THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― SEPTEMBER 20

September 20 is the 263rd day of the year (264th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 102 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).

NATIONAL PUNCH DAY  

622 –  Prophet Mohammed/Abu Bakr arrives in Jathrib (Medina).

1519 – Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan sets sail from Spain in an effort to find a western sea route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia.

1565 –Spanish forces under Pedro Menéndez de Avilés capture the French Huguenot settlement of Fort Caroline, near present-day Jacksonville, Florida. The French, commanded by Rene Goulaine de Laudonniere, lost 135 men in the first instance of colonial warfare between European powers in America. Most of those killed were massacred on the order of Aviles, who allegedly had the slain hanged on trees beside the inscription "Not as Frenchmen, but as heretics." Laudonniere and some 40 other Huguenots escaped.

1777 – On the evening of September 20, 1777, near Paoli, Pennsylvania, General Charles Grey and nearly 5,000 British soldiers launch a surprise attack on a small regiment of Patriot troops commanded by General "Mad" Anthony Wayne in what becomes known as the Paoli Massacre. Not wanting to lose the element of surprise, Grey ordered his troops to empty their muskets and to use only bayonets or swords to attack the sleeping Americans under the cover of darkness.

1779 – The U.S. frigate Constitution ("Old Ironsides") was launched in Boston. Constitution is most famous for her actions during the War of 1812 against Great Britain, when she captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five British warships: HMS Guerriere, Java, Pictou, Cyane and Levant. The battle with Guerriere earned her the nickname of "Old Ironsides" and public adoration that has repeatedly saved her from scrapping.

1806 – On this day in 1806, after nearly two-and-a-half years spent exploring the western wilderness, the Corps of Discovery (the Lewis and Clark expediction) arrived at the frontier village of La Charette, the first white settlement they had seen since leaving behind the outposts of eastern civilization in 1804.

1891 – The first gasoline-powered car debuts in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States.

1918 – On September 20, 1918, 32-year-old Colonel George S. Patton of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) writes to his father from the Western Front in France, recounting his experiences during the American-led offensive against the Germans at Saint-Mihiel earlier that month.

1933 – The Pittsburgh Steelers (as Pirates) play their first NFL game against the New York Giants, losing 23-2, in front of a crowd of about 20,000. The franchise's first ever points came off a safety which resulted when Pirates center John "Cap" Oehler blocked a punt through the end zone. Owner Arthur J. "Art" Rooney Sr. wrote of the game, "The Giants won. Our team looks terrible. The fans didn't get their money's worth."

1941 – The Holocaust: Four hundred three Jews (128 men, 176 women and 99 children) were murdered by Einsatzkommando 3 in Nemencing, Latvia.

1942 – Holocaust: Letychiv, Ukraine: In the course of two days the German SS murders at least 3,000 Jews.

1962 – James Meredith, an African American, is temporarily barred from entering the University of Mississippi.

1967 – The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 is launched at John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland.

1982 – The National Football League players begin a 57-day strike.

2001 – In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush declares a "War on Terror".

2007 – Between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters marched on Jena, Louisiana, in support of six black youths who had been convicted of assaulting a white classmate.

2008 – A dump truck full of explosives detonates in front of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 54 people and injuring 266 others.

TODAY'S BIRTHS

1831 – Kate Harrington, American poet and educator (d. 1917)

1878 – Upton Sinclair, American novelist, critic, and essayist, The Jungle (d. 1968)

1941 – Dale Chihuly, American sculptor and educator

1948 – George R. R. Martin, American novelist and short story writer, A Song of Ice and Fire

From Wikipedia and Google, except as noted.