Today is the 329th day of the year, with 36 days remaining until the new year.
1667 - A deadly earthquake rocks Shemakha in the Caucasus, killing 80,000 people.
1703 - The greatest windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, reaches its peak intensity. Winds gust up to 120 mph and 9,000 people die.
1758 - British forces capture Fort Duquesne from French control. Fort Pitt is built nearby and it grows into modern day Pittsburgh.
1783 - The last British troops leave New York City three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
1839 - A cyclone slams India with high winds and a 40 foot storm surge, destroying the port city of Coringa. The storm sweeps inland taking with it 20,000 ships and thousands of people. It is estimated that 300,000 deaths result from this disaster.
1864 - A group of Confederate operatives calling themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan starts fires in more than 20 locations in an unsuccessful attempt to burn down New York City.
1876 - In retaliation for the Battle of Little Bighorn, Army troops sack Chief Dull Knife's sleeping Cheyenne village at the headwaters of the Powder River.
1940 - Marks the first flight of the deHavilland Mosquito and the Martin B-26 Marauder.
1947 - The Hollywood Ten are blacklisted by the movie studios. They include Herbert J. Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, Dalton Thomas, and Alvah Bessie.
1963 - President John F. Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery where his eternal flame will burn and have thousands of people visit the site every year.
1975 - Suriname gains its independence from the Netherlands.
1984 - 36 top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio to record Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas, in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
1987 - Typhoon Nina pummels the Phillipines with category 5 winds of 165 mph and a surge that destroys entire villages. At least 1,036 deaths are attributed to the storm.
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