October 4

1535 – The Coverdale Bible is printed, named for one of the English translators, Myles Coverdale.

1582 – The Gregorian Calendar is introduced by [drum roll]Pope Gregory

1597 – Spanish Governor, Admiral Gonzalo Méndez de Canço, begins to suppress a native uprising against his rule in what is now the state of Georgia.

1669 – Rembrandt van Rijn dies in Amsterdam, Dutch Republic

1777 – At Germantown, Pennsylvania, American troops under George Washington are forced to retreat from the city after engaging British troops under William Howe.

1853 – The Crimean War begins when the Ottoman Empire declares war on the Russian Empire.

1883 – The Orient Express begins service between Paris and Constantinople.

1895 – Horace Rawlins wins the first U.S. Open Men’s Golf Championship.

1918 – An explosion at the T. A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Company in Sayreville, New Jersey kills an estimated 100 people; estimated because the employee records were destroyed in the blast and many victims were consumed in the blast and resultant fires.

1927 – Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting Mount Rushmore.

1957 – Sputnik 1 is launched into orbit by the Soviet Union.

1960 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 375, a Lockheed L-188 Electra, crashes on takeoff from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, after running into a large flock of birds, killing 62 of the 72 passengers and crew on board, those surviving due to being thrown clear of the plane on impact into Winthrop Bay.

1983 – Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 miles per hour, driving the Thrust2 jet car, at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada which will stand for 14 years until his ThrustSSC jet car breaks the speed of sound.

1992 – The Rome General Peace Accords end a 16 year long civil war in Mozambique.

1993 – U.S. forces are relieved by U.N. UNISOM forces and exit the Bakarra market area of Mogadishu, Somalia

2004 – Mojave Aerospace Ventures’ SpaceShipOne wins the $10 million Ansari X Prize for the first non-government organization to launch a reusable crewed spacecraft into space twice within two weeks.
On the same day, astronaut Gordon Cooper, the last U.S. astronaut to fly alone into space, dies at his home in Ventura, California, age 77.

2009 – The Battle of Kamdesh in Nuristan Province Afghanistan ends with the Combat Outpost Keating being nearly destroyed by attacking Taliban forces resulting in the deaths of 8 U.S. service members. For heroism in action, 2 of the surviving service members are awarded the Medal of Honor.

2017 – During Operation Obsidian Nomad, a combined task force of American and Nigerien Special Forces are ambushed by Islamic State militants outside the village of Tongo Tongo, Niger, resulting in the deaths of 4 Nigerien, and 4 U.S. service members.

2021 – Bubba Wallace becomes the first African-American Driver in the modern era of NASCAR to win a major race.