TODAY IN HISTORY

On March 6, 1475, Renaissance artist Michelangelo was born in Caprese, Italy.

In 1836 the Alamo in San Antonio fell to the Mexican army after a 13-day siege. All of the defenders, including Davy Crockett, were killed.

In 1857, in its landmark Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Scott, a slave, could not sue for his freedom in a federal court.

In 1930 Clarence Birdseye started to sell prepackaged frozen food for the first time, in Springfield, Mass. In 1944 American bombers staged their first World War II raid on Berlin.

In 1981 Walter Cronkite signed off for the last time as anchor of “The CBS Evening News.”

In 1987, 189 people died when water rushed through the open bow doors of the British ferry Herald of Free Enterprise, causing it to capsize off the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.

In 1997 Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II launched the first official royal Web site.

In 2000 a federal jury convicted three New York City police officers of covering up the brutal assault of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima in a police station rest room in 1997.

In 2002 Independent Counsel Robert Ray issued his final report in which he wrote that former President Bill Clinton could have been indicted and probably would have been convicted in the scandal involving former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

In 2004 President George W. Bush backed off on plans to require frequent Mexican travelers to the U.S. to be fingerprinted and photographed before crossing the border.