March sixth

Today's Highlight in History:
On March sixth, 1836, the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, fell to Mexican forces after a 13-day siege.

On this date:
In 1834, the city of York in Upper Canada was incorporated as Toronto.

In 1853, Verdi's opera "La Traviata" premiered in Venice, Italy.

In 1857, in its "Dred Scott" decision, the Supreme Court held that Scott, a slave, could not sue for his freedom in federal court.

In 1933, a nationwide bank holiday declared by President Roosevelt went into effect.

In 1935, retired Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Junior died in Washington.

In 1944, US heavy bombers staged the first American raid on Berlin during World War Two.

In 1957, the former British African colonies of the Gold Coast and Togoland became the independent state of Ghana.

In 1981, Walter Cronkite signed off for the last time as principal anchorman of "The CBS Evening News."

In 1983, in a case that drew much notoriety, a woman in New Bedford, Massachusetts, reported being gang-raped atop a pool table in a tavern called Big Dan's; four men were later convicted of the attack.

In 1987, 189 people died when the British ferry "Herald of Free Enterprise" capsized off the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.

Ten years ago: The Soviet parliament overwhelmingly approved legislation allowing people to own factories and hire workers for the first time in nearly seven decades.

Five years ago: The Republican-controlled House took up business-backed legislation to alter the civil legal system over White House objections that some of the proposals were too extreme (the House passed the measure the following day).

One year ago: The emir of Bahrain (Sheik Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa), a key Western ally who had ruled for nearly four decades, died shortly after a meeting with Defense Secretary William Cohen; he was 65.

"To have doubted one's own first principles, is the mark of a civilized man."

-- Oliver Wendell Holmes Junior, US Supreme Court justice (1841-1935).