Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/July 4
- 1054 - Chinese astronomers observed a supernova in the Crab Nebula
- 1187 - Saladin defeated Guy of Lusignan at the Battle of Hattin.
- 1776 - The Continental Congress approved a Declaration of Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.
- 1802 - At West Point, New York the United States Military Academy opened.
- 1939 - ALS-stricken Lou Gehrig announced his retirement from baseball, saying he was "the luckiest man on the face of the earth".