http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Sep 17, 1862: Battle of Antietam
Beginning early on the morning of this day in 1862, Confederate and Union troops in the Civil War clash near Maryland's Antietam Creek in the bloodiest one-day battle in American history.
The Battle of Antietam marked the culmination of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the Northern states. Guiding his Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River in early September 1862, the great general daringly divided his men, sending half of them, under the command of General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, to capture the Union garrison at Harper's Ferry.
President Abraham Lincoln put Major General George B. McClellan in charge of the Union troops responsible for defending Washington, D.C., against Lee's invasion. McClellan's Army of the Potomac clashed first with Lee's men on September 14, with the Confederates forced to retreat after being blocked at the passes of South Mountain. Though Lee considered turning back toward Virginia, news of Jackson's capture of Harper's Ferry reached him on September 15. That victory convinced him to stay and make a stand near Sharpsburg, Maryland.
Over the course of September 15 and 16, the Confederate and Union armies gathered on opposite sides of Antietam Creek. On the Confederate side, Jackson commanded the left flank with General James Longstreet at the head of the center and right. McClellan's strategy was to attack the enemy left, then the right, and finally, when either of those movements met with success, to move forward in the center.
When fighting began in the foggy dawn hours of September 17, this strategy broke down into a series of uncoordinated advances by Union soldiers under the command of Generals Joseph Hooker, Joseph Mansfield and Edwin Sumner. As savage and bloody combat continued for eight hours across the region, the Confederates were pushed back but not beaten, despite sustaining some 15,000 casualties. At the same time, Union General Ambrose Burnside opened an attack on the Confederate right, capturing the bridge that now bears his name around 1 p.m. Burnside's break to reorganize his men allowed Confederate reinforcements to arrive, turning back the Union advance there as well.
By the time the sun went down, both armies still held their ground, despite staggering combined casualties--nearly 23,000 of the 100,000 soldiers engaged, including almost 4,000 dead. McClellan's center never moved forward, leaving a large number of Union troops that did not participate in the battle. On the morning of September 18, both sides gathered their wounded and buried their dead. That night, Lee turned his forces back to Virginia. His retreat gave President Lincoln the moment he had been waiting for to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, a historic document that turned the Union effort in the Civil War into a fight for the abolition of slavery.
Sep 17, 1939: Soviet Union invades Poland
On this day in 1939, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov declares that the Polish government has ceased to exist, as the U.S.S.R. exercises the "fine print" of the Hitler-Stalin Non-aggression pact—the invasion and occupation of eastern Poland.
Hitler's troops were already wreaking havoc in Poland, having invaded on the first of the month. The Polish army began retreating and regrouping east, near Lvov, in eastern Galicia, attempting to escape relentless German land and air offensives. But Polish troops had jumped from the frying pan into the fire—as Soviet troops began occupying eastern Poland. The Ribbentrop-Molotov Non-aggression Pact, signed in August, had eliminated any hope Poland had of a Russian ally in a war against Germany. Little did Poles know that a secret clause of that pact, the details of which would not become public until 1990, gave the U.S.S.R. the right to mark off for itself a chunk of Poland's eastern region. The "reason" given was that Russia had to come to the aid of its "blood brothers," the Ukrainians and Byelorussians, who were trapped in territory that had been illegally annexed by Poland. Now Poland was squeezed from West and East—trapped between two behemoths. Its forces overwhelmed by the mechanized modern German army, Poland had nothing left with which to fight the Soviets.
As Soviet troops broke into Poland, they unexpectedly met up with German troops who had fought their way that far east in a little more than two weeks. The Germans receded when confronted by the Soviets, handing over their Polish prisoners of war. Thousands of Polish troops were taken into captivity; some Poles simply surrendered to the Soviets to avoid being captured by the Germans.
The Soviet Union would wind up with about three-fifths of Poland and 13 million of its people as a result of the invasion.
Sep 17, 1967: The Who spark an explosion on national television
In introducing them at the Monterey Pop Festival three months earlier, Eric Burdon of the Animals had offered high praise for the up-and-coming British rock band the Who, promising the crowd "A group that will destroy you in more ways than one." A substandard audio setup that day prevented the Who from unleashing the full sonic assault for which they were already becoming famous, but their high-energy, instrument-destroying antics inspired the next act, Jimi Hendrix, to burn his guitar and announced to the tens of thousands of Festival-goers the arrival of a powerful new force in rock and roll. The rest of America would get its introduction on September 17, 1967, when the Who ended an already explosive, nationally televised performance of "My Generation" with a literal bang that singed Pete Townshend's hair, left shrapnel in Keith Moon's arm and momentarily knocked The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour off the air.
As buttoned-down as its hosts appeared to be, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour came as close as any network program could in 1967 to being culturally and politically subversive. Tommy and Dick Smothers fought a running battle with CBS during their show's three-year run over scripts that subtly tweaked "the Establishment" and guests whose off-air politics were deemed controversial by network censors. Though there was nothing overtly political about the Who, it was more than just lyrics like "Hope I die before I get old" that marked the group as happy warriors in the generational battle being waged in the late 1960s. It was also, among other things, the sheer volume at which they preferred to play and their penchant for leaving every stage they played on looking as if a bomb had just gone off. On this day in 1967, one actually did.
Keith Moon was already in the habit of placing an explosive charge in one his two bass drums to detonate during Pete Townshend's guitar-smashing at the end of each Who performance. But for their Smothers Brothers appearance, Moon packed several times the normal amount of explosives into his drum kit, and when he set it off, a gigantic explosion rocked the set as a cloud of white smoke engulfed Townshend and singer Roger Daltrey. Though bassist John Entwistle never lost his cool, Daltrey practically flew downstage and when Townshend emerged from the smoke, his hair was almost literally blown to one side of his head. Though the incredible explosion has been rumored to have caused Pete Townshend's eventual near-deafness, credit for that should probably go instead to the Who's pioneering use of stacked Marshall amplifiers as a means of achieving maximum volume during their live performances.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
335 - Church of Holy Sepulchre initiated in Jerusalem
642 - Arabs conquer Alexandria, library destroyed
1156 - Markgraafschap Austria becomes a temple (Privilegium
minus)
1176 - The Battle of Myriokephalon is fought.
1394 - Jews are expelled from France by order of King
Charles VI
1462 - The Battle of Świecino (or Battle of Żarnowiec) is
fought during Thirteen Years' War.
1562 - Council of Trente takes ecclesiastical canon
1584 - Gent surrenders to Duke of Parma
1595 - Pope Clemens VIII recognizes Henri IV as king of
France
1598 - Netherland sailors discover Mauritius
1630 - The city of Boston, Massachusetts is founded.
1631 - Battle of Breitenfeld: King Gustaaf Adolf defeats Gen
Tilly
1644 - French troops occupy Mainz
1678 - France & Spain signs peace treaty
1683 - Antonie van Leeuwenhoek reports existence of bacteria
1691 - Massachusetts Bay Colony granted new charter
1697 - Battle at Zenta: Prince Eugen of Savoye beats Turks
1730 - Turkish coup under Mahmud I; Sultan Ahmed III flees
1737 - Georg-August University opens in Göttingen
1745 - Edinburgh occupied by Jacobites under Young Pretender
1776 - The Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New
Spain.
1778 - 1st treaty between the US & Indian tribes signed
(Fort Pitt)
1787 - Prussian troops conquer Gorinchem
1787 - US constitution adopted by Philadelphia convention
1789 - William Herschel discovers Mimas, satellite of Saturn
1809 - Peace between Sweden and Russia in the Finnish War.
The territory to become Finland is ceded to Russia by the Treaty of
Fredrikshamn.
1819 - First whaling ship arrives in Hawaii
Naturalist Charles DarwinNaturalist Charles Darwin 1835 -
Charles Darwins lands on Chatham Galapagos-archipelago
1849 - Harriet Tubman 1st escapes slavery in Maryland with
two of her brothers
1850 - Great fire in San Francisco
1859 - Joshua Abraham Norton, born in England but a resident
of San Francisco, proclaims himself his Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I,
Emperor of the United States of America. Eccentric possibly, but 30,000 turned
up for his funeral.
1861 - First class for escaped slaves taught by Mary Peake
at Fortress Monroe Virginia (now Hampton University).
1862 - Battle of Antietam, bloodiest day in Civil War (Sharpsburg
Md), 23, 110 die
1862 - Battle of Cumberland Gap, TN-evacuted by Federals
1862 - Battle of Mumfordville, KY-US Col J Wilder surrenders
city
1862 - American Civil War: The Allegheny Arsenal explosion
results in the single largest civilian disaster during the war; 78 workers
killed.
1863 - Pope Pius IX encyclical On persecution in New Grenada
1864 - Grant approves Sheridan's plan for Shenandoah Valley
Campaign
1871 - Mont Cenis railway tunnel Switzerland opens
1872 - Phillip W Pratt patents his sprinkler system for
extinguishing fires
1873 - 19 students attend opening class at Ohio State
University
1876 - Race riots in SC
Abolitionist Harriet TubmanAbolitionist Harriet Tubman 1897
- 3rd US Golf Open: Joe Lloyd shoots a 162 at Chicago GC in Wheaton Ill
1899 - 1st British troops leave Bombay for South Africa
1900 - Commonwealth of Australia proclaimed
1900 - Philippine-American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles
defeat Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mabitac.
1901 - Battle at Blood River Port: Boer Gen Botha beats
Major Gough's cavalry
1901 - Battle at Elands River Port: Boer Gen Smuts destroys
unit 17th Lancers
1902 - US protests anti-semitism in Romania
1903 - Boston Pilgrims clinch AL pennant, beating Cleveland,
14-3
1906 - Playing as "Sullivan," Columbia U jr Eddie
Collins debuts with A's
1908 - Thomas Selfridge becomes first fatality of powered
flight
1911 - 1st transcontinental airplane flight, NY-Pasadena in
82 hrs 4 min
1911 - 25th US Women's Tennis: Hazel H Wightman beats F
Sutton (8-10 61 97)
1912 - Center fielder Casey Stengel breaks in with Brooklyn
& hits 4 singles
1914 - Andrew Fisher becomes Prime Minister of Australia for
the third time.
1916 - 40,000 Amsterdam demonstrators demand general voting
right
Pilot The Red BaronPilot The Red Baron 1916 - World War I:
Manfred von Richthofen [The Red Baron], a flying ace of the German
Luftstreitkräfte, wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France.
1920 - Cards set a record of 12 consecutive hits in 4th (10)
& 5th (2) innings
1920 - National Football League organizes in Canton Ohio 12
teams pay $100 each to join American Prof Football Association
1922 - Bicyclist Piet Moeskops becomes world sprint champ
1922 - Radio Moscow begins transmitting (12 KWs-most
powerful station)
1923 - Sutton Vane's "Outward Bound," premieres in
London
1924 - Italy signs treaty of Rapallo
1926 - Hurricane hits Miami & Palm Beach Florida; about
450 die
1927 - 47th US Men's Tennis: Rene Lacoste beats William T
Tilden (119 63 119)
1927 - Charles Lindbergh visits San Francisco
1928 - 48th US Men's Tennis: Henri Cochet beats F T Hunter
(46 64 36 75 63)
1928 - Henri Cochet wins US Tennis Open
1928 - Hurricane hits Lake Okeechobee Florida drowning
1,800-2500
1928 - Pitcher Ray Boggs hits 3 batters in 1 inning
1929 - British troops begin withdrawal from occupied Germany
Aviator Charles LindberghAviator Charles Lindbergh 1931 -
1st LP record demonstrated (RCA Victor, NYC), venture failed
1931 - Operetta "Victoria & Her Husband,"
premieres in London
1931 - Red Sox Earl Webb sets record with 65 en route to 67
doubles
1934 - RCA Victor re leases 1st 33 1/3 rpm recording
(Beethoven's 5th)
1934 - USSR joins League of Nations (Netherland, Switz &
Portugal vote no)
1935 - Manuel Luis Quezón y Molina chosen 1st president of
Philippines
1937 - 1st NFL game in Washington, DC; Redskins beat NY
Giants 13-3
1938 - 52nd US Womens Tennis: Alice Marble beats Nancye
Wynne Bolton (60 63)
1938 - 58th US Mens Tennis: J Donald Budge beats C Gene Mako
(63 68 62 61)
1938 - British premier Neville Chamberlain leaves Munich
1938 - Don Budge wins US Tennis open & completes Grand
Slam
1939 - German U-29 sinks British aircraft carrier Courageous,
519 die
1939 - Poland's president Moscicki & PM
Slawoj-Skladkowski flee to Romania
1939 - Russia invades Eastern Poland, takes 217,000 Poles
prisoner
1939 - Soviet Union invades Poland during WW II
Politician Neville ChamberlainPolitician Neville Chamberlain
1939 - Taisto Mäki becomes the first man to run the 10,000 metres in under 30
minutes, in a time of 29:52.6
1940 - Nazis deprive Jews of possessions
1941 - Cards' Stan Musial makes his major league debut,
going 2-for-4
1941 - World War II: A decree of the Soviet State Committee
of Defense, restoring Vsevobuch in the face of the Great Patriotic War, is
issued
1943 - Load of "ammunition in transit" explodes at
Norfolk Naval Air Station
1943 - Red Army recaptures Brjansk
1943 - World War II: The Russian city of Bryansk is
liberated from Nazis.
1944 - British Premier Winston Churchill travels to US
1944 - Dutch begin railroad strike against German occupiers
1944 - Operation Market Garden: British airborne division
lands Arnhem Neth
1946 - "Gypsy Lady," opens at Century Theater NYC
for 79 performances
1946 - "If the Shoe Fits," opens at Century
Theater NYC for 20 performances
1947 - Jackie Robinson is named Rookie of Year by Sporting
News
1947 - James Forrestal sworn in as 1st US secretary of
defense
1947 - US Department of Defense forms
Soldier, author, journalist, politician Winston
ChurchillSoldier, author, journalist, politician Winston Churchill 1948 - KCOP
TV channel 13 in Los Angeles/Hollywood, CA (IND) begins
1948 - WLS TV channel 7 in Chicago, IL (ABC) begins
broadcasting
1949 - 128 die as fire guts Canadian passenger steamer
Noronic in Toronto
1949 - 8th Ryder Cup: US beats Europe, 7-5 at Ganton GC,
England
1949 - North Atlantic Treaty Council meets for 1st time
1949 - WFAA TV channel 8 in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (ABC)
begins broadcasting
1950 - San Francisco 49ers (formerly AAFC) play 1st NFL
game, lose 21-17
1951 - "Borscht Capades" opens at Royale Theater
NYC for 90 performances
1951 - Romanian bishop A Pacha of Timisoara sentenced to 18
years
1952 - "I am an American Day" &
"Constitution Day" renamed "Citizenship Day"
1953 - 1st successful separation of Siamese (conjoined)
twins
1953 - Ernie Banks becomes Chicago Cubs 1st black player
1954 - Rocky Marciano KOs Ezzard Charles in 8 for
heavyweight boxing title
1955 - "Ankles Aweigh" closes at Mark Hellinger
Theater NYC after 176 perfs
1955 - Future Hall of Famer Oriole Brooks Robinson goes 2-4
in his 1st game
Heavyweight Boxing Champion Rocky MarcianoHeavyweight Boxing
Champion Rocky Marciano 1956 - Black students enter Clay Ky elementary school
1956 - Yanks clinch pennant #22 on Mantle's 50th homer of
year
1956 - Television is first broadcast in Australia.
1957 - KETV TV channel 7 in Omaha, NB (ABC) begins
broadcasting
1957 - Scott Crossfield takes X-15 up for 1st powered flight
1957 - Thailand military coup under marshal Sarit Thanarat
1957 - Two male attorneys "stand in" as actress
Sophia Loren & producer Carlo Ponti wed by proxy in Juarez, Mexico
1957 - The North East Humanists group is founded in
Newcastle upon Tyne.
1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1959 - 59th US Golf Amateur Championship won by Jack
Nicklaus
1959 - Transit 1A, 1st navigational satellite launched;
failed to orbit
1959 - Typhoon kills 2,000 in Japan & Korea
1960 - "Vintage '60" closes at Brooks Atkinson
Theater NYC after 8 perfs
1960 - Cuba nationalizes US banks
1961 - Minnesota Vikings' 1st NFL game (beat Chicago Bears
37-13)
Actress Sophia LorenActress Sophia Loren 1961 - Samuel
Beckett's "Happy Days," premieres in NYC
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern
Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1962 - Justice Dept files 1st suit to end segregation in
public schools
1962 - US space officials announce selection of 9 new
astronauts
1963 - "Fugitive" premieres on ABC TV
1963 - Train struck makeshift bus full of migrant workers,
killing 32
1964 - "Bewitched" premieres on ABC TV
1964 - Beatles are paid a then record $150,000 for a concert
(Kansas)
1964 - Mickey Mantle gets hits #1999, 2000 & 2001 &
his 450th HR
1964 - Supremes release "Baby Love"
1965 - WPHL TV channel 17 in Philadelphia, PA (IND) begins
broadcasting
1966 - Cleve pitchers set AL record striking out 19 batters
in 1st 9 innings
1967 - "Mission Impossible" premieres on CBS-TV
1967 - Mount Washington cog railway train derails, kills 8
(NH)
1967 - New Orleans Saints 1st NFL game, they lose to LA Rams
27-13
1967 - Shirley Englehorn wins LPGA Shirley Englehorn Golf
Invitational
1968 - Gaylord Perry (Giants) no-hits St Louis Cardinals,
1-0
1968 - Zond 5 completes circumnavigation of Moon
1970 - Jordan launches offensive against guerrilla army
1970 - WSWP TV channel 9 in Grandview, WV (PBS) begins
broadcasting
1972 - "M*A*S*H," premieres on NBC TV
1972 - BART begins passenger service in SF
1972 - Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Quality First Golf Classic
1972 - Tanzania troops march in to Uganda
1974 - Courageous (US) beats Southern Cross (Aust) in 23rd
America's Cup
1975 - Rollout of 1st space shuttle orbiter Enterprise
(OV-101)
1976 - Amnesty International receives Erasmus-prize
1976 - NASA publicly unveils space shuttle Enterprise in
Palmdale, Calif
1976 - Ringo Starr releases "Ringo's Rotogravure"
album
1977 - 22nd Ryder Cup: US, 12½-13½ at Royal Lytham & St
Annes England
1977 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1977 - Dave Kingman hits his 1st Yankee homer, Reggie hits 2
more
1977 - Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors" is #1 for 19th
straight week
1978 - 30th Emmy Awards: All in the Family, Ed Asner &
Sada Thompson win
1978 - Begin, Sadat & Carter sign Camp David accord
1978 - Donna Caponi Young wins LPGA Sarah Coventry Golf
Tournament
1978 - Red Sox finally beat Yanks in Sept 1978, 7-3
1979 - Pietro Mennea runs world record 200 m (19.72")
1979 - Royals' George Brett is 6th to have 20
doubles/triples/HRs in a season
Actress/Singer Bette MidlerActress/Singer Bette Midler 1980
- "Divine Madness" starring Bette Midler, premieres
1980 - Iraq under Saddam Hussein signs accord with Algeria
1980 - Solidarity labor union in Poland forms
1980 - South Korea opposition leader Kim Dae Jung sentenced
to death
1980 - Oak A's Rick Langford is removed with 2 outs in 9th
inning ending his consecutive complete-game streak at 22
1981 - Fernando Valenzuela sets NL rookie record with 8th
shutout of season
1982 - NJ Devils 1st exhibition game, beating Caps 3-1 in
Hershey Pa
1983 - Chicago White Sox clinch their 1st-ever AL West
championship
1983 - Vanessa Williams (NY), 20, crowned 56th Miss America
1984, 1st black
1984 - Brian Mulroney sworn in as Canada's 18th PM
succeeding John Turner
1984 - Dwight Gooden ties record of 32 strikeouts in
consecutive games
1984 - Reggie Jackson is 13th to hit 500 HRs
1984 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1985 - Soyuz T-14 carries 3 cosmonauts to Salyut 7 space
station
1986 - Bomb attack in Paris, 6 killed
1986 - Marina Stepanova of USSR sets 400m hurdle woman's
record (52.94)
1986 - Mets clinch NL East Championship
1986 - US Senate confirms William Rehnquist as 16th chief
justice
1987 - Phila celebrates 200th anniversary of Constitution
1988 - 24th Olympic games open at Seoul, Korea
1988 - Jeff Reardon becomes 1st to record 40 or more saves
in both AL & NL
1988 - Military coup in Haiti: Lt Gen Avril takes control,
Henri Namphy flees
1989 - -21] Hurricane Hugo, kills 85 in Charleston SC
1989 - 41st Emmy Awards: LA Law, Cheers, Dana Delany &
Candice Bergen win
1989 - Beth Daniel wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1989 - Emmy Creative Arts Award presentation
1989 - Hurricane Hugo begins 4 day sweep through Caribbean,
killing 62
1989 - NYC court of appeals overturns lower court decision
& returns America's Cup back to US (from NZ)
1990 - Newspaper Guild votes 242-35 to keep NY Post
publishing
1990 - Soviet Union & Saudi Arabia restore diplomatic
ties
1991 - 4,355 turn out to see Expos play NY Mets at Shea
Stadium
1991 - UN admits Estonia, Latvia, Lithuiania, North &
South Korea, Marshall Islands & Micronesia
1991 - The first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) is
released to the Internet.
1992 - Amsterdam stock exchange hits record Ÿ8.8 billion
1992 - House votes 280 to 128 to give FCC control of cable
TV rates
1992 - NFL decides to suspend World League Football
1993 - Last Russian troops leave Poland.
1994 - Andy Waller out handled the ball for Mashonaland CD v
Mash U24
1994 - Heather Whitestone, 21, (Ala), crowned 68th Miss
America 1995
1995 - "Love! Valor! Compassion!" closes at Walter
Kerr NYC after 276 perfs
1995 - Patty Sheehan wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1996 - Dodger Hideo Nomo no-hits Colo Rockies, 9-0 at Coors
Field
1997 - Dr Sam Sheppard's body (Fugitive) is exhumed for DNA
test
2004 - Tamil is declared the first classical language in
India.
2007 - AOL, once the largest ISP in the U.S., officially
announces plans to refocus the company as an advertising business and to
relocate its corporate headquarters from Dulles, Virginia to New York, New
York.
2008 - The IAU named another dwarf planet, Haumea
2010 - The 54 year run of the soap opera As the World Turns
ends as its final episode is broadcast.
2011 - Occupy Wall Street movement began in Zucotti Park,
New York City.
2012 - Panasonic suspends operations at its three factories
in China
2012 - China dispatches 1,000 fishing boats to Senkaku
Islands
2012 - 13 people are killed in a bus accident in Jubail,
Saudi Arabia
Wikileaks founder Julian AssangeWikileaks founder Julian
Assange 2012 - Swedish forensic scientists find no conclusive evidence of
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's DNA in a torn condom
2012 - United States and Japanese government officials agree
to put a second missile defence system in Japan
1787 The Constitution was completed and signed by a majority of the delegates attending the constitutional convention in Philadelphia. 1862 The bloodiest day in U.S. military history occurred at the Battle of Antietam when more than 23,000 were killed or wounded. 1908 Lt. Thomas Selfridge, a passenger in a plane piloted by Orville Wright, became the first airplane fatality when the craft crashed. 1920 The American Professional Football Association—a precursor of the NFL—was formed in Canton, Ohio. 1980 Anastasio Somoza Debayle, former president of Nicaragua, was assassinated in Paraguay. 1994 Heather Whitestone of Alabama became the first deaf Miss America. 2004 Barry Bonds became the third baseball player to hit 700 career home runs, joining Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/sep17.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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