This Month in Colonial History: September

The Great Fire of London, unknown painter

1:  The death of King Louis XIV of France (the “Sun King”), who had ruled since age 5 and succeeded by his 5-year-old great-grandson, Louis XV.

2:  The Great Fire of London is started. More than 13,000 houses destroyed over 3 days, but supposedly only 6 lives lost. (1666)

2:  “The British ended their use of the Julian calendar, switching instead to the Gregorian calendar, resulting in a major adjustment as Wednesday, September 2, was followed by Thursday, September 14. The correction resulted in rioting by people who felt cheated and demanded the missing eleven days back.” (1752)

2:  The U.S. Treasury is established. (1789)

3:  The Treaty of Paris is signed, formally ending the American Revolution, by John Adams, Ben Franklin, and John Jay. (1783)

4:  Navigator Henry Hudson discovers the island of Manhattan. (1609)

4:  El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles, or the Town of the Queen of the Angels, is founded by the Spanish governor of California, later to be known simply as Los Angeles. (1781)

5:  Russian Czar Peter the Great imposes a tax on beards. (1698)

5:  The First Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia. Every colony represented except for Georgia. (1774)

6:  The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth, England, after many trials and a few false starts, and still more unthinkable trials to come. Still, as leader William Bradford wrote, they “commited them selves to the will of God, and resolved to proseede” to the New World. (1620)

Marquis de Lafayette

6:  The birth of Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) in Chavaniac, France.

7:  The birth of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) in Greenwich Palace, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.

8:  First Catholic settlement in America founded at St. Augustine, Florida, by Spaniard Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles. (1565)

9:  The United Colonies becomes the United States. (1776)

13:  New York City becomes the capitol of the United States. (1788)

14:  Composer George Frederick Handel finishes Messiah after 23 straight days of work. (1741)

14:  Napoleon enters a burning Moscow at the beginning of his disastrous Russian campaign. Fewer than 20,000 men of his original 500,000 survive. (1812)

14:  Francis Scott-Key composes the lyrics to “The Star Spangled Banner.” (1814)

15:  The birth of James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) in Burlington, New Jersey.

16:  “Mexico's break from Spain began in the town of Dolores Hidalgo as Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang his church's bells and exhorted local Indians to ‘recover from the hated Spaniards the land stolen from your forefathers...’” (1810)

16:  “A detachment of Marines under Major Daniel Carmick from the Naval Station at New Orleans, together with an Army detachment, destroyed a pirate stronghold at Barataria, on the Island of Grande Terre, near New Orleans.” (1814)

17:  The U.S. Constitution is unanimously approved by delegates from 12 states. (1787)

18:  Chile declared its independence from Spain after 269 years as a colony. (1810)

22:  Nathan Hale executed for spying. “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” (1776)

22:  Birth of Michael Faraday (1791-1867), discoverer of electromagnetic induction (moving a magnet through a coil of wire produces a current). Thus electric generators are developed.

25:  Sighting of the Pacific Ocean by Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa, after crossing the Isthmus of Panama. (1513)

25:  Publication of the first American newspaper. “A single edition of Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick appeared in Boston, Massachusetts. However, British authorities considered the newspaper offensive and ordered its immediate suppression.” (1690)

25:  Ratification of the Bill of Rights. (1789)

26:  Birth of Johnny Appleseed, as John Chapman (1774-1845) in Leominster, Massachusetts.

26:  The U.S. Postal Service was founded. (1789)

Sam Adams, 1772, by Copley

27:  Birth of Samuel Adams (1722-1803) in Boston, Massachusetts.

28:  Duke William of Normandy begins the conquest of England at Pevensey, Sussex. (1066) Relevant to the colonial era because, well, Britain. :-)

28: Discovery of California by Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo upon his arrival at San Diego Bay. (1542)

29:  U.S. Army created by Congress, with just 1,000 enlisted men and officers. (1789)

  My thanks to The History Place, Holiday Insights, Marine Corps University, Smithsonian Magazine, and Wikipedia. :)