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Today in History

Today in History: November 11

9 events that happened on November 11, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.

Colonial America and the Revolution

  1. 1620 (Old Style date)

    Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower signed the Mayflower Compact before going ashore in New England.

    Forty-one adult male colonists, including two indentured servants, agreed to govern themselves by majority rule under laws they would make together. The date is Old Style; on the Gregorian calendar it was November 21.

    Source: history.com; history.com

  2. 1778

    Loyalists and Native American allies raided Cherry Valley, New York, in the Cherry Valley Massacre.

    Colonel Ichabod Alden had dismissed warnings of an approaching force. Attacking in the snow, the raiders killed more than 40 Patriots, including Alden, and took at least 70 prisoners in what is now Otsego County.

    Source: history.com

The Young Republic and the Civil War Era

  1. 1889

    Washington was admitted to the Union as the 42nd state.

    President Benjamin Harrison issued the proclamation after receiving a certified copy of the state constitution. Voters in the territory had approved that constitution in October.

    Source: digitalarchives.wa.gov

The Early 1900s and the World Wars

  1. 1918

    Germany signed an armistice with the Allies, and the guns of World War I fell silent at 11 a.m.

    Shortly after 5 in the morning, German, British and French officials signed the agreement in a railroad dining car in a forest north of Paris. Allied commander Ferdinand Foch set the cease-fire for 11 o'clock, and the date was later honored in the United States as Armistice Day, now Veterans Day.

    Source: history.com

  2. 1921

    The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was dedicated at Arlington National Cemetery.

    President Warren G. Harding presided over the Armistice Day ceremony, three years after World War I ended. An unidentified American soldier who had fallen in France was buried with the highest honors beside the Memorial Amphitheater.

    Source: history.com; army.mil

  3. 1926

    Highway officials adopted a national numbered highway system, creating the legendary Route 66.

    Meeting in North Carolina, federal and state officials approved numbered routes for the 48 continental states. Route 66 linked existing roads for about 2,400 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica, California.

    Source: history.com

The Cold War

  1. 1966

    Gemini XII lifted off with James Lovell and Buzz Aldrin on the last flight of NASA's Gemini program.

    The Titan II rocket launched from Cape Canaveral after two delays. The four-day mission practiced rendezvous, docking and spacewalks, skills NASA needed before the Apollo Moon landings.

    Source: nasa.gov

  2. 1975

    Angola became independent from Portugal while rival nationalist movements fought for control.

    Portugal granted independence as several Angolan forces battled among themselves to rule the new state. The government that emerged remained aligned with the Soviet Union and Cuba for the rest of the Cold War.

    Source: history.state.gov

  3. 1982

    Space shuttle Columbia launched STS-5, the first operational mission of the shuttle program.

    Following four test flights, Columbia carried the first four-person shuttle crew. The astronauts deployed two commercial communications satellites, one for Telesat Canada and one for Satellite Business Systems.

    Source: nasa.gov