September 12
490 BC. Hrmm...seems to be some discrepancy as to when the Battle of Marathon occurred. Seems that September 12 is the more commonly accepted date...
1847. US forces under Winfield Scott (and Robert E. Lee) begin a two day battle that will result in the capture Chapultepec in the Mexican-American War. Hence the Marine's anthem line "from the Halls of Montezuma...."
1857. The SS Central America flounders and sinks in a hurricane about 160 miles off Cape Hatteras, drowning 426 passengers and crew. FAr more significant, however, is that the ship was carrying approximately 14 tons of gold from California. The arrival of this news, along with the annual outflow of gold from New York to the farms and farmers who had sold their crops, will result in a tremendous tightening of liquidity and a panic that will become known as one of the most signifciant of all depressions of the era -- the Panic of 1857. More than 5,000 businesses will fail, and from its peak (in 1952) to its troph in '57, the stock market will fall 66% compared to inflation. The ships sunken remains were found in 1987.
1919. Adolf Hitler joins the German Workers Party.