Edited daily
American history, reported as it happened
Made for the 250thOn this day › July 3
What happened on July 3 in American history
July 3 is the 184th day of the year (the 185th in leap years). Patriot Compass has published 10 stories from July 3 spanning 1754 to 1952. Among them: in 1754, Washington surrenders Fort Necessity; Coulon de Villiers avenges his brother at Jumonville; and in 1775, Washington rides into Cambridge; a crowd of farmers and tradesmen is now his army.
1754Member story · 1776 Club
Washington surrenders Fort Necessity; Coulon de Villiers avenges his brother at Jumonville
Rain-soaked powder and a meadow position with no cover leave the 22-year-old Virginia colonel no choice but to yield to the surrounding French force.
1775
Washington rides into Cambridge; a crowd of farmers and tradesmen is now his army
Commissioned by Congress nine days ago, the new commander-in-chief finds his New England forces short on gunpowder, discipline, and uniforms.
1778Member story · 1776 Club
Patriot militia routed in thirty minutes; 300 die in Wyoming Valley
Butler's Loyalist rangers and Seneca-Cayuga warriors flank and break the Patriot line; the valley's settlements burn in the days that follow.
1814Member story · 1776 Club
Brown's troops take Fort Erie; garrison surrenders after only a few shots
Major Thomas Buck hands over the unfinished British post at the head of the Niagara River as Major General Jacob Brown pushes onto the frontier.
1852Member story · 1776 Club
Congress authorizes a mint in San Francisco; gold from the Sierra foothills will finally become coin
With no facility on the West Coast to strike legal tender, raw California bullion has had nowhere to go since the rush began.
1863
Lee turns south; 12,500 men sent across an open mile are thrown back, and the Army of Northern Virginia retreats
The assault on Cemetery Ridge collapsed under Union artillery and rifle fire before it reached the line; survivors streamed back across the same field.
1890
Harrison signs Idaho into the union; the 43rd state misses the Fourth by one day
Delegate Dubois had asked the President to wait and sign on July 4th; Harrison declined, ending twenty-seven years of territorial status a day early.
1913Member story · 1776 Club
Confederates walk Pickett's ground again; Union men meet them at the wall with open hands
Fifty years after the charge broke on this ridge, Wilson tells the gathered survivors their old battles are "forgotten" except for the valor on both sides.
1952Member story · 1776 Club
Congress ratifies Puerto Rico's constitution; island becomes a commonwealth after 54 years as a territory
Public Law 82-447 passes with required edits to education rights language; Governor Muñoz Marín is expected to proclaim it in effect July 25.
1952Member story · 1776 Club
SS United States reaches Bishop Rock in three days, ten hours; Britain's fourteen-year Atlantic record is broken
Commodore Harry Manning's ship left New York on July 3 and beat the Queen Mary's eastbound crossing by more than ten hours.
Read the full July 3 edition →
← July 2 · Every date · July 4 →