#Middlebury
On July 3, 1863, the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s last attempt at breaking the Union line ends in disastrous failure, bringing the most decisive battle of the American Civil War to an end. Exhausted, both armies held their positions until the night of July 4, when Lee withdrew.- On July 2, 1938, Helen Wills Moody defeats Helen Jacobs to win her eighth Wimbledon singles title. Her record stood until Martina Navratilova won her ninth Wimbledon title in 1990.
- On June 28, 1940, Gen. Charles de Gaulle, having set up headquarters in England upon the establishment of a puppet government in his native France, is recognized as the leader of the Free French Forces, dedicated to the defeat of Germany and the liberation of France.
- On June 29, 1967, actress Jayne Mansfield is killed instantly when the car she’s riding in strikes the rear of a trailer truck on I-90 east of New Orleans. Her three children, asleep on the back seat, survived.
- On June 30, 1971, the three Soviet cosmonauts who served as the first crew of the world’s first space station die when their spacecraft depressurizes during re-entry and a critical valve opens.
- On June 27, 1985, after 59 years, the iconic 2,200-mile Route 66 is decertified when the American Association of State Highway and Transportation officials votes to remove all its highway signs. Most of the original Route 66 followed a path through the wilderness forged in 1857 by U.S. Navy Lt. Edward Beale at the head of a caravan of camels.
- On July 1, 1997, Hong Kong reverts back to Chinese rule in a ceremony attended by numerous Chinese, British and international dignitaries. A policy based on the concept of “one country, two systems” was designed to preserve Hong Kong’s role as a principal capitalist center in Asia.
© 2022 Hearst Communications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
You must be logged in to post a comment.