September 8

1380 – At Kulikovo, near modern day Tula, Russian forces defeat a mixed army of Tatars and Mongols of the Golden Horde, stopping their advance.

1504 – Michelangelo’s sculpture of David is unveiled in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy.

1565 – St. Augustine, Florida is founded by Spanish admiral and Florida’s first governor, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés.
The Knights of Malta lift the Ottoman siege of the island that began in May

1781 – During the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Eutaw Springs in South Carolina, the last major engagement of the war in the Carolinas, ends with the British winning an extremely narrow tactical victory, but having to retreat to Charleston and eventually cause the entire regular British force to abandon operations in the south.

1810 – The Tonquin sets sail from New York Harbor with 33 employees of John Jacob Astor’s newly created Pacific Fur Company on board. After a 6 month journey around the Horn of South America, the ship arrives at the mouth of the Columbia River and Astor’s men establish the fur trading town of Astoria, Oregon.

1860 – The steamship PS Lady Elgin collides with the schooner Augusta of Oswego, which is only damaged, and sinks on Lake Michigan off Port Clinton Illinois, with the loss of around 300 lives. The disaster remains the greatest loss of life on open water in the history of the Great Lakes.

1863 – In the Second Battle of Sabine Pass, a small Confederate force thwarts a Union invasion of Texas.

1883 – The Northern Pacific Railway is completed in a ceremony at Gold Creek, Montana. Former President Ulysses Grant driving in the final “golden spike”.

1888 – In London, the body of Jack the Ripper’s second murder victim, Annie Chapman, is found.

1892 – The earliest version of The Pledge of Allegiance is recited for the first time.
“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands,
one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

1900 – Even though receiving storm warnings days in advance, a powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people.

1916 – In a bid to prove that women were capable of serving as military dispatch riders, Augusta and Adeline Van Buren arrive in Los Angeles, completing a 60-day, 5,500 mile cross-country trip on motorcycles.

1921 – 16 year old Margaret Gorman wins the Atlantic City Pageant’s Golden Mermaid trophy; pageant officials later dub her the first Miss America.

1930 – 3M begins marketing Scotch transparent tape.

1935 – Louisiana Senator Huey Long is shot by a relative of a political opponent while leaving the Louisiana State Capitol building. Mortally wounded, he dies 2 days later.

1944 – London is hit by a V-2 rocket for the first time.

1945 – The division of Korea begins when U.S. troops arrive to partition the southern part of Korea, responding to Soviet troops occupying the northern part of the peninsula

1960 –President Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,  Alabama.

1966 – Star Trek premieres on the NBC television network.

1970 – Trans International Airlines Flight 863, a Douglas DC-8, crashes during takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, killing all 11 passengers and crew aboard.

1974 – President Gerald Ford signs a pardon of Richard Nixon for any crimes committed while in office.

1994 – US Air Flight 427, a Boeing 737, crashes on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport, killing all 132 passengers and crew aboard.

2016 – NASA launches OSIRIS-REx, its first asteroid sample return mission, landing and departing 101955 Bennu on 20 October 2020,  and is expected to return with samples in September 2023.

2017 – Author and Presidential advisor, Jerry Pournelle dies at his home in Studio City, California.

2022 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom dies at Balmoral Castle in Scotland after reigning for 70 years, having taken the record as the longest reigning British monarch from Queen Victoria, almost to the day, 7 years earlier, on the 9th.