On This Day: D.C. sniper John Allen Muhammad executed

Nov. 10 (UPI) — On this date in history:

In 1775, the United States Marine Corps, then known as the Continental Marines, was formed by order of the Second Continental Congress. President Gerald Ford marked the 200th birthday of the military branch by laying a wreath at the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va.

In 1871, journalist Henry Stanley found Scottish missionary David Livingstone in a small African village. His famous comment: “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”

In 1898, a mob of more than 2,000 people, angry over the election of a Fusionist white mayor and a biracial city council, went on a rampage throughout the city of Wilmington, N.C., targeting and killing African Americans.

In 1918, a Western Union Cable Office in Nova Scotia received a top-secret message stating that all fighting related the Great War (World War I) would cease on Nov. 11, 1918.

In 1942, Nazi troops entered previously unoccupied France, the de facto government of which was centered in Vichy state. The occupation was spurred by Allied forces teaming up with free French forces in North Africa to battle Axis powers. Germany already occupied northern France in 1940 and Vichy, led by Marshal Philippe Petain in the south, was considered to be a puppet of the Germans.

In 1951, area codes were introduced in the United States, Canada and parts of the Caribbean, allowing direct-dialing of long-distance telephone calls.

In 1969, Sesame Street premiered on PBS with the lofty ideals aimed at being an “experimental laboratory to stimulate the educational development of preschool children via television.”

In 1975, the ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald broke in two and sank during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew members.

In 1982, Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev died at age 75 after 18 years in power.

In 1983, Microsoft released its Windows computer operating system.

In 2003, U.S. Congress redesigned Congaree National Monument as Congaree National Park in South Carolina.

In 2006, Mexico City lawmakers officially recognized same-sex civil unions.

In 2009, John Allen Muhammad, convicted as the sniper who killed 10 people in a 2002 shooting spree in the Washington area, was executed in Virginia.

In 2020, Armenia signed a peace deal with Azerbaijan and Russia, bringing an end to fighting over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In 2022, the private art collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sold for $1.5 billion, the largest single-owner collection ever sold at auction.