On this date

1780 — British spy John Andre was hanged in Tappan, New York, during the Revolutionary War.

1835 — The first battle of the Texas Revolution took place as American settlers fought Mexican soldiers near the Guadalupe River; the Mexicans ended up withdrawing.

1919 — President Woodrow Wilson suffered a serious stroke at the White House that left him paralyzed on his left side.

1939 — The Benny Goodman Sextet (which included Lionel Hampton) made its first recording, “Flying Home,” for Columbia.

1941 — During World War II, German armies launched an all-out drive against Moscow; Soviet forces succeeded in holding onto their capital.

1944 — German troops crushed the two-monthold Warsaw Uprising, during which a quarter of a million people had been killed.

1950 — The comic strip “Peanuts,” created by Charles M. Schulz, was syndicated to seven newspapers.

1959 — Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone” made its debut on CBS-TV with the episode “Where Is Everybody?” starring Earl Holliman.

1975 — President Gerald R. Ford formally welcomed Japan’s Emperor Hirohito to the United States during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House.

1985 — Actor Rock Hudson, 59, died after battling AIDS.

1996 — An AeroPeru Boeing 757 crashed into the Pacific Ocean, killing all 61 passengers and nine crew members on board.

2002 — The Washington, D.C.-area sniper attacks began, setting off a frantic manhunt lasting three weeks. (John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were finally arrested for 10 killings and three woundings; Muhammad was executed in 2009; Malvo was sentenced to life in prison.)