13 September History
- 1515 - King Francis of France defeats the Swiss army under Cardinal Matthias Schiner at Marignano, northern Italy.
- 1549 - Pope Paul III closes the first session of the Council of Bologna.
- 1564 - On the verge of attacking Pedro Menendez's Spanish settlement at San Agostin, Florida, Jean Ribault's French fleet is scattered by a devastating storm.
- 1759 - British troops defeat the French on the plains of Abraham, in Quebec.
- 1774 - Tugot, the new controller of finances, urges the king of France to restore the free circulation of grain in the kingdom.
- 1782 - The British fortress at Gibraltar comes under attack by French and Spanish forces.
- 1788 - The Constitutional Convention authorizes the first federal election resolving that electors in all the states will be appointed on January 7, 1789.
- 1789 - Guardsmen in Orleans, France, open fire on rioters trying to loot bakeries, killing 90.
- 1846 - General Winfield Scott takes Chapultepec, removing the last obstacle to U.S. troops moving on Mexico City.
- 1862 - Union troops in Frederick, Maryland, discover General Robert E. Lee's attack plans for the invasion of Maryland wrapped around a pack of cigars. They give the plans to General George B. McClellan who does nothing with them for the next 14 hours.
- 1863 - The Loudoun County Rangers route a company of Confederate cavalry at Catoctin Mountain in Virginia.
- 1905 - U.S. warships head to Nicaragua on behalf of American William Albers, who was accused of evading tobacco taxes.
- 1918 - U.S. and French forces take St. Mihiel, France in America's first action as a standing army.
- 1945 - Iran demands the withdrawal of Allied forces.
- 1951 - In Korea, U.S. Army troops begin their assault in Heartbreak Ridge. The month-long struggle will cost 3,700 casualties.
- 1961 - An unmanned Mercury capsule is orbited and recovered by NASA in a test.
- 1976 - The United States announces it will veto Vietnam's UN bid.
13 September Birthdays
- 1847 - Milton Hershey, founder of the famous candy company.
- 1851 - Walter Reed, U.S. Army doctor, discovered a cure for yellow fever.
- 1860 - John J. Pershing, "Black Jack" who led the campaign against Pancho Villa in Mexico and Commanded the American Expeditionary Force in France during World War I.
- 1863 - Franz von Hipper, German naval commander at the Battle of Jutland in World War I.
- 1886 - Alain Locke, writer and first African-American Rhodes scholar.
- 1894 - J.B. Priestley, British novelist and playwright.
- 1903 - Claudette Colbert, actress who won an Oscar for It Happened One Night.
- 1911 - Bill Monroe, musician, the Father of Bluegrass.
- 1911 - Roald Dahl, writer, best known for his children's books such as James and the Giant Peach.