September 11

1297 Scots under William Wallace defeat the English at Stirling Bridge.

1695 Imperial troops under Eugene of Savoy defeat the Turks at the Battle of Zenta.

1709 John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, wins the bloodiest battle of the 18th century at great cost, against the French at Malplaquet.

1740 The first mention of an African American doctor or dentist in the colonies is made in the Pennsylvania Gazette.

1777 General George Washington and his troops are defeated by the British under General Sir William Howe at the Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania.

1786 The Convention of Annapolis opens with the aim of revising the articles of confederation.

1802 Piedmont, Italy, is annexed by France.

1814 U.S. forces led by Thomas Macdonough route the British fleet on Lake Champlain.

1847 Stephen Foster’s "Oh! Susanna" is first performed in a saloon in Pittsburgh.

1850 Soprano opera singer Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale," makes her American debut at New York’s Castle Garden Theater.

1864 A 10-day truce is declared between generals Sherman and Hood so civilians may leave Atlanta, Georgia.

1857 Indians incited by Mormon John D. Lee kill 120 California-bound settlers in the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

1904 The battleship Connecticut, launched in New York, introduces a new era in naval construction.

1916 The "Star Spangled Banner" is sung at the beginning of a baseball game for the first time in Cooperstown, New York.

1944 American troops enter Luxembourg.

1962 Thurgood Marshall is appointed a judge of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

1965 The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) arrives in South Vietnam and is stationed at An Khe.

1974 Haile Selassie I is deposed from the Ethiopian throne.

2001 In an unprecedented, highly coordinated attack, terrorists hijack four U.S. passenger airliners, flying two into the World Trade Center towers in New York and one into the Pentagon, killing thousands. The fourth airliner, headed toward Washington likely to strike the White House or Capitol, is crashed just over 100 miles away in Pennsylvania after passengers storm the cockpit and overtake the hijackers.

2005 Israel completes its unilateral disengagement of all Israeli civilians and military from the Gaza Strip.

2007 Russia detonates a nano-bomb; dubbed the "Father of All Bombs," it is the largest non-nuclear weapon developed to date.

2012 US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, attacked and burned down; 4 Americans were killed including the US ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens.

Born on September 11

1700 James Thomson, Scottish poet.

1862 O. Henry, (William Sydney Porter), short story writer who wrote "The Gift of the Magi," and "The Last Leaf."

1877 James Jeans, physicist.

1885 D.H. Lawrence, English novelist (Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Sons and Lovers).

1917 Jessica Mitford, investigative journalist (The American Way of Death).

1924 Tom Landry, coach of the Dallas Cowboys, winning two Super Bowls.

1937 Robert L. Crippen, US Navy captain, astronaut; former director of Kennedy Space Center.

1939 Charles M. "Chuck Geschke, co-founder of Adobe Systems, Inc.

1940 Brian DePalma, film director (Dressed to Kill, Carlito’s Way)).

1940 Theodore Olson, US Solicitor General under Pres. George W. Bush (2001-04).

1965 Bashar al-Assad, president of Syria since 2000.

1966 Princess Akishino, nee Kiko Kawashima, wife of Prince Akishino, second son of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan. She is only the second commoner to marry into Japan’s royal family.

1967 Harry Connick Jr., Grammy and Emmy award-winning singer, musician, actor.

More about: