July 28

1794 – The French Revolution backfires on two of the main revolutionary leaders themselves, as Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just are executed by guillotine in Paris, France.

1854 – The USS Constellation, the last all sail warship built by the U.S. Navy, is commissioned into service.

1864 – At the Battle of Ezra Church, Confederate troops make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces from Atlanta, Georgia.

1868 – The 14th Amendment to the Constitution, establishing citizenship for all people ‘born or naturalized’ in the U.S., guaranteeing due process and equal protection of law and restricting states from abridging citizens rights,  is certified as being ratified.

1896 – The city of Miami, Florida is incorporated.

1914 – In the culmination of the July Crisis after the assassination of Arch Duke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, which is considered the start of World War I.

1932 – U.S. President Herbert Hoover orders the Army to forcibly evict the “Bonus Army” of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, D.C.

1935 – First flight of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.

1938 – Pan American Airlines Hawaii Clipper disappears between Guam and Manila. The first loss of an airliner in trans-Pacific China Clipper service.

1945 – A U.S. Army B-25 bomber crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing the 3 crew aboard, 11 people in the building and injuring 26.

1965 – President Johnson orders an increase of the number of troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.

1984 – The summer Games of the XXIII Olympiad open in Los Angeles.

2002 – 9 coal miners trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, are rescued after 77 hours underground.