23 September History
- 1553 - The Sadians defeat the last of their enemies and establish themselves as rulers of Morocco.
- 1561 - Philip II of Spain gives orders to halt colonizing efforts in Florida.
- 1577 - William of Orange makes his triumphant entry into Brussels, Belgium.
- 1667 - Slaves in Virginia are banned from obtaining their freedom by converting to Christianity.
- 1739 - The Austrians sign the Treaty of Belgrade after having lost the city to the Turks.
- 1779 - The American navy under John Paul Jones, commanding from Bonhomme Richard, defeats and captures the British man-of-war Serapis.
- 1788 - Louis XVI of France declares the Parliament restored.
- 1795 - A national plebiscite approves the new French constitution, but so many voters sustain that the results are suspect.
- 1803 - British Major General Sir Arthur Wellesley defeats the Marathas at Assaye, India.
- 1805 - Lieutenant Zebulon Pike pays $2,000 to buy from the Sioux a 9-square-mile tract at the mouth of the Minnesota River that will be used to establish a military post, Fort Snelling.
- 1806 - The Lewis and Clark Expedition arrives back in St. Louis just over three years after its departure.
- 1864 - Confederate and Union forces clash at Mount Jackson, Front Royal and Woodstock in Virginia during the Valley campaign.
- 1911 - The Second International Aviation Meet opens in New York.
- 1912 - Mack Sennet's first "Keystone Cop" film debuts, Cohen Collects a Debt.
- 1945 - The first American dies in Vietnam during the fall of Saigon to French forces.
- 1952 - Richard Nixon responds to charges of a secret slush fund during his 'Checkers Speech.'
- 1954 - East German police arrest 400 citizens as U.S. spies.
- 1967 - Soviets sign a pact to send more aid to Hanoi.
- 1973 - Juan Peron is re-elected president of Argentina after being overthrown in 1955.
23 September Birthdays
- 63 BC - Augustus Caesar, first Roman Emperor, who introduced Pax Romana, the era of peace.
- 1800 - William Holmes McGuffey, educator famous for his book Eclectic Readers.
- 1838 - Victoria Chaflin Woodhull, the first woman presidential candidate (1872) in the United States.
- 1863 - Mary Church Terrell, educator and civil rights advocate.
- 1865 - Emmuska Orczy, baroness and author of The Scarlet Pimpernel.
- 1889 - Walter Lippmann, journalist, one of the founders of The New Republic Magazine in 1914.
- 1889 - Louise Nevelson, sculptor.
- 1915 - Clifford G. Shull, physicist, improved techniques for exploring the atomic structure of matter.
- 1926 - John Coltrane, influential jazz saxaphonist.
- 1930 - Ray Charles, rhythm 'n' blues piano player and singer.