TODAY IN HISTORY (12TH OCTOBER)

Columbus reaches the New World, 1492

American Revolution

British troops head up East River, 1776

Automotive

Silent-film star Tom Mix dies in Arizona car wreck; brained by "Suitcase of Death", 1940

Civil War

Confederate leader Robert E. Lee dies, 1870

Cold War

Nikita Khrushchev throws a tantrum at the United Nations, 1960

Crime

The victim of an anti-gay assault dies, 1998

Disaster

Fire rages in Minnesota, 1918

General Interest

The origin of Oktoberfest, 1810

British nurse executed in WWI, 1915

Conscientious objector wins Medal of Honor, 1945

USSR leads the space race, 1964

USS Cole attacked by terrorists, 2000

Terrorists kill 202 in Bali, 2002

Hollywood

Al Gore wins Nobel Prize in the wake of An Inconvenient Truth, 2007

Literary

Actress, playwright, novelist Alice Childress is born, 1912

Music

John Denver dies in an aircraft accident, 1997

Old West

The Cowboy actor Tom Mix dies in an Arizona car accident, 1940

Presidential

Thomas Jefferson composes romantic letter, 1786

Sports

Athletics score 10 in eighth inning of championship game, 1929

Vietnam War

Dean Rusk criticizes Congress while fighting continues in South Vietnam, 1967

Nixon announces another round of troop withdrawals, 1970

Racial violence breaks out aboard U.S. Navy ships, 1972

World War I

British nurse Edith Cavell executed , 1915

World War II

Gen. Joseph Stilwell dies, 1946