October 11

1614 – The New Netherland Company applies to the States General of the Netherlands for exclusive trading rights in what is now the northeastern United States.

1767 – Surveying for the Mason–Dixon line, separating Maryland from Pennsylvania is completed.

1776 – During the Revolution, a fleet of American boats on Lake Champlain is defeated by the Royal Navy, but delays the British advance until 1777.

1890 – The Daughters of the American Revolution is founded in Washington, D.C.

1906 – San Francisco sparks a diplomatic crisis between the United States and Japan by ordering segregated schools for Japanese students.

1910 – Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane.

1942 – Off the Solomon Islands between Guadalcanal and Savo, U.S. Navy ships intercept and defeat a Japanese force.

1950 – CBS receives a license to broadcast a color TV signal.

1968 – NASA launches Apollo 7 the first manned mission after the Apollo 1 disaster.

1971 – Retired Lieutenant General Lewis ‘Chesty’ Puller USMC, recipient of 5 Navy Crosses, in addition to the Army’s Distinguished Service Cross, dies in Hampton, Virginia, age 73

1976 – George Washington is posthumously promoted to the grade of General of the Armies. Technically 0–12.

1984 – Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk.

1986 – Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Iceland to continue discussions about scaling back IRBM (Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile) arsenals in Europe.

2000 – NASA launches Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-92, the 100th Space Shuttle mission.

2007 – “Flying Tiger” and U.S. Army Air Force fighter pilot, retired Brigadier General David Lee “Tex” Hill, dies at age 92 in Terrell Hills, Texas.