September 13 is:
Defy Superstition Day
Fortune Cookie Day
Positive Thinking Day
National Peanut Day
From Foodimentary.com:
It takes about 540 peanuts to make a 12-ounce jar of peanut butter.
There are enough peanuts in one acre to make 30,000 peanut butter sandwiches.
By law, any product labeled “peanut butter” in the United States must be at least 90 percent peanuts.
In 1884, Marcellus Gilmore Edson of Montreal, Quebec was the first person to patent peanut butter.
Peanut butter was first introduced to the USA in 1904 at the Universal Exposition in St. Louis by C.H. Sumner, who sold $705.11 of the “new treat” at his concession stand.
Uncle Sam Day
On this day in 1813, the United States got its nickname, Uncle Sam. The name is linked to Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, New York, who supplied barrels of beef to the United States Army during the War of 1812. Wilson (1766-1854) stamped the barrels with “U.S.” for United States, but soldiers began referring to the grub as “Uncle Sam’s.” The local newspaper picked up on the story and Uncle Sam eventually gained widespread acceptance as the nickname for the U.S. federal government.
September 13, 1759: Battle of the Plains of Abraham: British forces defeated French forces near Quebec City in the Seven Years’ War.
American-Mexican war: US Gen Winfield Scott captured Mexico City on September 13, 1847.
Winfield Scott (June 13, 1786 – May 29, 1866) was an American military commander and political candidate. He served as a general in the United States Army from 1814 to 1861, taking part in the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the early stages of the American Civil War, and various conflicts with Native Americans. Scott was the Whig Party’s presidential nominee in the 1852 presidential election, but was defeated by Democrat Franklin Pierce. He was known as “Old Fuss and Feathers” for his insistence on proper military etiquette, and as the Grand Old Man of the Army for his many years of service.
Birthday of Walter Reed (September 13, 1851), American physician and surgeon who made important studies in the causes of typhoid and yellow fever
Birthday of John Joseph “Black Jack” Pershing (September 13, 1860), American general, commander-in-chief of the Allied Expeditionary Force in WW I.
From Today in Science
In 1899, the first American automobile fatality resulted when Henry H. Bliss was run over as he alighted from a streetcar at Central Park West and 74th Street in New York City. He stepped into the path of an approaching horseless carriage driven by Arthur Smith. Bliss, 68, was taken to hospital, where he died of the injuries he sustained. The driver, Arthur Smith was arrested and held on $1,000 bail. The first pedestrian in the world to die after being struck by a car was Bridget Driscoll, on 17 Aug 1896, on the grounds of Crystal Palace, London. She was struck by a car giving demonstration rides, and died minutes later of head injuries. On 12 Feb 1898, the first car-driver crash fatality was businessman Henry Lindfield whose speeding car ran into a tree at Purley, Surrey.
First (tethered) flight of the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300, in 1939, one of the first viable American helicopters, flown by Igor Sikorsky
Hurricane Ike made landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast of the United States on September 13, 2008, causing heavy damage to Galveston Island, Houston and surrounding areas.