July 3

1035 – William the Conqueror becomes the Duke of Normandy.

1754 – Colonel George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces during the French and Indian War.

1767 – Pitcairn Island is discovered by Midshipman Robert Pitcairn aboard HMS Swallow

1775 – General George Washington takes command of the Continental Army, during the Revolutionary War

1778 – During the Revolutionary War, Iroquois allied to Britain, engage troops of the 24th Regiment and  Wyoming Riflemen of the Connecticut Militia supported by Regular Continental troops, wiping out the force and killing more than 360 soldiers and people, which included men, women and children in Exeter and Wyoming, Pennsylvania

1819 – The Bank for Savings in the City of New-York, the first savings bank in the U.S., opens for business.

1839 – The first state normal school in the U.S., the forerunner to today’s Framingham State University, opens in Lexington, Massachusetts with three students.

1852 – Congress establishes the United States mint in San Francisco

1863 – The final day of the Battle of Gettysburg culminates with Pickett’s Charge against the center of the Union Army’s line.

1884 – Dow Jones & Company publishes its first stock average.

1886 – The New-York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand. Later, the alloy is found to be excellent for making bullets for high powered custom handguns.

1890 – Idaho is admitted as the 43rd state.

1898 – A Spanish squadron, led by Pascual Cervera y Topete, is defeated by an American squadron under William T. Sampson in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish-American War.

1913 – Confederate veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913 reenact Pickett’s Charge; upon reaching the high water mark of the Confederacy on the battlefield, they are met by the outstretched hands of friendship from Union veterans of the battle.

1938 – President Roosevelt dedicates the Eternal Light Peace Memorial and lights the eternal flame at Gettysburg Battlefield.

1952 – The United States Lines’, passenger liner, SS United States sets sail from New York Harbor on her maiden voyage to Southampton. During the voyage, the ship breaks the standing speed record for an Atlantic crossing and takes the Blue Riband award from the RMS Queen Mary, retaining it and the Hales Trophy for the feat without ever being surpassed.

1979 – President Carter signs the first directive for clandestine aid to the opponents of the pro Soviet regime in Kabul Afghanistan.

1988 –Fleet Air Defense officers aboard the guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes mistakenly shoot down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 passengers and crew aboard