Today in History: November 6

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oday in History, September 6

1522 – The Spanish ship Victoria, sole survivor of Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition, returns to Spain under Juan Sebastián Elcano, completing the first circumnavigation of the globe. Magellan himself had been killed in the Philippines the previous year.

1666 – The Great Fire of London is finally extinguished after burning for four days, destroying much of the city including St. Paul’s Cathedral.

1781 – Benedict Arnold, already infamous for his treason, leads British forces in the burning of New London, Connecticut, and the Battle of Groton Heights.

1870 – Louisa Ann Swain of Laramie, Wyoming, becomes the first woman in the United States to cast a vote in a general election under Wyoming Territory’s suffrage law.

1901 – President William McKinley is shot and mortally wounded by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. He dies eight days later; Theodore Roosevelt becomes president. Czolgosz is executed the following month.

1909 – Explorer Robert Peary announces from Labrador that he reached the North Pole five months earlier (a claim later disputed).

1914 – World War I: The First Battle of the Marne begins as French and British forces halt the German advance on Paris, ending the Schlieffen Plan’s early momentum.

1916 – Clarence Saunders opens the first Piggly Wiggly in Memphis, Tennessee—the first true self-service supermarket.

1949 – Howard Unruh kills 13 people in a 12-minute rampage through Camden, New Jersey, often called America’s first modern mass shooting.

1972 – The Munich Summer Olympics resume the day after the Black September attack that killed 11 Israeli athletes and a German police officer.

1995 – Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. plays in his 2,131st consecutive game, breaking Lou Gehrig’s “Iron Man” record.

1997 – An estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide watch the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, at Westminster Abbey.

Arkansas & Oklahoma Connections

Arkansas (1863) – During the Civil War, Confederate Generals John S. Marmaduke and Lucius M. Walker fight a formal duel near Little Rock. Walker is fatally wounded. The episode reflected the intense personal and command rivalries within Trans-Mississippi Confederate forces.

Oklahoma / Indian Territory (1839) – On September 6, a convention of Cherokee leaders meets at Tahlequah (newly designated the national capital) and adopts a constitution uniting the Old Settlers and the eastern Cherokees who had arrived via the Trail of Tears. The document is later ratified, helping establish the modern Cherokee Nation government in Indian Territory.

Born on September 6

1757 – Marquis de Lafayette, French aristocrat and key American Revolutionary War ally.

1860 – Jane Addams, social reformer, settlement-house pioneer, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

1888 – Joseph P. Kennedy, businessman, diplomat, and patriarch of the Kennedy political dynasty.

1943 – Roger Waters, co-founder and primary creative force of Pink Floyd.1947 – Jane Curtin, actress and comedian (Saturday Night Live, Kate & Allie, 3rd Rock from the Sun)

.1958 – Jeff Foxworthy, comedian and actor known for his “You might be a redneck” routines.

1964-Rosie Perez, actress and activist (Do the Right Thing, White Men Can’t Jump).

1972 – Idris Elba, English actor (The Wire, Luther, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom).