June 3

1098 – After a 5 month siege during the First Crusade, the Crusaders seize the city of Antioch, near the current city of Antakya, Turkey.

1539 – Hernando de Soto claims Florida for Spain.

1621 – The Dutch West India Company receives a charter for New Netherland on the current east coast of the U.S.

1781 – Jack Jouett begins his midnight ride to warn Thomas Jefferson at his home of Montecello, and the Virginia legislature at Charlottesville, of an impending raid by Lt Colonel Banastre Tarleton.

1861 – At the of Battle of Philippi, Union forces rout Confederate troops in Barbour County, Virginia, now West Virginia.

1864 – At the of Battle of Cold Harbor, Union forces attack Confederate troops in Hanover County, Virginia.

1889 – The first long distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon.

1916 – The National Defense Act is signed into law by President Wilson, creating the Army Reserves, the Reserve Officer Training Corps – ROTC,  and Army Aviation, also expanding the Presidential powers to federalize the National Guard.

1942 –Imperial Japan forces begin the Aleutian Islands Campaign by bombing Unalaska Island, an elaborate feint to lure U.S. forces out from Pearl Harbor and keep them far enough away from the invasion of Midway island that they will be unable to respond until the Japanese Navy has set up a trap for the remaining U.S. carriers stationed in the Pacific.

1965 – Aboard Gemini 4, astronauts James McDivitt and Ed White launch from Cape Kennedy on the first multi day space mission by NASA with White performing the first American spacewalk.

1969 – Off the coast of South Vietnam, the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with and cuts the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in half, killing 74 sailors aboard the Evans.

1980 – The 1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak hits Nebraska, causing 5 deaths and $300 million in damage.

1989 – Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, dies.

2013 – The trial of United States Army private Chelsea Bradley Manning for leaking classified material to WikiLeaks begins in Fort Meade, Maryland.

2017 –  8 people are murdered and 48 more wounded when 3 moslem islamists stage a vehicle crash and and knife attack at London Bridge that lasts over 8 minutes before the policer arrive and shoot all the terrorists dead 20 seconds after arriving, proving the point that when seconds count, the police are only minutes away.