1541 – After three years of exile, John Calvin returns to Geneva to reform the church under a body of doctrine known as Calvinism.
1609 – Henry Hudson reaches the river that would later be named after him
1814 – In a turning point in the War of 1812, the British fail to capture Baltimore. During the battle, Francis Scott Key composes his poem “Defence of Fort McHenry”, which is later set to music and becomes the United States’ national anthem.
1848 – Vermont railroad worker Phineas Gage, survived an iron rod one and a quarter inches (3.2 cm) in diameter driven through his brain; the reported effects on his behavior and personality stimulate thinking about the nature of the brain and its functions.
2001 Civilian aircraft traffic resumes in the U.S. after the September 11 attacks. Lower Manhattan residents are scattered as large areas of Tribeca, the Financial District and Battery Park City are cordoned off as rescue efforts continue.
2013 – Taliban insurgents attack the United States consulate in Herat, Afghanistan, with two members of the Afghan National Police reported dead and about 20 civilians injured.
Births
1766 – Samuel Wilson, American meat-packer, namesake of Uncle Sam (d. 1854)
1857 – Milton S. Hershey, American businessman (d. 1945)
1933 – Lewie Steinberg, American bass player
1937 – Don Bluth, American animator, director, and producer co-founded Sullivan Bluth Studios and Fox Animation Studios
Deaths
1912 – Nogi Maresuke, Japanese general (b. 1849)
1944 – W. Heath Robinson, English cartoonist (b. 1872)
2002 – George Stanley, Canadian soldier, historian, and author, designed the flag of Canada (b. 1907)
2004 – Luis E. Miramontes, Mexican chemist, co-invented the birth-control pill
