EVENTS
- 1630 – The city of Boston, Massachusetts, is founded.
- 1796 – George Washington makes his farewell address.
- 1787 – The United States Constitution is officially adopted.
- 1809 – Treaty of Fredrikshamn is signed between Sweden and Russia. Also known as the Treaty of Hamina, it concluded the Finnish War and ceded Swedish territories, which later formed Finland to Russia.
- 1862 – The bloodiest day in U.S. military history occurred as General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate armies were stopped at Antietam in Maryland by General George B. McClellan and numerically superior Union forces. By nightfall 26,000 men were dead, wounded, or missing.
- 1894 – A day after Japan wins the Battle of Pyongyang it defeats China in the Battle of the Yalu River. Also known as the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the conflict was fought between Japan and China during the First Sino-Japanese War.
- 1908 – The first fatality involving powered flight occurred as a biplane piloted by Orville Wright fell from a height of 75 feet, killing Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge, his 26-year-old passenger. A crowd of nearly 2,000 spectators at Fort Myer, Virginia, observed the crash of the plane which was being tested for possible military use. Wright himself was seriously injured.
- 1920 – National Football League (NFL) becomes formally organized.
- 1939 – Soviet Russian invaded Eastern Poland, meeting little resistance and taking over 200,000 Poles prisoner. This was done in accordance with the Nazi-Soviet Pact in which the Nazis and Soviets had predetermined how they would divide up Poland.
- 1939 – Man runs 10,000 meters in less than 30 minutes for the first time in recorded history. Finnish runner, Taisto Mäki, broke his previous record by running the distance in 29 minutes 52 seconds.
- 1976 – The first Space Shuttle, The Enterprise, is presented by NASA.
- 1978 – The Camp David Accords were signed by Israel and Egypt.
- 2004 – Barry Bonds hits his 700th home run.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1879 – Periyar E. V. Ramasamy (Indian businessman, politician, activist)
- 1907 – Supreme Court Justice Warren E. Burger (1907-1995) was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. Appointed by President Nixon, he had the longest tenure (1969-86) of any Chief Justice in the 20th Century. In 1973, he voted in the majority on Roe vs. Wade which upheld a woman’s right to an abortion. In 1974, he voted to force Nixon to surrender White House audio tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor.
- 1915 – M. F. Husain (Indian painter, director)
- 1923 – Hank Williams Senior (Country music singer)
- 1945 – Phil Jackson (NBA coach)
- 1974 – Rasheed Wallace (Basketball Player)
- 1975 – Jimmie Johnson (Nascar Driver)
- 1985 – Tomáš Berdych (Czech tennis player)
- 1985 – Alex Ovechkin (Hockey Player)
DEATHS
- 1179 – Hildegard of Bingen (German saint, philosopher, composer)
- 1948 – Ruth Benedict (American anthropologist)
- 1994 – Karl Popper (Austrian/English philosopher)
- 1996 – Spiro Agnew (American politician, 39th Vice President of the United States)
- 1997 – Red Skelton (American actor, comedian)