On This Day in History September 9, 2023

Historical Events 1000  Battle of Svolder, Baltic Sea: King Olaf on board the Long Serpent defeated in one of the greatest naval battles of the Viking Age. He leaps to his death overboard. 1776  Congress officially renames the country as the United States of America (from the United Colonies) 1817  Alexander Twilight, probably first African American to graduate from a US college, receives BA degree at Middlebury College 1914  First fully mechanized unit in the British Army created - the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade (WWI) 1993  Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization exchange letters of mutual recognition 2015  Queen Elizabeth II becomes Great Britain's longest-reigning monarch at 63 years and seven months, beating the previous record set by her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria Famous Birthdays Fred Spofforth 1853 - 1926 Michael Bublé 48th Birthday Otis Redding 1941 - 1967 William Bligh 1754 - 1817 More Famous Birthdays Famous Deaths Mao Zedong 1893 - 1976 William the Conqueror - 1087 More Famous Deaths September 9: Mutiny On The Bounty William Bligh, born on this day, became known as a sadistic sea captain who drove his men to the Mutiny on the Bounty. But was he in fact a victim of fiction? Read the Article