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“Grown men may learn from very little children, for the hearts of little children are pure, and, therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss.”
~ Black Elk
Wikiquote (Black Elk (December 1863 – August 19, 1950) a famous Wičháša Wakȟáŋ (Medicine Man and Holy Man) of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux). He was Heyoka and a second cousin of Crazy Horse.)
September 5th, 1666
Great Fire of London In London England, 10,000 buildings are destroyed including St. Paul's Cathedral and the Royal Exchange.
Wikipedia Painting: Great Fire of London in September 1666.
September 5th, 1697
War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Hudson's Bay; a French warship commanded by Captain Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville defeated an English squadron.
Wikipedia Photo: Replica of the Pélican ● An English-French naval battle in the Bay 1697 from Norman Wilkinson painting. credit Hudson's Bay Company.
September 5th, 1698
Tsar Peter I of Russia (Peter the Great); in an effort to Westernize his nobility, imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry.
Wikipedia Painting: Peter I of Russia (Peter the Great)
September 5th, 1774
First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Wikipedia Painting: Continental Congress; 1775 – 1777: Pennsylvania State House, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
September 5th, 1781
American Revolutionary War:
1781 - Battle of the Chesapeake.
Wikipedia Paintings: Washington Crossing the Delaware, by Emanuel Leutz; Battle of the Chesapeake, French (left) and British (right) lines; Battle of Bunker Hill, The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill by John Trumbull; The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 13, 1782, by John Singleton Copley; Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown, 1781; "The surrender at Saratoga" shows General Daniel Morgan in front of a French de Vallière 4-pounder; Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown by (John Trumbull, 1797).
Battle of the Chesapeake The French line (left) and British line (right) do battle.
September 5th, 1793
French Revolution:
1793 - The French National Convention initiates the Reign of Terror.
Wikipedia Painting: Reign of Terror; "Liberty leading the People" by Eugène Delacroix. Liberté, Egalité, and Fraternité failed as the Reign of Terror revolution spun out control.
The National Assembly, by Jacques-Louis David.
September 5th, 1800
French Revolutionary Wars / Napoleonic Wars:
1800 - Napoleon surrenders Malta to Great Britain.
Wikipedia Painting: Battle of Trafalgar: The British HMS Sandwich fires to the French flagship Bucentaure (completely dismasted) in the battle of Trafalgar;
Napoleon in Berlin (Meynier). After defeating Prussian forces at Jena, the French Army entered Berlin on 27 October 1806;
Battle of the Bridge of Arcole Napoleon Bonaparte leading his troops over the bridge of Arcole, by Horace Vernet;
Napoleon as King of Italy (Appiani);
Napoleon Crossing the Alps (David). In 1800 Bonaparte took the French Army across the Alps, eventually defeating the Austrians at Marengo;
Charge of the Russian Imperial Guard cavalry against French cuirassiers at the Battle of Friedland, 14 June 1807;
Battle of Borodino as depicted by Louis Lejeune. The battle was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars;
Napoleon's withdrawal from Russia, a painting by Adolph Northen;
Wellington at Waterloo by Robert Alexander Hillingford;
Napoleon is often represented in his green colonel uniform of the Chasseur à Cheval, with a large bicorne and a hand-in-waistcoat gesture.
Napoleon surrenders Malta to Great Britain.
September 5th, 1812
War of 1812:
1812 - Siege of Siege of Fort Wayne; begins when Chief. Winamac 's forces attack two soldiers returning from the fort's outhouses.
Wikipedia Painting: Damage to the US Capitol after the Burning of Washington; HMS Shannon leading the captured American frigate USS Chesapeake into Halifax, Nova Scotia (1813); USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere; the death of Tecumseh at Moraviantown; Oliver Hazard Perry's message to William Henry Harrison after the Battle of Lake Erie began with what would become one of the most famous sentences in American military history: "We have met the enemy and they are ours; "Andrew Jackson leads the defence of New Orleans; The mortally wounded Isaac Brock spurs troops on at the Queenston Heights.
Engraving: depicting U.S. troops battling the British and their Indian allies along the Thames River in Ontario during the War of 1812. The Shawnee chief Tecumseh was killed in the Battle of the Thames, which took place on October 5, 1813. Britannica.
September 5th, 1836
Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.
Wikipedia Painting: Sam Houston as a U.S. senator. Texas State Historical Association
September 5th, 1839
United Kingdom declared First Opium War on the Qing Dynasty of China.
Wikipedia Painting: First Opium War; The Nemesis destroying Chinese war junks during the Second Battle of Chuenpee, 7 January 1841.
September 5th, 1862
American Civil War:
1862 - Maryland Campaign; the Potomac River is crossed at White's Ford
Wikipedia Image: ● Lincoln Memorial; an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln - located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. across from the Washington Monument.
● The northern army led by George McClellan and the southern army led by Robert E. Lee met at Antietam Creek, Maryland in September, 1862. It was a bloody battle where 13,000 Confederates and 12,000 Union troops died in just one day. McClellan had hesitated to attack before the battle thus letting the southern troops regroup. Also, he had saved reserves and refused to use them at the end of the battle thinking that Lee was holding reserves for a counterattack, even though those reserves didn't exist. The Union victory stopped Lee's northward advance and was a turning point in the war.
● Battle of Antietam / Stone Bridge at Antietam Battlefield - Sharpsburg, Maryland
● First Battle Between Ironclads: CSS Virginia/Merrimac (left) vs. USS Monitor, in 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads.
● Although photography was still in its infancy, war correspondents produced thousands of images, bringing the harsh realities of the frontlines to those on the home front in a new and visceral way. The Atlantic.
September 5th, 1877
American Indian Wars:
1877 - Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a United States soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska.
Wikipedia Photos: American Indians - Chief Crazy Horse, Tashunca-uitco (1849 - 1877) ● Geronimo Apache Chief (1829 - 1909) ● Indian Chief 'Two Eagles'; Crow Indian Chief ● Snake Cheif ● Band of Chiricahua Apache Indians, followers of legendary renegade Geronimo, attending a peace negotiation after a long struggle against U.S. government attempts to force them onto reservations - Tombstone, Arizona (1886), Life Magazine ● American Horse - Oglala ● Native American Arapaho Indian ● Washakie, Shoshone leader ● Arapaho American Indian Chief.
● Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse, Tashunca-uitco (1849-1877). PBS.org
September 5th, 1906
1906 - The first legal forward pass in American football is thrown by Bradbury Robinson of St. Louis University to teammate Jack Schneider in a 22–0 victory over Carroll College (Wisconsin).
Wikipedia Photo: In an era where an incomplete pass resulted in a 15-yard penalty, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School showcased the potential of the pass. (Library of Congress) ● Jim Thorpe (far right) stands with teammates from the Carlisle Indian Industrial School football team in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he was named an All-American football player in 1911 and 1912. In 1920, he became the first president of the American Professional Football Association, now known as the National Football League. Credit Associated Press / Hansi Lo Wang, Amanda Steen. Carlisle Indian School Football, 1920, additional source: Smithsonian.
September 5th, 1914
World War I:
1914 - First Battle of the Marne; begins. Northeast of Paris, the French attack and defeat German forces who are advancing on the capital.
1915 - The pacifist Zimmerwald Conference begins.
Wikipedia Photo: Trenches on the Western Front; a British Mark IV Tank crossing a trench; Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the Battle of the Dardanelles; a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks, and German Albatros D.III biplanes. National Archives and Records Administration.
First Battle of the Marne; 1914.
September 5th, 1918
Red Terror is published in Russia.
Wikipedia Photo: Red terror; Vladimir Lenin (RIA Novosti)
September 5th, 1941
World War II: Estonia is occupied by Nazi Germany.
Wikipedia Photo: Estonia: Tornimäe business quarter in Tallinn ● Lighthouse by Baltic Sea Stony Coast in Pärnu County, Estonia ● Approximately 7,000 swamps in Estonia which cover up to 22.3% of Estonian territory ● Osmussaar (Swedish: Odensholm) is one of many islands in the territorial waters of Estonia ● The Northern coast of Estonia consists mainly of limestone cliffs ● Estonia is famous for its countless of manors which used to house the ruling German elite ● Estonialandscape
September 5th, 1942
World War II: Pacific War; Battle of Milne Bay, Japanese high command orders withdrawal, first Japanese defeat in the Pacific War.
Wikipedia Image: Milne Bay - The Turning Point, by Robert Taylor / Milne Bay. Australia.gov
September 5th, 1943
World War II: Salamaua–Lae campaign; 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, lands and occupies Nazdab, near Lae, New Guinea.
Wikipedia Photo: Dwarfed by and silhouetted against clouds of smoke (created to provide concealment), C-47s from the USAAF drop a battalion of the 503rd at Nadzab, New Guinea.
September 5th, 1945
Cold War:
1945 - Igor Gouzenko, a Soviet Union embassy clerk, defects to Canada, exposing Soviet espionage in North America, signalling the beginning of the Cold War.
Wikipedia Photo: Lockheed C-130 Hercules; RAF Menwith Hill, a large site in the United Kingdom, part of ECHELON and the UKUSA Agreement; New Zealand nuclear test, British nuclear tests near the Malden and Christmas Islands in the mid-Pacific in 1957 and 1958; Nevada nuclear tests, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection Bureau of Federal Facilities.
U2, Lockheed TR-1 in flight.
Igor Gouzenko Canadian Encyclopedia.
September 5th, 1945
Iva Toguri D'Aquino a Japanese American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist Tokyo Rose, is arrested in Yokohama.
Wikipedia Photo: Iva Toguri D'Aquino, suspected of being wartime radio propagandist Tokyo Rose
September 5th, 1957
Cuban Revolution:
1957 - Cuba; Fulgencio Batista bombs the revolt in Cienfuegos.
Wikipedia Photo / Map: The leadership of the Cuban revolution; Fidel Castro played the leading role in the Cuban revolution against Fulgencio Batista (1957) AFP; Fidel Castro leads men in a cheer, Cuba, 1957, Bettmann/ Corbis; Cuban Airlift to the United States (1959 and 1962); Resiste Cuba, homenaje a la revolución cubana y sus héroes música: Protesta-Por Cuba; Che Guevara and Fidel Castro ; Official caption: "Off loading Cuban refugees at the Miami sea buoy", photo dated 4 May 1964; Photo No. 7CGD-050464 #12; Guerrillero Heroico - Alberto Korda's famous photograph of Che Guevara; The popularized cropped version.
Fulgencio Batista took power in Cuba after leading a revolt by Army Sargents overthrowing Dictator Gerrado Machado. Batista would go onto rule Cuba on and off from 1933-59 / Time Cover, credit: Boris Chaliapin.
September 5th, 1960
The boxer Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) is awarded the gold medal for his first place in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the Olympic Games in Rome.
Wikipedia Photo: Cassius Clay, Olympic Games 1960. National Geographic
September 5th, 1969
Vietnam War:
1969 - My Lai Massacre; U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.
1970 - Operation Jefferson Glenn; United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thua Thien – Hue province.
Wikipedia Picture: Vietnam_War; Side view of an HH-53 helicopter of the 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron as seen from the gunner's position on an A-1 of the 21st Specialist Operations Squadron. (USAF Photo by Ken Hackman), Boston Globe
September 5th, 1972
Munich Massacre: Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attack and take hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Two die in the attack and nine die the following day.
Wikipedia Photo: Munich Massacre
September 5th, 1977
Voyager program: Voyager 1 is launched.
Wikipedia Image: Voyager program; Of all the NASA missions, none has visited as many planets, rings, and satellites, as the twin Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft, which were launched in 1977. Voyager 1, more than twice as distant as Pluto, is farther from Earth than any other human-made object. NASA
September 5th, 1980
Saint Gotthard Road Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.224 km) stretching from Göschenen to Airolo.
Wikipedia Photo: Saint Gotthard Road Tunnel
September 5th, 1984
STS-41-D: Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage.
Wikipedia Photo: Space Shuttle Discovery, NASA
September 5th, 1986
Aircraft hijacking:
1986 - Pan Am Flight 73; with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport.
Wikipedia Photo: Hijacked Sudan passenger jet lands in Libya, August 27, 2008; Amsterdam false alarm revives airplane hijacking memories, Passengers leave a Vueling plane at a field near Amsterdam Airport after a hijack scare last week that led the Netherlands to scramble F-16 fighter jets, September 2, 2012 Reuters; Egypt Air flight 648 was hijacked in November 1985 by the terrorist Abu Nidal organisation, credit AP; Cockpit section of Pan Am 103 wreckage following a mid-air explosion, December 21, 1988; 747 Pan Am airliner that exploded and crashed over Lockerbie, Scotland, with 259 passengers on board in 1988; Debris lies in a deep gash through the town of Lockerbie, Scotland, caused by the crash of Pan Am flight 103, credit AP; Flight 175 hits the WTC South Tower. The picture was taken from a traffic helicopter. credit: WABC 7/ Salient Stills; Hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston crashes into the South Tower of the World Trade Center and explodes at 9:03 a.m. on September 11, 2001 in New York City, credit Spencer Platt / Getty Images.
September 5th, 2005
Aviation accidents and incidents:
2005 - Mandala Airlines Flight 091; crashes into a heavily populated residential area of Sumatra, Indonesia, killing 104 people on board and at least 39 persons on ground.
Wikipedia Photo: ● Pan AM 747 ● U.S. Airways flight 1549 also known as the "Miracle on the Hudson" navigates an exit ramp near Burlington, New Jersey, June 5, 2011 ● Passengers stand on the wings of a U.S. Airways plane as a ferry pulls up to it after it landed in the Hudson River in New York, Reuters ● U.S. Airways plane crashes into New York Hudson River, Photo: AP