This Day in History

1548: Gonzalo Pizarro, Spanish colonial governor of Quito (now in Ecuador ) and leader of a rebellion against Spain, is defeated at Jaquijaguana.
1682: Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle, claims the lower Mississippi River region for France and calls it Louisiana.
1865: The Civil War ends when Gen. Robert E. Lee surrenders 27,800 Confederate troops to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, VA.
1917: The Allies begin their first attempt to break through German lines near Arras, France during World War I.
1939: After not being allowed to sing in the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall, opera singer Marian Anderson delivers an open-air concert from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
1940: Germany invades Norway and Denmark.
1941: An agreement is reached with Denmark giving the U.S. "protective custody" over Greenland during World War II.
1948: The assassination of Colombian Liberal party leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán in Bogotá sparks a nationwide uprising against the Conservative government; some 1500 were killed and more than 20,000 injured.
1970: Paul McCartney announces that the Beatles are to break up.
1992: A U.S. jury finds Panamanian leader Manuel Antonio Noriega guilty of drug trafficking, money laundering, and racketeering.
2003: Joyous Iraqis, helped by Americans, topple a 20-foot statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad's Firdos Square.