TODAY IN HISTORY

1775

The American Revolutionary War began with the battles of Lexington and Concord.

1865

A funeral was held at the White House for President Abraham Lincoln, assassinated five days earlier; his coffin was then taken to the U.S. Capitol for a private memorial service in the Rotunda.

1995

A truck bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.

2005

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was elected pope in the first conclave of the new millennium; he took the name Benedict XVI.