July 4 (UPI) -- On this date in history: In 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming U.S. independence from Britain. In 1826, in one of history's notable coincidences, former U.S. Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died, 50 years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was adopted. In 1863, Union troops defeated Confederate forces in a battle at Vicksburg, Miss. In 1895, the poem "America the Beautiful," by Wellesley College