January 13

1815 – During the War of 1812, British troops capture Fort Peter in St. Marys, Georgia, the only battle of the war to take place in the state.

1840 – The steamship Lexington burns and sinks 4 miles off the coast of Long Island with the loss of 139 lives of the 143 passengers and crew aboard.

1888 – The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C.

1893 – U.S. Marines land in Honolulu from the USS Boston to prevent Queen Liliuokalani from abrogating the 1887 Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom which King Kalākaua had been forced to sign.

1910 – The  De Forest Radio Telephone Company makes the first public radio broadcast, a live performance of the operas Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

1968 – Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom State Prison.

1977 – JAL Cargo Flight 3054, a Douglas DC-8 jet, crashes onto the runway during takeoff from Anchorage International Airport, killing all 5 crew aboard.

1982 – Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737 jet, crashes shortly after takeoff into Washington, D.C.’s 14th Street Bridge and falls into the Potomac River, killing 74 of the 79 passengers and crew aboard as well as 4 motorists.

2001 – An earthquake of 7.6 on the Richter scale hits near San Miguel, El Salvador , killing more than 900 people.

2018 – A false emergency alert warning of an impending missile strike in Hawaii caused widespread panic in the state.

2021 – Outgoing U.S. President Trump is impeached for a second time on a charge of incitement of insurrection following the storming of the Capitol one week prior.