today in history

On this date:

In 1686, Britain and France signed the Treaty of Neutrality governing possession in North America in the event of war in Europe.

In 1776, British troops captured Fort Washington in New York during the American Revolution.

In 1837, authorities in Lower Canada (Quebec) ordered the arrest of politician and skilled orator Louis Papineau, leader of the nationalist movement or Patriot Party, after a rebellion broke out over demands for democratic reforms. He fled to the United States and later to France.

In 1838, a cross was erected in Oxford, England to commemorate the memory of three major figures in the English Reformation. Bishop Nicholas Ridley, Bishop Hugh Latimer and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, who were all executed for their faith during the reign of Catholic Queen Mary.

In 1857, Able Seaman William Hall of Hantsport, N.S., won the Victoria Cross while serving with the British army in Lucknow, India. Hall was the first Canadian sailor, and the first black, to win Britain’s highest award for valour. In 1885, Metis leader Louis Riel was hanged in Regina for his involvement in the Northwest Rebellions. Riel’s lawyer proposed to defend him on grounds of insanity, but Riel repudiated this and he was found guilty of treason. The execution was postponed several times and pleas for clemency came from many parts of the world.

In 1901, three automobile racers in the New York borough of Brooklyn became the first people to exceed the speed of one mile a minute in a car.

In 1907, Oklahoma became the 46th U.S. state.