History of the Day: 9/12, 13

Happy birthday to Henry Hudson, born on September 12th in 1575. On his 32nd birthday, he began exploring of the Hudson River. He must have been so surprised when he found out it was named after him!


In 1847, the Battle of Chapultepec began in the War of Southwestern Expansion (that is, Mexican-American War). In this battle, Los Niños Héroes, nine military school students, held off a vastly superior U.S. force for some time. When the last one realized he was the only one left, he wrapped himself in the Mexican flag and leapt from his tower. The U.S. general saluted his corpse.


Even more important, Mexicans commemorate the execution of the Batallón de San Patricio, or St. Patrick's Battlion, an Irish-American military unit. They had come to this country for a better life and had, almost immediately, been drafted into service for the U.S. The movie Gangs of New York has a moving depiction of this (skip to the six minute mark) featuring a traditional Irish song, Paddy's Lamentation. As they fought, they began to wonder why they were warring with the majority Protestant Americans against their Catholic brothers from Mexico. So, they defected en masse. Eventually, they were captured and sentenced to death.


They were hanged on this day in 1847. General Scott specified that they were to be hanged with Chapultepec in view and that the precise moment of their death was to occur when the U.S. flag replaced the Mexican tricolor atop the citadel. He was so thoughtful!


You know, all this talk of the Irish and the recent release of Beatle's Rock Band (which is AWESOME!) makes me wonder, what if the Beatles had been Irish?


In 1933, Leó Szilárd conceived the idea of the nuclear chain reaction while waiting for a red light. The idea bulb that appeared over his head blew off the top of his car.


Ben Folds was born on this day in 1966. He's amazing. If there happens to be someone whom you really love a lot, you should play this song for them. Johnny Cash died on this day in 2003. He's also amazing. He didn't write this song, but he was meant to sing it.

On September 13th, 122; Rome began building Hadrian's Wall to keep out the unwashed rabble from the North. In 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner. Now, we can commemorate our own wall AND our flag all on the same day!


On this day in 1848, Vermont railroad worker Phineas Gage incredibly survived a 3 foot iron rod being driven through his head. The reported effects on his behavior and personality stimulated thinking about the nature of the brain and its functions. Henry Bliss, the first person killed in an auto accident (1899), was slightly less fortunate. On the bright side, no one would have remembered his name had he not expired.

Happy Holy-Crap-It's-Hot Day! In 1922, the temperature in Al 'Aziziyah, Libya (Arabic for "snowball's chance") reached 136.04°F.

And, finally, the 13th is the official end of "Beard Week" with the death of Ambrose Burnside. In addition to being a truly inept military leader, he also gave his name to sideburns. No, I'm not kidding. Look at him! You could kill someone with those things!!! Except Confederates.