On this date in...

1862...The Civil War ironclad "Monitor" is launched from Greenpoint, Brooklyn. She racks up a slew of victories against Confederate wooden ships, leading up to her duel with the "Merrimac" in March of that year.

1981...Lower Broadway is bathed in a shower of yellow ribbons and tickertape as some two million New Yorkers turn out for a parade honoring the freed U.S. embassy hostages who had been held captive in Iran for more than a year.

1989...In a case that gains national attention, Manhattan attorney Joel Steinberg is convicted of first-degree manslaughter in the death of his adopted daughter Lisa. He is sentenced to up to 25 years in prison, but is released for good behavior in 2004.

Today's New Yorker birthdays include Broadway director and New York native Harold Prince, born in 1928.