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In 1781, Britain's Lord Charles Cornwallis surrendered with more than 7,000 troops to Gen. George Washington at Yorktown, Va., effectively ending the American War of Independence.
In 1789, John Jay was sworn in as first chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
In 1812, Napoleon's beaten French army began its long, disastrous retreat from Moscow.
In 1982, carmaker John DeLorean was arrested in Los Angeles and charged in a $24 million cocaine scheme aimed at salvaging his bankrupt sports car company. (He was tried and acquitted.)
In 1994, a terrorist bombing killed more than 20 people on a bus in Tel Aviv, Israel.
In 2005, a defiant Saddam Hussein pleaded innocent as he went on trial in Baghdad on charges of murder and torture during his reign as president of Iraq. (Saddam was executed Dec. 30, 2006.)
In 2008, two weeks before Election Day, Colin Powell, a Republican and former secretary of state in the George W. Bush administration, endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president.
In 2009, the U.S. government announced it would no longer prosecute people who use or sell marijuana for medicinal purposes if they are complying with state laws.
In 2012, Big Tex, the 52-foot statue that welcomed visitors to the Texas State Fair for 60 years, burned to the ground. Authorities said the fire apparently was caused by an electrical short in Tex's motorized boot.
In 2013, a violin played by the musical conductor of the Titanic as the ship sank after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic in 1912 sold for more than $1.7 million at an auction in London.