1453 – The last naval battle in Byzantine history occurs, as three Genoese galleys escorting a Byzantine transport fight their way through the huge Ottoman blockade fleet and into the Golden Horn.
1535 – The Sun dog phenomenon observed over Stockholm and depicted in the famous painting Vädersolstavlan.
1657 – Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City).
1689 – The former king, James II of England, now deposed, lays siege to Derry.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: the Siege of Boston begins, following the battles at Lexington and Concord.
1789 – President George Washington arrives in Philadelphia after his inauguration to elaborate welcome at Gray’s Ferry just after noon first inauguration of George Washington
1812 – George Clinton, 4th US VP, dies at 73 1st VP to, die in office
1818 – The case of Ashford v Thornton ends, with Abraham Thornton allowed to go free rather than face a retrial for murder, after his demand for trial by battle is upheld.
1836 – U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory.
1861 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
1871 – The Civil Rights Act of 1871 becomes law. Congress authorizes President Ulysses S. Grant to declare martial law, impose heavy penalties against terrorist organizations, and use military force to suppress the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
1876 – The April Uprising, a key point in modern Bulgarian history, leading to the Russo-Turkish War and the liberation of Bulgaria from domination as an independent part of the Ottoman Empire.
1884 – Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1966) Born
1893 – Harold Lloyd, Burchard Neb, silent comic (Why Worry, Safety Last) Born
1889 – Adolf Hitler, Austrian-German politician, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1945) was born.
1902 – Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride.
1909 – City of Tel Aviv is founded.
1912 – Bram Stoker, Irish theater manager/writer (Dracula), dies at 64
1914 – Nineteen men, women, and children die in the Ludlow Massacre during a Colorado coal-miner’s strike.
1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims, his final victories before his death the following day.
1923 – Tito Puente, Puerto Rico, bandleader (Dance Mania) Born
1926 – Western Electric and Warner Bros. announce Vitaphone, a process to add sound to film.
1937 – George Takei, American actor was born.
1939 – Adolf Hitler’s 50th birthday is celebrated as a national holiday in Nazi Germany.
1939 – Billie Holiday records the first civil rights song “Strange Fruit”.
1943 – Edie Sedgwick, Santa Barbara CA, actor (Ciao Manhattan) Born
1945 – World War II: US troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union.
1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.
1945 – Twenty Jewish children used in medical experiments at Neuengamme are killed in the basement of the Bullenhuser Damm school.
1946 – The League of Nations officially dissolves, giving most of its power to the United Nations.
1951 – Dan Gavriliu performs the first surgical replacement of a human organ.
1961 – The House Members in Texas approved a bill for a general retail sales tax of 2 $ on all sales in Texas but all foods , medicines and Farm Machinery will be exempt.
1961 – Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US-backed Cuban exiles against Cuba.
1968 – English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial Rivers of Blood speech.
1978 – Korean Air Lines Flight 902 is shot down by the Soviet Union.
1980 – Climax of Berber Spring in Algeria as hundreds of Berber political activists are arrested.
1984 – The Good Friday Massacre, an extremely violent ice hockey playoff game, is played in Montreal, Canada.
1985 – The ATF raids The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord compound in northern Arkansas.
1986 – Pianist Vladimir Horowitz performs in his native Russia for the first time in 61 years.
1991 – Steve Marriott, English guitarist (Small Faces), dies in a fire at 44
1992 – Benny Hill, comedian (Benny Hill Show), dies of a heart attack at 67
1998 – German terrorist group the Red Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years.
1999 – Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado.
2007 – Johnson Space Center shooting: William Phillips with a handgun barricades himself in NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.
2010 – Dorothy Height, American civil rights activist (b. 1912)dies