This day in history...

On September 12, 1940, four teenagers follow their dog into a cave near Montignac, France and make a remarkable discovery. The cave walls are covered in ancient paintings, around 600 total, all 15-17,000 years old. What are known as the Lascaux cave painting are considered perhaps the finest known examples of Upper Paleolithic art. The Lascaux grotto was opened to the public in 1948 but was closed in 1963 because artificial lights had faded the vivid colors of the paintings and caused algae to grow over some of them. A replica of the Lascaux cave was opened nearby in 1983 and receives tens of thousands of visitors annually.


On September 12, 1974, opposition to court-ordered school “busing” in Boston 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. Protests continued unabated for weeks, and many parents, white and black, kept their children at home. In October, the National Guard was mobilized to enforce the federal desegregation order.

 

On September 13, 1993, the Israel-Palestine Peace Accord is signed on the South Lawn of the White House. The reasons for the decades-old conflict between Israel and its Palestinian Arab neighbors are too complicated to explain, and the Peace Accord really doesn't make peace between the two anyway.

On September 13, 1862, a Union sergeant and his corporal find a peace of paper wrapped around three cigars in a meadow near Frederick, MD. It is a detailed operation order to Confederate General D.H. Hill, signed by Robert E. Lee's adjutant. The order is brought to General George McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac. McClellan now has evidence that Lee's army is spread out over a large portion of Maryland and is divided by the Potomac River. He orders an advance on portions of Lee's troops near South Mountain, but moves far too slowly to exploit his new-found information. Lee's scouts see the advance and redeploy to meet the threat.....

 

Paraphrasing Eddie Murphy in 48 Hours: if all you need is bullshit and experience, you just experienced some of my bullshit.

 

On September 14, 1814, Baltimore lawyer Francis Scott Key writes a poem. A few days earlier, one of Key's friends (Dr. William Beanes) had been taken prisoner by the British. Key takes it upon himself (on the 13th) to row out to the British ship on the Patuxent River and negotiate his release. However the British, not wanting Key or Beanes to be able to reveal any details of their plan to invade Baltimore, refuse to let them leave the ship until the following day. Key spends the night watching the British naval squadron shell Ft. McHenry at the entrance to Baltimore Harbor. But the British break off the attack near dawn and Key, inspired by the site of the American flag still flying over the fort, puts his thoughts on paper. The poem will be published by newspapers around the country, and later, an unknown person sets it to the music of an old English drinking song.


On September 14, 1862, Union troops capture two key passes near South Mountain in northern Maryland. The Union troops are leading the Army of the Potomac in a march against Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, known to be spread out around the foothills of the mountain, thanks to a copy of Lee's order of battle captured the day before. But Confederate troops guarding the two passes create enough of a delay that Lee is able to bring the majority of his army together, near Antietam Creek.....

On September 154, 1975, Elizabeth Ann Seton is canonized by Pope Paul VI at the Vatican in Rome, becoming the first American-born Catholic saint. Seton founded the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children in New York in 1797. After her own husband's death, she converted to Catholicism and in 1808 went to Baltimore to establish a Catholic school for girls. A year later, she founded the United States’ first religious order, the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph. A few months later, Mother Seton and the sisters of the order moved to a poor parish where they provided free education to poor children. In 1856, Seton Hall University was named for her.

 

On September 15, 1914, as the Allies have halted the first German offensive of the war at The Marne, both sides begin digging trenches. By war's end in 1918, Belgium and northern France will be scarred with an estimated 35,000 miles of trenches. Trench warfare will redefine the way wars are fought, with emphasis placed on artillery that can affect infantry protected in trenches, and mechanized units that can safely traverse the "no man's land" in between the trenches of the opposing armies. In fact, 2 years later to the day (Sept. 15, 1916), at the Battle of the Somne, British troops are supported in combat by tanks for the first time.


On September 15, 1950, the U.S. Marines stage an amphibious landing at Inch'on, South Korea, the first major U.S. offensive since North Korea attacked in June. Unlike the wide open islands of the Pacific that were the objective in so many amphibious landings during WWII, Inch'on is only accessible through a narrow channel that winds through numerous offshore islands, and is subject to widely varying tides. But the Marines pull off the landing and split the invading forces in two, and will soon drive the invaders out of the capital city of Seoul.


On September 15, 1978, Muhammad Ali becomes boxing's first 3-time World Heavyweight Champion, reclaiming the title from Leon Spinks in a 15-round unanimous decision in the Louisiana Superdome. Ali first won the championship in 1964 by knocking out Sonny Liston. He was stripped of the title and banned from boxing for 3 years in 1967 after being convicted of draft evasion. Ali returned to the ring in 1970 and in October 1974, won the title for a second time by knocking out George Foreman in the 8th round. Ali would lose the title in a split decision with Spinks in February of 1978, setting the stage for his historic third climb to the top of the boxing world.

 

On September 16, 1940, Congress passes the Burke-Wadsworth Act, creating the U.S. Selective Service. One month later, males between the ages of 21 and 36 are subjected to America's first-ever peacetime draft. The ages were expanded to 18-37 when America entered the war, and blacks, who had previously been ruled ineligible, became eligible with a quota to reflect their smaller numbers as a percentage of the population. "Conscientious objector" status was also recognized; most of those being Quakers, although an estimated 75% of Quakers who were drafted fought. By war's end, some 35 million Americans had registered for the draft, and about 10 million were "ordered for induction into the Armed Services of the United States." (as the notification letter began).


On September 16, 1908, William Durant, head of the Buick Motor Company, pays the necessary $2,000 business fees (in New Jersey) to create General Motors. At the time, there were 45 automobile manufacturers in the country. Benjamin Briscoe, head of Maxwell-Briscoe Motors, proposed that consolidating these companies into a few conglomerates would serve the country better, and even suggested that he, Durant at Buick, Henry Ford and Ransom E. Olds were best positioned to take the lead. Only Durant, a high school dropout who hated cars when they were first introduced, thought it was a good idea. Within 2 years, GM had 11 car manufacturers under its umbrella, along with some supplier firms and an electric company. Although GM prospered, Durant himself did not. He went bankrupt during the Great Depression and spent his golden years managing a bowling alley in Flint, Michigan