Wednesday · November 11, 2026
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American history, reported as it happened
Made for the 250th
On this day › October 4

What happened on October 4 in American history

October 4 is the 277th day of the year (the 278th in leap years). Patriot Compass has published 6 stories from October 4 spanning 1777 to 1997. Among them: in 1777, Fog swallows Washington's attack; his own columns fire on each other at Germantown; and in 1862, Galveston's mayor surrenders the city after a truce the Confederates used to haul away its cannons.

1777

Fog swallows Washington's attack; his own columns fire on each other at Germantown

A fortified stone mansion and a morning fog stopped Washington's most ambitious attack of the war so far.
1862

Galveston's mayor surrenders the city after a truce the Confederates used to haul away its cannons

A single disabled gun was all that stood at Fort Point when 150 Union sailors raised the flag over the city.
1876Member story · 1776 Club

Forty students report for class at Texas's first public college

The doors were supposed to open two days earlier, but only six students showed up.
1991Member story · 1776 Club

Nations in Madrid sign a pact banning mining across Antarctica

The protocol declares the continent a natural reserve devoted to peace and science, closing the door on a mineral treaty that never won approval.
1993

By dawn, a relief convoy finally reaches the surrounded Americans in Mogadishu

Seventeen hours after the first Black Hawk fell, Pakistani and Malaysian armor opens a corridor out of the city.
1997Member story · 1776 Club

A vault supervisor loads $17.3 million into a company van and drives away

David Ghantt sends a new co-worker home early, then empties the Charlotte vault into private cars at a printing shop across town.