1776 – Nathan Hale, a Connecticut schoolteacher and captain in the Continental Army, is executed by the British for spying.
1862 – Abraham Lincoln issues a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation which sets a date for freedom of more than 3 million slaves in the United States and recasts the Civil War as a fight against slavery.
1914 – German U-9 submarine sinks three British cruisers in the North Sea in just over an hour. Some 1,400 British sailors lost their lives and the British were alerted to the deadly effectiveness of the submarine.
1980 – The Iran-Iraq war begins when Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein invades Iran’s oil-producing province of Khuzestan.
1994 – The sitcom “Friends,” about six young adults living in New York City, debuts on NBC and becomes a huge hit for 10 seasons.
