June 17

1462 – One of the warlords of ancient Wallachia, Vlad III Țepeș Dracula the Impaler, attempts to assassinate the Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed II, at Târgovişte, Romania but the Sultan and his army manage to escape and hastily retreat back to Turkey.

1579 – On his voyage of circumnavigation, Sir Francis Drake claims the land he calls Nova Albion – modern California – for England.

1631 – Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, builds a mausoleum for her tomb, the Taj Mahal.

1773 – Cúcuta, Colombia, is founded by Juana Rangel de Cuéllar.

1775 – During the siege of Boston, Colonial Militia defending Breed’s Hill,  on the Charlestown peninsula across the Charles river from Boston, inflict heavy casualties on assaulting British troops before running out of ammunition, and being forced to a fighting retreat in good order over Bunker Hill to Cambridge, leave the British in control of the peninsula.

1876 –1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne led by War Chief Tħašúŋke Witkó – Crazy Horse – repulse an attack by  General George Crook’s forces at Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory.

1877 – The Nez Perce inflict serious casualties, killing 34 of the 106 troopers and civilian volunteers of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Regiment in the first battle of the Nez Perce War at White Bird Canyon in the Idaho Territory, southwest of the present day city of Grangeville.

1885 – The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.

1898 – The United States Navy Hospital Corps is established.

1901 – The College Board introduces its first standardized test, the forerunner to the SAT.

1930 – President Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act into law.

1932 – Around 1000 World War I veterans, called the Bonus Army, amass at the United States Capitol as the Senate considers a bill that would give them certain bonus benefits earlier than originally promised

1933 – At the Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, 4 FBI agents and captured fugitive Frank Nash are gunned down by gangsters attempting to free Nash.

1948 – United Airlines Flight 624, a Douglas DC-6, en route from Chicago to LaGuardia Airport in New York City, crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 passengers and crew on board.

1960 – The Nez Perce tribe is awarded $4 million for 7 million acres  of land undervalued at 4¢ an acre in the 1863 treaty.

1963 – In the case of Abington School District v. Schempp, the Supreme Court rules against requiring the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord’s Prayer in public schools.

1972 – 5 White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee during an attempt by members of the administration of President Nixon to illegally wiretap the political opposition.

1985 – Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on mission STS-51-G with Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud aboard as a payload specialist, the first Arab and first moslem in space.

1992 – A “joint understanding” agreement on arms reduction, later codified as START II, is signed by President Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

1994 – Following a televised low speed/high drag highway chase, O. J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his ex wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

2015 – 9 people are killed and 3 wounded in a shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

2021 – President Biden signs legislation enacting June 19th as the Juneteenth National Independence Day federal holiday.