Today, January 10

49 BC – In violation of Roman law, Julius Caesar, with his 13th Legion,  crosses the Rubicon river, at the time the nation’s northern border, starting civil war.

1776 – In Philadelphia, Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet Common Sense, which advocates independence from Great Britain for the Colonies.

1791 – During the early days of the Northwest Indian War, Dunlap’s Station on the banks of the Great Miami river, about 17 miles from Cincinnati, is taken under siege by combined scouts of several indian tribes before relief troops from Fort Washington, in Cincinnati, arrive the next morning.

1812 – The steamboat New Orleans completes the first voyage on the Ohio River, and the lower Mississippi River, arriving in New Orleans 82 days after departing from Pittsburgh.

1861 – Florida becomes the third state to secede from the Union.

1920 – The Treaty of Versailles takes effect, officially ending World War I.

1946 – The U.S. Army Signal Corps successfully conducts Project Diana, bouncing radio waves off the Moon and receiving the reflected signals.

1985 –Sandinista Daniel Ortega becomes president of Nicaragua while American policy continues to support the Contras in their revolt against the communist Nicaraguan government.

2019 – 13 year old Jayme Closs is found alive in Gordon, Wisconsin, having been kidnapped 88 days earlier from her parent’s home after they were murdered.