Today in History in1862 in the Confederacy's first invasion of the North, General Robert E. Lee leads 55,000 men of the Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River at White's Ford near Leesburg, Virginia into Maryland.

Our on this day in history archives contain over 200,000 events, birthdays and deaths from 6,000 years of history. Here is a roundup of a few of them:

September 5 is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 117 days remaining until the end of the year.

EVENTS

917 – Liu Yan declares himself Emperor, establishing the southern Han state in China.

1590 – Alexander Farnese's army forces Henry IV of France to raise the Siege of Paris.

1666 – Great Fire of London ended: A large fire in London burns out after three days. 10,000 buildings including St. Paul's Cathedral were destroyed, but only 16 people are known to have died.

1698 – In an effort to move his people away from Asiatic customs, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards; All men except priests and peasants, are required to pay a tax of one hundred rubles a year and the commoners had to pay one kopek each.

1725 – Louis XV of France and Maria Leszczynska marry in Fontainbleau.

1774 – First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1781 – Battle of the Chesapeake in the American Revolutionary War: The British Navy is repelled by the French Navy, contributing to the British surrender at Yorktown.

1793 – In France, the French National Convention votes to implement terror measures to enforce the principles of the French Revolution, initiating (starting) the Reign of Terror.

1798 – Conscription (military service) is made mandatory (meaning young men had to do it) in France.

1800 – Napoleon Bonaparte surrenders Malta to Great Britain.

1812 – War of 1812: Siege of Fort Wayne begins with Chief Winamac's forces attacking two soldiers returning from the fort's outhouses.

1836 – Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.

1839 – The United Kingdom declares the First Opium War on the Qing Dynasty of China.

1840 – First performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Un giorno di regno at La Scala in Milan.

1862 – American Civil War: In the Confederacy's first invasion of the North, General Robert E. Lee leads 55,000 men of the Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River at White's Ford near Leesburg, Virginia into Maryland.

1877 – Indian Wars: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a United States soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska.

1882 – Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is founded in London.

1882 – The first United States Labor Day parade is held in New York City.

1887 – Fire at the Theatre Royal in Exeter, England kills 186 people.

1901 – The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (later renamed Minor League Baseball), is formed in Chicago.

1905 – Russo-Japanese War: Treaty of Portsmouth signed – In New Hampshire a treaty mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt, is signed by victor Japan and defeated party Russia.

1906 – Brandbury Robinson throws the first legal forward pass in an American football game.

1914 – World War I: First Battle of the Marne begins – Northeast of Paris, the French attack and defeat German forces who are advancing on the capital.

1927 – The Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Trolley Troubles, produced by Walt Disney, is released by Universal Pictures.

1932 – French Upper Volta is broken up between French Sudan, Ivory Coast and Niger.

1936 – Federico Borrell García, a Republican soldier in the Spanish Civil War, is photographed in the moment of his death by Robert Capa.

1937 – Spanish Civil War: The fall of Llanes.

1939 – World War II: The United States declares its neutrality in the war. It later enters on the side of the Allies.

1941 – World War II : Siege of Leningrad begins.

1941 – World War II: Estonia is occupied by Nazi Germany.

1942 – World War II: The Battle of Milne Bay in the Pacific Ocean ends in a Japanese defeat against the Allies.

1943 – World War II: The 503rd Parachute Regiment under American General Douglas MacArthur lands and occupies Nazdab in Papua New Guinea.

1944 – World War II: The USSR declares war on Bulgaria.

1944 – Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg form the Benelux.

1945 – Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist Tokyo Rose, is arrested in Yokohama.

1948 – Robert Schuman becomes Prime Minister of France

1949 – A former sharpshooter in World War II, Howard Unruh kills 13 neighbors in Camden, New Jersey with a souvenir Luger to become America's first single-episode mass murderer.

1957 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista bombs a revolt in the city of Cienfuegos.

1958 – The English language translation of the novel Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak is published.

1960 – Léopold Sédar Senghor is elected as the 1st President of Senegal.

1960 – Cassius Clay wins the gold medal in boxing at the Rome Olympic Games.

1961 – The first conference of countries of the Non Aligned Movement is held in Belgrade.

1969 – My Lai Massacre: Lt. William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.

1970 – Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins: the United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thua Thien Province.

1972 – Munich Massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attack Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games.

1973 – Palestinian terrorists attack Saudi Arabia's Embassy in Paris.

1975 – In Sacramento, California, a follower of incarcerated cult leader Charles Manson named Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate US President Gerald Ford, but is thwarted by a Secret Service agent.

1977 – Voyager program: Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay.

1977 – In Cologne, Hanns Martin Schleyer is kidnapped by members of the Red Army Faction

1978 – Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace process at Camp David, Maryland.

1980 – The St. Gotthard Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.32 km) stretching from Goschenen to Airolo.

1983 – The half-hour Robert MacNeil Report changes its name to the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, becoming the first hour-long network news show.

1983 – Peter Jennings becomes lead anchor for ABC World News Tonight.

1983 – Tom Brokaw becomes lead anchor for NBC Nightly News.

1984 – Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to ban capital punishment.

1984 – The Space Shuttle Discovery (mission STS-41-D) lands after its maiden voyage.

1986 – Pan Am Flight 73 with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport.

1988 – With US$2 billion in federal aid, the Robert M. Bass Group agrees to buy the United States's largest bankrupt thrift, American Savings and Loan Association.

1990 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan army soldiers murder 158 civilians.

1991 – The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, the Indigenous and Tribal People's Convention, 1989, comes into force.

1995 – France tests an atomic bomb on Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia.

1996 – Hurricane Fran makes landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina, where 27 people are killed, and three billion dollars worth of damage are caused.

1997 – At least 87 people killed in the Beni-Messous massacre in Algeria.

2000 – Tuvalu joins the United Nations.

2001 – Peru's attorney general files homicide charges against ex-President Alberto Fujimori.

2001 – Young Left formed in Toronto, Ontario.

2002 – A car bomb kills 30 people in Kabul, Afghanistan, in an apparent assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

2002 – The Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which burned 499,570 acres (2,020 km²), is finally contained.

2002 – The Beltway sniper attacks begin with the murder of Paul LaRuffa.

2004 – Future Hurricane Ivan becomes a Hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean.

2005 – A Mandala Airlines plane crashes in a residential area in Sumatra, Indonesia, killing 104 on board and 39 on the ground.

2005 – In Solden, Tyrol, Austria, an aerial lift accident kills nine German tourists, as a transport helicopter hits a cable car, which then plunges to the ground.

2008 – Quentin Bryce becomes Governor-General of Australia.

2012 – A magnitude 7.9 earthquake hits Costa Rica.

2012 – A firecracker factory explodes near Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, India, killing 40 people.

2012 – An accidental explosion at a Turkish army ammunition store in Afyon, Western Turkey, kills 25 soldiers.

2012 – The bodies of Saad al-Hilli, two members of his family, and a local cyclist are found near Annecy, in the alpine region of France, having all been shot, while al-Hilli's two daughters survived. The case remains unsolved, as no killer or motive has been determined.

2014 – Ukraine and Russia agree to a ceasefire during the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.