The state of Virginia's secession convention votes to secede from the United States, becoming the 8th state to join the Confederate States of America.
American Civil War: Grierson's Raid begins: Troops under Union Army Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.
The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York, which holds that the "right to free contract" is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.
World War II: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany.
World War II: Montese, Italy, is liberated from Nazi forces.
The People's Republic of Bangladesh is formed.
A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates an explosive device in a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing 11 people and injuring 70.
NASA's Kepler space observatory confirms the discovery of the first Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of another star.