Today is Tuesday, October 19, the 292nd day of 2010. There are 73 days left in the year.

On this date

In 1765, the Stamp Act Congress, meeting in New York City, drew up a declaration of rights and liberties.

In 1781, British troops under Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia, as the colonists' revolt neared its end.

In 1812, French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte began their retreat from Moscow.

In 1813, Napoleon's forces are defeated by a combined Austrian, Prussian, Russian, and Swedish army at Leipzig, Germany, marking the end of the French Empire east of the Rhine.

In 1864, Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early attacked Union forces at Cedar Creek, Virginia; the Union troops were able to rally and defeat the Confederates.

In 1943, the foreign ministers of the United States, the Soviet Union and Britain open a conference in Moscow to discuss broad principles of cooperation.

In 1950, United Nations forces enter Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea.

In 1967, the U.S. space probe Mariner 5 flew past Venus.

In 1969, US vice president Spiro Agnew refers to anti-Vietnam War protesters "an effete corps of impudent snobs."

In 1972, US and South Vietnamese officials meet in peace negotiations where the US and North Vietnam will move toward a ceasefire agreement in Indochina and a political accord that would replace the current government in Saigon.

In 1983, the commander of Grenada's armed force announces that prime minister Maurice Bishop, who was under house arrest, has been killed by soldiers after he tried to seize army headquarters.

In 1987, the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, or 22.6 percent in value.

Thought for Today

"Speech is civilisation itself. The word, even the most contradictory word, preserves contact — it is silence which isolates." — Thomas Mann, German author (1875-1955).