1620

Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower went ashore at present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, for the first time.

1864

During the Civil War, Union forces led by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman concluded their “March to the Sea” when they captured Savannah, Georgia.

1891

The first basketball game, devised by James Naismith, is believed to have been played at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts.

1976

The oil tanker Argo Merchant broke apart near Nantucket Island off Massachusetts almost a week after running aground, spilling 7.7 million gallons of oil into the North Atlantic.

1988

270 people were killed when a terrorist bomb exploded aboard a Pan Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, sending wreckage crashing to the ground.

1991

Eleven of the 12 former Soviet republics formally proclaimed the birth of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Birthdays

Actor Jane Fonda is 87. Singer Carla Thomas is 82. Actor Samuel L. Jackson is 76. Film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg is 74. Tennis Hall of Famer Chris Evert is 70. Actor Jane Kaczmarek is 69. Country musician Lee Roy Parnell is 68. Actor-comedian Ray Romano is 67. Actor Kaitlyn Dever is 28.