On September 1, 1864, Union troop under General William T. Sherman capture Atlanta, cutting Confederate troops off from a major source of supplies. Sherman would hold the city until mid-November, before embarking on his infamous March to the Sea, a scorched earth campaign from Atlanta to Savannah. Before vacating, he would order munitions factories and textile mills in the city burned to deny returning Confederate troops these vital supplies. The fires burned out of control, and much of civilian Atlanta was destroyed as well. On September 1, 1983, a Korean Air Lines 747 inbound to Seoul from NYC strays into Russian airspace and is shot down by Soviet fighter jets, killing all 269 people aboard. KAL was never able to explain how Flight 007 came to stray nearly 200 miles off course. Five days after the "massacre" - as termed publicly by President Ronald Reagan - the Soviet government formally acknowledged that the plane had been a civilian flight, but said the pilots who shot it down had no way of knowing. They added that the 747 was nearly in a flight path known to be used by American spy planes. Although the American government continued to fan public opinion against the incident, behind the scenes, it was agreed that the shoot down was nothing more than a tragic mistake. On September 1, 1985, a joint U.S.-French expedition searching for the lost RMS Titanic stumbles across what can only be one of the massive liner's boilers. The boiler is discovered shortly after 2:00 am local (about 400 miles off Labrador in the North Atlantic) time, almost to the exact minute that the doomed ship sank on April 12, 1915. Ship's sonar would locate the main piece of the wreck a few hours later, and a towed camera sled would soon take the first photos of the Titanic in 73 years.
One year ago today I commemorated the official end of WWII here. Hours after the Japanese surrender becomes official on Sept. 2, 1945, Communist guerilla Ho Chi Minh declares the independence of Vietnam from France, proclaiming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. French forces seized southern Vietnam and attempted peace talks, but war breaks out in December 1946. Nearly 30 years of war follow; Ho Chi Minh dies of a heart attack on the anniversary of his declaration, September 2, 1969, 6 years before his forces unifiy the nation in 1975. South Vietnam's capital city of Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City shortly after. $75 million in debt following the Revolution, on September 2, 1789, Congress establishes the U.S. Treasury Department, with President Washington's former military aide-de-camp, Alexander Hamilton, as Treasury Secretary. Within days, Hamilton introduces a plan for clearing the war debt. On September 2, 2013, 64-year old Diana Nyad completes a 53-hour swim from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida. She's not the first to successfully complete the 110-mile swim through shark and jellyfish infested waters, but she's the first to do it in open water, without the protection of a shark cage. She does have the protection of a leading boat which keeps her on course through the strong currents of the Florida Strait.
On September 3, 1939, Great Britain and France, responding to Germany's invasion of Poland 2 days earlier, declare war on Germany. Within hours of the declaration, a German U-boat sinks the British ocean liner S.S. Athenia off the British coast, killing 112. Although 28 of the dead are Americans, President Franklin Roosevelt maintains that the U.S. will remain "neutral" in this conflict. On September 3, 1777, a small Colonial force under General William Maxwell is attacked and forced from its position near Cooch's Bridge, Delaware, by Hessian and a few English troops. It is the only battle of the Revolution fought in the Delaware colony, but more significantly, lore has it that it is the first time Colonial troops carry the Stars and Stripes - adopted as the official flag of the nation 3 months earlier - into battle. On September 3, 2004, 3 days of hostage talks break down in Beslan, Russia, and what follows makes any school shooting in U.S. history pale in comparison. Chechan terrorists surrounded and occupied School No. 1 in Beslan on Sept 1, the first day of the school year, and take the entire student body and faculty hostage. Negotiations begin immediately; among the terrorists' demands are the removal of Russian troops from Chechnya. On the 3rd, an explosion occurs inside the school gymnasium - survivors claim it was an accident. But police surrounding the school open fire, and by the outbreak's end, 331 are dead, including 186 children, and about 700 are injured. Police claim to have killed 31 terrorists and captured one; hostages claim there were more that escaped.
On September 4, 1957, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus sends armed Arkansas National Guardsmen to encircle Little Rock's Central High School and prevent 9 African American teenagers from enrolling. The move was the first major challenge to the Supreme Court's 1954 decision (Brown v Board of Education) which ruled segregation of public schools unconstitutional. Faubus would successfully keep the black kids from enrolling until September 24, when President Eisenhower had 1,000 U.S. troops escort the students into the school. On September 4, 1951, President Harry Truman announces the acceptance of the Multilateral Treaty of Peace with Japan, and an end to America's post-WWII occupation of the defeated nation. Truman' speech takes place in San Francisco and is fed by microwave transmission to 87 TV stations around the country, making it the first coast-to-coast television broadcast. Congress would ratify the treaty the following March. On September 4, 2002, Kelly Clarkson, a 20-year old cocktail waitress from Texas, wins the first American Idol competition. American Idol is based on a British TV show, Pop Idol. Unknown wannabe singers compete for a chance at stardom in front of a live TV audience, which votes by phone to determine the winner, who receives a recording contract. The program, one of the most successful in American TV history, has launched several of its winners to highly successful recording careers, most notably Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Fantasia Barrino. A number of runners-up, such as Adam Lambert, Jennifer Hudson and Chris Daughtry, also see their careers launched by the exposure received on the program.
Laine Hardy from Livingston Parish won last year. He is a natural entertainer and will go a long way in the business.
On September 5, 1774, the first Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia, 56 delegates representing 12 of the 13 colonies (Georgia was absent). Responding to British passage of the Coercive Acts, the Congress responds with a declaration of rights and grievances. On September 5, 1877, Oglala Sioux leader Crazy Horse is fatally bayoneted by a U.S. soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. One of the leaders of the Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana a year earlier, Crazy Horse had been pursued and finally captured in Nebraska on May 6. On September 5, 1836, just a couple of months after leading the war for Texas' Independence from Mexico, Sam Houston is elected President of the Republic of Texas. The native Virginian would serve for 2 years and then again from 1841 to 1844. During this second term he was instrumental in lobbying for Texas' admission into the Union in 1845.
