On Sept. 22, 1776, Capt. Nathan Hale, 21, was hanged as a spy by the British in New York.

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of January 1, 1863.

In 1927, Gene Tunney successfully defended his heavyweight boxing title against Jack Dempsey in the famous “long-count” fight in Chicago.

In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb.

In 1975, Sara Jane Moore attempted to shoot President Gerald R. Ford outside a San Francisco hotel but missed.

In 1980, the Persian Gulf conflict erupted into full-scale war.

In 1993, 47 people were killed when a passenger train fell off a bridge into Big Bayou Canot near Mobile, Alabama.