July 24

1132 – Battle of Nocera between Ranulf II of Alife and Roger II of Sicily. 1148 – Louis VII of France lays siege to Damascus during the Second Crusade. 1304 – Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle: King Edward I of England takes the stronghold using the War Wolf. 1411 – Battle of Harlaw, one of the bloodiest battles in Scotland, takes place. 1412 – Behnam Hadloyo becomes Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Mardin. 1487 – Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands, strike against a ban on foreign beer. 1534 – French explorer Jacques Cartier plants a cross on the Gaspé Peninsula and takes possession of the territory in the name of Francis I of France. 1567 – Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate and be replaced by her one-year-old son James VI. 1701 – Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founds the trading post at Fort Pontchartrain, which later becomes the city of Detroit. 1712 – War of the Spanish Succession: The French under Marshal Villars win a decisive victory over Eugene of Savoy at Denain. 1847 – After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City. 1847 – Richard March Hoe, American inventor, patented the rotary-type printing press. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Kernstown: Confederate General Jubal Early defeats Union troops led by General George Crook in an effort to keep them out of the Shenandoah Valley. 1866 – Reconstruction: Tennessee becomes the first U.S. state to be readmitted to Congress following the American Civil War. 1901 – O. Henry is released from prison in Columbus, Ohio, after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank. 1910 – The Ottoman Empire captures the city of Shkodër, putting down the Albanian Revolt of 1910. 1911 – Hiram Bingham III re-discovers Machu Picchu, "the Lost City of the Incas". 1915 – The passenger ship capsizes while tied to a dock in the Chicago River. A total of 844 passengers and crew are killed in the largest loss of life disaster from a single shipwreck on the Great Lakes.