This Day In History

On September 17, 1730, Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben was born in Magdeburg, Prussia, long before he became the drillmaster who brought order and consistency to the Continental Army at Valley Forge. His training methods did not win the American Revolution by themselves, but they gave inexperienced troops a clearer system for fighting, marching, camping, and working as an army.

On September 16, 1893, some 100,000 people raced to claim 6 million acres of land in former Indian Territory in Oklahoma. It was the largest land run into Oklahoma and resulted in the establishment of 40,000 homesteads. 

On September 15, 1916, strange armored machines lumbered across the shell-torn ground near Flers, France, as British forces introduced tanks to combat for the first time. Their debut at the Battle of the Somme did not break the stalemate, but it revealed the potential of a weapon that would reshape warfare.

Clergyman John Harvard died on September 14, 1638, in Charlestown, Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was only about 30 years old, but his final gift gave a struggling colonial college the money and books it needed to continue.

Otis Ray Redding Jr. was born on September 9, 1941, in Dawson, Georgia. Despite his brief career, it’s been said that his marriage of traditional R&B with folk music in the 1960s took soul to a new level.

On August 5, 1926, master illusionist and escape artist Harry Houdini spent more than 91 minutes sealed inside a coffin submerged in a New York City swimming pool. The feat tested his ability to remain calm as the air around him grew hotter and harder to breathe.

Lyricist Dorothy Fields was born on July 15, 1904, in Allenhurst, New Jersey. She wrote more than 400 songs for Broadway and film, including “The Way You Look Tonight” and “On the Sunny Side of the Street.”

On June 23, 2004, the USPS issued the first stamps in its Art of Disney Series. The USPS worked with Disney artists to create this whimsical series of stamps, with each year featuring a different theme.

On September 18, 1870, a group of explorers stood on the banks of the Firehole River and watched as a geyser erupted in a towering column of steam and water. Amazed by its power and regularity, they gave it a name that has endured for more than 150 years — Old Faithful.

After 40 years and two wars, the aeronautical division of the US military was established as its own branch, the Air Force, on September 18, 1947. Today, it’s the world’s largest air force.

On September 18, 1997, the USPS issued the US Air Force stamp, the first US stamp to have a hidden image using Scrambled Indicia.

On September 18, 1793, President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the US Capitol building in Washington, DC.