August 6, 1780—During the Battle of Hanging Rock, Revolutionary War Gen. Thomas Sumter leads his 300 outnumbered American patriots to victory against the British in Lancaster County, South Carolina. A 13-year-old future Pres. Andrew Jackson takes part in the battle.
Hiroshima bombing
August 6, 1945—Col. Paul Tibbets takes off on his B-29 Superfortress bomber the Enola Gay and drops the first uranium atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan.
First execution by electric chair
The first execution by electric chair took place in a New York prison. More »
The United States drops the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber. dropped the bomb, code-named "Little Boy", which killed between 90,000 and 150,000 Japanese.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act, helping to secure voting rights for all people of color in the United States 100 years after the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment.
The bloody battle of Oriskany helps American Patriots relieve Fort Stanwix and prevents the joint Loyalist/Indian force from threatening the Hudson River Valley. The British plan to occupy New York failed as the British outfit, commanded by Colonel Barry St. Leger, could not join forces with General John Burgoyne.