On This Day in History - July 11

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

July 11, 1804: Burr slays Hamilton in duel

In a duel held in Weehawken, New Jersey, Vice President Aaron Burr fatally shoots his long-time political antagonist Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton, a leading Federalist and the chief architect of America's political economy, died the following day.  

Alexander Hamilton, born on the Caribbean island of Nevis, came to the American colonies in 1773 as a poor immigrant. (There is some controversy as to the year of his birth, but it was either 1755 or 1757.) In 1776, he joined the Continental Army in the American Revolution, and his relentless energy and remarkable intelligence brought him to the attention of General George Washington, who took him on as an aid. Ten years later, Hamilton served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and he led the fight to win ratification of the final document, which created the kind of strong, centralized government that he favored. In 1789, he was appointed the first secretary of the treasury by President Washington, and during the next six years he crafted a sophisticated monetary policy that saved the young U.S. government from collapse. With the emergence of political parties, Hamilton was regarded as a leader of the Federalists.  

Aaron Burr, born into a prestigious New Jersey family in 1756, was also intellectually gifted, and he graduated from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton) at the age of 17. He joined the Continental Army in 1775 and distinguished himself during the Patriot attack on Quebec. A masterful politician, he was elected to the New State Assembly in 1783 and later served as state attorney. In 1790, he defeated Alexander Hamilton's father-in-law in a race for the U.S. Senate.  

Hamilton came to detest Burr, whom he regarded as a dangerous opportunist, and he often spoke ill of him. When Burr ran for the vice presidency in 1796 on Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican ticket (the forerunner of the Democratic Party), Hamilton launched a series of public attacks against Burr, stating, "I feel it is a religious duty to oppose his career." John Adams won the presidency, and in 1797 Burr left the Senate and returned to the New York Assembly.  

In 1800, Jefferson chose Burr again as his running mate. Burr aided the Democratic-Republican ticket by publishing a confidential document that Hamilton had written criticizing his fellow Federalist President John Adams. This caused a rift in the Federalists and helped Jefferson and Burr win the election with 73 electoral votes each.  

Under the electoral procedure then prevailing, president and vice president were not voted for separately; the candidate who received the most votes was elected president, and the second in line, vice president. The vote then went to the House of Representatives. What at first seemed but an electoral technicality--handing Jefferson victory over his running mate--developed into a major constitutional crisis when Federalists in the lame-duck Congress threw their support behind Burr. After a remarkable 35 tie votes, a small group of Federalists changed sides and voted in Jefferson's favor. Alexander Hamilton, who had supported Jefferson as the lesser of two evils, was instrumental in breaking the deadlock.  

Burr became vice president, but Jefferson grew apart from him, and he did not support Burr's renomination to a second term in 1804. That year, a faction of New York Federalists, who had found their fortunes drastically diminished after the ascendance of Jefferson, sought to enlist the disgruntled Burr into their party and elect him governor. Hamilton campaigned against Burr with great fervor, and Burr lost the Federalist nomination and then, running as an independent for governor, the election. In the campaign, Burr's character was savagely attacked by Hamilton and others, and after the election he resolved to restore his reputation by challenging Hamilton to a duel, or an "affair of honor," as they were known.  

Affairs of honor were commonplace in America at the time, and the complex rules governing them usually led to an honorable resolution before any actual firing of weapons. In fact, the outspoken Hamilton had been involved in several affairs of honor in his life, and he had resolved most of them peaceably. No such recourse was found with Burr, however, and on July 11, 1804, the enemies met at 7 a.m. at the dueling grounds near Weehawken, New Jersey. It was the same spot where Hamilton's son had died defending his father's honor two years before.  

There are conflicting accounts of what happened next. According to Hamilton's "second"--his assistant and witness in the duel--Hamilton decided the duel was morally wrong and deliberately fired into the air. Burr's second claimed that Hamilton fired at Burr and missed. What happened next is agreed upon: Burr shot Hamilton in the stomach, and the bullet lodged next to his spine. Hamilton was taken back to New York, and he died the next afternoon.  

Few affairs of honor actually resulted in deaths, and the nation was outraged by the killing of a man as eminent as Alexander Hamilton. Charged with murder in New York and New Jersey, Burr, still vice president, returned to Washington, D.C., where he finished his term immune from prosecution.  

In 1805, Burr, thoroughly discredited, concocted a plot with James Wilkinson, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Army, to seize the Louisiana Territory and establish an independent empire, which Burr, presumably, would lead. He contacted the British government and unsuccessfully pleaded for assistance in the scheme. Later, when border trouble with Spanish Mexico heated up, Burr and Wilkinson conspired to seize territory in Spanish America for the same purpose.  

In the fall of 1806, Burr led a group of well-armed colonists toward New Orleans, prompting an immediate U.S. investigation. General Wilkinson, in an effort to save himself, turned against Burr and sent dispatches to Washington accusing Burr of treason. In February 1807, Burr was arrested in Louisiana for treason and sent to Virginia to be tried in a U.S. court. In September, he was acquitted on a technicality. Nevertheless, public opinion condemned him as a traitor, and he fled to Europe. He later returned to private life in New York, the murder charges against him forgotten. He died in 1836.

I thought that this was pretty interesting, as well. Hitler was visited by the man who would attempt to assassinate him.

July 11, 1944: Hitler is paid a visit by his would-be assassin

On this day in 1944, Count Claus von Stauffenberg, a German army officer, transports a bomb to Adolf Hitler's headquarters in Berchtesgaden, in Bavaria, with the intention of assassinating the Fuhrer.  

As the war started to turn against the Germans, and the atrocities being committed at Hitler's behest grew, a growing numbers of Germans—within the military and without—began conspiring to assassinate their leader. As the masses were unlikely to turn on the man in whose hands they had hitherto placed their lives and future, it was up to men close to Hitler, German officers, to dispatch him. Leadership of the plot fell to Claus von Stauffenberg, newly promoted to colonel and chief of staff to the commander of the army reserve, which gave him access to Hitler's headquarters at Berchtesgaden and Rastenburg.  

Stauffenberg had served in the German army since 1926. While serving as a staff officer in the campaign against the Soviet Union, he became disgusted at his fellow countrymen's vicious treatment of Jews and Soviet prisoners. He requested to be transferred to North Africa, where he lost his left eye, right hand, and two fingers of his left hand.  

After recovering from his injuries, and determined to see Hitler removed from power by any means necessary, Stauffenberg traveled to Berchtesgaden on July 3 and received at the hands of a fellow army officer, Major-General Helmuth Stieff, a bomb with a silent fuse that was small enough to be hidden in a briefcase. On July 11, Stauffenberg was summoned to Berchtesgaden to report to Hitler on the current military situation. The plan was to use the bomb on July 15, but at the last minute, Hitler was called away to his headquarters at Rastenburg, in East Prussia. Stauffenberg was asked to follow him there. On July 16, a meeting took place between Stauffenberg and Colonel Caesar von Hofacker, another conspirator, in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee. Hofacker informed Stauffenberg that German defenses had collapsed at Normandy, and the tide had turned against them in the West. The assassination attempt was postponed until July 20, at Rastenburg. 


And finally, this seemed interesting, as well. The United States established official relations with Vietnam, two decades after the end of the war in Vietnam.

July 11, 1995: U.S. establishes diplomatic relations with Vietnam

Two decades after the fall of Saigon, President Bill Clinton establishes full diplomatic relations with Vietnam, citing Vietnamese cooperation in accounting for the 2,238 Americans still listed as missing in the Vietnam War.  

Normalization with America's old enemy began in early 1994, when President Clinton announced the lifting of the 19-year-old trade embargo against Vietnam. Despite the lifting of the embargo, high tariffs remained on Vietnamese exports pending the country's qualification as a "most favored nation," a U.S. trade status designation that Vietnam might earn after broadening its program of free-market reforms. In July 1995, Clinton established diplomatic relations. In making the decision, Clinton was advised by Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, an ex-navy pilot who had spent five years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi during the Vietnam War. Brushing aside criticism of Clinton's decision by some Republicans, McCain asserted that it was time for America to normalize relations with Vietnam.  

In May 1996, Clinton terminated the combat zone designation for Vietnam and nominated Florida Representative Douglas "Pete" Peterson to become the first ambassador to Vietnam since Graham Martin was airlifted out of the country by helicopter in late April 1975. Peterson himself had served as a U.S. Air Force captain during the Vietnam War and was held as a prisoner of war for six and a half years after his bomber was shot down near Hanoi in 1966. Confirmed by Congress in 1997, Ambassador Peterson presented his credentials to communist authorities in Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, in May 1997. In November 2000, Peterson greeted Clinton in Hanoi in the first presidential visit to Vietnam since Richard Nixon's 1969 trip to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.


So, the famous duel between Vice-President Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers, as well as probably the central figure of the early economical development of the United States, took place on this date, with Alexander Hamilton ultimately being shot and fatally wounded. The United States invaded Canada on this date in 1812. Confederate General Jubal Early attempted to invade Washington, D.C., on this date, although he turned around the next day, ending the threat of having the capital occupied. It was on this date that the Niagara Movement was founded by WEB DuBois. Babe Ruth debuted in the major leagues. During World War I, it was on this day that Germany launched it's last offensive of the battle at Verdun. Mongolia gained it's independence from China. It was a historical date for FDR, as he became the first living President to visit the Panama Canal on this date and, years later, announced on this day that he would run for an unprecedented fourth term. Jerusalem was bombed early in the days of the newly formed Israel. Congress authorized the words "In God We Trust" to appear on the dollar bill in 1955. Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Medal of Freedom posthumously. Italy defeated West Germany for the World Cup title in 1982. Full diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States resumed on this date in 1995, an event I can actually remember!

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

911 - Signing of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between Charles the Simple and Rollo of Normandy.

1156 - Siege of Shirakawa-den in Japan.

1244 - Chwarizneense Turken defeats Jerusalem

1302 - Battle of the Golden Spurs (Guldensporenslag in Dutch) near Kortrijk, Belgium. Flemish coalition defeat French army

1346 - Charles IV of Luxembourg was elected Holy Roman Emperor in Germany.  

1347 - Bohemia heir to the throne elected German anti-king Charles IV

1376 - English "Good Parliament" meets

1405 - Chinese fleet commander Zheng He sets sail to explore the world for the first time.

1423 - Arnold van Egmont becomes duke of Gelre

1476 - Giuliano della Rovere is appointed bishop of Coutances.

1525 - Trial against "heretic" John Pistorius at The Hague

1533 - Henry VIII, who divorced his wife and became head of the church of England, was excommunicated from the Catholic Church by Pope Clement VII.  

1576 - Martin Frobisher sights Greenland.

1588 - French king Henri III accept demands of Catholic League

1616 - Samuel de Champlain returns to Quebec.

1635 - Armies of Savoye/Mantua/Parma occupy Milan

1673 - Netherlands and Denmark sign defense treaty

1690 - Battle of Drogheda Boyne (Willem III (Neth-Engl) beat Jacobus II (Ire)

1708 - The French were defeated at the Battle of Oudenaarde, Malplaquet, in the Netherlands by the "Great Alliance", led by the Duke of Marlborough and Eugene of Savoy.  

1735 - Mathematical calculations suggest that it was on this day that Pluto moved from the ninth to the eighth most distant planet from the Sun for the last time before 1979.

1740 - Jews are expelled from Little Russia by order of Czarina Anne

1742 - A papal decree was issued condemning the disciplining actions of the Jesuits in China.

1750 - Halifax, Nova Scotia is almost completely destroyed by fire. Captain/Explorer James CookCaptain/Explorer James Cook

1776 - Captain James Cook begins his third voyage

1781 - Thomas Hutchins designated Geographer of US

 1786 - Morocco agreed to stop attacking American ships in the Mediterranean for a payment of $10,000.

1792 - Prussia army moves into French territory

1798 - The U.S. Marine Corps was formally re-established by "An Act for Establishing a Marine Corps" passed by the U.S. Congress. The act also created the U.S. Marine Band. The Marines were first commissioned by the Continental Congress on November 10, 1775.    

1801 - French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons discovers his first comet

1804 - Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Hamilton died the following afternoon.

1811 - Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro publishes his memoir about molecular content of gases.

1812 - United States invaded Canada (Detroit frontier)

1818 - Keats writes "In the Cottage Where Burns is Born," "Lines Written in the Highlands," & "Gadfly"

1848 - Edmund Hickly gets first known 10 wicket innings (Kent v England)

1848 - London's Waterloo Station opens

1861 - Battle of Laurel Mountain VA - Gen Morris forces retreat of rebels

1861 - Battle of Rich Mountain, VA - Rosecrans forces rebels to surrender

1862 - Lincoln appoints General Halleck general-in-chief

1863 - Battle at Green River Ky (Morgan's Ohio Raid) Savant Amedeo AvogadroSavant Amedeo Avogadro

1863 - Japanese battle cruiser shoots at Dutch warship Medusa, kills 4

1864 - Battle of Fort Stevens, DC (Early's Raid, Tennallytown, MD)

1864 - In the U.S., Confederate forces led by Gen. Jubal Early began an invasion of Washington, DC. They turned back the next day, ending the Confederate threat to occupy the capital.

1882 - British fleet bombs Alexandria

1888 - 118°F (48°C), Bennett, Colorado (state record)

1888 - Pennsylvania's Monongehela River rises 32' after 24 hour rainfall

1889 - Tijuana in Mexico becomes a city

1892 - US Patent Office says J W Swan, rather than Thomas Edison, invented the electric light carbon for the incandescent lamp

1893 - The first cultured pearl is obtained by Kokichi Mikimoto.

1893 - A revolution led by the liberal general and politician, José Santos Zelaya, takes over state power in Nicaragua.

1895 - Auguste & Louis Lumière show film for scientists

1897 - Solomon Andree leaves Spitsbergen by balloon towards North Pole

1900 - Boer general De la Rey captures Scots Greys and Lincolns

1902 - British premier Lord Salisbury resigns

1905 - Black intellectuals and activists organize Niagara movement

1905 - Niagara Movement founded by WEB Dubois

1906 - The Gillette-Brown murder inspires Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy.

1914 - Babe Ruth debuted in the major leagues as a pitcher for Boston Red Sox, he beats Cleve 4-3

1915 - Germany cruiser Königsberg sinks off Dar-es-Salam

1916 - First federal grant-in-aid for state roads enacted

1916 - Congress passes Federal Aid Road Act

1916 - Germany launches final offensive in the Battle of Verdun

1918 - Enrico Caruso recorded "Over There" written by George M. Cohan.

1919 - Dutch second chamber approves 8-hour day/No Sunday work

1921 - Mongolia gained independence from China (National Day)

1922 - The Hollywood Bowl opens.

1923 - Harry Frazee, sells Red Sox to Ohio businessmen for $1M

1924 - Moslem-Hindu rebellion in Delhi

1925 - Queen Wilhelmina names H Colijn head of government

1930 - Bradman scores 309 in a day vs England at Leeds, goes on to 334

1931 - NY Giants beat Phillies 23-8 Baseball Great Babe RuthBaseball Great Babe Ruth

1934 - The first appointments to the newly created Federal Communications Commission were made.  

1934 - U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the first American chief executive to travel through the Panama Canal while in office.  

1936 - Triborough Bridge linking Manhattan, Bronx & Queens opens

1939 - 7th All Star Baseball Game: AL wins 3-1 at Yankee Stadium, New York NY Yankee/AL maanager Joe McCarthy starts 6 Yankees

1940 - British and German dogfight above Lyme Bay

1941 - German troops attack Dnjepr

1943 - 7th day of battle at Kursk

1943 - Counter attack by Hermann Goering Armour division in Sicily

1943 - US 45th Division occupies airport Comiso Sicily

1943 - US 82nd Airborne division shot at, by "friendly fire" in Sicily

1943 - Massacres of Poles in Volhynia.

1944 - 12th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 7-1 at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh

1944 - Franklin Roosevelt announces that he will run for a fourth term as President of the United States.

1946 - Kingman Douglass, ends term as deputy director of CIA

1948 - First air bombing of Jerusalem

1950 - 17th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 4-3 in 14 at Comiskey Park, Chic Ted Williams breaks his elbow; 1st extra inning All Star Game

1952 - Gen Eisenhower nominated as Republican presidential candidate

1954 - First White Citizens Council organizes in Indianola, Miss

1955 - Congress authorizes all US currency to say "In God We Trust"

1955 - The U.S. Air Force Academy was dedicated with 300 cadets at Colorado Springs, CO, at Lowry Air Base.  

1960 - In Honolulu, HI, the first tournament held outside the continental U.S., sanctioned by the U.S. Golf Association, began.  

1960 - 28th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 5-3 at Municipal Stadium, KC

1960 - Czechoslovakia adopts Constitution

1960 - Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Upper Volta and Niger declare independence

1960 - Moise Tsjombe declares Congolese county Katanga independence

1961 - 30th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 5-4 in 10 at Candlestick Pk, SF

1961 - Gene Kiniski beats Verne Gagne in Minneapolis, to become NWA champ

1962 - The first transatlantic TV transmission was sent through the Telstar I satellite.

1962 - Brothers Hank and Tommie Aaron homer in same inning

1962 - Cosmonaut Micolaev set then record longest space flight - 4 days

1962 - Fred Baldasare is first to swim English Channel underwater (scuba)

1962 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island

1962 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1963 - South-African ANC Walter Sisulu/Andrew Mlangeni/Govan Mbeki arrested

1965 - Israeli Mapai-party nominates David Ben-Gurion

1967 - 38th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 2-1 in 15 at Anaheim Stadium, CA

1967 - All star MVP: Tony Perez (Cin Reds)

1967 - Kenny Rogers forms 1st Edition

1968 - Earl Weaver replaces Hank Bauer as manager of Orioles

1968 - Start of Colin Cowdrey's 100th Test, 1st person to do so

1969 - David Bowie releases "Space Oddity"

1969 - Rolling Stones release "Honky Tonk Woman"

1971 - Chilean parliament nationalizes US copper mines

1971 - Phillies Deron Johnson 3 HRs caps his 4 in a row

1972 - U.S. forces broke the 95-day siege at An Loc in Vietnam.      

1973 - Brazilian Boeing 707 crashes near Paris, 122 killed

1974 - House Judiciary Committee releases evidence on Watergate inquiry

1974 - World Football League plays first games

1975 - Chinese archeologists discover a 3-acre burial site with 6,000 clay statues of warriors dating as early as 221 BC

1976 - First US football club in Austria forms (FAAFC-1st Austrian American)

1976 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island

1976 - In pre-game promo at Atlanta County Stadium, 34 couples wed at home plate followed by Championship Wrestling "Headlocks and Wedlocks"

1977 - The Medal of Freedom was awarded posthumously to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in a White House ceremony for his work to advance civil rights.

1978 - 49th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 7-3 at San Diego Stadium

1978 - All star MVP: Steve Garvey (LA Dodgers)

1978 - Auto with liquid gas crashes & explodes in Spain, 160 killed

1979 - The abandoned U.S. space station Skylab returned to Earth. It disintegrated and burned up in the atmosphere and showered debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia.

1980 - American hostage Richard I Queen freed by Iran

1981 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island

1981 - Neva Rockefeller is 1st woman ordered to pay her husband alimony

1981 - Sebastian Coe of UK sets record for 1K (2:12.18)

1982 - "7 Brides for 7 Brothers" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 5 perfs

1982 - Hollis Stacy wins West Virginia LPGA Golf Classic

1982 - Italy defeats West Germany 3-1 for soccer's 12th World Cup in Madrid. it is Italy's third World Cup championship.

1983 - Lorraine Elizabeth Downes, 19, of NZ, crowned 32nd Miss Universe

1984 - 55th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 3-1 at Candlestick Park, SF

1984 - All star MVP: Gary Carter (Mont Expos)

1984 - England's MusicBox begins satellite transmission to Europe

1984 - Government orders air bags or seat belts would be required in cars by 1989

1984 - Lucas Mangope re-elected president of Bophuthatswana

1985 - Astros' Nolan Ryan, 1st to strike out 4000 (Mets' Danny Heep)

1985 - Refurbished Columbia moves overland from Palmdale to Dryden

1985 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1985 - Dr. H. Harlan Stone announced that he had used zippers for stitches on 28 patients. The zippers were used when he thought he may have to re-operate.  

1985 - Nolan Ryan (Houston Astros) became the first major league pitcher to earn 4,000 strikeouts in a career. (Texas)   (Mets' Danny Heep)

1986 - Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway runs 10,000 m in world record 30:13.74

1986 - Maricica Puica of Romania runs 2,000 m in 5:28.69 (record for women)

1986 - Mary Beth Whitehead christens surrogate Baby M, Sara

1987 - Heart's "Alone," single goes #1 for 3 weeks

1987 - Bo Jackson signed a contract to play football for the L.A. Raiders for 5 years. He was also continued to play baseball for the Kansas City Royals. (California)

1987 - Orioles Cal Ripkin becomes 1st to manage 2 sons, as Billy joins Cal

1988 - Mike Tyson hires Donald Trump as an advisor

1989 - 60th All Star Baseball Game: AL wins 5-3 at Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim All star MVP: Bo Jackson (KC Royals)

1989 - President Ronald Reagan sportscasts All Star Game

1989 - Actor Laurence Olivier died.

1990 - NYC police arrest "Dartman" (stabbed over 50 women with darts)

1990 - Oka Crisis: First Nations land dispute in Quebec, Canada begins.

1991 - Calumet Farm, home to 8 Kentucky Derby winners, files bankruptcy

1991 - Nigerian DC-8 crashes near Djeddah, 261 die

1991 - Total solar eclipse is seen in Hawaii

1992 - Pres candidate Ross Perot at NAACP speech calls them "you people"

1994 - Suriname guilder devalued: NŸ1 = SŸ105

1995 - 66th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 3-2 at Ballpark at Arlington Tx

1995 - Full diplomatic relations were established between the United States and Vietnam.  

1995 - All star MVP: Jeff Conine (Fla Marlins)

1998 - U.S. Air Force Lt. Michael Blassie, a casualty of the Vietnam War, was laid to rest near his Missouri home. He had been positively identified from his remains that had been enshrined in the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington, VA.  

1999 - A U.S. Air Force jet flew over the Antarctic and dropped off emergency medical supplies for Dr. Jerri Nelson after she had discovered a lump in her breast. Nelso was at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Center.  

2000 - The video "Jaws," the Anniversary Collector's Edition, was released.  

2000 - Liam Neeson broke his pelvis after hitting a deer with his Harley Davidson motorcycle.  

2006 - 209 people are killed in a series of bomb attacks in Mumbai, India.

2008 - Apple released the iPhone 3G.

2011 - Neptune completes its first orbit since its discovery on September 23, 1846.

2011 - The News of the World, a British newspaper owned by , closes after several allegations that the paper's journalists hacked into voicemail accounts belonging to not only a 13-year-old murder victim, but also the relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

2012 - POliciy academy suicide bombing kills 20 in Sana'a, Yemen

2012 - S/2012 P 1, the fifth moon of Pluto is discovered





The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/jul11.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory