On July 11, 1767, John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States, was born in Braintree (now Quincy), Mass.
In 1780 Comte de Rochambeau, a French general in command of 5,500 French soldiers, arrived in Newport, R.I., to aid the Americans in the Revolutionary War.
In 1798 the U.S. Marine Corps was created by an act of Congress.
In 1804 Vice President Aaron Burr fatally wounded ex-Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in a pistol duel in Weehawken, N.J.
In 1864 Confederate forces led by Gen. Jubal Early advanced on Washington, D.C.
In 1952 Republicans convening in Chicago nominated Dwight Eisenhower for the presidency and Richard Nixon as his running mate.
In 1955 the new Air Force Academy was dedicated at Lowry Air Base, Colo.
In 1979 the abandoned Skylab space station burned up in the atmosphere, showering debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia.
In 1982 a train plunged into a gorge in western Mexico, killing 120 passengers.
In 1985 Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros became the first pitcher in major league baseball to strike out 4,000 hitters.
