On this date

1297 — Scottish rebels led by William Wallace and Andrew Moray defeated English troops in the Battle of Stirling Bridge during the First War of Scottish Independence. 1714 — The forces of King Philip V of Spain overcame Catalan defenders to end the 13-month-long Siege of Barcelona during the War of the Spanish Succession. 1789 — Alexander Hamilton was appointed the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. 1814 — An American fleet scored a decisive victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812. 1857 — The Mountain Meadows Massacre took place in present-day southern Utah as a 120-member Arkansas immigrant party was slaughtered by Mormon militiamen aided by Paiute Indians. 1936 — Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) began operation as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a key in Washington to signal the startup of the dam’s first hydroelectric generator. 1941 — Groundbreaking took place for the Pentagon. 1954 — The Miss America pageant made its network TV debut on ABC; Miss California, Lee Meriwether, was crowned the winner. 1967 — The comedy-variety program “The Carol Burnett Show” premiered on CBS. 1974 — Eastern Airlines Flight 212, a DC-9, crashed while attempting to land in Charlotte, North Carolina, killing 72 of the 82 people on board. 1979 — Martha Kennedy, a nine-year veteran of the Rome Board of Education, resigned to clear the way for her daughter, Cindy Kennedy, to be eligible to teach at West Rome High School. The City Board bylaws prohibited board members from entering into contracts with members of their families. 1985 — Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds cracked career hit number 4,192 off Eric Show of the San Diego Padres, eclipsing the record held by Ty Cobb. (The Reds won the game, 2-0). 1997 — Scots voted to create their own Parliament after 290 years of union with England. 2007 — A new Osama bin Laden videotape was released on the sixth anniversary of 9/11; in it, the al-Qaida leader’s voice is heard commemorating one of the suicide hijackers and calling on young Muslims to follow his example by martyring themselves in attacks.