Wednesday · November 11, 2026
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American history, reported as it happened
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On this day › October 2

What happened on October 2 in American history

October 2 is the 275th day of the year (the 276th in leap years). Patriot Compass has published 6 stories from October 2 spanning 1780 to 1980. Among them: in 1780, André hangs at Tappan; he placed the noose himself; and in 1789, Twelve amendments leave Washington's desk, bound for thirteen statehouses.

1780

André hangs at Tappan; he placed the noose himself

Washington denied a British officer's last request to die by firing squad as a soldier.
1789

Twelve amendments leave Washington's desk, bound for thirteen statehouses

The President forwards a resolution of twelve amendments; only ten will survive to become the Bill of Rights.
1864Member story · 1776 Club

Confederates hold the Saltville saltworks; wounded Union prisoners are murdered after the battle

Black cavalrymen who surrendered or lay wounded on the field were shot where they fell.
1919Member story · 1776 Club

A stroke fells Wilson in the White House; the President is left unable to govern

Seven days after collapsing in Pueblo, Colorado, Wilson is paralyzed and largely cut off from his own government.
1967Member story · 1776 Club

Thurgood Marshall takes the judicial oath; the Supreme Court has its first Black justice

Five weeks after a 69-11 Senate vote, the nation's leading civil rights lawyer puts on the robe.
1980

The House votes 376 to 30 to expel Michael Myers; no member has left this way since the Civil War

Caught on FBI tape taking a $50,000 bribe, the Pennsylvania Democrat becomes the first lawmaker expelled from Congress in more than a century.