On September 17th...

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1156 Emperor Frederick Barbarossa issued the 'Privilegium Minus' decree,which elevated Austria to a duchy.

1394 Jews were expelled from France by order of King Charles VI.

1462 The Battle of Swiecino (aka Battle of Zarnowiec) was fought.

1595 Pope Clemens VIII recognized Henri IV as King of France.

1598 Dutch sailors discovered Mauritius.

1630 The city of Boston, Massachusetts, was founded.

1631 King Gustaaf Adolf of Sweden defeated Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, at the Battle of Breitenfeld.

1644 French troops occupied Mainz.

1678 France and Spain signed the Treaties of Nijmegen.

1683 Antonie van Leeuwenhoek reported the existence of bacteria.

1691 The Massachusetts Bay Colony was granted a new charter.

1730 Turkish Sultan Ahmed III was deposed in a coup led by Mahmud I.
1730 Friedrich Wilhelm Augustus von Steuben, German soldier in the American Revolutionary War, was born.

1778 The first treaty between the United States and Native Americans was signed at Fort Pitt.

1787 The Constitution of the United States was signed.

1789 William Herschel discovered Enceladus, a moon of Saturn.

1809 Finland became a Grand Duchy of Russia.

1849 Harriet Tubman and two of her brothers escaped from slavery in Maryland.

1862 The Battle of Antietam was fought.
1862 The Battle of Mumfordville was fought.
1862 The Allegheny Arsenal exploded, killing 78 workers; it was the single largest civilian disaster during the Civil War.
1862 Samuel Jay Crumbine, public health advocate, was born.

1872 Phillip W. Pratt patented a sprinkler system for extinguishing fires.

1900 The Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed.

1907 Warren Earl Burger, Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, was born.

1908 Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge became the first "civilian" victim of an airplane crash; he died the next day.

1916 Manfred von Richthofen, aka "The Red Baron," won his first aerial combat, near Cambrai, France.

1920 The National Football League was organized in Canton, Ohio.

1927 Football player George Blanda was born.

1928 Pitcher Ray Boggs hit 3 batters in 1 inning.

1930 Astronaut Thomas Patten Stafford was born.

1934 The Soviet Union joined the League of Nations.

1943 The Russian city of Bryansk was liberated from the Nazis.

1947 The U.S. Department of Defense was created.
1947 The Freedom Train was christened.

1953 The first successful separation of Siamese Twins was performed.

1959 The X-15 rocket plane made its first powered flight at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

1961 The Minnesota Vikings played their first regular season game.

1962 The U.S. Justice Department filed the first suit to end segregation in public schools.

1963 "The Fugitive" premiered on ABC-TV.

1964 "Bewitched" premiered on ABC-TV.

1965 Elizabeth Roemer and Richard Lloyd rediscovered Comet Tempel-Tuttle.

1967 "Mission Impossible" premiered on CBS-TV.

1972 "M*A*S*H" premiered on NBC-TV.

1976 The first U.S. Space Shuttle, Enterprise, was rolled out for public view.

1981 Fernando Valenzuela set a National League rookie record with his eighth shutout of the season.

1983 Vanessa Williams became the first black to be crowned Miss America.

1996 Spiro Agnew, 39th Vice-President of the United States, died.

1997 Comedian Red Skelton died.

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This page was last updated on October 05, 2018.