From Historynet: Today in History March 6

1521          Ferdinand Magellan  discovers Guam.

1820          The Missouri Compromise is enacted by Congress and signed by President James Monroe , providing for the admission of Missouri into the Union as a slave state, but prohibits slavery in the rest of the northern Louisiana Purchase territory.

1836          After fighting for 13 days, the Alamo falls.

1853          Giuseppe Verdi's  opera La Traviata premieres in Venice.

1857          The Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision holds that blacks cannot be citizens.

1860          While campaigning for the presidency, 

Abraham Lincoln  makes a speech defending the right to strike.

1862          The USS Monitor left New York with a crew of 63, seven officers and 56 seamen.

1884          Over 100 suffragists, led by 

Susan B. Anthony , present 

President Chester A. Arthur  with a demand that he voice support for female suffrage.

1888          Louisa May Alcott  dies just hours after the burial of her father.

1899          Aspirin is patented following Felix Hoffman's  discoveries about the properties of acetylsalicylic acid.

1901          A would-be assassin tries to kill Wilhelm II  of Germany in Bremen.

1914          German Prince Wilhelm de Wied  is crowned as King of Albania.

1916          The Allies recapture Fort Douaumont in France during the Battle of Verdun.

1928          A Communist attack on Beijing results in 3,000 dead and 50,000 fleeing to Swatow.

1939          In Spain, Jose Miaja  takes over Madrid government after a military coup and vows to seek "peace with honor."

1943          British RAF fliers bomb Essen and the Krupp arms works in the Ruhr, Germany.

1945          Cologne, Germany, falls to 

General Courtney Hodges'  First Army.

1947          Winston Churchill  opposes the withdrawal of troops from India.

1948          During talks in Berlin, the Western powers agree to internationalize the Ruhr region.

1953          Upon Josef Stalin's  death, 

Georgi Malenkov  is named Soviet premier.

1960          The Swiss grant women the right to vote in municipal elections.

1965          The United States announces that it will send 3,500 troops to Vietnam.

1967          President Lyndon B. Johnson  announces his plan to establish a draft lottery.

1973          President Richard Nixon  imposes price controls on oil and gas.

1975          Iran and Iraq announce that they have settled the border dispute.

1980          Islamic militants in Tehran say that they will turn over the American hostages to the Revolutionary Council.

1981          President Reagan  announces plans to cut 37,000 federal jobs.

1987          The British ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes in the Channel off the coast of Belgium. At least 26 are dead.