1776 – Battle of Long Island: In what is now Brooklyn, British forces under General William Howe defeat Americans under General George Washington.
1859 – The first successful oil well in the U.S. was drilled near Titusville, Pennsylvania.
1883 – The most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history destroyed the island of Krakatoa, a small, uninhabited island west of Sumatra in Indonesia.
1928 – The Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawing war is signed by fifteen nations. Ultimately sixty-one nations will sign it.
