What happened 24th of September in the past?

Today is 24th of September in 2008. I looked up what happened today in the past. In 1877, Takamori Saigo, one of the most famous Japanese historical persons killed himself during the war between the government army and rebellious troops he led. Then, Japan was in a transitional period from Edo period, in which many Japanese feudal lords followed by professional soldiers, which was called “Samurai”, governed their countries to Meiji period when new centralized Japanese government controlled the country. Takamori contributed to creation of the new Japanese government and therefore was a top government official.

However, he felt sorry for many soldiers in his hometown who lost their jobs because of collapse of the traditional feudal system, and he left the government. When he was asked to become a leader of rebellious groups consisting of ex-professional soldiers who lost their jobs, he accepted the offer. Even though the rebellious troops were made up of ex-professional soldiers, new centralized government army which consisted of newly trained solders most of whom were not professional solders in Edo period defeat it. When Takomori realized that he would not be able to win the war, he committed a suicide.