49 BC Pompeian forces retreat from Ildera, Spain, pursued by Caesar

455 Rome was sacked King Gaiseric and the Vandals, capturing Empress Licinia Eudoxia and her daughters

597 Æthelberht of Kent becomes the first Christian king in Britain, baptized by St. Augustine of Canterbury

1070 The Danes under Hereward the Wake sack Peterborough Abbey

1183 Battle of Kurikara: Japanese Minamoto clan defeats the Tiara

1183 Saladin captured Aleppo from the Zengids

1424 Battle of L'Aquila: The Angevins defeat the Bracceschi

1442 Alfonso I of Aragon takes Naples, with a little help from Procopius

1525 Battle of Konigshafen: German Tauber rebels defeated

1635 John Milton joins The Honourable Artillery Company of London

1635 Pietro Cesare Alberti lands in Nieuw Amsterdam, the Big Apple's first Italian settler

1774 Parliament passes the Quartering Act, billeting troops in private homes

1780 The Gordon Riots (June 2-7): Anti-Catholic rioters run amok in London, attack Parliament, embassies -- at least 285 killed, c. 200 wounded, c. 450 arrested.

1784 Congress disbands the last elements of the Continental Army, save for c. 100 troops guarding supplies at West Point and Ft. Pitt

1794 The French Balloon Corps makes its first operational ascents, supporting the Army of the North at Maubeuge

1864 Battle of Cold Harbor, Day 2

1865 The Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department surrenders to Union forces

1866 Battle of Ridgeway (Ontario): the Canadians defeat invading Fenians, who retreat back to the US, and are arrested

1878 Kaiser Wilhelm I is seriously wounded in an assassination attempt by Dr. Karl Nobling

1910 C.S. Rolls made the first round trip flight across the English channel

1914 Glenn Curtiss flies his 'Langley Aerodrome'

1924 Congress grants citizenship to Native Americans

1928 Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek captures Peking

1936 Gen Anastasio Somoza becomes "President" of Nicaragua

1940 Heavy German bombing of the Dunkirk beachhead

1941 'Long Island' (CVE-1), the first escort carrier, is completed, 88 days after conversion began

1942 Aleutians Campaign: Japanese carrier a/c raid Dutch Harbor

1943 The 99th Pursuit Sqn, with all African-American personnel, flies its 1st combat mission, over Italy

1943 Pope Pius XII denounces aerial bombardment of civilians and is totally ignored by everyone

1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey

1969 South China Sea: Australian CV 'Melbourne' rams USS 'Frank E Evans' (DD-754), 74 die

1989 Pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square, Beijing

1995 USAF Capt Scott O'Grady's F-16C shot down over Bosnia

2015 Pres. Obama awarded belated Medals of Honor to William Shemin (47th Inf.) and Henry Johnson (369th Inf. -- the "Harlem Hell Fighters") for heroism in WW I