This day in history

► Today’s birthdays: R&B singer Earl “Speedo’’ Carroll (The Cadillacs; The Coasters) is 72. Singer Jay Black (Jay and the Americans) is 71. Political commentator Patrick Buchanan is 71. Actress Stefanie Powers is 67. Author Shere Hite is 67. Rock musician Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake and Palmer) is 65. Country-rock singer-songwriter J.D. Souther is 64. Actress Kate Linder is 62. Rock musician Carter Beauford (The Dave Matthews Band) is 52. Singer-songwriter k.d. lang is 48. Rock musician Bobby Dall (Poison) is 46. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage is 45. Actress Lauren Velez is 45. Actor David Schwimmer is 43. Christian/jazz singer Alvin Chea (Take 6) is 42. Rock musician Fieldy is 40. Rock singer-musician John Hampson (Nine Days) is 38. R&B singer Timothy Christian Riley (Tony Toni Tone) is 35. Rapper Nelly is 35. Prodigy (Mobb Deep) is 35. Actor Danny Cooksey is 34. Rock musician Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie) is 34. Country singer Erika Jo (“Nashville Star’’) is 23.

► In 1783, General George Washington issued his Farewell Orders to the Armies of the United States near Princeton, N.J.

► In 1859, John Brown was convicted of treason against Virginia, murder, and conspiracy for his raid on Harpers Ferry. (He was hanged one month later.)

► In 1889, North Dakota and South Dakota became the 39th and 40th states.

► In 1947, Howard Hughes piloted his huge wooden flying boat, the Hughes H-4 Hercules (derisively dubbed the “Spruce Goose’’ by detractors), on its only flight, which lasted about a minute over Long Beach Harbor in California.

► In 1948, President Truman surprised the experts by winning a narrow upset over Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey.

► In 1984, Velma Barfield, convicted of fatally poisoning boyfriend Stuart Taylor, was put to death by injection in Raleigh, N.C., becoming the first woman executed in the US since 1962.

► In 1999, Xerox repairman Byran Uyesugi opened fire on his co-workers in Honolulu, killing seven of them. (Uyesugi was later sentenced to life in prison without parole.)

► In 2004, President George W. Bush was elected to a second term as Republicans strengthened their grip on Congress.

► In 2008, Barack Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, died in Honolulu at 86.