It is the 89th day of the year, with only 276 days remaining.
1822 - The Florida Territory is created in the United States.
1842 - Anesthesia is used for the first time, in an operation by the American surgeon Dr. Crawford Long.
1855 - "Border Ruffians" from Missouri invade Kansas and force the election of a pro-slavery legislature.
1867 - Alaska is purchased from Russia for $7.2 million, about 2 cents an acre, by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward.
1870 - Texas is readmitted to the Union following Reconstruction.
1939 - The German Heinkel He 100 fighter, sets a world airspeed record of 463 mph.
1949 - When Iceland decides to join NATO, a riot breaks out in Austurvollur square in Reykjavik.
1965 - A car bomb explodes in front of the US Embassy, Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.
1972 - The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone of South Vietnam.
1981 - President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr. Regan and three others were shot and wounded, and the President survives with only a punctured lung.