Today in History.....March 9

On this day in …

* 1796, the future emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, married Josephine de Beauharnais. The couple divorced in 1809

* 1860, the first Japanese ambassador to the United States (Niimi
Buzennokami) and his staff arrived in San Francisco

* 1862, during the Civil War, the ironclads Monitor and Virginia (formerly Merrimac) clashed for five hours to a draw at Hampton Roads, Va.

* 1916, Mexican raiders led by Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, N.M., killing more than a dozen people

* 1933, Congress, called into special session by President Roosevelt, began its "hundred days" of enacting New Deal legislation

* 1945, during World War II, U.S. B-29 bombers launched incendiary bomb attacks against Japan

* 1975, work began on the Alaskan oil pipeline

* 1977, about a dozen armed practitioners of that "religion of peace" invaded three buildings in Washington, killing one person and taking more than 130 hostages. The siege ended two days later

* 1996, the space shuttle Columbia landed safely a day late at the Kennedy Space Center, ending a 16-day mission

* 2001, a judge in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., sentenced 14-year-old Lionel Tate to life in prison for killing Tiffany Eunick, a six-year old girl. (Tate's first-degree murder conviction and sentence were later overturned; he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a new sentence of probation, but is now accused of violating that probation.)

* 2005, a disgraced Dan Rather signed off for the last time as principal anchorman of "The CBS Evening News"