1803

The U.S. Senate ratified the 530,000,000-acre Louisiana Purchase from France for $15 million.

1977

Three members of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, were killed along with three others in the crash of a chartered plane near McComb, Mississippi.

2011

Moammar Gadhafi, 69, Libya’s dictator for 42 years, was killed as revolutionary fighters overwhelmed his hometown of Sirte.

2018

Saudi Arabia announced that U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi had been killed in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul.