Today In History

In 1864: Ulysses S. Grant became commander of the Union armies in the Civil War.

In 1876: Alexander Graham Bell made what was, in effect, the first telephone call. His assistant, in an adjoining room in Boston, heard Bell say over the experimental device: “Mr. Watson, come here. I want you.”

In 1969: James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis, Tenn., to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Ray later repudiated that plea.