Today, January 16

27 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate.

550 – Bribing the city garrison, the Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer, and sack, Rome

1605 – The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid, Spain.

1786 – Virginia enacts the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson.

1847 – John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.

1883 – The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, is enacted by Congress.

1919 – Nebraska becomes the 36th state, and the last one necessary, to ratify the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

1942 – TWA Flight 3, a DC-3, crashes after takeoff from Las Vegas, killing all 22 passengers and crew aboard

1991 – At 23:38 hrs UTC, 2 U.S. MH-53 Pave Low helicopters, leading 8 U.S. AH-64 Apache helicopters, strike Iraqi radar sites near the Iraqi/Saudi Arabian border.
5 minutes later, 2 U.S. EF-111 Ravens, leading 22 U.S. F-15E Eagles, strike Iraqi airfields in western Iraq
17 minutes later, 3 U.S. EF-111 Ravens, leading 10 U.S. F-117 Nighthawks, strike downtown metropolitan Baghdad, beginning the air campaign of Operation Desert Storm.

2001 – President Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish–American War.

2003 – The Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off the 28th time for mission STS-107

2020 – The first impeachment of President Trump moves into its trial phase in the United States Senate.