15 November History
- 1315 - Swiss soldiers ambush and slaughter invading Austrians in the battle of Morgarten.
- 1533 - The explorer Francisco Pizarro enters Cuzco, Peru.
- 1626 - The Pilgrim Fathers, who have settled in New Plymouth, buy out their London investors.
- 1777 - The Articles of Confederation, instituting perpetual union of the United States of America, are adopted by Congress.
- 1805 - Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and their party reach the mouth of the Columbia River, completing their trek to the Pacific.
- 1806 - Explorer Zebulon Pike discovers the Colorado Peak that bears his name, despite the fact that he didn't climb it.
- 1864 - Union Major General William T. Sherman's troops set fires that destroy much of Atlanta.
- 1881 - The American Federation of Labor is founded.
- 1909 - M. Metrot takes off in a Voisin biplane from Algiers, making the first manned flight in Africa.
- 1917 - Kerensky flees and Bolsheviks take command in Moscow.
- 1920 - Forty-one nations open the first League of Nations session in Geneva..
- 1922 - It is announced that Dr. Alexis Carrel has discovered white corpuscles.
- 1930 - General strikes and riots paralyze Madrid, Spain.
- 1937 - Eighteen lawsuits are brought against the Tennessee Valley Authority, calling for its dissolution.
- 1942 - An American fleet defeats a Japanese naval force in a clash off Guadalcanal.
- 1946 - The 17th Paris Air Show opens at the Grand Palais des Champs-Elysees. It is the first show of this kind since World War II.
- 1952 - Newark Airport in New Jersey reopens after closing earlier in the year because of an increase in accidents.
- 1957 - Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev asserts Soviet superiority in missiles, challenging the United States to a rocket-range shooting match.
- 1960 - The first submarine with nuclear missiles, USS George Washington, takes to sea from Charleston, South Carolina.
- 1962 - Cuba threatens to down U.S. planes on reconnaissance flights over its territory.
- 1963 - Argentina voids all foreign oil contracts.
- 1965 - In the second day of combat, regiments of the 1st Cavalry Division battle on Landing Zones X-Ray against North Vietnamese forces in the Ia Drang Valley.
- 1969 - A quarter of a million anti-Vietnam War demonstrators march in Washington, D.C.
- 1976 - A Syrian peace force takes control of Beirut, Lebanon.
- 1984 - Baby Fae dies 20 days after receiving a baboon heart transplant in Loma Linda, California.
15 November Birthdays
- 1708 - William Pitt the Elder, secretary of state of England whose strategies helped win the Seven Years War.
- 1738 - Sir William Hershel, British astronomer who discovered Uranus.
- 1887 - Georgia O'Keefe, American artist.
- 1891 - Erwin Rommel, German field marshal in World War II.
- 1942 - Daniel Barenboim, Israeli pianist and conductor.