 In 1966, J.J. Abrams, American writer, director, and producer. Today in history, in 1787, British historian Edward Gibbon completed the history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. In 1862, during the first battle of Cold Harbor in the American Civil War, Confederate General Robert E. Lee attacked Union troops, driving them back in disorder and forcing them to withdraw to the south side of the Chickahominy River.