Today's Highlight in History:
On March 8, 1862, during the Civil War, the ironclad CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack) rammed and sank the USS Cumberland and inflicted heavy damage on the USS Congress, both frigates, off Newport News, Va.
On this date:
In 1702, England's Queen Anne acceded to the throne upon the death of King William III.
In 1782, the Gnadenhutten massacre took place as more than 90 Indians were slain by militiamen in Ohio in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indians.
In 1854, U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry made his second landing in Japan; within a month, he concluded a treaty with the Japanese.
In 1874, the 13th president of the United States, Millard Fillmore, died in Buffalo, N.Y.
In 1917, Russia's "February Revolution" (so called because of the Old Style calendar being used by Russians at the time) began with rioting and strikes in Petrograd.
In 1917, the U.S. Senate voted to limit filibusters by adopting the cloture rule.
In 1930, the 27th president of the United States, William Howard Taft, died in Washington at age 72.
In 1948, the Supreme Court, in McCollum v. Board of Education, struck down voluntary religious education classes in Champaign, Ill., public schools, saying the program violated separation of church and state.
In 1965, the United States landed its first combat troops in South Vietnam, about 3,500 Marines sent to defend the U.S. air base at Da Nang.
In 1999, New York Yankees baseball star Joe DiMaggio died in Hollywood, Fla., at age 84.
Ten years ago: James McDougal, one of the most important cooperating witnesses in Kenneth Starr's Whitewater investigation, died in a federal medical prison in Fort Worth, Texas, at age 57. More than a foot of wind-driven snow paralyzed travel across the central Plains and Midwest. Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke died in Florida at age 61.
