TODAY IN HISTORY

1789

President-elect George Washington left Mount Vernon, Va., for his inauguration in New York.

1862

During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia.

1912

American aviator Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel, leaving Dover, England, and arriving near Calais, France, in 59minutes.

1945

A Soviet submarine in the Baltic Sea torpedoed and sank the MV Goya, which Germany was using to transport civilian refugees and wounded soldiers; it’s estimated that up to 7,000 people died.

1947

The cargo ship Grandcamp, carrying ammonium nitrate, blew up in the harbor in Texas City, Texas; a nearby ship, the High Flyer, which was carrying ammonium nitrate and sulfur, caught fire and exploded the following day; the blasts and fires killed nearly 600 people.