December 5th, 2008

Today in History

1945:
Flight 19, a United States Navy training flight was lost in the Bermuda Triangle.

1848:
California gold rush: In a message before the U.S. Congress, US President James K. Polk confirms that large amounts of gold had been discovered in California.

1831:
Former US President John Quincy Adams takes a seat in the United States House of Representatives.

1776:
At the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, the Phi Beta Kappa is founded as the first scholastic fraternity in the United States.

1766:
In London, James Christie holds his first sale (he later founded Christie's, the world's oldest auction house).