On This Day in History - September 3rd - Almanac

Today is Sunday, Sept. 3, the 246th day of 2017 with 119 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Venus and Mars. Evening stars are Jupiter and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include teacher Prudence Crandall, controversial for her efforts to educate black girls, in 1803; architect Louis Sullivan, called the father of the skyscraper, in 1856; automobile designer Ferdinand Porsche in 1875; cartoonist Mort Walker ("Beetle Bailey") in 1923 (age 94); Albert DeSalvo, known as the Boston Strangler, in 1931; actor Anne Jackson in 1926; actor Irene Papas in 1926 (age 91); actor Eileen Brennan in 1932; actor Pauline Collins in 1940 (age 77), musician Al Jardine (Beach Boys) in 1942 (age 75); actor Valerie Perrine in 1943 (age 74); actor Charlie Sheen in 1965 (age 52); director Noah Baumbach in 1969 (age 48); rapper Stefan Kendal Gordy in 1975 (age 42); actor Garrett Hedlund in 1984 (age 33); Olympic gold medal snowboarder Shaun White in 1986 (age 31); rapper August Alsina in 1992 (age 25).

On this date in history:

In 1777, the U.S. flag was flown in battle for the first time during a Revolutionary War conflict at Cooch's Bridge, Del.

In 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, officially ending the American Revolutionary War and recognizing U.S. independence from Britain.

In 1914, Giacomo della Chiesa is elected pope, taking the name Benedict XV.

In 1916, the Allies turned back the Germans in the World War I Battle of Verdun.

In 1936, Britain's Malcolm Campbell set a land-speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah, averaging 301.129 mph in two runs.

In 1930, a Category 4 hurricane struck the Dominican Republic, killing at least 2,000 people, though some estimates put the death toll much higher. It is the fifth deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record.

In 1939, Britain declared war on Germany and was quickly joined by France, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada.

In 1942, Frank Sinatra began his solo singing career after leaving Tommy Dorsey's orchestra.

In 1991, film director Frank Capra, best known for such feel-good movies as It Happened One Night and It's a Wonderful Life, died at the age of 94.

In 1997, Arizona Gov. Fife Symington was convicted of fraud by a federal jury in Phoenix. He resigned two days later.

In 2004, a three-day school crisis ended in a 13-hour battle between security forces that stormed a school building in Beslan, Russia, and Chechen terrorists who had opened fire on hostages. Nearly 350 people, including about 155 children, were killed. All but one of the 31 suspected hostage-takers also died.

In 2005, William H. Rehnquist, the chief justice of the United States, died at the age of 80 after a long bout with thyroid cancer. He had been on the Supreme Court since 1971.

In 2012, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, died in South Korea. He was 92.

In 2013, Ariel Castro, 53, who was sentenced to life plus 1,000 years for holding three young women captive for a decade, and sexually assaulting them, hanged himself in his cell at the Correction Reception Center in Orient, Ohio.

In 2014, the CVS Pharmacy chain stopped selling cigarettes and other tobacco products.

In 2014, Pakistan's army said more than 900 militants had been killed in a military mission that began in June in North Waziristan. The army said it lost 82 soldiers in the operation.

A thought for the day: Bill Clinton said, "The future is not an inheritance, it is an opportunity and an obligation."