The 21st century saw the dawn of the war on terrorism, as the 9/11 attacks and the Boston Marathon bombing dramatically changed society. Economic issues moved to the forefront during the Great Recession. The COVID-19 pandemic upended lives and economies around the world. Awareness of social inequality grew as the killings of Black Americans, including Trayvon Martin and George Floyd, spurred widespread protests.

Source: history.com

On October 5, 1775, General George Washington writes to the president of the Continental Congress, John Hancock, to inform him that a letter from Dr. Benjamin Church, surgeon general of the Continental Army, to Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Gage, British commander in chief for North America, had been intercepted. Washington wrote, “I have now a painful tho’ a Necessary Duty to perform respecting Doctor Church, Director General of the Hospital.”

Washington described how a coded letter to a British officer, Major Crane, came into Washington’s possession by a convoluted route from “a Woman who was kept by Doctor Church.” Washington “immediately secured the Woman, but for a long time she was proof against every threat and perswasion[sic] to discover the Author, however, at length she was brought to a confession and named Doctor Church. I then immediately secured him and all his papers.”

The woman Washington interrogated was the mistress of Dr. Benjamin Church, a renowned Boston physician, who was active in the Massachusetts Committee of Safety and served as a member of the Provincial Congress. In July 1775, Washington had named Church the first surgeon general of the Continental Army, only to find out three months later that he had been spying for the British since 1772. Church faced an army court martial on October 4, 1775.

Source: history.com

2001 – NATO, for the first time, invoked a treaty clause that stated that an attack on one member is an attack on all members. The act was in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

1535 – The first complete English translation of the Bible was printed in Zurich, Switzerland.

1648 – The first volunteer fire department was established in New York by Peter Stuyvesant.

1777 – At Germantown, PA, Patriot forces and British forces both suffer heavy losses in battle. The battle was seen as British victory, which actually served as a moral boost to the Americans.

1876 – The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas formally dedicated by Texas Gov. Richard Coke. It was the state’s first venture into public higher education. The college opened for classed two days earlier.

1881 – Edward Leveaux received a patent for the player piano.

1887 – The Paris Herald Tribune was published for the first time. It was later known as the International Herald Tribune.

1893 – The first professional football contract was signed by Grant Dibert for the Pittsburgh AC.

1895 – The first U.S. Open golf tournament took place in Newport, RI. Horace Rawlins, 19 years old, won the tournament.

1909 – The first airship race in the U.S. took place in St. Louis, MO.

1915 – The Dinosaur National Monument was established. The area covered part of Utah and Colorado.

1927 – The first actual work of carving began on Mount Rushmore.

1931 – The comic strip “Dick Tracy” made its debut in the Detroit Daily Mirror. The strip was created by Chester Gould.

1933 – “Esquire” magazine was published for the first time.

1940 – Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met in the Alps at Brenner Pass. Hitler was seeking help from Italy to fight the British.

1948 – The Railroad Hour” debuted on ABC radio.

1953 – “I Led Three Lives” was first seen in syndication. The TV show was never on network.

1954 – “December Bride” debuted on CBS-TV.

1956 – “Playhouse 90” debuted on CBS-TV.

1957 – “Leave it to Beaver” debuted on CBS-TV.

1957 – The Soviet Union launched Sputnik I into orbit around the Earth. Sputnik was the first manmade satellite to enter space. Sputnik I fell out of orbit on January 4, 1958.

1958 – British Overseas Airways Corporation became the first jetliner to offer trans-Atlantic service to passengers with flights between London, England and New York.

1959 – The first World Series to be played west of St. Louis began in Los Angeles, CA.

1965 – Pope Paul VI addressed the U.N. General Assembly and became the first reigning pontiff to visit the Western Hemisphere.

1981 – Bruce Jenner and Harry Belafonte debuted in their first dramatic roles in NBC-TV’s “Grambling’s White Tiger”.

1987 – NFL owners used replacement personnel to play games despite the player’s strike.

1990 – The German parliament had its first meeting since reunification.

1992 – The 16-year civil war in Mozambique ended.

1993 – Russian Vice-President Alexander Rutskoi and Chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov surrendered to Boris Yeltsin after a ten-hour tank assault on the Russian White House. The two men had barricaded themselves in after Yeltsin called for general elections and dissolved the legislative body.

1993 – Dozens of Somalis dragged an American soldier through the streets of Mogadishu. A videotape showed Michael Durant being taken prisoner by Somali militants.

1994 – South African President Nelson Mandela was welcomed to the White House by U.S. President Clinton.

1997 – Hundreds of thousands of men attended a Promise Keepers rally on the Mall in Washington, DC.

1998 – The Vincent Van Gogh exhibit opened in Washington, DC. The exhibit featured 70 paintings.

1998 – Davis Gaines performed as the Phantom in the show “Phantom of the Opera” for the 2,000th time.

2001 – NATO granted the United States open access to their airfields and seaports and agreed to deploy ships and early-warning radar planes in the war on terrorism.

2001 – Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) hit his 70th home run of the season to tie Mark McGwire’s major leaguerecord. Bonds also moved past Reggie Jackson on the all-time list with his 564th career home run.

2001 – Rickey Henderson (San Diego Padres) scored his 2,246th career run to break Ty Cobb’s major league record.

2001 – In Washington, DC, Reagan National Airport re-opened. The airport had been closed since the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.

2004 – SpaceShipOne reached an altitude of 368,000 feet. It was the first privately built, manned rocket ship to fly in space twice within a two week window. The ship won the Ansari X Prize of $10 million dollars for their success.