On this date in 1993…

A gun battle erupted near Waco, Texas, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to serve warrants on the Branch Davidian commune; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began. The attack and siege was largely seen as the agency’s botched attempt to prove its relevance in the face of threats by congress to reduce its funding.

• 1675 – The Spanish Mission Santa Cruz de Sabacola El Menor was dedicated for the Sawoklis Indians on the Apalachicola River.
• 1827 – The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad became the first American railway chartered for freight and passengers.
• 1837 – A band of Creek warriors attacked the Alberson homestead on the Alabama-Florida border and massacre the entire family.
• 1863 – The C.S.S. Nashville was destroyed by the U.S.S. Montauk near Fort McAllister, Georgia. 
• 1960 – Richard Petty won his first Winston Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina.

On this date in 1827…

A group of masked and costumed students danced through the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, beginning the city’s first Mardi Gras celebration.

• 1699 – Fearing an English take over of the Mississippi Valley, Pierre le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville began a voyage up the Mississippi River to establish a series of French forts. 
• 1776 – The Continental Congress established the Southern Department of the Continental Army, consisting of Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia.
• 1836 – While attempting to cross the Withlacoochee River in Florida, General Edmund Gaines and 1,100 troops were attacked by a Seminole force of 1,500 warriors. Under fire, the troops built a stockade and fighting continued ten more days before both sides agreed to a truce.
• 1863 – Confederate President Jefferson Davis called for a national day of fasting and prayer.
• 1932 – A coal mine explosion killed 38 miners in Boissevain, Virginia.
• 1971 – Janis Joplin’s album Pearl is released posthumously.

On this date in 1932…

Legendary singer-songwriter John R. “Johnny” Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas.  Also known as the “The Man In Black”, Cash is the only artist to have been inducted into inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

• 1861 – The Confederate Congress passed an act to organize a general staff for the Confederate Army.
• 1919 – The U.S. Congress passed “An Act to Establish the Grand Canyon National Park in the State of Arizona.”
• 1972 – A slag-heap dam collapsed above Buffalo Creek, West Virginia, killing 125 residents.
• 1998 – Oprah Winfrey was found not guilty in a trail  on a beef defamation suit brought by Texas cattlemen.

On this date in 1862…

Federal troops under federal General Ullyses S. Grant occupied Nashville, Tennessee. 

• 1793 – The department heads of the U.S. government met with U.S. President Washington for the first Cabinet meeting on record.
• 1839 – Defeated Seminole warriors, their families, and black allies were placed on ships at Tampa Bay, Florida and sent west to Indian Territory.
• 1870 – Hiram R. Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, became the first black member of the United States Senate as he was sworn in to serve out the remainder Jefferson Davis’s unexpired term.
• 1875 – After the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon and a relentless pursuit by the Army, Lone Wolf, and 252 Kiowa followers, finally surrendered at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Lone Wolf was sent as a prisoner-of-war to Fort Marion, in St. Augustine, Florida.
• 1913 – The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, authorizing an income tax. 
• 1999 – William King was sentenced to death for the racially-motivated murder of James Byrd Jr in Jasper, Texas.

On this date in 1730…

With both sides running low of ammunition, the French and Natchez Indians agreed on a peace settlement in which the Natchez released all of their prisoners and the French withdrew to the Mississippi River.

• 1836 – Colonel William Travis issued a call for help on behalf of the Texan troops defending the Alamo.
• 1863 – Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalry raided Brentwood, Tennessee.
• 1863 – Arizona organized as a separate territory from New Mexico.
• 1868 – The U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson following his attempted dismissal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Johnson was later acquitted by one vote in the Senate.
• 1868 – The Mardi Gras celebration at Mobile, Alabama became the first U.S. parade to feature floats.
• 1921 – The first transcontinental flight of more than 24 hours flight time arrived in Florida. 
• 1943 – The Texas League announced it would suspend baseball for the duration of WWII.
• 1949 – A V-2/WAC-Corporal became the first rocket to travel five times the speed of sound at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
• 1979 – The highest price ever, $42,500, was paid for a prize-winning pig in Stamford, Texas.
• 1999 – The State of Arizona executed Karl LaGrand, a German national involved in an armed robbery, despite Germany’s legal attempts to save him.
• 1986 – Texas Air bought Eastern Airlines for $676 million.