Associated Press

On July 3, 1775, Gen. George Washington took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In 1863, the pivotal three-day Civil War Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania ended in a major victory for the North.

In 1944, during World War II, Soviet forces recaptured Minsk from the Germans.

In 1971, singer Jim Morrison of the Doors died in Paris at age 27.

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan presided over a gala ceremony in New York Harbor that saw the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty.

In 2011, Novak Djokovic won his first Wimbledon, beating defending champion Rafael Nadal.

In 2012, Andy Griffith, who made American Southern wisdom his trademark in “The Andy Griffith Show,” died at his North Carolina home at age 86.