Today in History: May 6

1527: German troops begin sacking Rome. Libraries are destroyed, the Pope is captured and thousands are killed.

1529: Babur defeats the Afgan Chiefs in the Battle of Ghagra, India.

1682: King Louis XIV moves his court to Versailles, France.

1856: U.S. Army troops from Fort Tejon and Fort Miller prepare to ride out to protect Keyesville, California, from Yokut Indian attack.

1861: Arkansas becomes the ninth state to secede from the Union.

1862: Henry David Thoreau dies of tuberculosis at age 44.

1864: In the second day of the Battle of Wilderness between Union General Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Confederate Gen. James Longstreet is wounded by his own men.

1877: Chief Crazy Horse surrenders to U.S. troops in Nebraska.Crazy Horse brought General Custer to his end.

1937: The dirigible Hindenburg explodes in flames at Lakehurst, New Jersey.

1941: Bob Hope gives his first USO show at California’s March Field.

1942: General Jonathan Wainwright surrenders Corregidor to the Japanese.

1944: The Red Army besieges and captures Sevastopol in the Crimea.

1945: Axis Sally makes her final propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.

1954: British runner Roger Banister breaks the four minute mile.

1960: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960.

1962: The first nuclear warhead is fired from a Polaris submarine.

1994: The Channel Tunnel linking England to France is officially opened.