1865: Congress passes, by vote of 121-24, the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution, abolishing slavery in the United States – except as punishment for a crime [1] [2]

1865: General Robert E. Lee named Commander-in-Chief of Confederate Armies during US Civil War

1943: German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to Soviet troops at Stalingrad

1950: US President Harry Truman publicly announces support for the development of a hydrogen bomb

1985: South African President P. W. Botha offers to free Nelson Mandela if he denounces violence

Source: Onthisday.com