On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee ordered attacks against the Union's flanks, triggering ferocious fighting at Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, and Devil's Den. Union forces held their ground at heavy cost, setting the stage for Pickett's Charge the following day and the eventual Confederate defeat.

On July 1, 1867 (with celebrations and governance beginning fully into July 2), the British North America Act came into force, creating the Dominion of Canada as a self-governing federation within the British Empire. John A. Macdonald became the country's first prime minister, launching a nation-building project that would expand across a continent.

Giuseppe Garibaldi, revered across Europe as the soldier-statesman who led the Expedition of the Thousand and helped forge a unified Italian kingdom, died on the island of Caprera. His death prompted mourning across Italy and tributes from republican and nationalist movements worldwide.

Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan vanished during a leg of their round-the-world flight, last heard from as they searched for tiny Howland Island in the vast Pacific. Despite the largest air-and-sea search in U.S. history at the time, no confirmed trace of the plane or crew was ever recovered.

Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law at the White House, ending legal segregation in public places and banning employment discrimination. The bill, championed by the slain President Kennedy and pushed through a filibuster-plagued Senate, marked the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction.

In the months following his seizure of power from President Milton Obote, Idi Amin moved to formalize military rule in Uganda, dissolving parliament and ruling by decree. His regime would descend into one of the most brutal dictatorships in African history, killing an estimated 300,000 Ugandans over eight years.

The Soviet space program launched Mars 2 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying an orbiter and a lander intended to reach Mars ahead of NASA's Viking missions. Though the orbiter succeeded, the lander crashed, becoming the first human-made object to reach the Martian surface — albeit in pieces.