July 3 Historical Events

The following events took place on July 3. The list is arranged in chronological order.

Found 38 events. Showing 1 - 30.

• 324
  Battle of Adrianople: Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium.
• 987
  Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty that would rule France until the French Revolution in 1792.
• 1035
  William the Conqueror becomes the Duke of Normandy, reigns until 1087.
• 1608
  Québec City is founded by Samuel de Champlain.
• 1754
  French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces.
• 1767
  Pitcairn Island is discovered by Midshipman Robert Pitcairn on an expeditionary voyage commanded by Philip Carteret.
• 1767
  Norway’s oldest newspaper still in print, Adresseavisen, is founded and the first edition is published.
• 1775
  American Revolutionary War: George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• 1778
  American Revolutionary War: British forces kill 360 people in the Wyoming Valley massacre.
• 1819
  The Bank of Savings in New York City, the first savings bank in the United States, opens.
• 1839
  The first state normal school in the United States, the forerunner to today’s Framingham State College, opens in Lexington, Massachusetts with three students.
• 1844
  The last pair of great auks is killed.
• 1848
  Slaves are freed in the Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands) by Peter von Scholten in the culmination of a year-long plot by enslaved Africans.
• 1849
  The French enter Rome in order to restore Pope Pius IX to power. This would prove a major obstacle to Italian unification.
• 1852
  Congress establishes the United States’ 2nd mint in San Francisco.

• 1863
  American Civil War: The final day of the Battle of Gettysburg culminates with Pickett’s Charge.
• 1866
  Austro-Prussian War is decided at the Battle of Königgrätz, resulting in Prussia taking over as the prominent German nation from Austria.
• 1884
  Dow Jones & Company publishes its first stock average.
• 1886
  Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent Motorwagen: The first purpose-built automobile.
• 1886
  The New-York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand.
• 1890
  Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.
• 1898
  Spanish–American War: The Spanish fleet, led by Pascual Cervera y Topete, is destroyed by the U.S. Navy in Santiago, Cuba.
• 1913
  Confederate veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913 reenact Pickett’s Charge; upon reaching the high-water mark of the Confederacy they are met by the outstretched hands of friendship from Union survivors.
• 1938
  World speed record for a steam railway locomotive is set in England, by the Mallard, which reaches a speed of 125.88 mph.
• 1938
  United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the Eternal Light Peace Memorial and lights the eternal flame at Gettysburg Battlefield.
• 1940
  World War II: In order to stop the ships from falling into German hands the French fleet of the Atlantic based at Mers El Kébir, is bombarded by the British fleet, coming from Gibraltar, causing the loss of three battleships: French battleship Dunkerque, French battleship Provence and French battleship Bretagne. One thousand two hundred sailors perish.
• 1944
  World War II: Minsk is liberated from Nazi control by Soviet troops during Operation Bagration.
• 1952
  The Constitution of Puerto Rico is approved by the United States Congress.
• 1952
  The SS United States sets sail on her maiden voyage to Southampton. During the voyage, the ship takes the Blue Riband away from the RMS Queen Mary.
• 1967
  The Aden Emergency: The Battle of the Crater in which the British Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders retake the Crater district following the Arab Police Mutiny.