Sunday · September 27, 2026
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American history, reported as it happened
Made for the 250th
On this day › September 3

What happened on September 3 in American history

September 3 is the 246th day of the year (the 247th in leap years). Patriot Compass has published 6 stories from September 3 spanning 1777 to 1976. Among them: in 1777, Musket fire greets Hessian dragoons at Cooch's Bridge; some say the Stars and Stripes flew over the fight; and in 1783, Peace is signed at the Hôtel d'York; the United States is free and independent.

1777

Musket fire greets Hessian dragoons at Cooch's Bridge; some say the Stars and Stripes flew over the fight

Some who were there later said this was the first time the Stars and Stripes flew over American troops in a fight.
1783

Peace is signed at the Hôtel d'York; the United States is free and independent

Eight years of war end with four signatures in a rented Paris hotel room.
1838Member story · 1776 Club

Disguised as a sailor, Frederick Douglass rides the rails out of Baltimore to free soil

Borrowed papers and a uniform from Anna Murray carry him through Wilmington and Philadelphia to New York in under a day.
1861Member story · 1776 Club

Polk breaks Kentucky's neutrality; Confederate troops occupy Columbus

Residents wave rebel flags at the landing, but the bishop-general has just handed the state to the Union.
1925Member story · 1776 Club

A thunderstorm tears the Navy airship Shenandoah into three pieces over Ohio

Fourteen aboard die, including the commander who had warned this kind of weather was dangerous and asked that the flight be delayed.
1976

Viking 2 sets down on Mars, tilted on a rock at Utopia Planitia

A stray radar echo fires the thrusters early, cracking the ground beneath the lander's feet.