THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― SEPTEMBER 13

September 13 is the 256th day of the year (257th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 109 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Friday or Saturday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Wednesday (56).

UNCLE SAM DAY   

509 BC – The temple of Jupiter on Rome's Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides of September.

1503 – Michelangelo begins work on his statue of David. He would work on the massive statue for more than two years.

1781 –In North Carolina, General Butler and 300 militiamen set an ambush at Lindley's Mill in an attempt to free captured Governor Burke and thirteen high-ranking Whig officials. The battle closed the war in North Carolina a month before Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. (Battle of Lindley's Mill or Battle of Cane Creek)

1789 – Starting in 1785 the Congress met in New York City under the Articles of Confederation. In 1789, New York City became the first national capital of the United States under the new United States Constitution. The Constitution also created the current Congress of the United States, and its first sitting was atFederal Hall on Wall Street. The first United States Supreme Court sat there. TheUnited States Bill of Rights was drafted and ratified there. George Washington was inaugurated at Federal Hall. New York City remained the capital of the U.S. until 1790, when the role was transferred to Philadelphia.


1847 – American-Mexican war: US Gen Winfield Scott captures Mexico City.


1862 – Union soldiers found a copy of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's orders (Special Order No. 191) for the Antietam campaign near Frederick, Maryland. But, Union General George B. McClellan was slow to react and lost the advantage that the intelligence had provided. 

1948 – Margaret Chase Smith (R-Me) elected senator, 1st woman to serve in both houses of Congress.

1968 – The largest sustained operation in the DMZ began in the Vietnam War. The U.S. and South Vietnamese moved two miles into the zone to aid Allied bases. On 13 September following Arclight and naval and land artillery strikes 3 Brigade task forces from the 5th Infantry Division attacked into the DMZ northeast of Con Thien. To the east the 1st Squadron, 7th ARVN Armored Cavalry, supported by two platoons from Company A, 3rd Tank Battalion, simultaneously attacked to the north and northeast of A-2 and Gio Linh. The ARVN achieved almost immediate contact. The Marine tanks providing a base of fire for the advancing ARVN infantry fired 90mm canister and high-explosive rounds and their machine guns to break through the NVA defenses killing 73 NVA. Following in the wake of the tanks, and supported by helicopter gunships, the ARVN infantry killed an additional 68 NVA and captured one. On the left flank, after encountering mines and antitank fire, the three Army task forces joined the action, accounting for another 35 NVA and seizing a large cache of mortar rounds. The allied forces reached their northernmost objectives, turned south, and returned to their bases by late afternoon. The captured NVA soldier identified his unit as an element of the 138th NVA Regiment which had assumed control of the 27th Independent Regiment's area of operations, due to the heavy casualties suffered by the regiment in recent months,

1971 – The Attica Prison riot occurred at the Attica Correctional Facility in Attica, New York, United States in 1971. This riot is one of the most famous and important riots during the Prisoner Rights Movement. The riot was based upon prisoners' demands for political rights and better living conditions. On September 9, 1971, two weeks after the killing of George Jackson at San Quentin, about 1,000 of the Attica prison's approximately 2,200 inmates rebelled and seized control of the prison, taking 42 staff hostage. By the order of Governor Nelson Rockefeller, state police took back control of the prison. When the uprising was over, at least 43 people were dead, including ten correctional officers and civilian employees, and 33 inmates. Within four years of the riot, 62 inmates had been charged in 42 indictments with 1,289 separate counts. One state trooper was indicted for reckless endangerment.


2001 – U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell named Osama bin Laden as the prime suspect in the terror attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Limited commercial flights resumed in the U.S. for the first time in two days. Osama bin Laden, the founder and head of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1:00 am PKT (20:00 UTC, May 1) by U.S. Navy SEALs of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group (also known as DEVGRU or SEAL Team Six). On August 6, 2011 thirty eight persons perished in the crash of mission "Extortion 17". Fifteen of the fatalities were members of Navy SEAL Team 6, recklessly identified three months earlier by our vice president, Joe Biden, as the unit which killed Osama Bin Laden. Also among the casualties were two other SEALS, five Navy Special Ops Support Personnel, five Army National Guardsmen and three Air Force Special Ops personnel. Seven Afghan soldiers and one Afghan civilian interpreter were killed as well.

TODAY'S BIRTHS

1475 – Cesare Borgia, Italian cardinal (d. 1507)

1819 – Clara Schumann, German pianist and composer (d. 1896)

1860 – John J. Pershing, American general and lawyer (d. 1948)

1916 – Roald Dahl, British novelist, poet, and screenwriter (d. 1990)

1918 – Ray Charles, American singer-songwriter and conductor (d. 2015)

From Wikipedia and Google, except as noted.