1776: During the American Revolution, Nathan Hale volunteers to be a spy. He would be captured and executed just a few days later on September 22nd. He is the official state hero of Connecticut.
1813: The U.S. defeats the British Fleet at the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. Commodore Oliver H. Perry sends the message, "We have met the enemy and they are ours."
1823: Simón Bolívar is named President of Peru.1846: Elias Howe gets a patent for the sewing machine.
1897: The Lattimer Massacre takes place as a sheriff's posse kills twenty unarmed immigrant miners in Pennsylvania.
1898: Waldo Semon is born. He invented vinyl.
1914: Robert Wise is born. He directed, among other films, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Run Silent Run Deep and The Andromeda Strain.
1918: Rin Tin Tin is born.
1919: General John J. Pershing and 25,000 soldiers return to a hero's welcome in New York City.1929: Arnold Palmer is born.
1931: Phillip Baker Hall is born. He played Lt. Joe Bookman the library cop who tracks Jerry down over a long overdue book in the Seinfeld episode "The Library."
1934: Roger Maris is born. He held the record for the most home runs in a single season (61) from 1961 to 1998.
1937: Jared Diamond is born. He wrote Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies.1939: Canada declares war on Nazi Germany, joining France, the UK, New Zealand and Australia in the Allies.
1942: Danny Hutton is born. He was one of the vocalists in Three Dog Night.
1945: Mike the Headless Chicken is decapitated; he survives for another 18 months before choking to death.
1945: Vidkun Quisling is sentenced to death in Norway for collaborating with the Nazis.
1948: Mildred Gillars, aka Axis Sally, is indicted in Washington, DC for treason.
1955: Gunsmoke premieres on CBS. It would run for the next thousand years.
1963: 20 African-American students enter public schools in Alabama.
1967: The people of Gibraltar vote to remain a British dependency rather than becoming part of Spain.
1968: Guy Ritchie is born. He directed one of the great British "lad" movies of the past few years, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
1977: The last execution by Guillotine in France takes place as Hamida Djandoubi, convicted for torture and murder, is beheaded.
2000: Cats closes on Broadway.
