July 9

1755 – During the French and Indian War, the British Braddock Expedition is soundly defeated by a smaller French and Native American force in its attempt to capture Fort Duquesne in what is now downtown Pittsburgh.

1776 – General George Washington orders the Declaration of Independence to be read out to members of the Continental Army in Manhattan.

1795 – Financier James Swan pays off the $2,024,899 US national debt that had been accrued during the American Revolution.

1811 – Explorer David Thompson posts a sign near what is now Sacajawea State Park in Washington state, claiming the Columbia District for the United Kingdom.

1850 – President Zachary Taylor dies of acute gastroenteritis, called Cholera Morbus at the time, after eating raw fruit and iced milk on the 4th of July while attending holiday celebrations at the Washington Monument. He is succeeded in office by Vice President Millard Fillmore.

1863 – The Siege of Port Hudson ends, giving the Union complete control of the Mississippi River during the Civil War.

1868 – The 14th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified

1875 – Due to the harsh treatment by the rulers of Bosnia, Christian Serbians in Herzegovina rise up against moslem Ottoman rule in the Balkans.

1893 – At Provident Hospital in Chicago, Dr. Daniel Williams performs the first successful open heart surgery in the U.S on a patient who had been attacked and suffered a stab wound in the chest.

1896 – William Jennings Bryan delivers a speech advocating bimetallism (Gold and Silver as legal specie) at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

1918 – In Nashville, Tennessee, 2 trains operated by the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway collide head on, killing 101 people and injuring 171 more, the deadliest rail accident in U.S. history.

1922 – Johnny Weissmuller swims the 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds, setting a new world record for the distance.

1932 – The state of São Paulo revolts against the Brazilian Federal Government, starting the Constitutionalist Revolution.

1943 – Allied forces begin the invasion of Sicily

1944 – American forces complete the invasion of Saipan

1958 – A magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Alaska causes a landslide that produces a tsunami wave reaching 1,722 ft up the rim of Lituya Bay, killing 5 people.

1962 – During Operation Fishbowl on Johnston Island in the Pacific, a Thor rocket with the 1.4 megaton thermonuclear device Starfish Prime on board, is launched and detonated at an altitude of 250 miles to test the effects of a nuclear explosion at orbital altitudes.

1982 – Pan Am Flight 759, a Boeing 727, crashes in Kenner, Louisiana, killing all 145 passengers and crew  on board and 8 others on the ground.

2019 – Ross Perot, Rip Torn, and Freddie Jones apparently confirm that ‘Celebrity Deaths Come in Threes’ as they all pass away on the same day