15 September History


Month:                           Date:     

  • 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.
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  • 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.
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  • 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).
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  • 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).