1837 – Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state.
1861 – The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union.
1863 – General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Fredericksburg campaign. He is replaced by Joseph Hooker.
1911 – Richard Strauss' opera Der Rosenkavalier receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.
1942 – The first United States forces arrive in Europe, landing in Northern Ireland.
1945 – The Red Army begins encircling the German Fourth Army near Heiligenbeil in East Prussia, which will end in destruction of the 4th Army two months later.
1956 – Soviet Union hands Porkkala back to Finland.
1961 – John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be his physician. This is the first time a woman holds the appointment of Physician to the President.
1992 – Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia will stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.
1998 – On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
2015 – A giant snow storm hits much of the Northeastern United States.
2015 – A plane crash at Los Llanos Air Base in Albacete, Spain kills 11 people and injures 21 others.
2015 – Libby Lane becomes the first woman ordained a bishop of the Church of England.