On June 10 in …

1692 –- Bridget Bishop is hanged at Gallows Hill near Salem, MA, for “certaine Detestable Arts called Witchcraft & Sorceries,” part of the infamous Salem Witch Trials.

1898 — U.S. Marines land in Cuba during the Spanish-American War.

1903 – Binney & Smith Company of New York City begins developing a product line of wax crayons. The product is named Crayola.

1935 –- Dr. Robert Smith takes his last drink, and Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, OH, by him and Bill Wilson.

1940 –- Italy declares war on France and the United Kingdom, broadening the early scope of World War II.

On June 9 in …

A.D. 68 –- The Roman emperor Nero commits suicide, after quoting Homer’s “Iliad.” His death ends the Julio-Claudian dynasty and starts the civil war known as “The Year of the Four Emperors.”

1732 –- James Edward Oglethorpe, a British general, Member of Parliament, and philanthropist, is granted an English Royal Charter for the colony of the future U.S. state of Georgia.

1934 –- The iconic cartoon character Donald Duck makes his debut in “The Wise Little Hen.”

1968 –- President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a national day of mourning following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY) three days earlier in Los Angeles.

1973 –- In thoroughbred horse racing, Secretariat wins the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmwood, Queens, NY, the final race in the Triple Crown. Earlier, the horse had captured the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY, and the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, MD.

On July 8 in …

1099 –- On the First Crusade, 15,000 thousand starving Christian soldiers march in a religious procession around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders look on.

1831 -– John Pemberton is born in Knoxville, GA. He will go on to become a chemist and pharmacist and the person who created the secret formula for Coca-Cola.

1932 –- The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, closing at 41.22.

1948 –- The United States Air Force accepts its first female recruits into a program called Women in the Air Force (WAF).

2011 -– The space shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. shuttle program.

On July 7 in …

1456 –- A posthumous retrial results in a verdict acquitting Joan of Arc 25 years after she was burned at the stake on charges of heresy and witchcraft.

1846 -– American troops occupy the towns of Monterey and Yerba Buena during the Mexican-American War, thus beginning the American acquisition of California.

1928 –- Pre-sliced bread is sold for the first time, by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Michigan.

1947 –- It initially is reported that an alien spacecraft has crashed near Roswell, NM, but the government quickly declares it a downed weather balloon. Conspiracy theories and speculation erupt, giving rise to a cottage industry in Roswell books, documentaries, and broad public debate about extraterrestrial life and government coverups that thrives to this day.

1981 –- President Ronald Reagan appoints Sandra Day O’Connor the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States.

On July 6 in …

1189 -– Richard I, popularly known as “The Lionheart” or, in the Norman French language widely used in parts of England, “Coeur de Lion,” ascends to the English throne. Richard spoke langue d’oïl, a French dialect, and lenga d’òc, a Romance language spoken in southern France and nearby regions. Although he was born in England, where he spent his childhood, before becoming king he lived for most of his adult life in the Duchy of Aquitaine in the southwest of France. Following his accession he spent very little time in England, perhaps as little as six months. Most of his life as king was spent on Crusade, in captivity, or in actively defending his lands in France.

1777 — American forces under General Arthur St. Clair retreat from Fort Ticonderoga on Lake George after it was besieged for five days by British artillery under General John Burgoyne.

1854 –- In Jackson, MI, the first convention of the Republican Party is held.

1885 -– Scientist Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies on Joseph Meister, a boy who had been bitten by a rabid dog.

1907 -– Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón is born in the Coyoacán district of Mexico City. As Frida Kahlo she will go on to become a legendary Mexican muralist and educator and will be celebrated in the 2002 Selma Hayek motion picture “Frida.”