Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1822

Florida became a U.S. territory.

1842

Dr. Crawford W. Long of Jefferson, Ga., first used ether as an anesthetic during a minor operation.

1867

U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million, a deal roundly ridiculed as ''Seward's Folly.''

1870

The 15th amendment to the Constitution, giving black men the right to vote, was declared in effect.

1870

Texas was readmitted to the Union.

1909

The Queensboro Bridge, linking the New York boroughs of Manhattan and Queens, opened.

1945

The Soviet Union invaded Austria during World War II.

1981

President Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House news secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a District of Columbia police officer.

1994

Serbs and Croats signed a cease-fire to end their war in Croatia while Bosnian Muslims and Serbs continued to battle each other.

1995

Pope John Paul II issued the 11th encyclical of his papacy in which he condemned abortion and euthanasia as crimes that no human laws could legitimize.

1998

Rolls-Royce was purchased by German automaker BMW for $570 million.

1999

A jury in Portland, Ore., ordered Philip Morris to pay $81 million to the family of a man who died of lung cancer after smoking Marlboros for four decades.

1986

Actor James Cagney died at his farm in Stanfordville, N.Y., at age 86.