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1777 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Bennington - British forces are defeated by American troops.

1780 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Camden - The British defeat the Americans near Camden, South Carolina.

1812 - War of 1812: American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit without a fight to the British Army.

1819 - Eleven people die and 400 are injured by cavalry charges at the Peterloo Massacre at a public meeting at St. Peter's Field, Manchester, England.

1841 - U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.

1858 - U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. However, a weak signal will force a shutdown of the service in a few weeks.

1865 - Restoration Day in the Dominican Republic: The Dominican Republic regains its independence after 4 years of fighting against the Spanish Annexation.

1868 - Arica, Peru (now Chile) is devastated by a tsunami which followed a magnitude 8.5 earthquake in the Peru-Chile Trench off the coast. The earthquake and tsunami killed an estimated 25,000 people in Arica and perhaps 70,000 people in all.

1869 - Battle of Acosta Ñu: A Paraguay battalion made up of children is massacred by the Brazilian Army during the War of the Triple Alliance.

1896 - Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.

1913 - Tōhoku Imperial University of Japan (modern day Tōhoku University) admits its first female students.

1914 - World War I: Battle of Cer begins.

1915 - World War I: Should victory be achieved over the Central Powers, the Triple Entente promises the Kingdom of Serbia: the Austro-Hungarian territories of Baranja, Srem, Slavonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina; and the eastern ⅔ of Dalmatia (from the river of Krka to the city of Bar).

1920 - Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit in the head by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees, and dies early the next day. To date, Chapman is the only player to die from injuries sustained in a Major League Baseball game.

1928 - Murderer Carl Panzram is arrested in Washington, DC after killing 20 people.

1930 - The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, is made by Ub Iwerks.

1942 - World War II: The two-person crew of the U.S. naval blimp L-8 disappears without a trace on a routine anti-submarine patrol over the Pacific Ocean. The blimp drifts without her crew and crash-lands in Daly City, California.

1946 - The Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, is established, and Ichirō Ishikawa is appointed its representative.

1960 - Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

1960 - Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,330 m), setting three records that still stand today: High-altitude jump, free-fall, and fastest speed by a human without an aircraft.

1964 - Vietnam War: A coup d'état replaces Duong Van Minh with General Nguyen Khanh as President of South Vietnam. A new constitution is established with aid from the U.S. Embassy.

1966 - Vietnam War: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong. The committee intends to introduce legislation making these activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 people are arrested.

1969 - Police raid on Spahn Ranch; Charles Manson arrested.

1972 - The Royal Moroccan Air Force fires upon, but fails to bring down, Hassan II of Morocco's plane while he is traveling back to Rabat.

1975 - Serial killer Ted Bundy originally arrested for suspicion of burglary, only to later escape twice.

1984 - Carmaker John De Lorean is acquitted of all eight counts of possessing and distributing cocaine.

1987 - A McDonnell Douglas MD-82 carrying Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes on take-off from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing 155 passengers and crew. The sole survivor is four-year-old Cecelia Cichan.

2003 - U.S. Representative from South Dakota Bill Janklow hits and kills a motorcyclist with his car at a rural intersection near Trent, South Dakota; he will eventually be convicted of manslaughter and will resign from Congress.

2005 - West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashes near Machiques, Venezuela, killing the 160 aboard.

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1355 - Philippa Plantagenet, Countess of Ulster

1378 - Hongxi Emperor of China (d. 1425)

1557 - Agostino Carracci, Italian artist (d. 1602)

1596 - Frederick V, Elector Palatine (d. 1632)

1645 - Jean de La Bruyère, French writer (d. 1696)

1650 - Vincenzo Coronelli, Italian cartographer and encylopedist (d. 1718)

1682 - Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Heir-apparent to the French throne (d. 1712)

1832 - Wilhelm Wundt, German psychologist (d. 1920)

1842 - Jakob Rosanes, German mathematician (d. 1922)

1845 - Gabriel Lippmann, French physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1921)

1860 - Jules Laforgue, French poet (d. 1887)

1862 - Amos Alonzo Stagg, American coach (d. 1965)

1868 - Bernarr McFadden, American publisher (d. 1955)

1884 - Hugo Gernsback, Luxembourg-born editor and publisher (d. 1967)

1884 - Walther von Reichenau, German field marshal (d. 1942)

1888 - T. E. Lawrence, English writer and soldier (d. 1935)

1888 - Armand J. Piron, American musician (d. 1943)

1892 - Otto Messmer, American cartoonist (d. 1983)

1894 - George Meany, American labor union leader (d. 1980)

1895 - Albert Cohen, Swiss novelist (d. 1981)

1895 - Liane Haid, Austrian actress (d. 2000)

1902 - Georgette Heyer, English novelist (d. 1974)

1904 - Wendell Meredith Stanley, American chemist, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1971)

1908 - William Maxwell, American novelist and editor (d. 2000)

1911 - E. F. Schumacher, German economist and statistician (d. 1977)

1912 - Ted Drake English footballer (d. 1995)

1913 - Menachem Begin, 6th Prime Minister of Israel, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1992)

1920 - Charles Bukowski, American poet (d. 1994)

1923 - Millôr Fernandes, Brazilian playwright

1924 - Fess Parker, American actor

1925 - Willie Jones, baseball player (d. 1983)

1928 - Ann Blyth, American actress

1929 - Bill Evans, American jazz pianist (d. 1980)

1929 - Helmut Rahn, German footballer (d. 2003)

1929 - Fritz Von Erich, Professional wrestler (d. 1997)

1930 - Robert Culp, American actor

1930 - Frank Gifford, American football player and announcer

1931 - Eydie Gorme, American singer

1933 - Julie Newmar, American actress

1934 - Diana Wynne Jones, British author

1934 - Ketty Lester, American singer

1937 - David Anderson, Canadian politician

1939 - Trevor Mcdonald OBE, Television Newsreader

1940 - Bruce Beresford, Australian film director

1946 - Massoud Barzani, Iraqi Kurdish politician

1946 - Lesley Ann Warren, American actress

1946 - Dick Murdoch, wrestler (d. 1996)

1948 - Mike Jorgensen, baseball player

1950 - Hasely Crawford, Trinidad and Tobago athlete

1952 - Reginald VelJohnson, American actor

1953 - Kathie Lee Gifford, American singer and actress

1954 - James Cameron, Canadian film director

1957 - Tim Farriss, Australian musician (INXS)

1958 - Angela Bassett, American actress

1958 - Madonna, American singer and actress

1960 - Timothy Hutton, American actor

1962 - Steve Carell, American actor and comedian

1964 - Jimmy Arias, American tennis player

1967 - Ulrika Jonsson, Swedish television personality

1967 - Pamela Smart, American convicted murderess

1968 - Mateja Svet, Slovenian alpine skier

1972 - Emily Erwin, American musician (Dixie Chicks)

1972 - Stan Lazaridis, Australian footballer

1973 - Damian Jackson, baseball player

1974 - Krisztina Egerszegi, Hungarian swimmer

1974 - Iván Hurtado, Ecuadorian footballer

1974 - Roger Cedeño, baseball player

1975 - Didier Agathe, French footballer

1975 - George Stults, American actor

1976 - Jonatan Johansson, Finnish footballer

1978 - Eddie Gill, American basketball player

1979 - Michael Stahlman, American rower and coach

1980 - Vanessa Carlton, American singer/songwriter

1980 - Robert Hardy, English bassist (Franz Ferdinand)

1981 - Roque Santa Cruz, Paraguayan footballer

1981 - Taylor Rain, American pornographic actress

1986 - Shawn Pyfrom, American actor

1987 - Kyal Marsh, Australian actor

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1027 - Giorgi I, King of Georgia (b. 998)

1297 - John II of Trebizond (b. 1262)

1327 - Roch, French saint

1358 - Duke Albert II of Austria (b. 1298)

1419 - Wenceslaus, King of the Romans, King of Bohemia (b. 1361)

1443 - Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, Japanese shogun (b. 1434)

1445 - Margaret of Scotland (Dauphine of France), wife of the future King Louis XI (b. 1424)

1518 - Loyset Compère, French composer

1532 - John, Elector of Saxony (b. 1468)

1661 - Thomas Fuller, English churchman and historian (b. 1608)

1678 - Andrew Marvell, English poet (b. 1621)

1705 - Jakob Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician and scientist (b. 1654)

1733 - Matthew Tindal, English deist (b. 1657)

1791 - Charles-François de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec, French soldier and diplomat (b. 1719)

1836 - Marc-Antoine Parseval, French mathematician (b. 1755)

1876 - Ivan Bilibin, Russian illusitrator (d. 1942)

1886 - Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Indian guru (b. 1836)

1888 - John Pemberton, American druggist and Coca-Cola inventor (b. 1831)

1893 - Jean-Martin Charcot, French neurologist (b. 1825)

1899 - Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, German chemist (b. 1811)

1900 - Eça de Queirós, Portuguese writer (b. 1845)

1907 - James Hector, Scottish geologist (b. 1834)

1921 - King Peter I of Serbia (b. 1844)

1938 - Robert Johnson, American singer and guitarist (b. 1911)

1938 - Andrej Hlinka, Slovak politician and priest (b. 1864)

1948 - Babe Ruth, baseball player (b. 1895)

1949 - Margaret Mitchell, American novelist (b. 1900)

1956 - Bela Lugosi, Hungarian actor (b. 1882)

1957 - Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1881)

1959 - Wanda Landowska, Polish harpsichordist (b. 1879)

1961 - Maulvi Abdul Haq, Father of Modern Urdu (b. 1870)

1972 - Pierre Brasseur, French actor (b. 1905)

1973 - Selman Waksman, Ukrainian-born biochemist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1888)

1975 - Vladimir Kuts, Ukrainian-born runner (b. 1927)

1977 - Elvis Presley, American singer and actor (b. 1935)

1979 - John Diefenbaker, 13th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1895)

1983 - Earl Averill, baseball player (b. 1902)

1989 - Amanda Blake, American actress (b. 1929)

1990 - Pat O'Connor, New Zealand professional wrestler (b. 1925)

1995 - J.P. McCarthy, American radio personality (b. 1933)

1997 - Gerard McLarnon, Irish playwright and actor (b. 1915)

2002 - Jeff Corey, American actor (b. 1914)

2002 - Abu Nidal, Palestinian political leader (b. 1937)

2003 - Idi Amin, Ugandan dictator (b. 1928)

2004 - Ivan Hlinka, Czech hockey coach (b. 1950)

2004 - Carl Mydans, American photographer (b. 1907)

2004 - Robert Quiroga, American boxer (b. 1969)

2005 - Joe Ranft, American animator (b. 1960)

2005 - Frère Roger, Swiss monk and mystic (b. 1915)

2005 - Vassar Clements, American musician (b. 1928)

2006 - Alex Buzo, Australian playwright and author (b. 1944)

2006 - Herschel Green, American pilot (b. 1920)

2006 - Jon Nödtveidt, Swedish musician (b. 1975)

2006 - Alfredo Stroessner, President of Paraguay (b. 1912)

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Palio dell'Assunta in Siena (on the day after the Assumption of Mary)

USA: legal holiday in Vermont for the Battle of Bennington in 1777 (which actually took place in the state of New York)

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Liturgical feasts

Eastern Orthodox: commemoration of the translation of the Acheiropoietos icon which means "Not made by hands", (also known as the Mandelion; now lost) from Edessa to Constantinople on 16 August 944
RC saints:

Saint Armagil, confessor Brittany
Saint Arnulph, bishop of Metz, Soissons, confessor common
Saint Balsemius, martyr Troyes
Translation ('vorheving') of Saint Bernward, bishop of Hildesheim, (deposition alse he starff) Hildesheim
Translation of Saint Brinolph, bishop of Skara Skara
Saint Eonius, bishop of Arles Arles
Saint Frambald, abbot, confessor Senlis
Saint Hyacinth, confessor Dominicans
Translation of Saint Maurilius, bishop of Angers, confessor Angers
Saint Audomar, bishop of Thérouanne Paris
Saint Roch, confessor (helps against plague and skin diseases)
Saint Stephen I of Hungary
Saint Theodore, bishop of Octodurum, confessor Switzerland
Saint Anne, Mother of Mary Münster, Osnabrück