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.

• 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.

• 1634 – The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France, later to become the Canadian province of Quebec.

• 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.

• 1826 – John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the second and third U.S. presidents respectively, both die on the fiftieth anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence, of which they were both signatories.

• 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.

• 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 Hawaiˈi 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

• 1929 – Al Davis, American businessman

• 1929 – Chuck Tanner, American baseball player

• 1929 – Bill Tuttle, American baseball player (d. 1998)

• 1930 – Frunzik Mkrtchyan, Armenian actor

• 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 sreenwriter (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

• 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

• 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 – David Jensen, Canadian-born British radio DJ

• 1951 – Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, American politician

• 1952 – Álvaro Uribe Vélez, 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

• 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 – Lee Reherman, American actor

• 1967 – Vinny Castilla, Mexican baseball player

• 1967 – Andy Walker, Canadian television personality

• 1967 – Rick Wilkins, American baseball player

• 1968 – Jack Frost, American musician

• 1969 – Todd Marinovich, American football player

• 1970 – Tony Vidmar, Australian former footballer

• 1971 – Andy Creeggan, Canadian musician

• 1971 – Brendan Donnelly, American baseball player

• 1971 – Koko, sign-language gorilla

• 1971 – Andrew Murray, English entrepreneur

• 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

• 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 supermodel

• 1978 – Vicky Kaya, Greek supermodel 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

• 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

• 2003 – Alessia di Matteo, Italian medical figure (d. 2005)

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)

• 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 – 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, Professional Skater (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), an eccentric street entertainer in Nottingham, England (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

• Philippines: Filipino-American Friendship Day

• Rwanda: Liberation Day

• United States: Independence Day

• In astronomy, the approximate date of Earth's aphelion.

• Christian saints:

• *Saint Flavian

• *Translation, Ordination of Saint Martin, bishop of Tours, confessor

• *Saint Oda, Archbishop of Canterbury

• *Saint Procopius, abbot (at Prague), confessor

• *Saint Ulric, bishop of Augsburg, confessor (d. 973)

• *Saint Bertha, widow, abbess of Blangy in Artois

• *Saint Elizabeth Lusitania of Portugal (d. 1336), patron saint of Coimbra (city holiday), known there as Rainha Santa Isabela