Today In History

In 1485:England’s King Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field, ending the War of the Roses.

In 1775: England’s King George III proclaimed the American colonies in a state of open rebellion.

In 1846: The United States annexed New Mexico.

In 1851: The schooner America outraced the Aurora off the English coast to win a trophy that became known as the America’s Cup.

In 1911: The Louvre Museum announced in Paris that Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa had been stolen from the night before. (The painting turned up two years later, in Italy.)

In 1986: Kerr-McGee Corp. agreed to pay the estate of the late Karen Silkwood $1.38 million, settling a 10-year-old nuclear contamination lawsuit.