Today in HisStory September 23

John Oldcastle was martyred. He was a preacher and reformer 100 years before Martin Luther. (1413)

King Philip II of Spain forbad Spanish settlements in Florida. (1561)

Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts had its first commencement. (1642)

A law was passed in Williamsburg, Virginia banning slaves from obtaining freedom by converting to Christianity. (1667)

American Revolution: The U.S. ship Bonhomme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, won an engagement against the British ships of war off the eastern coast of England. (1779)

American Revolution: British Major John Andre revealed Benedict Arnold’s plot to betray West Point and was captured as a spy. (1780)

Lewis and Clark returned to St. Louis from the Pacific Northwest. (1806)

Planet Neptune was discovered. (1846)

Jeremy Lanphier started a prayer meeting with only six people in New York City. Within six months, it turned into a prayer revival with over 10,000 present each day. (1857)

Lincoln’s Emancipation was published in Northern newspapers. (1862)

US Civil War: Confederate siege of Chattanooga began. (1863)

Herman Hollerith patented his mechanical tabulating machine. (1884)

Nintendo Koppai was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda. Later it was renamed Nintendo Company, Limited. (1889)

First Frontier Days Rodeo Celebration was held in Cheyenne, Wyoming. (1897)

A time capsule was buried at the World’s Fair in New York City. The capsule contained a woman’s hat, man’s pipe, and 1,100′ of microfilm. It was set to be opened in 6939 (1938)

WW2: Winston Churchill succeeded Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister. (1940)

WW2: General de Gaulle formed the French government in exile in London. (1941)

WW2: The first gas murder experiments were conducted at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. (1941)

WW2: The Manhattan Project started under the direction of US General Leslie Groves. Its aim was to deliver an atomic bomb. (1942)

WW2: Proclamation Number 30 was issued declaring the existence of a state of war between the Philippines and the United States and United Kingdom. (1944)

US President Harry Truman announced evidence of USSR’s first nuclear device detonation. (1949)

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Ralph Bunche for mediation in Israel. He was the first African American to win the award. (1950)

A white mob forced nine black students in a Little Rock high school in Arkansas to withdraw. (1957)

The trial for the Chicago Eight started in Chicago. They were antiwar activists charged violent demonstrations at the August 1968 Democratic National Convention. (1969)

The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox, Phoenix 0.1, was released. (2002)

Hurricane Jeanne killed 1,070 in Haiti. (2004)

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Today in HisStory September 22

An entire Roman legion who had converted to Christianity was martyred for refusing to sacrifice to pagan gods. (287 AD)

Switzerland became an independent state. (1499)

One of the first all female juries heard the case of Judith Catchpole accused of killing her child and acquitted her in Patuxent County, Maryland. (1656)

The last eight were hanged for witchcraft during Salem Witch Trials. Rev. Increase Mather, published Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits in October warning of the fury and lack of credible evidence. This caused the witchcraft trials to die down even though a few more trials took place. (1692)

American Revolutionary War: Nathan Hale became the first American spy to be executed. “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country,” were reported to be Hale’s last words before being hung. (1776)

US Office of Postmaster General was created. (1789)

French Revolution: French First Republic was formed by the National Convention, stripping French king of his powers. (1792)

US Civil War: Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in states in rebellion. He said he would free all slaves in all states by January 1st, 1863. (1862)

Charlotte Elliott, author of Just As I Am, died (1871)

Rudolf Virchow delivered an anti-Darwinian speech to the Congress of German Naturalist and Physicians, Munich where he spoke against the teaching of the theory of evolution in schools (1877)

Queen Victoria surpassed her grandfather King George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history. (1896)

Southern Methodist University held its first class in Dallas, Texas. (1915)

US Congress passes the Cable Act. An American women who married an ‘alien’ would not lose citizenship. A women marrying an American did not automatically become a citizen. (1922)

Author CS Lewis converted to Christianity following a talk he’d had with friends J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson. (1931)

The first four-level or “stack” highway interchange in the world opened in Los Angeles, California. (1953)

US President John F. Kennedy signed legislation establishing the Peace Corps. (1961)

US President Richard Nixon requested 1,000 new FBI agents for college campuses. (1970)

Henry Kissinger was sworn in as America’s first Jewish Secretary of State. (1973)

Sitcom Family Ties starring Michael J. Fox premiered on NBC (1982)

California University made Dead Sea Scrolls public. (1999)

CERN scientists announced their discovery of neutrinos breaking the speed of light. (2011)

 

Today in HisStory September 21

English King Richard I the Lion hearted was captured by Leopold V, Duke of Austria. (1192)

King James I of England gave Sir Alexander Sterling a royal charter for colonisation of Nova Scotia. (1621)

American Revolutionary War: Nathan Hale was arrested by the British. He was the first known American spy and was considered the first American martyr. (1776)

American Revolutionary War: Five days after the British took New York, a quarter of the city burned down. When British soldiers went to put the fire out, they discovered fire equipment had been sabotaged. Outraged, they immediately put the blame on Americans, arresting over 200 patriot sympathizers, and brutally executing many of the primary suspects involved. Nobody knows if the fire was started by a patriot. Nathan Hale no doubt saw the city in flames while he was placed under arrest. (1776)

American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold became a traitor and gave British Major Andre plans to West Point. (1780)

Pennsylvania Packet & General Advertiser became first daily newspaper in US. (1784)

French Revolution: The Monarchy was abolished in France. (1792)

According to Joseph Smith Jr., the angel Moroni gave him a record of gold plates, one-third of which Joseph translated into The Book of Mormon. (1827)

Charles Tiffany founded his jewelry and china stores. (1837)

US Civil War: Union forces retreated to Chattanooga after the defeat at Chickamauga. Confederates kept the city under siege allowing no resources or men into the city for months. (1863)

Author H.G. Wells was born. (1866)

John Henry Conyers of South Carolina became first black student at Annapolis. (1872)

New York Sun ran famous Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus editorial. (1897)

Empress Dowager Cixi seized power and ended the Hundred Days’ Reform in China, imprisoning the Guangxu Emperor (1898)

First western movie, Kit Carson, premiered. (1903)

President Warren G Harding signed a joint resolution of approval to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. (1922)

WW2: Martin Niemoeller organized 7,000 German Churches into the Pastors’ Emergency League during Hitler’s rise to power. (1933)

The Hobbit was first published. (1937)

Hurricane in New England killed 700. (1938)

WW2: Winston Churchill condemned Hitler’s annexation of Czechoslovakia. (1938)

WW2: Reinhard Heydrich met in Berlin to discuss the final solution of Jews. (1939)

WW2: 116 hostages were executed by Nazis in Paris. (1942)

Chinese Communist leaders proclaimed the People’s Republic of China. (1949)

Perry Mason premiered on CBS. (1957)

Adam-12 premiered on ABC. (1968)

Orlando Letelier was assassinated in Washington, D.C. He was a member of the Chilean socialist government of Salvador Allende, overthrown in 1973 by Augusto Pinochet. (1976)

Radical Muslims opened fire and killed three at a Christian radio station run by Far East Broadcasting Company in Zamboanga, Philippines. (1992)

Today in HisStory September 20

Roman General Flavius Aetius defeated Attila the Hun at The Battle of the Catalaunian Plainsat. This halted the Hun invasion of Roman Gaul. (451)

Saladin, sultan of Egypt and Syria, began a siege on Jerusalem. (1187)

Ferdinand Magellan started the first successful circumnavigation of the world. He was killed before they completed it. (1519)

Over 300 Huguenots in Florida were slaughtered by Spanish Captain Pedro Menéndez. This was the first European battle on American soil. (1565)

During the English Civil War, In the First Battle of Newbury, King Charles I’s forces were beaten by a parliamentary army led by the Earl of Essex and Philip Stapleton. (1643)

Maryland passed the first law to ban interracial marriage. (1664)

American Revolutionary War: Redcoats killed sleeping American soldiers in the Paoli Massacre. (1777)

Star Spangled Banner was published as a song. The lyrics were by Francis Scott Key, and the tune was by John Stafford Smith. (1814)

Slave trade was abolished in DC, but slavery was allowed to continue. (1850)

George Simpson patented the electric range. (1859)

US Civil War: The Battle of Chickamauga ended with the Confederate Army winning the battle. (1863)

Mayor William “Boss” Tweed was accused of robbing the New York treasury. (1870)

Natives of Nukapu Island clubbed missionary John Patterson to death. (1871)

Panic swept through the New York Stock Exchange because of a railroad bond default and bank failure. New York shut banks for 10 days due to a bank scandal. (1873)

US President Chester Arthur became the third president to serve in one year. The year started with Hayes as president. Hayes turned the reigns over to Garfield after he was elected. Arthur became president when Garfield was assassinated. According to Hayes, Arthur’s presidency was known for “liquor, snobbery and worse.” He only served one term. (1881)

Author Upton Sinclair was born. (1888)

Bugs Moran attempted to assassinate Al Capone in a drive-by shooting, but failed. (1926)

Both East and West Germany ratified reunification. (1990)

In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush declared a “war on terror.” (2001)

Today in HisStory September 19

During the 100 Years War, English forces under The Black Prince defeated the French at the Battle of Poitiers and captured the French King. (1356)

Five Spanish ships sank in a storm off the Tampa, Florida coast. Around 600 died. (1559)

Rebels under Nathaniel Bacon set Jamestown, Virginia on fire during Bacon’s Rebellion. (1676)

American Revolutionary War: Continental Congress passed the first budget of the United States. (1778)

US President George Washington gave his farewell address. This started the tradition of the peaceful transfer of power. (1796)

The first commercial laundry was established in Oakland, California. (1849)

Hudson Taylor set sail for China where he founded the China Inland Mission. (1853)

US Civil War: In the Battle at Iuka, Mississippi, the Union Army won. There were 1,700 casualties. (1862)

US Civil War: The Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia began near Chattanooga. The Union Army retreated. (1863)

First carpet sweeper was patented. (1876)

80 Days after he was shot, US President James A. Garfield died of complications from his wounds. (1881)

New Zealand became the first country to grant all women the right to vote. (1893)

Eleven baseball games were canceled due to the funeral of US President William McKinley. (1901)

Bruno Haptmann was arrested for the kidnapping the Lindbergh baby. (1934)

WW2: Lord Haw-Haw, William Joyce, became the radio host of Reichsrundfunk Berlin. He broadcast German propaganda during the war. (1939)

WW2: Nazi decree forbad gentile woman to work in Jewish homes. (1940)

WW2: Witold Pilecki, a Polish calveryman and intelligence officer, was voluntarily captured and sent to Auschwitz in order to smuggle out information and start a resistance. (1940)

WW2: Nazis forced German Jews age six and over to wear Jewish stars. (1941)

WW2: Lord Haw Haw, William Joyce, was sentenced to death for treason in London. (1945)

Jackie Robinson was named 1947 Rookie of Year. (1947)

Adventures of Superman TV series starring George Reeves premiered in syndication in the US. (1952)

The United States barred Charlie Chaplin from re-entering the country after a trip to England because of his Communist affiliations. (1952)

Nikita Khrushchev, Secretary of Soviet Union Communist Party, was denied access to Disneyland. (1959)

Vietnam War: US President Nixon announced the cancellation of the draft calls for November and December. He reduced the draft call by 50,000. (1969)

The Mary Tyler Moore Show premiered on CBS. (1970)

The KGB began a large-scale operation to discredit Russian novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and cut his communications with Soviet dissidents. (1974)

8.1 earthquake in Mexico City killed an estimated 10,000 and left 250,000 homeless. (1985)

Ötzi the Iceman, 3,300 BCE old mummy, was discovered by German tourists in Italian alps. (1991)

Today in HisStory September 18

US President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the Capitol Building. (1793)

Great Fire of Moscow, set by Napoleon’s Army, burned out after five days. 75% of the city was destroyed and 12,000 were killed. (1812)

Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law as part of Compromise of 1850. Under this law, anyone in non-slave states could be prosecuted for harboring slaves, and slaves escaping to these states could be returned to their masters. (1850)

New York Times started publication at 2 cents a copy. (1851)

Joshua Abraham Norton proclaimed himself his Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I, Emperor of the United States of America. (1859)

First class of escaped slaves were taught by Mary Peake at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, now Hampton University. (1861)

US Civil War: In the Battle of Martinsburg, Virginia, the Union Army drove out Confederate forces. (1864)

US Civil War: Confederate General Hood’s Tennessee Campaign to drive back Sherman’s forces began. It was also called The Franklin–Nashville Campaign. (1864)

Walter Gowan, missionary to the Sudan and founder of Sudan Interior Mission, was born. (1868)

Government bond agent Jay Cooke & Co collapsed This caused panic on Wall St and started the Panic of 1873 and the Long Depression. (1873)

Harriet Maxwell Converse became first white woman to become an Indian chief. (1891)

Booker T. Washington delivered the  Atlanta Compromise address. The Atlanta Compromise stated blacks would not demand the right to vote or equality. In return, whites agreed to to pay for blacks to have a basic education. Washington wanted a slow approach to civil rights to stall white backlash, but this paved the way for segregation and held off the Civil Rights Movement for decades. (1895)

A typhoon with a tsunami killed an estimated 10,000 people in Hong Kong. (1906)

WW1: General Paul von Hindenburg named commander of German armies on the Eastern Front (1914)

WW2: A railway explosion is faked by the Japanese to create a pretext for the invasion of Manchuria, China,  (1931)

WW2: The order for extermination asocials through labour was approved by Otto Thierack, Nazi Minister of Justice. (1942)

US Air Force formed. (1947)

The Full Gospel Fellowship of Churches and Ministers International, now known as Christ for the Nations, was founded. (1962)

Get Smart, Adam’s Family, and I Dream of Jeannie premiered on television. (1965)

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN, founded. (1998)

The first anthrax letters were mailed from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax terrorist attacks. (2001)

Today in HisStory September 17

Arabs conquered Alexandria and destroyed its library. (642)

Massachusetts enacted severe laws against Quakers. (1656)

Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was the first to report the existence of bacteria. (1683)

247 Spanish colonists consecrated their newly-founded mission known as San Francisco .(1776)

US constitution was adopted and signed by the Philadelphia convention. (1787)

William Herschel discovered Mimas, a satellite of Saturn. (1789)

Donner Party sent two men ahead to California for food and supplies. (1846)

Harriet Tubman first escaped slavery in Maryland with two of her brothers. (1849)

Great fire of San Francisco started. (1850)

Joshua Abraham Norton proclaimed himself his Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I, Emperor of the United States of America. (1859)

First class of escaped slaves was taught by Mary Peake at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, now Hampton University. (1861)

US Civil War: The Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest day of the war. 23,110 died. (1862)

US Civil War: The Allegheny Arsenal explosion resulted in the single largest civilian disaster during the war killing 78 workers. (1862)

US Civil War: The Battle of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee took place. (1862)

Walter Gowan, missionary to the Sudan and founder of Sudan Interior Mission, was born. (1868)

19 students attended opening classes at Ohio State University. (1873)

Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed. (1900)

WW1: Manfred von Richthofen, The Red Baron, a flying ace of the German Luftstreitkräfte, won his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France. (1916)

RCA Victor released its first 33 1/3 RPM recording. It was Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. (1934)

WW2: Soviet Union invaded Poland. (1939)

First successful separation of conjoined twins happened. (1953)

US space officials announced selection of nine new astronauts. (1962)

Fugitive first appeared on ABC. (1963)

Mission Impossible premiered on CBS. (1967)

Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin, and Jimmy Carter signed the Camp David Accords, frameworks for peace in the Middle East and between Egypt and Israel. (1978)

Last Russian troops left Poland. (1993)

Major trading markets in the United States, including the New York Stock Exchange and the New York Mercantile Exchange, reopened for the first time since September 11. (2001)

Despite suffering from lung cancer and Parkinson’s disease, Jack Buck stirred emotions by reading a patriotic-themed poem during the pregame ceremonies on baseball’s first night back after the September 11th terrorist attacks. (2001)

Today in HisStory September 16

Torquemada, grand inquisitor during the Spanish Inquisition, died. During his life, he worked under the orders of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, torturing and killing thousands. (1498)

Massachusetts village of Shawmut changed its name to Boston. (1630)

Great Seal of US was used for first time. (1782)

Mexico issued Grito de Dolores, calling for the end of Spanish rule. This became known as Mexican Independence Day. (1810)

Phineas Wilcox was stabbed to death by fellow Mormons in Nauvoo, Illinois because he was believed to be a Christian spy. (1845)

Slavery was abolished in all French territories. (1848)

Largest land run in history began with more than 100,000 people pouring into the Cherokee Strip of Oklahoma. (1893)

Norwegian explorer Ronald Amundsen discovered the Magnetic South Pole. (1906)

Carriage-maker William C. Durant founded General Motors in Flint, Michigan. (1908)

Bomb exploded in Wall Street killing 30. (1920)

Hurricane hit West Palm Beach-Lake Okeechobee, Florida. 3,000 died. (1928)

Blimp was moored to the Empire State Building. (1931)

Gandhi began a fast in prison to protest British electoral caste system. (1932)

WW2: US imposed the first peacetime draft. (1940)

WW2: Adolf Hitler ordered for every dead German, 100 Yugoslavs should be killed. (1941)

First movie in Cinemascope The Robe premiered. It was based on the book by Lloyd C. Douglas, directed by Henry Koster, and starred Richard Burton and Jean Simmons. (1953)

US Presidential candidate Richard Nixon appeared on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-in. (1968)

Six Ku Klux Klansmen were arrested in connection with bombing of ten school buses. (1971)

First TV series about mixed marriage aired. It was Bridgit Loves Bernie. (1972)

US President Gerald Ford announced conditional amnesty for US Vietnam War deserters. (1974)

Apple Computer Inc. named co-founder Steve Jobs interim CEO. (1997)

Today in HisStory September 15

First non-aristocratic, free public school in Europe opened in Frascati, Italy. (1616)

Mayflower Ship departed from Plymouth, England with 102 pilgrims. (1620)

US Department of Foreign Affairs was established. Later it was renamed Department of State. (1789)

In the Act of Independence, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua declared their independence from the Spanish Empire. (1821)

The locomotive John Bull, the oldest US locomotive, operated for the first time in New Jersey on the Camden and Amboy Railroad. (1831)

Antoinette L. Brown became the first woman formally ordained to a pastorate in the United States (1853)

Timothy Alder of NY patents a typesetting machine (1857)

US Civil War: Confederates conquer Union-weapon arsenal at Harpers Ferry WV (1862)

Colonel George and Sarah Clarke opened first mission in the slums of Chicago on South Clark Street (1877)

Philadelphia celebrates 100th anniversary of US Constitution (1887)

Governor Walton of Oklahoma declares state of siege because of Ku Klux Klan terror (1923)

Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin while studying influenza (1928)

WW2: British PM Chamberlain visits Hitler at Berchtesgarden (1938)

WW2: Climax of the Battle of Britain, tide turns as Luftwaffe lose 56 aircraft, RAF 28 (1940)

WW2; Benito Mussolini forms a rival fascist government in Italy (1943)

First four-engined jet-propelled fighter plane tested, Columbus, Oh (1947)

Lone Ranger premieres on ABC-TV (1949)

16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed during Sunday morning service killing 4 girls in a racially motivated act of terrorism (1963)

Lost in Space premieres (1965)

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to a sniper attack at the University of Texas at Austin, writes a letter to the United States Congress urging the enactment of gun control legislation. (1966)

Google.com is registered as a domain name (1998)

Today in HisStory September 14

Francis of Assissi had a vision of Christ is afflicted with stigmata. (1224)

German composer George Frederick Handel finished composing The Messiah after only 21 days. (1741)

Britain and American colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar. The was no September 3rd through September 13th that year. (1752)

Aaron Burr was acquitted of a misdemeanor charge after the charge of treason was thrown out. (1807)

War of 1812: Francis Scott Key watches as the American flag remains waving in the Battle of Baltimore. He pens a poem about it which is later set to music and in later becomes America’s national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. The poem was originally entitled The Defense of Fort McHenry. (1814)

Former Vice-President Aaron Burr died of natural causes. In his life of controversy, he shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, challenged the election of Thomas Jefferson as president in a Constitutional crisis that led to the 12th amendment, and was charged with treason for trying to establish Texas as a separate nation. (1836)

Newly escaped slave Frederick Douglass marries free woman Anne Murray in New York (1838)

US Civil War: Federal troops escape from beleaguered Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. (1862)

Henry Bliss becomes 1st automobile fatality in the US. (1899)

US President McKinley dies of infection from gunshot wounds from his assassination by an anarchist a week earlier. (1901)

Theodore Roosevelt is sworn in as the youngest man to serve as US President, after President William McKinley finally dies after an anarchist shoots him in Buffalo. (1901)

WW I: Austria-Hungary sends a note to the Allies requesting peace discussions, but the Allies reject the offer. (1918)

WW2: Nazis gain 107 seats in German election (1930)

World’s 1st practical helicopter, the VS-300 designed by Igor Sikorsky takes (tethered) flight in Stratford, Connecticut. (1939)

US Congress passes 1st peace-time conscription bill (draft law) (1940)

Hurricane hits New England: 389 die (1944)

Ground breaking ceremony for UN world headquarters takes place. (1948)

1st prefrontal lobotomy performed in Washington, D.C. (1956)

Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi-Arabia & Venezuela form Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) (1960)

Walt Disney was awarded Medal of Freedom at White House. (1964)

Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton canonized as 1st US-born saint by Pope Paul VI (1975)

Historic National Prayer Service was held at Washington National Cathedral for victims of the September 11 attacks. (2001)

14 yr old Texan Ahmed Mohamed arrested at school when home-made clock assumed to be a bomb. Mark Zuckerberg and US President Barack Obama send supportive tweets. (2015)