27 September History
- 1540 - The Society of Jesus, a religious order under Ignatius Loyola, is approved by the Pope.
- 1669 - The island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea falls to the Ottoman Turks after a 21-year siege.
- 1791 - Jews in France are granted French citizenship.
- 1864 - Confederate guerrilla Bloody Bill Anderson and his henchmen, including a teenage Jesse James, massacre 20 unarmed Union soldiers at Centralia, Missouri. The event becomes known as the Centralia Massacre.
- 1869 - Wild Bill Hickok, sheriff of Hays City, Kan., shoots down Samuel Strawhim, a drunken teamster causing trouble.
- 1916 - Constance of Greece declares war on Bulgaria.
- 1918 - President Woodrow Wilson opens his fourth Liberty Loan campaign to support men and machines for World War I.
- 1920 - Eight Chicago White Sox players are charged with fixing the 1919 World Series.
- 1939 - Germany occupies Warsaw as Poland falls to Germany and the Soviet Union.
- 1942 - Australian forces defeat the Japanese on New Guinea in the South Pacific.
- 1944 - Thousands of British troops are killed as German forces rebuff their massive effort to capture the Arnhem Bridge across the Rhine River in Holland.
- 1950 - U.S. Army and Marine troops liberate Seoul, South Korea.
- 1956 - The U.S. Air Force Bell X-2, the world's fastest and highest-flying plane, crashes, killing the test pilot.
- 1964 - The Warren Commission, investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, issues its report, stating its conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole gunman.
27 September Birthdays
- 1722 - Samuel Adams, American revolutionary patriot and statesman, helped to organize the Boston Tea Party.
- 1840 - Alfred T. Mahan, navy admiral who wrote The Influence of Seapower on History and other books that encouraged world leaders to build larger navies.
- 1840 - Thomas Nast, caricaturist, creator of the Democratic donkey and the Republican elephant.
- 1862 - Louis Botha, commander-in-chief of the Boar Army against the British and first president of South Africa.
- 1898 - Vincent Youmans, songwriter best known for musical scores such as No, No Nanette and Flying Down to Rio.
- 1917 - Louis Auchincloss, novelist (Portait in Brownstone, The Embezzler).
- 1924 - Bud Powell, jazz pianist.
- 1927 - Red Rodney, trumpeter.
- 1945 - Stephanie Pogue, artist and art professor.