Ulysses S. Grant, Civil War leader and 18th president of the United States, is born on April 27, 1822, in Point Pleasant, Ohio.

On September 27, 1822, French scholar Jean-François Champollion announces he has deciphered the world-renowned Rosetta Stone. His announcement is made at a presentation to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in Paris, France. By decoding Egyptian hieroglyphics, Champollion believes he has the key to unlock Egypt’s mysterious history.

On September 30, 1822, Joseph Marion Hernández becomes the first Hispanic to be elected to the United States Congress. Born a Spanish citizen, Hernández would die in Cuba, but in between he became the first Hispanic American to serve at the highest levels of any of three branches of the American federal government.