Historical Events on March 9

  • 1796: Napoléon Bonaparte weds Joséphine de Beauharnais today. She’s his first wife.
  • 1815: In Philosophical Magazine, the 1st battery-operated clock is described by Francis Ronalds.
  • 1841: In the case of the United States v. The Amistad, the United State Supreme Court rules that the captive Africans who had taken control of the vessel was taken into slavery illegally.
  • 1842: Approximately 6-years before the California Gold Rush, gold is discovered at Rancho San Francisco in California.
  • 1847: At the Siege of Veracruze during the Mexican American War, the U.S engages in the first large-scale amphibious assault in United States History.
  • 1862: The USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia engage in combat during the American Civil War but neither side is victorious.
  • 1910: Fifteen thousand coal miners, all represented by the United Mine Worker Union, strike in Westmoreland County.
  • 1933: As a part of his New Deal, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt submits the Emergency Banking Act to Congress.
  • 1942: The Dutch East Indies – represented by KNIL Commander in Chief Lieutenant General Hein Ter Poorten – surrenders unconditionally to Imperial Japanese force located in West Java.
  • 1944: In a battle on Hill 700 in Bougainville, Imperial Japanese forces launch a counter-attack against American forces. The battle would rage on for 5-days.
  • 1945: Allied forces launch a night-time incendiary attack on the city of Tokyo. This attack inflicts damage that is comparable to the nuclear attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima that occurred 5-months late.
  • 2011: After almost 40 flights, the Space Shuttle Discovery makes its final landing.

Famous Birthdays on March 9

  • Italian explorer and cartographer, Amerigo Vespucci is born in 1454.
  • German actress Friederike Caroline Neuber is born in 1697.
  • American novelist Mickey Spillane is born in 1918.
  • American actor Carl Betz is born in 1921.
  • American actress Linda Fiorentino is born in 1958.
  • French actress Juliette Binoche is born in 1964.
  • American actor Emmanuel Lewis is born in 1971.
  • American actress Jean Louisa Kelly is born in 1972.