On this day in history

1781: Los Angeles, first an Indigenous village Yangma, is founded by Spanish decree.
1804: USS Intrepid explodes while entering Tripoli harbor on a mission to destroy the enemy fleet there during the First Barbary War.
1820: Czar Alexander declares that Russian influence in North America extends as far south as Oregon and closes Alaskan waters to foreigners.
1862: Robert E. Lee's Confederate army invades Maryland, starting the Antietam Campaign.
1881: The Edison electric lighting system goes into operation as a generator serving 85 paying customers is switched on.
1886: Elusive Apache leader Geronimo surrenders to General Nelson A. Miles at Skeleton Canyon, Ariz.
1893: Beatrix Potter sends a note to her governess' son with the first drawing of Peter Rabbit, Cottontail and others. The Tale of Petter Rabbit is published eight years later.
1915: The U.S. military places Haiti under martial law to quell a rebellion in its capital Port-au-Prince.
1944: British troops liberate Antwerp, Belgium.
1945: The American flag is raised on Wake Island after surrender ceremonies there.
1951: The first transcontinental television broadcast in America is carried by 94 stations.
1957: Arkansas governor Orval Faubus calls out the National Guard to bar African-American students from entering a Little Rock high school.
1967: Operation Swift begins as U.S. Marines engage North Vietnamese Army troops in Que Son Valley.
1972: Mark Spitz becomes first Olympic competitor to win seven medals during a single Olympics Games.
1998: Google founded by Stanford University students Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Source: HistoryNet.com