September 5

1622 – A hurricane overruns a Spanish fleet bound from Havana to Cadiz and sinks the galleon Atocha in the Florida Straits between Florida and Cuba. with the loss of 260 of the 265 passengers and crew aboard and over $500 million in treasure.

1774 – The First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia

1781 – A British fleet led by Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves is repelled from the Chesapeake Bay by a French fleet led by Rear Admiral Francois Paul Comte de Grasse, contributing to the British surrender at Yorktown.

1812 – During the War of 1812, Fort Wayne, Indiana is besieged by a force of over 500 Potawatomi and Miami Indians.

1836 – Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.

1862 –The Army of Northern Virginia crosses the Potomac River at White’s Ford during the Maryland Campaign.

1877 – Ogallala Chief Crazy Horse is killed while allegedly resisting confinement at Fort Robinson, Nebraska.

1882 – The first United States Labor Day parade is held in New York City.

1905 – At the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire, the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by President Theodore Roosevelt, ends the Russo-Japanese War.

1914 – The First Battle of the Marne begins when the French attack and defeat German forces who are advancing from the northeast towards Paris

1924 – Paterfamilias Fortis is born in the area near Pontiac, Missouri.

1942 – The Japanese high command orders a withdrawal at Milne Bay, New Guinea, the first major Japanese defeat in land warfare during the Pacific War.

1944 – Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg form the Benelux union

1945 – In Ottawa, the Soviet embassy clerk, Igor Gouzenko defects to Canada, exposing Soviet espionage in North America, basically beginning the Cold War.

1969 – U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley is charged with 6 specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.

1972 –  The Palestinian terrorist group “Black September” attacks and takes hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. 2 are killed in the attack and the other 9 the following day. Consequences of the failure of German police to effectively conduct a rescue is the motivation by many nations to form specialized police and military units specifically trained and tasked for counter terrorist/hostage rescue situations.

1975 – Lynette ‘Squeaky’ Fromme attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford in Sacramento, California.

1977 – NASA launches the Voyager 1 spacecraft from Cape Canaveral.

1978 – Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat begin peace discussions at Camp David, Maryland.

1984 – On mission STS-41-D, Shuttle Discovery lands at Edwards Air Force Base, California after its maiden voyage.

1986 – Pan Am Flight 73 from Mumbai, India to New York, with 358 people on board is hijacked at a scheduled stop at Karachi International Airport in Pakistan.

1996 – Hurricane Fran makes landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina as a Category 3 storm with 115 mph sustained winds, causing over $3 billion in damage and killing 27 people.

2016 – Actor Hugh O’Brian, dies, age 91 at his home in Beverly Hills.