January 3

1777 | Revolutionary War: Washington beats the British at the Battle of Princeton, New Jersey.

1783 | John Marshall weds Mary Willis Ambler.

1793 | Suffrage leader Lucretia Mott was born.

1823 | Mexico grants Stephen Austin a land grant in Texas.

1834 | Mexico imprisons Stephen Austin.

1853 | “Twelve Years a Slave” author Solomon Northrup is freed.

1861 | Civil War: Delaware legislature defeats resolution to join the Confederacy.

1870 | Construction begins on New York’s Brooklyn Bridge.

1872 | First patient list issued by the U.S. Patent Office.

1882 | Entrepreneur James Merritt Ives died.

1886 | Poet John Gould Fletcher was born.

1888 | The First drinking straw patient was issued to Marvin C. Stone.

1890 | First “Dairy” college opens at the University of Wisconsin.

1899 | New York Times prints the instance of the word “automobile.”

1901 | Philosopher Eric Voegelin was born.

1909 | Entertainer Victor Borge was born.

1911 | Supreme Court Justice Willis Van Devanter is sworn in.

1916 | Engineer Grenville M. Dodge died.

1918 | Democrat President Woodrow Wilson opens an Employment Service within the Department of Labor.

1933 | The first female state legislative Speaker of the House, Minnie Craig, was elected in North Dakota.

1938 | March of Dimes founded to fight polio.

1944 | WWII: U.S. ace Pappy Boyington was shot down by the Japanese.

1945 | WWII: U.S. begins assault on Okinawa.

1946 | Charles “Lucky” Luciano is pardoned.

1949 | Congressman William Dawson becomes the first African American Committee Chairman.

1952 | Television premiere of “Dragnet.”

1953 | The first mother-son similar service in Congress occurred with the swearing-in of Frances and Oliver Bolton.

1956 | Actor Mel Gibson was born.

1957 | Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric wristwatch.

1959 | Statehood: Alaska joins the Union.

1961 | U.S. and Cuba severed diplomatic relations.

1967 | Assassin Jack Ruby died.

1977 | Apple was founded by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs.

1979 | Entrepreneur Conrad Hilton died.

1987 | Aretha Franklin was the first female inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1989 | Poet Nick Virgilio died.

1990 | Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega surrenders to U.S. forces.

1993 | Republican President George H.W. Bush signs the Start II treaty with Russia.

2015 | Edward Brooke, the first African American elected to the U.S. Senate, died.

2017 | U.S. Congress elects first female Speaker of the House.

2020 | U.S. drone strike kills terrorist coordinator Iranian General Soleimani.