962: Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops storm the city of Aleppo, recovering the tattered tunic of John the Baptist

1688: King James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch flees to France from William of Orange

1783: US General George Washington resigns his military commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Army to Congress

1888: Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear with a razor, after argument with fellow painter Paul Gauguin, and sends to a prostitute for safe keeping

1920: Government of Ireland Act / Home Rule Act passed partitioning Ireland

1954: The first human kidney transplant is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts

Source: Onthisday.com