Sept. 13 history: Attica

Sept. 13 in history

In 1971, a 4-day inmates’ rebellion at the Attica Correctional Facility in western New York ended as police and guards stormed the prison. The ordeal and final assault claimed the lives of 32 inmates and 11 hostages. 

In 1788, the Congress of the Confederation authorized the first national election and declared New York City the temporary national capital.

In 1803, Commodore John Barry, considered by many the father of the American Navy, died in Philadelphia.

In 1814, during the War of 1812, British naval forces began bombarding Fort McHenry in Baltimore but were driven back by American defenders in a battle that lasted until the following morning. [Song 'Star Spangled Banner' written for that occasion.] 

In 1940, Italy invades Egypt. Italy invades Egypt | September 13, 1940 | HISTORY

In 1948, Republican Margaret Chase Smith of Maine was elected to the U.S. Senate; she became the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress.

In 1962, Mississippi Gov. Ross Barnett rejected the U.S. Supreme Court’s order for the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith, a Black student, declaring in a televised address, “We will not drink from the cup of genocide.”

In 1993, at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy.

In 1996, rapper Tupac Shakur died at a Las Vegas hospital six days after he was wounded in a drive-by shooting. He was 25.

In 1997, a funeral was held in Calcutta, India, for Nobel peace laureate Mother Teresa.

In 1998, former Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace died in Montgomery at age 79.

In 2001, two days after the 9/11 terror attacks, the first few jetliners returned to the nation’s skies, but several major airports remained closed, and others opened only briefly. President George W. Bush visited injured Pentagon workers and said he would carry the nation’s prayers to New York.

In 2021, school began for about 1M New York City public school students in the nation’s largest experiment of in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2022, Ken Starr, a former federal appellate judge and a prominent attorney whose criminal investigation of Bill Clinton led to the president’s impeachment, died at age 76.