3rd of October

It is the 276th day of the year, with 89 days remaining until the new year.

52 BC - Vercingetoriz, leader of the Gauls, surrenders to the Romans under Julius Caesar, ending the siege of the Battle of Alesia.

42 BC - Triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian fight a decisive battle with assassins Brutus and Cassius at the First Battle of Philippi.

1795 - General Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence being named to defend the French National Convention against armed counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the three year old revolutionary government.

1849 - American author Edgar Allan Poe is found delirious in a gutter in Baltimore, Maryland under mysterious circumstances.  It is the last time he is seen in public before his death.

1863 - The last Thursday in November is declared as Thanksgiving Day by President Abraham Lincoln.

1932 - The Middle Eastern country of Iraq, gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

1942 - The first successful launch of a V-2.A-4 rocket from the Test Stand VII at Peenemunde, Germany.  It is the first man-made object to reach space.

1951 - "The Shot Heard Round the World", one of the greatest moments in baseball history, occurs when the New York Yankees' Bobby Thomson hits a game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca.  They win the National League pennant after being down 14 game. 

1955 - The Mickey Mouse Club debuts on ABC.

1964 - The first Buffalo Wings, are made at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York.

1990 - It is celebrated as German Unity Day, because of the re-unification of the country of Germany.

1993 - In an attempt to capture officials of warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid's organization in Somalia, 18 U.S. soldiers and about 1,000 Somalis are killed in heavy fighting, during the Battle of Mogadishu.

1995 - O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, sparking national debate.

2003 - Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy, is attacked by one of the show's tigers, canceling the show until 2009, when they rejoined the tiger that mauled him three years earlier.