Events on July 3 39
Year 987
Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty that would rule France until the French Revolution in 1792.
Year 1754
French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces.
Year 1767
Pitcairn Island is discovered by Midshipman Robert Pitcairn on an expeditionary voyage commanded by Philip Carteret.
Year 1767
Norway's oldest newspaper still in print, Adresseavisen, is founded and the first edition is published.
Year 1775
American Revolutionary War: George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Year 1778
American Revolutionary War: Iroquois allied to Britain kill 360 people in the Wyoming Valley massacre.
Year 1819
The Bank of Savings in New York City, the first savings bank in the United States, opens.
Year 1839
The first state normal school in the United States, the forerunner to today's Framingham State University, opens in Lexington, Massachusetts with three students.
Year 1849
The French enter Rome in order to restore Pope Pius IX to power. This would prove a major obstacle to Italian unification.
Year 1863
American Civil War: The final day of the Battle of Gettysburg culminates with Pickett's Charge.
Year 1866
Austro-Prussian War is decided at the Battle of Königgrätz, resulting in Prussia taking over as the prominent German nation from Austria.
Year 1886
Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first purpose-built automobile.
Year 1886
The New-York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand.
Year 1898
A Spanish squadron, led by Pascual Cervera y Topete, is defeated by an American squadron under William T. Sampson in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba.
Year 1913
Confederate veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913 reenact Pickett's Charge; upon reaching the high-water mark of the Confederacy they are met by the outstretched hands of friendship from Union survivors.
Year 1938
World speed record for a steam locomotive is set in England, by the Mallard, which reaches a speed of 125.88 miles per hour (202.58 km/h).
Year 1938
United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the Eternal Light Peace Memorial and lights the eternal flame at Gettysburg Battlefield.
Year 1940
World War II: To stop ships from falling into German hands the French fleet of the Atlantic based at Mers El Kébir, is bombarded by the British fleet, coming from Gibraltar, causing the loss of three battleships: Dunkerque, Provence and French battleship Bretagne. 1,200 sailors perish.
Year 1944
World War II: Minsk is liberated from Nazi control by Soviet troops during Operation Bagration.
Year 1952
The SS United States sets sail on her maiden voyage to Southampton. During the voyage, the ship takes the Blue Riband away from the RMS Queen Mary.
Year 1962
Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Year 1967
The Aden Emergency: The Battle of the Crater in which the British Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders retake the Crater district following the Arab Police mutiny.
Year 1969
Space Race: The biggest explosion in the history of rocketry occurs when the Soviet N-1 rocket explodes and subsequently destroys its launchpad.
Year 1979
U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
Year 1988
United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
Year 1988
The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus.
Year 1995
Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party wins the general elections and is restored to power after being in opposition for 15 years.
Year 2013
Egyptian coup d'état: President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi is overthrown by the military after four days of protests all over the country calling for Morsi's resignation, to which he didn't respond. President of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt Adly Mansour is declared acting president.