On this day…

1519 Cortez lands in México
1560 Spanish fleet occupies Djerba, at Tripoli
1567 Battle at Oosterweel: Spanish troops destroy Geuzenleger
1569 Battle of Jarnac, Count of Anjou defeats Huguenots
1591 Battle at Tondibi: Moroccans army under Judar beats sultan Askia Ishaq II of Songhai
1852 Uncle Sam cartoon figure made its debut in the New York Lantern weekly
1861 Jefferson Davis signs bill authorizing use of slaves as soldiers
1865 US Confederate Congress calls on black slaves for field service
1884 Siege of Khartoum Sudan begins
1900 British troops occupy Bloemfontein, Orange-Free state
1918 American Red Magen David (Jewish Red Cross) forms
1921 Mongolia (formerly Outer Mongolia) declares independence from China
1933 Josef Göbbels becomes German minister of Information & Propaganda
1938 Anschluß-Austria annexed by Nazi Germany
1940 Finland-Russian cease fire signed, Finland gives up Karelische
1942 Julia Flikke, Nurse Corps, becomes 1st woman colonel in US army
1943 Failed assassin attempt on Hitler during Smolensk-Rastenburg flight
1945 Sicherheitsdienst arrest Dutch resistance fighter Henry Werkman
1951 Israel demands DM 6.2 billion compensation from Germany
1954 Viet Minh General Giap opens assault on That Bien Phu
1957 Bloody battles after anti-Batista demonstration in Havana Cuba
1958 Govt troops land in Sumatra Indonesia
1963 2 Russian reconnaissance flights over Alaska
1963 Indonesia & Netherlands recover diplomatic relations
1964 Turkey threatens Cyprus with armed attack