11th of June

It is the 162nd day of the year, with only 203 days remaining until the new year.

173 - The Roman army in Moravia is encircled by the Quadi, who have broken the peace treaty of two years prior.  In a violent thunderstorm emperor Marcus Aurelius defeats and subdues them in the so-called miracle of the rain.

631 - Emperor Taizong of Tang, the Emperor of China, sends envoys to the Xueyantuo bearing gold and silk in order to seek the release of enslaved Chinese prisoners captured during the transition from Sui to Tang from the northern frontier.  This embassy succeeded in freeing 80,000 Chinese men and women who were then returned to China.

1770 - Captain James cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef.

1776 - The Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to the Committee of Five to draft a declaration of independence.

1919 - Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, and becomes the first racehorse to win the Triple Crown.

1944 - USS Missouri (BB-63) the last battleship built by the United States Navy and future site of the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, is commissioned.

1962 - Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin allegedly become the only prisoners to escape from Alcatraz Island.

1963 - Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc burns himself with gasoline in a busy Saigon intersection to protest the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam.

1964 - World War II veteran Walter Seifert, runs amok in an elementary school in Cologne, Germany.  He kills at least 8 children and 2 teachers, seriously injuring several more, with a home-made flamethrower and a lance.

1970 - After being appointed almost one month earlier, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington, officially receive their ranks as U.S. Army Generals, becoming the first females to do so.

1998 - Compaq Computer pays $9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in the largest high-tech acquisition.

2001 - Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

2002 - Congress recognizes Antonio Meucci as the first inventor of the telephone.