October 2 is the 275th day of the year (276th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 90 days remain until the end of the year.
1263 – The Battle of Largs is fought between Norwegians and Scots.
1470 – The Earl of Warwick's rebellion forces King Edward IV of England to flee to the Netherlands, restoring Henry VI to the throne.
1552 – Russo-Kazan Wars: Russian troops enter Kazan
1780 – American Revolutionary War: John André, a British Army officer, is hanged as a spy by the Continental Army.
1789 – The United States Bill of Rights is sent to the various States for ratification.
1835 – Texas Revolution: Mexican troops attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, but encounter stiff resistance from a hastily assembled militia.
1864 – American Civil War: Confederates defeat a Union attack on Saltville, Virginia. A massacre of wounded Union prisoners ensues.
1920 – Ukrainian War of Independence: Mikhail Frunze orders the Red Army to immediately cease hostilities with the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine.
1928 – The 'Prelature of the Holy Cross and the Work of God', commonly known as Opus Dei, is founded.
1937 – Rafael Trujillo orders the execution of Haitians living in the border region of the Dominican Republic.
1942 – World War II: Ocean Liner RMS Queen Mary accidentally rams and sinks HMS Curacoa, killing over 300 crewmen aboard Curacoa.
1944 – World War II: German troops end the Warsaw Uprising
1967 – Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first African-American justice of the United States Supreme Court.
1968 – Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz orders soldiers to suppress a demonstration of unarmed students, ten days before the start of the 1968 Summer Olympics.
1970 – An aircraft carrying the Wichita State University football team, administrators, and supporters crashes killing 31 people.
1971 – South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu is reelected in a one-man election