Today’s highlight in history

On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War was over, and that all remaining slaves in Texas were free — an event celebrated to this day as Juneteenth.

On this date

In 1775, George Washington was commissioned by the Continental Congress as commander in chief of the Continental Army.

In 1867, Maximilian I, emperor of Mexico, was executed by firing squad a month after being taken prisoner by the forces of President Benito Juarez.

In 1917, during World War I, King George V ordered the British royal family to dispense with German titles and surnames; the family took the name “Windsor.”

In 1952, the U.S. Army Special Forces, the elite unit of fighters known as the Green Berets, was established at Fort Bragg, N.C.

In 1953, Julius Rosenberg, 35, and his wife, Ethel, 37, convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, N.Y.

In 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved by the U.S. Senate, 73-27, after surviving a lengthy filibuster.

In 1986, University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias, the first draft pick of the Boston Celtics, suffered a fatal cocaine-induced seizure.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush surveyed the aftermath of devastating floods during a quick tour of the Midwest, assuring residents and rescuers alike that he was listening to their concerns.

Five years ago: Actor James Gandolfini, 51, died while vacationing in Rome.

One year ago: Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old American college student released by North Korea in a coma after more than a year in captivity, died in a Cincinnati hospital.