27 September History


Month:                           Date:     

  • 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.
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  • 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.
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  • 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.
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  • 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.