1780: British spy John Andre was captured along with papers revealing Benedict Arnold's plot to surrender West Point to the British.
1806: The Lewis and Clark expedition returned to St. Louis more than two years after setting out for the Pacific Northwest.
1846: Neptune was identified as a planet by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle.
1939: Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, died in London at age 83.
1952: Sen. Richard M. Nixon, R-Calif., facing calls to withdraw as Dwight D. Eisenhower's running mate, went on television to defend himself against allegations of improper campaign fundraising. The address, which came to be known as the "Checkers" speech because of Nixon's on-air reference to a dog given to his family as a gift, proved highly successful in rallying public support for keeping Nixon on the GOP ticket.
1957: Nine black students who had entered Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas were forced to withdraw because of a white mob outside.
