This day in history...

On September 17, 1862 at dawn, Union troops strike the Confederate lines near Antietam Creek, Maryland. What follows is the bloodiest day of the Civil War. About 100,000 troops are engaged in 8 hours of fighting....nearly 23,000 casualties, including nearly 4,000 dead. By day's end, neither army's line had been moved from its original position, but two days later, Gen. Robert E. Lee withdraws his army, ending his first invasion of the north.

On September 17, 1394, King Charles VI orders all Jews out of France. This is the culmination of a series of anti-Semitic rulings from the French monarchy over several decades, mostly stemming from the Jewish people having been scapegoated as having caused the Black Plaque. Most Jews comply with Charles' order, and to this day, the French population is barely one percent Jewish.

On September 17, 1967, The Who introduces itself to the American people with a (literal) bang. It's their first major exposure in the U.S., a guest spot on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. The band's affinity for concluding its performances by destroying their instruments, including a bomb blowing out the front of Keith Moon's bass drum, was well known. What was not known was that for this national TV appearance, Moon stuffed the bass drum with about 10 times the explosive he normally used. The ensuing bang scattered Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, while bass player John Entwistle gamely stood his ground, though his trademark long hairstyle was a little worse for wear. Townshend would later claim that Moon's blast would lead to his permanent deafness in one ear.


I know I said I would try not to repeat myself after the first anniversary of this thread, but I've already done it today with Antietam (had to; I started setting it up a few days ago without checking the older posts), so I'm doing it again, just because I think this next one is so cool:

On September 17, 1859, San Fransisco businessman Joshua Norton declares himself, Norton I, Emperor of the United States. Norton was frustrated with the political inadequacies he saw in the US government. Over the next 21 years, he would issue proclamations and make numerous civic proposals, including the construction of a tunnel connecting SF with Oakland (the idea became reality in the mid-1970s). He also declared himself "Protector of Mexico" at one point. The US government ignored him, but he was accorded celebrity status in San Fransisco throughout his "reign" which ended with his death in 1880. Merchants sold so many souvenirs bearing his name that a biographer once wrote that the city lived off Norton, rather than the reverse. Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson are among the authors who would base characters on Norton in their literature, and in the 1950s and 60s, the TV shows Death Valley Days and Bonanza would produce episodes that featured Norton as a character.

 

On September 18, 1960, Fidel Castro, Prime Minister of Cuba, visits New York City to address the United Nations and speak to Americans sympathetic to his revolutionary takeover of Cuba. Granted, there aren't many who sympathize....Castro has spent much of his 18 months in power antagonizing the U.S. government. Although Castro hasn't publicly proclaimed himself a Marxist, many in the government, including Vice President Richard Nixon, have speculated that's where Cuba is headed. When on the 26th Castro rails to the U.N. against U.S. interference in Latin American affairs - adding that the U.S. has "decreed the destruction" of his revolutionary government - the window to amiable U.S.-Cuban relations is effectively closed.


On September 18, 1987 in Brazil, a deadly hazardous waste accident begins. Two years earlier, a cancer therapy clinic in Goiania had relocated its facility and left behind a radiotherapy machine containing cesium-137. It sat undisturbed (and unreported to authorities) until today, when two scroungers ransacking the abandoned facility steal the machine and sell it to a local junk yard. The owner begins dismantling it and, fascinated by the glowing blue material, distributes it to friends and relatives (when later collected by the government, it found that some of the material was carried as far as 100 miles from the original site). Its not long before radiation poisoning cases begin appearing. Four will die, including a child, hundreds are made ill, 40 homes had to be dismantled and about 100,000 Brazilian citizens had to undergo monitoring for possible contamination.


On September 18, 1870, members of the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition into the Wyoming Territory are exploring the area around the Firehole River, noting the numerous geothermal geysers in the area. One, they notice, erupts at regular intervals of 44 minutes, with eruptions always lasting 290 seconds. They dub the phenomena "Old Faithful." Since then, "Old Faithful" has erupted more than a million times, right on time, every time. Fun fact: Cavalry troops stationed in the area in the 1880's would place their dirty laundry in the hole, and "Old Faithful" would later expel it fresh and clean. Cotton and linen fabrics survived the eruption, but woolen garments were often shredded. (source: Yellowstone National Park: A Manual for Tourists by Henry J. Wisner)