Events Pre-1600 1513 – Having spotted land on March 27, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León comes ashore on what is now the U.S. state of Florida, landing somewhere between the modern city of St. Augustine and the mouth of the St. Johns River. 1601–1900 1755 – Commodore William James captures the Maratha fortress of Suvarnadurg on the west coast of India. 1792 – The Coinage Act is passed by Congress, establishing the United States Mint. 1800 – Ludwig van Beethoven leads the premiere of his First Symphony in Vienna. 1801 – French Revolutionary Wars: In the Battle of Copenhagen a British Royal Navy squadron defeats a hastily assembled, smaller, mostly-volunteer Dano-Norwegian Navy at high cost, forcing Denmark out of the Second League of Armed Neutrality. 1863 – American Civil War: The largest in a series of Southern bread riots occurs in Richmond, Virginia. 1865 – American Civil War: Defeat at the Third Battle of Petersburg forces the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate government to abandon Richmond, Virginia. 1885 – Canadian Cree warriors attack the village of Frog Lake, killing nine. 1901–present 1902 – Dmitry Sipyagin, Minister of Interior of the Russian Empire, is assassinated in the Mariinsky Palace, Saint Petersburg. 1902 – "Electric Theatre", the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles. 1911 – The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducts the country's first national census. 1912 – The ill-fated begins sea trials. 1917 – American entry into World War I: President Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany. 1921 – The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government encompassing the modern state of Iran, is established. 1930 – After the mysterious death of Empress Zewditu, Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia. 1954 – A 19-month-old infant is swept up in the ocean tides at Hermosa Beach, California. Local photographer John L. Gaunt photographs the incident; 1955 Pulitzer winner "Tragedy by the Sea". 1956 – As the World Turns and The Edge of Night premiere on CBS. The two soaps become the first daytime dramas to debut in the 30-minute format. 1964 – The Soviet Union launches Zond 1. 1972 – Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States for the first time since being labeled a communist during the Red Scare in the early 1950s. 1973 – Launch of the LexisNexis computerized legal research service. 1975