September 17:1179: Death of Hildegard of Bingen, German Abbess
1730: Birthday of Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Prussian-American general
1776: The Presidio of San Francisco was founded in New Spain.
1778: The first formal treaty between the U.S. and a Native American tribe was signed, the Treaty of Fort Pitt.
1787:
Today is Constitution Day! On this day in 1787, the Constitution was signed by almost every delegate to the Philadelphia convention. It was then sent to the states for eventual ratification.
1849: Abolitionist
Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery.
1858: Death of
Dred Scott, American slave
1859: Birthday of Billy the Kid, American outlaw
1862: The
Battle of Antietam: Gen. George McClellan's Union forces stopped Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederates invasion of the north and forced a retreat in the bloodiest day in American history. The victory led Pres. Lincoln to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
1907: Birthday of
Warren E. Burger, American lawyer and judge, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
1908: Thomas Selfridge became the first airplane fatality when the plane he was a passenger in crashed. The Wright Flyer was flown by Orville Wright and Selfridge was the only passenger.
1914: Beginning of the
Race to the Sea began during WWI: after the German advance was stopped in northern France, the Germans and the Allies each tried to outflank the other until they reached the coast of the English Channel. Stalemate settled in as both sides began to dig trenches.
1916:
Baron Manfred von Richthofen(aka "The Red Baron") won his first aerial combat in France.
1923: Birthday of Hank Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1939: The meaning of the Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact in August became clear when the
Soviets invaded Poland. The alliance between Hitler & Stalin included secret protocols to divide Eastern Europe between them.
1940: Due to setbacks in the Battle of Britain and the approach of autumn weather, Hitler called off Operation Sea Island, the invasion of Britain.
1944: Allied paratroopers parachuted into the Netherlands in the first stage of
Operation Market Garden.
1961: The world's first retractable roof stadium, the Civic Arena, opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1966: Death of Fritz Wunderlich, German tenor and actor
1976: NASA revealed the first space shuttle,
Enterprise. It's name was inspired by the film franchise
Star Trek but it never flew.
1978: Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachim Begin signed the
Camp David Accords. Egypt formally recognized Israel, the first Arab state to do so, and Israel returned the Sinai peninsula which had been taken in the 1967
Six Day War.
1980: After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union
Solidarity was established.
1983: Vanessa Williams became the first black Miss America.
1991: The first version of the Linux kernel was released to the Internet.
1995: Birthday of
Patrick Mahomes, American football player, MVP of Super Bowl LIV
1996: Death of
Spiro Agnew, American soldier and politician, Vice President of the U.S. under Pres. Nixon
1997: Death of Red Skelton, American actor and comedian
2006: An audio tape was leaked to the public of a private speech in which the Hungarian Prime Minister admitted that his Hungarian Socialist Party had lied to win the recent election. Widespread protests erupted.
2011: The Occupy Wall Street movement began at Zuccotti Park in New York City.
“Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!”
Psalm 119:36