15 September History
- 1588 - The Spanish Armada, which attempted to invade England, is destroyed by a British fleet.
- 1776 - The British occupy Manhattan.
- 1788 - An alliance between Britain, Prussia and the Netherlands is ratified at the Hague.
- 1858 - The Butterfield Overland Mail Company begins delivering mail from St. Louis to San Francisco. The company's motto is: "Remember, boys, nothing on God's earth must stop the United States mail!"
- 1862 - Confederates capture Harpers Ferry, securing the rear of Robert E. Lee's forces in Maryland.
- 1891 - The Dalton gang holds up a train and takes $2,500 at Wagoner, Oklahoma.
- 1914 - President Woodrow Wilson orders the Punitive Expedition out of Mexico. The Expedition, headed by General John Pershing, had been searching for Pancho Villa, a Mexican revolutionary.
- 1916 - Armored tanks are introduced by the British during the Battle of the Somme.
- 1928 - Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovers, by accident, that the mold penicillin has an antibiotic effect.
- 1935 - In Berlin, the Reich under Adolf Hitler adopts the swastika as the national flag.
- 1937 - Prime Minister of England Neville Chamberlain flies to Germany to discuss the future of Czechoslovakia with Adolf Hitler.
- 1939 - The Polish submarine Orzel arrives in Tallinn, Estonia, after escaping the German invasion of Poland.
- 1950 - U.N. Forces, lead by the U.S. Marine Corps, invade occupied Korea at the port of Inchon. Considered the greatest amphibious attack in history, it is the zenith of General Douglas MacArthur's career.
- 1963 - Four young African-American girls are killed by the bombing of a church in Montgomery, Alabama.
- 1971 - The environmental group Greenpeace is founded.
15 September Birthdays
- 1789 - James Fenimore Cooper, novelist whose works include The Pioneers and Last of the Mohicans.
- 1857 - William Howard Taft, 26th president of the United States (1909-1913).
- 1889 - Robert Benchley, humorist.
- 1890 - Agatha Christie, English writer of mystery novels.
- 1890 - Claude McKay, poet and novelist, part of the Harlem Renaissance.
- 1894 - Jean Renoir, French film director (Grand Illusion, The Rules of the Game).
- 1901 - Sir Howard Bailey, British engineer who gave his name to a prefabricated bridge used extensively during World War II.
- 1926 - Bobby Short, singer and pianist.
- 1945 - Jesse Norman, soprano.
- 1946 - Oliver Stone, film director and screenwriter (Platoon, JFK).