On this date...

Statue of Nathan Hale

In 1776, Nathan Hale is ferried across the river to Manhattan in order to begin his mission spying on the British who had recently captured New York.

In 1777, Thomas Paine publishes 'The American Crisis, Number IV' which begins; "THOSE who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it. The event of yesterday is one of those kind of alarms, which is just sufficient to rouse us to duty, without being of consequence enough to depress our fortitude."

In 1787, American statesman George Mason suggests the addition of a Bill of Rights to the Constitution, modeled on previous state declarations, but the motion is defeated

In 1857, the S.S. Central America (also known as the “Ship of Gold”) sank off the coast of South Carolina after sailing into a hurricane in one of the worst maritime disasters in American history; 425 people were killed and thousands of pounds of gold sank with the ship to the bottom of the ocean.

In 1862, Battle of Harpers Ferry, Virginia: Stonewall Jackson's Confederate force attacks and later captures the Union-held town

In 1944, U.S. Army troops entered Germany for the first time during World War II, near Trier.

In 1952, Investigating the possible crash of a UFO, residents of Flatwoods, West Virginia, encounter a creature they describe as 10 feet tall, with glowing eyes and claw-like hands. Skeptics dismiss the “monster” as likely an owl.

In 1953, U.S. senator and future president John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier in Newport, Rhode Island.

In 1958, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Cooper v. Aaron, unanimously ruled that Arkansas officials who were resisting public school desegregation orders could not disregard the high court’s rulings.

In 1962, in a speech at Rice University in Houston, President John F. Kennedy reaffirmed his support for the manned space program, declaring: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

In 1966, The sitcom The Monkees, featuring a pop-rock group fashioned after the Beatles, debuted on American television; although canceled after two seasons, the show enjoyed enduring popularity in syndication, backed by such hit songs as I'm a Believer.

In 1974, In Boston, Massachusetts, opposition to court-ordered school “busing” turns violent on the opening day of classes. School buses carrying African American children were pelted with eggs, bricks and bottles, and police in combat gear fought to control angry white protesters besieging the schools.

In 1992, Mae Jemison becomes first Black woman in space.

In 2002, President George W. Bush told the United Nations to confront the "grave and gathering danger" of Saddam Hussein's Iraq or stand aside as the United States acted.

In 2009, On September 12, 2009, thousands of protesters participate in the “Taxpayer March on Washington,” one of the earliest and biggest Tea Party movement events.

In 2013, Voyager 1, launched 36 years earlier, became the first man-made spacecraft ever to leave the solar system.