On this day: 19 September

Siege of Damascus: The Rashidun Arabs under Khalid ibn al-Walid capture Damascus from the Byzantine Empire.

End of the Siege of Marienburg: The State of the Teutonic Order repulses the joint Polish—Lithuanian forces.

Imperial-Spanish forces under the count of Tilly and Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba capture Heidelberg, the capital of the Palatinate during the Thirty Years' War.

Jamestown is burned to the ground by the forces of Nathaniel Bacon during Bacon's Rebellion.

The Continental Congress passes the first United States federal budget.

George Washington's Farewell Address is printed across America as an open letter to the public.

Near La Salette-Fallavaux in southeastern France, shepherd children Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud reported a Marian apparition, now known as Our Lady of La Salette (statue pictured).

Annibale de Gasparis discovers the asteroid Massalia from the north dome of the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte.

American Civil War: Union troops under William Rosecrans defeat a Confederate force commanded by Sterling Price.

American Civil War: The Battle of Chickamauga began in northwestern Georgia and would end in the most significant Union defeat in the Western Theater.

American Civil War: Union troops under Philip Sheridan defeat a Confederate force commanded by Jubal Early. With over 50,000 troops engaged, it was the largest battle fought in the Shenandoah Valley.

La Gloriosa begins in Spain.

Franco-Prussian War: The siege of Paris begins. The city held out for over four months before surrendering.

New Zealand became the first country to introduce universal suffrage following the women's suffrage movement led by Kate Sheppard.

World War I: During the East African Campaign, colonial forces of the Belgian Congo (Force Publique) under the command of Charles Tombeur capture the town of Tabora after heavy fighting.

Football stadium San Siro is inaugurated in Milan, Italy

World War II: The Battle of Kępa Oksywska concludes, with Polish losses reaching roughly 14% of all the forces engaged.

World War II: The Battle of Hürtgen Forest begins. It will become the second-longest individual battle that the U.S. Army has ever fought.

Korean War: A North Korean attack was repelled by Allied forces at the Battle of Nam River.

Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistani President Ayub Khan sign the Indus Waters Treaty for the control and management of the Indus, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers.

Greek student Kostas Georgakis set himself on fire in Genoa, Italy, as a protest against the military junta of Georgios Papadopoulos.

An unidentified flying object over Tehran in Iran was observed by multiple civilians and military personnel, which has been described as one of the most credible cases in ufology.

The Solomon Islands join the United Nations.

Scott Fahlman posts the first documented emoticons :-) and :-( on the Carnegie Mellon University bulletin board system.

Saint Kitts and Nevis gains its independence.

Tipper Gore and other political wives form the Parents Music Resource Center as Frank Zappa, John Denver, and other musicians testify at U.S. Congressional hearings on obscenity in rock music.

Ötzi, a well-preserved natural mummy of a man dating from about 3300 BC, was discovered by two German tourists in the Alps.

The Thai army stages a coup. The Constitution is revoked and martial law is declared.

Mariano Rivera surpassed Trevor Hoffman to become Major League Baseball's all-time career leader in saves.

Chinese authorities cancelled a run of performances of The Mongol Khan, the first Mongolian play to be performed internationally, forty minutes before its planned premiere in Hohhot.

Azerbaijan launches a military offensive against the Republic of Artsakh in the Nagorno-Karabakh region; this leads to the flight of the Armenian population.