19 September History


Month:                           Date:     

  • 1356    -    In a landmark battle of the Hundred Years' War, English Prince Edward defeats the French at Poitiers.
  • 1544    -    Francis, the king of France, and Charles V of Austria sign a peace treaty in Crespy, France, ending a 20-year war.
  • 1692    -    Giles Corey is pressed to death for standing mute and refusing to answer charges of witchcraft brought against him. He is the only person in America to have suffered this punishment.
  • 1777    -    American forces under Gen. Horatio Gates meet British troops led by Gen. John Burgoyne at Saratoga Springs, NY.
  • 1783    -    The first hot-air balloon is sent aloft in Versailles, France with animal passengers including a sheep, rooster and a duck.
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  • 1788    -    Charles de Barentin becomes lord chancellor of France.
  • 1841    -    The first railway to span a frontier is completed between Stousbourg and Basle, in Europe.
  • 1863    -    In Georgia, the two-day Battle of Chickamauga begins as Union troops under George Thomas clash with Confederates under Nathan Bedford Forrest.
  • 1893    -    New Zealand becomes the first nation to grant women the right to vote.
  • 1900    -    President Loubet of France pardons Jewish army captain Alfred Dreyfus, twice court-martialed and wrongly convicted of spying for Germany.
  • 1918    -    American troops of the Allied North Russia Expeditionary Force receive their baptism of fire near the town of Seltso against Soviet forces.
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  • 1948    -    Moscow announces it will withdrawal soldiers from Korea by the end of the year.
  • 1955    -    Argentina's President Juan Peron is overthrown by rebels.
  • 1957    -    First underground nuclear test is takes place in Nevada.
  • 1985    -    An earthquake kills thousands in Mexico City.

  • 19 September Birthdays

  • 1894    -    Rachel Field, novelist and playwright who wrote All This and Heaven Too and And Now Tomorrow.
  • 1904    -    Bergen Evans, educator and author who wrote Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage.
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  • 1911    -    William Golding, novelist best known for Lord of the Flies.
  • 1915    -    Elizabeth Stern, Canadian pathologist who first published a case report linking a specific virus to a specific cancer.