1864 – Union General William T. Sherman orders the destruction of the business district of Atlanta, Georgia, before he embarks on his infamous march to the sea.
1799 – A meteor shower, thought to be the Leonids show and the first ever recorded, is witnessed and noted by Andrew Ellicott, an early American astronomer, from a ship off the Florida Keys
1954 – Ellis Island, the gateway to America, shuts its doors after processing more than 12 million immigrants since opening in 1892.
1982 – Yuri Andropov assumes power in the Soviet Union following the death of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev two days earlier.
