September 28

September 28 is the 272nd day of the year, and the American record for it runs from 1779 to 1924 — a span of 145 years. The entry that anchors it: American Revolution, 1779.

In the years around independence, the date turns political. In 1779, American Revolution — Samuel Huntington is elected President of the Continental Congress, succeeding John Jay. Two years on, in 1781, American Revolution — French and American forces backed by a French fleet begin the siege of Yorktown. Six years on, in 1787, the Congress of the Confederation votes to send the newly written United States Constitution to the state legislatures for approval.

By the middle of the nineteenth century the date carries heavier freight. In 1821, the Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire from Spain was drafted in the National Palace in Mexico City.

In the postwar nineteenth century the date tracks a nation rebuilding. In 1892, the first night game for American football takes place in a contest between Wyoming Seminary and Mansfield State Normal.

In the first half of the twentieth century the date turns technological. In 1912, Corporal Frank S. Scott of the United States Army becomes the first enlisted man to die in an airplane crash. Seven years on, in 1919, Race riots begin in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Five years on, in 1924, a team of U.S. Army Air Service aviators landed in Seattle, Washington, to complete the first aerial circumnavigation of the world.

The date is also a birthday. Among the Americans born on September 28: Alvan Wentworth Chapman (1809), American physician and botanist; Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs (1821), American minister and politician; Kate Douglas Wiggin (1856), American author and educator; James Edwin Campbell (1867), American educator, school administrator, newspaper editor, poet, and essayist; and Albert Young (1877), American boxer and promoter.

September 28 is also a date of endings. Among the Americans who died on it: Herman Melville (1891), American author and poet; John Marks Moore (1902), American politician and attorney; Richard Warren Sears (1914), American businessman, co-founded Sears; and Freddie Stowers (1918), American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient.

The date carries formal observance as well — International Day for Universal Access to Information and National Day of Awareness and Unity against Child Pornography (Philippines). September 28 carries 8 entries spread across 145 years. None of the people in them knew they were sharing a date; that is a pattern only visible looking back.