On September 5, 1774, delegates from twelve colonies gathered at Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia, launching the First Continental Congress. In this modest Georgian building—still standing today—they debated resistance, unity, and the future of British America.
This 1905 postcard image, now in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons, offers a nostalgic glimpse of the hall that witnessed the birth of coordinated colonial defiance.
Jesse Woodson James, one of the most legendary outlaws in American history, was born on September 5, 1847. He and his brother Frank headed a gang that committed numerous robberies throughout the Midwest and South during the Reconstruction era. He was portrayed as a folk hero—a “Robin Hood” who defied federal authority—in pro-Confederate newspapers during his lifetime. However, historians now cast doubt on that idyllic portrayal, pointing to a bloody past that indiscriminately harmed civilians. In 1882, Jesse James was shot and killed in his home, ending a life that was influenced by both myth and crime.
Image from LOC via Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US
Group having breakfast at camp – West Branch, Penobscot, Maine
– September 5, 1885
via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Title page of Harper’s weekly, September 5, 1863, showing Mosby’s guerrillas destroying sutlers’ train
via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
When Bradbury Robinson of Saint Louis University threw a football for the first time ever in a football game on September 5, 1906, it was an incomplete pass.
Robinson didn’t give up and he threw a touchdown in the same game.
Image via a Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Bob Newhart, Caterina Valente and Carol Burnett in September 1964
On September 5, 1929, Bob Newhart was born in Oak Park, Illinois.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
On September 5, 1862 the bulk of Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army crossed the Potomac River from Virginia into neighboring Maryland. This campaign would culminate 12 days later at the intense Battle of Antietam. Shown are soldiers of Jackson’s II Corps wading across the river at White’s Ford.
Image by A.C. Redwood and J.H.E. Whitney
via Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US.
Civil War Veteran, POW and dentist Frank Abbott, who developed numerous dental instruments that are still used today, was born on September 5, 1836 in Shapleigh, Maine.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
“New York City – opening of the public schools, September 5th – an exhibition of the calisthenic exercises”
– 1881
via Library of Congress, no known restrictions
WWI Veteran Brigadier General Cornelius Vanderbilt III was born on September 5, 1873 in New York City.
He was the son of N.Y. railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt II who built The Breakers mansion in Newport, Rhode Island.
Image: Cornelius Vanderbilt III c. 1915-1918 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
On September 5, 1836, Sam Houston was elected as President of the Republic of Texas. Image: Hon. Sam Houston in the early 1860s by Mathew Brady via Wikimedia Commons, public domain Sam Houston Portrait and Biography Sketch“
On September 5, 1813, the USS Enterprise engaged and captured HMS Boxer off the coast of Maine in a fierce 30-minute battle during the War of 1812. Both commanding officers—Lieutenant William Burrows of the U.S. Navy and Commander Samuel Blyth of the Royal Navy—were mortally wounded in the fight. In a gesture of solemn respect, they were buried side by side in Portland’s Eastern Cemetery.
This early print, showing the Enterprise’s victory, comes from the Digital Commonwealth of Massachusetts and is in the public domain.
Lester Allan Pelton was born on September 5, 1829 in Vermillion, Ohio.
Lester participated in the California Gold Rush, but was unsuccessful as a gold miner.
By accident, while observing a misaligned spinning water turbine, he developed an improved water wheel that eventually produced the first hydroelectric power in the Sierra Nevada. Today variations of his Pelton Water Wheel are still used to produce hydroelectric power around the globe. For his innovation, Lester received the highest award given by The Franklin Institute in 1895.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Raquel Welch was born September 5, 1940. She’s shown here with co-star Dean Martin in the 1968 western “Bandolero!”
Image Wikimedia Commons, no known copyright, public domain in the US
Crazy Horse plaque at Fort Robinson near Crawford, Nebraska
Image by Patrickdf via Wikimedia Commons, (CC BY-SA 3.0)
American composer Amy Beach, who wrote over 300 musical works and who was the first American female to compose and publish a symphony, was born on September 5, 1867 in Henniker, New Hampshire.
Image of Amy Beach via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Distribution Department, Low Service Spot Pond Reservoir, hauling out muck with locomotive, from the south, Stoneham, Massachusetts
September 5, 1899
Image via Digital Commonwealth Massachusetts, no known restrictions
A photo of Sgt. Willie Sandlin, President Coolidge and Sgt. Sam. Woodfill that was taken on 9/5/1924
Both Sandlin and Woodfill were Medal of Honor recipients for their heroism during WWI. Serving with different divisions, both were exposed to poison gas during the Meuse–Argonne offensive but they were still able to subdue the enemy.
Both were presented the Medal of Honor by General Pershing on February 9, 1919.
Image via LOC, no known restrictions
This image of President William McKinley inside the Government Building at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, was taken by Frances Benjamin Johnston on September 5, 1901.
McKinley had just finished a speech praising peace and prosperity while surrounded by dignitaries, including Mrs. John Miller Horton and Mexican ambassador Manuel Azpíroz. It is among the President’s final posed photos before he was shot the following day. The picture remains as a somber reminder—a hopeful moment captured in time before the catastrophe that would take his life eight days later.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
