2010: An oil rig, called the Deepwater Horizon, exploded and sank, releasing oil into the Gulf of Mexico that flowed unabated until September. Eleven people died in the explosion. It is called the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill because British Petroleum (BP) was leasing the oil rig.

1850: American sculptor Daniel Chester French was born in Exeter, New Hampshire and raised in Cambridge and Concord, Massachusetts. Author and fellow Concord resident Louisa May Alcott encouraged French to pursue a career as an artist. Louisa's artist sister, May Alcott, was his early teacher. He sculpted the statue - The Minute Man, completed in 1875. It is located in the Minute Man National Historical Park. French also sculpted the statue of Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial.(Source: Library of Congress)