportedly fails in mid-air over the Sea of
Japan.
*
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)
*
1799 - King
Oscar I of Sweden, French general (d.
1859)
*
1804 -
Nathaniel Hawthorne, American writer (d.
1864)
*
1807 -
Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian patriot (d.
1882)
*
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)
*
1872 -
Calvin Coolidge, 30th
President of the United States (d.
1933)
*
1878 -
George M. Cohan, American entertainer (d.
1942)
*
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)
*
1896 -
Mao Dun, Chinese writer (d.
1981)
*
1898 - Dr.
Pilar Barbosa, Puerto Rican historian (d.
1997)
*
1901 -
Louis Armstrong, American musician (d.
1971)
*
1902 -
Meyer Lansky, Russian-born gangster (d.
1983)
* 1902 -
George Murphy, American entertainer (d.
1992)
*
1904 -
Angela Baddeley, English actress (d.
1976)
*
1905 -
Irving Johnson, American adventurer (d.
1991)
*
1907 -
Gordon Griffith, American director (d.
1958)
*
1910 -
Gloria Stuart, American actress
*
1911 -
Mitch Miller, American entertainer
*
1916 -
Iva Toguri D'Aquino, American thought to be
Tokyo Rose in World War II
*
1917 -
Manolete, Spanish bullfighter (d.
1947)
*
1918 -
Ann Landers, American advice columnist (d.
2002)
* 1918 -
Abigail Van Buren American advice columnist
* 1920 -
Norm Drucker, American basketball referee
*
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 Stefano, Argentine footballer
*
1927 -
Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress
* 1927 -
Neil Simon, American playwright
*
1929 -
Bill Tuttle, baseball player (d.
1998)
*
1929 -
Al Davis, football team owner
*
1930 -
George Steinbrenner, baseball team owner
* 1930 -
Frunzik Mkrtchyan, Armenian actor
*
1931 -
Stephen Boyd, Northern Irish actor (d.
1977)
*
1938 -
Bill Withers, American singer and songwriter
*
1942 -
Floyd Little, American football player
* 1942 -
Stefan Meller, Polish foreign minister
*
1943 -
Konrad "Conny" Bauer, German musician
* 1943 -
Geraldo Rivera, American reporter
* 1943 -
Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson, American musician (
Canned Heat) (d.
1970)
*
1946 -
Ron Kovic, American peace activist
* 1946 -
Ed O'Ross, American actor
*
1948 -
Tommy Körberg, Swedish singer
*
1951 -
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, American politician
*
1952 -
Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Colombian politician
*
1960 -
Sid Eudy, professional wrestler
*
1961 -
Richard Garriott, English video game designer
*
1962 -
Pam Shriver, American tennis player
*
1963 -
José Oquendo, baseball player
*
1966 -
Lee Reherman, American actor
*
1967 -
Vinny Castilla, Mexican baseball player
* 1967 -
Andy Walker, Canadian television personality
* 1967 -
Michael Daniel Peters, American computer security expert
*
1973 -
Gackt, Japanese singer
* 1973 -
Tony Popovic, Australian footballer
* 1973 -
Michael Johnson, England-born Jamaican footballer
*
1974 -
La'Roi Glover, American football player
*
1976 -
Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (d.
2003)
*
1979 -
Martin Shearman-Brettle, English composer
*
1983 -
Isabeli Fontana, Brazilian model
*
1995 -
María Isabel, Spanish singer
*
965 -
Pope Benedict V*
973 - Saint
Ulrich of Augsburg, German bishop (b.
890)
*
1187 -
Raynald of Chatillon, Prince of Antioch (executed)
*
1541 -
Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish explorer (b.
1495)
*
1603 -
Philippe de Monte, Flemish composer (b.
1521)
*
1623 -
William Byrd, English composer
*
1742 -
Guido Grandi, Italian mathematician (b.
1671)
*
1754 -
Philippe Néricault Destouches, French dramatist (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 -
Thomas Jefferson 3rd
President of the United States (b.
1743)
*1826 -
John Adams, 2nd
President of the United States (b.
1735)
*
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)
*
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)
*
1898 -
Youssuf Ishmaelo, wrestler (b.
1857)
*
1901 -
Johannes Schmidt, German linguist (b.
1843)
*
1902 -
Swami Vivekananda, Indian spiritual leader (b.
1863)
*
1905 -
Élisée Reclus, French anarchist (b.
1830)
*
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 mountaineer (b.
1901)
*
1931 -
Buddie Petit, American jazz musician (b.
1895)
*
1934 -
Maria Skłodowska-Curie, Polish scientist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry and
Physics (b.
1867)
*
1938 -
Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player (b.
1899)
*
1941 -
Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician (b.
1881)
*
1970 -
Barnett Newman, American artist (b.
1905)
*
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)
*
1982 -
Terry Higgins, early British
AIDS death
*
1986 -
Oscar Zariski, Russian mathematician (b.
1899)
*
1988 -
Adrian Adonis, Professional wrestler
*
1991 -
Victor Chang, Australian physician (murdered) (b.
1936)
*
1992 -
Ástor Piazzolla, Argentinian composer (b.
1921)
*
1994 -
Joey Marella, American wresting referee (b.
1964)
*
1995 -
Eva Gabor, Hungarian actress (b.
1919)
*
1997 -
Charles Kuralt, American television reporter (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)
*
2002 -
Benjamin O. Davis Jr., American general (b.
1912)
*
2002 -
Mansoor Hekmat, Iranian politician and activist (b.
1951)
*
2003 -
Barry White, American singer and record producer (b.
1944)
*
2004 -
Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss conductor (b.
1920)
*
2005 -
Hank Stram, American football coach (b.
1923)
*
United States -
Independence Day (
1776)
*
Filipino-American Friendship Day*In
astronomy, the approximate date of
Earth's
aphelion.
Liturgical feasts
*
Saint Aurelian*
Saint Bolcan *
Saint Finbar, abbot
*
Saint Flavian*
Saint Florent *
Saint Laurianus, bishop, martyr [Bourges]
*Translation, Ordination of
Saint Martin,
bishop of Tours, confessor [Paris, Bruges, sometimes in red]
*
Saint Odo,
bishop of Canterbury *
Saint Othelric, bishop, confessor
*
Saint Procopius, abbot (at Prague), confessor [GTZ: Prague, Gnesen, Meissen]
*
Saint Sisoes, anchorite [BLS]
*
Saint Ulric,
bishop of Augsburg, confessor (died 973)
*
Saint Bertha, widow, abbess of
Blangy in Artois
*
Saint Elizabeth Lusitania of Portugal (died 136)
*
American Independence Day 4th of July*
BBC: On This DayJuly 3 -
July 5 -
June 4 -
August 4 - more
historical anniversaries
