September 20

1066 –The defeat  of the armies of Earls Morcar and Edwin at Fulford England by Harald Hardrada’s invading Norse army, compels King Harald Godwinson to force march his army the 190 miles from London to York in less than 6 days.

1187 – The Saracen army of Salah ad-Din begins the Siege of Jerusalem, ending with the surrender of the city by Balian of Ibelin less than two weeks later on October 2nd.

1519 – Ferdinand Magellan’s fleet sets sail from Sanlúcar de Barrameda on his expedition to the east indies from the west, that will eventually circumnavigate the globe

1737 – By terms of a 1686 treaty, the Lenape-Delaware tribe sign a new treaty ceding 1.2 million acres of land to the Pennsylvania Colony

1835 – In the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul, Generals Bento Gonçalves da Silva and Antônio de Sousa Neto begin a rebellion called the Revolução Farroupilha or The Ragamuffin War.

1881 – Chester A. Arthur is officially sworn in as President after the death of President Garfield the day before.

1893 – Charles Duryea and his brother road test the first American made, gasoline powered automobile.

1973 – At Natchitoches, Louisiana’s regional airport, Jim Croce’s chartered light plane, a Beech E18Sm, crashes on takeoff, killing all 6 aboard.

1984 – A suicide bomber in a car attacks the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 22 people.

1989 – USAir Flight 5050,  a Boeing 737, crashes into Bowery Bay during a rejected takeoff from LaGuardia Airport, killing 2 passengers of the 63 pass people.

2001 – In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, President George W. Bush declares a “War on Terror”.

2005 – Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal dies in Vienna, Austria.

2011 – The United States military ends its “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy

2017 – Hurricane Maria hits Puerto Rico as a Category 4 hurricane, resulting in 2,975 deaths and $90 billion in damage