Sept. 19 (UPI) — On this date in history:
In 1777, British soldiers won the first Battle of Saratoga during the Revolutionary War, but the Americans won the second battle less than a month later.
In 1881, U.S. President James Garfield, 49, who had been shot in July by a disgruntled office seeker, died of his wounds. Vice President Chester Arthur was sworn in as Garfield’s successor, who had been president for 6 1/2 months. His assassin was executed in 1882.
In 1893, New Zealand became the first country to grant women the right to vote nationally, with the signing of the Electoral Bill by Governor David Boyle.
In 1955, after ten years in power, Argentine President Juan Domingo Perón was deposed in a military coup.
In 1957, the United States conducted its first fully contained underground nuclear weapons test in Nevada. Scientists at the time theorized that the heat and pressure of the explosion could turn rocks into rubies, sapphires, or even diamonds beneath the rubble.
In 1969, U.S. President Richard Nixon announced that he would cancel the November and December draft for 50,000 Americans. He did this in an attempt to force Congress to switch to a lottery-style draft and to quell public protests.
In 1985, an earthquake in Mexico City caused hundreds of buildings to collapse, killing at least 7,000 people and injuring thousands.
In 1988, American swimmer Greg Louganis won the gold medal in the 3-meter diving event at the Seoul Olympics after hitting his head on the board during the preliminary rounds.
In 1995, The Washington Post published a manifesto by Theodore Kaczynski, the so-called Unabomber, who carried out 16 bombings in the United States from 1978-95, killing three people. Kaczynski was arrested in 1996 and sentenced to eight life sentences.
In 2006, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was deposed in a bloody military coup.
In 2010, 42-year-old Frenchman Philippe Croizon, a quadruple amputee, swam the English Channel in 13 1/2 hours. Croizon completed the 21 miles wearing flippers on the stumps of his legs and special handlebar attachments in his arm areas.
In 2017, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck central Mexico, killing more than 350 people, including dozens of children who were buried under the rubble of a school.
In 2021, Cumbre Vieja in Spain’s Canary Islands erupted, marking the volcano’s longest known eruptive period, lasting 85 days. The disaster killed one person and destroyed more than 3,000 structures.
In 2022, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest next to her husband, Prince Philip, in a private funeral at Windsor Castle in London. The Queen died on September 8 at the age of 96, making her the oldest and longest-reigning monarch of Britain.
