January 5th
1781
A British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burned Richmond, Virginia.
1809
The Treaty of the Dardanelles which ended the Anglo-Turkish War, was concluded by the United Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire.
1865
W.H. Stradling died on this date at East Pascaqoula, Mississippi during the Civil War.
1895
French Captian Alfred Dreyfus, convicted of treason, was publically stripped of his rank.
1896
An Austrian newspaper, Wiener Presse, reported the discovery by German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen of a type of radiation that came to be known as "x-rays."
1925
Nellie T. Ross became Governor of Wyoming, she was the first female governor in U. S. history.
1933
The 30th President of the United States, Calvin Collidge, died in Northampton, Massachusetts at age 60.
1949
In his State of the Union address, President Harry S. Truman labeled his adminstration the Fair Deal.
1957
President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed assistance to countries to help them resist Communist aggression, this became known as the Eisenhower Doctrine.
1970
Joseph A. Yablonski, an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America, was found murdered with his wife and daughter at their Clarksville, Pennsylvania home.
1994
Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, former Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives died in Boston, Massachusetts at age 81.
1998
Sonny Bono, the 1960s pop-star-turned-politician was killed when he struck a tree while skiing in South Lake Tahoe, California at the age of 62.