April 9

1682 – Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims the area for France and names it Louisiana in honor of King Louis IV

1768 – When customs agents board to search John Hancock’s ship Lydia in Boston Harbor since he had a reputation for smuggling, he has them forced off since they did not have a warrant for the search. By many, this is considered the first act of actual resistance to British authority in the colonies and initiating the Revolution.

1784 – The Treaty of Paris, ratified by Congress on January 14, is ratified by King George III of Great Britain, ending the American Revolutionary War.

1865 – Meeting with General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia.

1909 – The U.S. Congress passes the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act, raising certain tariffs on goods entering the country.

1942 – Meeting with General Kameichiro Nagano, General Edward P. King surrenders the U.S and Filipino forces on the Bataan peninsula.

1945 – The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed.

1947 – The Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornado outbreak kills 181 people and injures 970 more across Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

1948 –Riots break out when socialist presidential candidate Jorge Eliécer Gaitán is assassinated in Bogotá, Columbia.

1959 – NASA announces the selection of the first 7 astronauts for project Mercury.

1967 – The first Boeing 737 makes its maiden flight.

1969 – The first British built Concorde 002 makes its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford.

1981 – About 110 nautical miles southwest of Sasebo, Japan, in the East China Sea, the U.S. Navy’s nuclear submarine USS George Washington accidentally collides with the Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it and killing 2 Japanese sailors.

1990 – Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2254, an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia, enroute from Gadsden, Alabama, to Atlanta, Georgia, collides in midair with a Cessna 172 over Gadsden, Alabama, killing both of the Cessna’s occupants with the Embraer returning safely to Gadsden.

1992 – Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega is found guilty in U.S. federal court of drug and racketeering charges and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

2014 – A student  at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania knifes 20 other students and a security guard before being subdued by an assistant principal, aided by another student.