September 11 is day 254 of the year, or 255 in a leap year, with 111 days remaining after it. In the United States it is Patriot Day and the National Day of Service and Remembrance. It falls on a Saturday in 2027 and a Monday in 2028.
This page follows the same structure as every other date page on the site, with one deliberate difference: the 2001 attacks are given their own section rather than listed among the other events.
Treating them as one bullet in a chronology alongside a Beatles recording session would be a failure of proportion, not a stylistic choice.
Table of Contents
September 11, 2001
On the morning of September 11, 2001, nineteen al-Qaeda hijackers seized four commercial aircraft.
Two were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York, one into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and one crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after passengers and crew attempted to retake the aircraft.
2,977 people were killed, not counting the hijackers. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum gives the breakdown as 2,753 in New York, 184 at the Pentagon, and 40 aboard United Airlines Flight 93, with the dead drawn from 90 nations (9/11 Memorial & Museum). Among them were 343 New York City firefighters (Britannica).
Two qualifications belong with that number.
Some published figures are higher because they include the hijackers. Accounts giving 189 dead at the Pentagon and 44 aboard Flight 93 are counting the five and four hijackers on those aircraft. The 2,977 total excludes all nineteen.
The figure has been revised repeatedly and is not exact. The New York toll stood at 2,801 on the first anniversary, fell to 2,792 when duplicate and erroneous names were removed, and fell again to 2,752 in late 2003. The overall total was reckoned at 2,976 before a later revision to 2,977. Britannica notes the exact number is not definitively known, because of continuing uncertainty about how many died at the World Trade Center (Britannica).
The consequences shaped the following two decades: the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the USA PATRIOT Act, and a permanent change in civil aviation security worldwide. Deaths attributed to illnesses arising from exposure at Ground Zero have since continued to accumulate.
Patriot Day was established by Congress in 2001. It is a national day of observance rather than a federal holiday: flags are flown at half-staff and a moment of silence is observed at 8:46 a.m. Eastern, but offices, banks and schools remain open. In 2009 Congress additionally designated it a National Day of Service and Remembrance.
What day of the week is September 11?
September 11 is day 254 in a common year and day 255 in a leap year.
| Year | Day of week |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Friday |
| 2027 | Saturday |
| 2028 | Monday |
| 2029 | Tuesday |
| 2030 | Wednesday |
| 2031 | Thursday |
| 2032 | Saturday |
| 2033 | Sunday |
| 2034 | Monday |
| 2035 | Tuesday |
September 11, 2001 was a Tuesday. The date next falls on a Tuesday in 2029.
Observances on September 11
| Observance | Scope | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Patriot Day | United States | Day of observance, not a federal holiday |
| National Day of Service and Remembrance | United States | Designated 2009 |
| Enkutatash, New Year | Ethiopia, Eritrea | Ethiopian calendar new year |
| National Day of Catalonia, La Diada | Catalonia | |
| Teachers’ Day | Argentina |
September 11 is Enkutatash, the Ethiopian new year, in most years — the Ethiopian calendar runs seven to eight years behind the Gregorian and begins on this date except in years preceding an Ethiopian leap year.
Other historical events on September 11
1297 — Scottish forces under Andrew Moray and William Wallace defeated a larger English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge on the River Forth. The English crossed a bridge wide enough for two horsemen abreast; the Scots let roughly 2,000 across, then attacked and cut off the rest (Wikipedia; contemporary accounts).
1609 — Henry Hudson, commanding the Dutch vessel Halve Maen, sailed into the harbour of present-day New York and up the river that now bears his name (Mental Floss; Big Day in History).
1697 — Forces under Prince Eugene of Savoy decisively defeated Ottoman troops at the Battle of Zenta, in present-day Serbia (Wikipedia, Selected Anniversaries).
1789 — Alexander Hamilton was appointed the first United States Secretary of the Treasury (Associated Press, Today in History).
1814 — An American fleet defeated the British at the Battle of Lake Champlain during the War of 1812 (Associated Press).
1936 — Boulder Dam, now Hoover Dam, began operation when President Roosevelt pressed a key in Washington to start its first hydroelectric generator (Associated Press).
1941 — Ground was broken for the construction of the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia (Associated Press; Mental Floss).
1973 — A military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet overthrew the elected president of Chile, Salvador Allende, who died during the assault on the presidential palace. Pinochet’s rule lasted almost seventeen years (Familypedia; Big Day in History).
In Chile the date carries its own weight independent of 2001. It is referred to as el 11 de septiembre or simply el once, and it names the coup rather than the attacks.
Notable births on September 11
| Year | Person | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| 1862 | O. Henry | American short story writer, born William Sydney Porter |
| 1885 | D. H. Lawrence | English novelist |
| 1917 | Ferdinand Marcos | President of the Philippines |
| 1965 | Moby | American musician |
| 1977 | Ludacris | American rapper and actor |
Zodiac sign and birthstone for September 11
September 11 falls under Virgo, which runs from about August 23 to September 22.
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Zodiac sign | Virgo |
| Sign dates | About August 23 to September 22 |
| Element | Earth |
| Birthstone | Sapphire |
| Birth flowers | Aster and morning glory |
How many days until September 11?
The next September 11 falls on a Saturday in 2027. It is day 254 of the year, leaving 111 days remaining after it.
September 11, 2027 sits five days after Labor Day on Monday, September 6, and four days before the start of National Hispanic Heritage Month on September 15.
Frequently asked questions
Is September 11 a federal holiday?
No. Patriot Day is a national day of observance, not a federal holiday. Federal offices, banks, the postal service and the stock exchanges all operate normally. Flags are flown at half-staff on federal buildings and a moment of silence is observed at 8:46 a.m. Eastern.
What day of the week was September 11, 2001?
Tuesday. The date next falls on a Tuesday in 2029. In 2027 it falls on a Saturday.
What else happened on September 11 in history?
The Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, Hamilton’s appointment as first Treasury Secretary in 1789, the Pentagon groundbreaking in 1941, and the Chilean coup of 1973. In Chile, September 11 refers to the coup rather than to the 2001 attacks, and is known there as el once.
Sources
- National September 11 Memorial & Museum, 9/11 FAQs — https://www.911memorial.org/911-faqs
- National September 11 Memorial & Museum, The Memorial — https://911memorial.org/visit/memorial
- Britannica, How many people were killed in the September 11 attacks? — https://www.britannica.com/topic/How-many-people-were-killed-in-the-September-11-attacks
- Miller Center, University of Virginia, Timeline: The September 11 terrorist attacks — https://millercenter.org/remembering-september-11/september-11-terrorist-attacks
