Today in Military History 1 Apr - 30 Jun

11 May

1862 CSS 'Virginia/Merrimac' is scuttled in the James River
1864 Skirmish at Yellow Tavern: J.E.B. Stuart mortally wounded
1898 USN cable cutting raid at Cienfuegos, Cuba
1898 USN landing party raids Cardenas, Cuba
1918 Henry Johnson, 369th Infantry, called by T. Roosevelt one of the "five finest soldiers" in the AEF, wins America's first Croix de guerre, but had to wait until 2015 for the Medal of Honor -- Learn More
1938 First USCG award of the DFC, LT C. B. Olsen, for a rescue at sea
1943 RMS 'Queen Mary' arrives at New York with Winston Churchill and the British Chiefs of Staff, en route to Washington, as well as 5,000 Afrika Korps veterans bound for P/W camps, and the 300 troops guarding them
1943 US 7th Infantry Division lands on Attu, against stiff resistance
1960 Israeli agents capture Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires

BORN

1821 Charles John Stolbrand, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1894
1830 John Converse Starkweather, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1890
1888 Irving Berlin, Doughboy, composer ("God Bless America", "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas," "Oh How I hate to Get Up in the Morning/Some Day I'm Going to Murder the Bugler"), d. 1989
1912 Phil Silvers, in Brooklyn, actor ("Sergeant Bilko," "Marcus Leicus Leno"), d. 1985

DIED

1812 Spencer Perceval, 49, militiaman, British PM (1809-1812), assassinated
1927 Maj Gen Henry M. Robert, U.S., parliamentarian ("Rules of Order"), 90
Henry Martyn Robert - Wikipedia

2006 Frankie Thomas, actor ("Tom Corbett, Space Cadet"), at 85

 

12 MAY

1789 The Society of St. Tammany, formed in New York City by Revolutionary War veterans
1806 Amos Beebe Eaton, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1877
1812 Louis Blenker, Brig Gen, U.S., in 1863
1820 Florence Nightingale, "The Lady with the Lamp," d. 1910
1900 Joseph John Rochefort, U.S. naval officer, cryptanalyst. who broke the Japanese code, d. 1976

DIED
1864 J.E.B. Stuart, 31, Confederate cavalryman, d/w from Yellow Tavern, 11th
1923 Lt. Col. Earl "Pete" Ellis, USMC, 42, probably from drink, while travelling incognito in the Caroline Is.
1944 Max Brand [Frederick Schiller Faust], pulp western author, war correspondent with the US 351st Infantry, kia at 51 near Itri, northwest of Naples
1957 Erich von Stroheim, 71, actor ("The Grand Illusion")

 

13 May

1774 Royal Governor of Massachusetts Maj. Gen. Thomas Gage reviewed the militia in Boston, eleven months before Lexington -- Learn More
1846 US declares war on Mexico, two months after fighting begins
1861 Britain declares neutrality in the American Civil War
1865 Battle of Palmeto Ranch, Tx: Rebs win "the last battle" of the Civil War
1925 USS 'Ontario' (AT-13) establishes American sovereignty over Swain's Island,- Central Pacific
1940 Churchill promised "blood, toil, tears, and sweat." --
1943 USN Bureau of Navigation becomes the Bureau of Naval Personnel
1944 An American destroyer escort sinks a Japanese submarine in the mid-Atlantic
1945 Kyushu: US carriers begin two day raid against Japanese airfields
1946 US sentences 58 Mauthausen concentration camp guards to death
1964 The first nuclear-powered task force puts to sea, 'Enterprise' (CVN-65), 'Long Beach' (CGN-9), and 'Bainbridge' (DLGN-25/CGN-25)
1972 After repeated attacks over seven years, the Thanh Hóa Bridge was destroyed, by aircraft off the USS 'America' (CV 66) -- Learn More
1985 Philadelphia police bomb a house held by the radical group "Move", 11 die

BORN
1908 The US Navy Nurse Corps
1914 Joseph Louis Barrow, the "Brown Bomber," heavyweight, soldier, d. 1981
1931 James Warren "Jim" Jones, maniacal prophet, suicide, 1978, with c. 900 of his followers

DIED
1619 Johan Van Olden Barneveldt, 72, Dutch statesman, beheaded by the Calvinists for advocating religious freedom
1794 Lt.-Gen. Sir Robert Boyd, KB, who rose from storekeeper to governor of Gibraltar, at 84 -- Learn More
1865 PVT John J. Williams, 22, 34th Indiana, reportedly the "last man killed" in the Civil War, Palmeto Ranch
1905 Hiram Cronk, the last surviving War of 1812 veteran, died at 105 -- Learn More
1937 Maj. Gen. John Lincoln Clem, the 'Drummer Boy of Chickamauga', died at 85 -- Learn More

 

14 May

1653 The Massachusetts Council declares that one eighth of each militia company be available to march on one day's warning.
1801 Tripoli declares war on the US, initiating the First Tripoli War (1801-1805)
1804 Lewis & Clark Expedition sets out from St Louis
1836 Mexican President Santa Anna, a prisoner of the Texans, signs the Treaty of Velasco, conceding Texan independence -- Learn More
1836 Congress authorizes the Wilkes Expedition to explore the South Seas
1845 USS 'Constitution' lands Marines at Danang, Indochina
1856 USS 'Supply' delivers 50 Turkish camels to the US Army at Indianola, Texas
1863 Battle of Jackson, MS
1864 Maj Arthur MacArthur assumes command of the 24th Wisc, at age 18 -- Learn More
1889 The 1859 screw sloop USS 'Brooklyn' is stricken from the Navy List
1898 US-Spanish naval skirmish outside Havana
1932 New York: thousands march in "We Want Beer!" demonstration
1945 Kamikaze strikes USS 'Enterprise" (CV-6)
1945 US offensive on Okinawa, Sugar Loaf Hill captured
1955 The USSR and its satellites form the Warsaw Pact (1955-1989)
1974 The American radical Symbionese Liberation Army shoots it out with police; 6 die
1975 US air raids force the "Khmer Rouge" to free the container ship 'Mayaguez', after heavy losses on both sides

BORN
1830 George Pierce Doles, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1864
1836 James Patrick Major, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1877

DIED
1906 Carl Schurz, German revolutionary, Maj. Gen., U.S.V., social reformer, at 77
1968 Husband E. Kimmel, US admiral who didn't understand the words "war warning," at 86
1998 Frank Sinatra, 82, entertainer, actor ("Von Ryan's Express")

 

15 May
1718 Brit James Puckle receives a patent for a repeating firearm - the first "machine gun"
1862 Battle of Princeton Court House , WVa: Rebs win
1862 Ben Butler issues his famous "Woman Order," and proves every woman in New Orleans is a lady
1863 U.S. Grant ordered the burning of the cotton works in Jackson, Mississippi -- Learn More
1864 Battle of New Market, Virginia
1904 Japanese battleships 'Hatsuse' & 'Yashima' mined & sunk off Port Arthur
1939 Dupont introduces nylon; within a year Japanese sales of silk to the US fall 30 percent
1940 First successful test flight of an American helicopter, Vought-Sikorsky US-300
1942 Gasoline rationing introduced by the US
1944 Eisenhower & Montgomery brief George VI & Churchill on the D-Day plan
1970 Police fire on war protestors at Jackson State University, Mississippi, 2 die, 11 wounded
1972 George Wallace shot & paralyzed by Arthur Bremer, Laurel, Md

BORN
1892 Charles Emery Rosendahl, Vice-Adm., US Navy airship & heavy cruiser commander, d. 1977
1942 The US Army's Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), which becomes the Women's Army Corps

DIED
1976 Samuel Eliot Morison, sailor, historian ("Admiral of Ocean Sea"), 88

 

16 May

1777 Button Gwinnet, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, mortally wounded in a duel, dies the 19th
1820 USS 'Congress' becomes the first American warship to visit China
1846 Battle of Campeche: the Texas Navy defeats the Mexican fleet, in support of rebellious Yucatan
1861 Kentucky proclaims its neutrality in the Civil War
1863 Vicksburg Campaign: Battle of Champion's Hill
1919 USN flying boats begin trans-Atlantic flight (see 25th)
1986 "Top Gun" premieres
1992 Space Shuttle 'Endeavor' safely completes its maiden voyage

BORN
1801 William Henry Seward, Secretary of State (1861-1869)
1806 George C. Cadwalader, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1879
1816 Henry Hopkins Sibley, Brig Gen, C.S.A., drunkard, d. 1886
1819 Daniel Ammen, Rear Adm., US, historian ("The Atlantic Coast", "Recollections of Grant", etc.), d. 1898
1824 Edmund Kirby Smith, General, C.S.A., d. 1893
1905 Henry Fonda, naval officer, actor ("Mr. Roberts"), d. 1982
1916 Gregory Peck, actor ("Twelve O'Clock High"), d. 2003

DIED
1691 Jacob Leisler (c. 50), Jacobite Governor of NY, and Jacob Milborne (c. 30), his son-in-law, half-hanged, then beheaded for treason
1864 Lean Bear, Cheyenne chief, murdered by Colorado militiamen
2002 Alexander William Campbell, 103, the last Australian Gallipoli veteran -- Learn More

 

17 May

1849 Great Fire of St. Louis
1863 Battle of Big Black River Bridge: Grant begins sealing off Vicksburg
1864 Battle of Adairsville, Ga: Union forces Confederate retreat
1876 Rosebud Campaign: Custer & the 7th Cavalry leave Fort Lincoln
1938 Bound for California, Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan lands in Dublin
1944 The Royal Navy and USAF bombers conduct a nocturnal raid on Japanese positions Surabaya, Java
1945 Last major surface naval battle of WW II: Jap. CA 'Haguro' sunk by Br DDs, Malacca Str.
1980 Race riot in Miami, 16 killed, c. 300 injured
1987 USS 'Stark' (FFG-31) hit by Iraqi missiles, 37 sailors die
2006 USS 'Oriskany' (CV-34) is sunk as a reef in the Gulf of Mexico

BORN
1741 John Penn, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1788
1812 Joseph Warren Revere, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1880
1928 Donald Cameron Watt, historian ("How War Came"), 2014

DIED
1829 John Jay, 83, Founding Father, signer of the Treaty of Paris, first Chief Justice of the United States (1789–95)
1977 Charles Emery Rosendahl, 85, Vice-Adm., US Navy airship & heavy cruiser commander, sometime 'Hindenburg' officer

 

18 May
1775 The first USS 'Enterprise' enters service, a prize taken by Benedict Arnold on Lake Champlain
1798 Benjamin Stoddert becomes the first Secretary of the Navy
1846 Mexican War: American troops capture Matamoros
1861 Battle of Sewall's Point, VA
1861 Brooklyn's 14th NY State Militia departs for Washington
1863 Siege of Vicksburg begins (to July 4)
1864 Battle of Yellow Bayou/Bayou de Glaize/Old Oaks, La
1864 The Great Gold Hoax: An unsuccessful manipulation price of gold on the US market
1898 Skirmish at Santiago de Cuba: US ships exchange fire with Spanish batteries
1917 Congress passes the Selective Service Act -- Learn More
1951 US General J. Lawton Collins predicts use of atom bomb in Korea
1969 Apollo 10 (Stafford/Cernan/Young) launched to a lunar orbit

BORN

1798 Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1870
1817 James William Denver, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1892
1822 Mathew B. Brady, photographer, d. 1896
1862 Josephus Daniels, SecNav (1913-1921), d. 1948 -- Learn More

DIED
1927 Sgt Maj Edwin Hughes, 96, Pvt, 13th Light Dragoons, the last survivor of "The Charge of the Light Brigade"

 

19 May

1943 Winston Churchill addresses Congress for the second time
1944 US 88th Inf Div liberates Itri
1944 US troops overrun most of Wakde, New Guinea, & begin repairing the airfield.
1949 Ticker tape parade on Broadway for General Lucius D. Clay
1951 UN begins counter offensive in Korea
1960 USAF Maj Robert M White takes X-15 to 33,222 m
1964 Over 40 "bugs" found in the U.S. embassy in Moscow
1967 US bombs Hanoi
1997 USS 'The Sullivans' (DDG-68) commissioned in New York

BORN
1808 Samuel Jameson Gholson, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1883
1812 Felix Kirk Zollicoffer, Brig Gen, C.S.A., kia 1862
1815 John Gross Barnard, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1882
1828 Adin Ballou Underwood, Brig Gen, U.S.
1890 Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese Communist leader (1946-1969), d. 1969
1897 Frank Luke, American ace (18 kills), killed resisting capture, 1918
1909 Nicholas George Winton, British humanitarian, organised the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish children from Nazi-held Czechoslovakia, d. 2015
1939 Francis R. Scobee, USAF, astronaut, d. 1986, 'Challenger' disaster
1955 Pierre J. Thuot, USN, astronaut
1958 NORAD

DIED
1777 Button Gwinnett, 42, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, of wounds from a duel on May 16th
1864 Nathaniel Hawthorne, 59, militiaman, novelist ("The Scarlet Letter")
1898 William E. Gladstone, 88, British politician, four times Prime Minister (1868-1874, 1880-1885, Feb–Jul 1886, 1892–1894)
1935 T. E. Lawrence "of Arabia", 46, motorcycle accident
2002 Walter Lord, 84, author ("Miracle at Midway")

 

20 May
1902 US military occupation of Cuba (since June of 1898) ends
1912 Battlecruiser SMS 'Moltke' reaches Hampton Roads, on the only visit to the US by a German capital ship
1930 Pres. Hoover reviews the US Fleet off the Virginia Capes
1936 Neptunus Rex initiated 29,751 USN polliwogs into the Order of Shellbacks -- Learn More
1944 US Army Engineers blow up the remnants of the Nofi residence, Itri
1970 NYC: 100,000 march to support US policies in Vietnam

BORN
1828 James William Reilly, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1905
1908 James "Jimmy" Stewart, actor and airman, d. 1997
1908 Walter Edward Whitehead, sometime Commander, R.N., television personality, d. 1978 -- Learn More
1915 Moshe Dayan, Israeli general and defense minister, d. 1981 -- Learn More
1920 John Paul Stevens, USN codebreaker , involved in the Yamamoto intercept, Supreme Court Justice
1944 David M. Walker, USN, astronaut, d. 2001

DIED
1506 Christopher Columbus, intrepid navigator, inept administrator, in Spain at 55
1834 The Marquis de Lafayette, hero of the American and the French Revolutions, 76
1943 Adm. Henry A. Wiley, 76, CINCUS, 1927-1929, "Father of the Merchant Marine Academy"

 

21 May

1856 Lawrence, Kansas captured & sacked by pro-slavery forces
1861 Richmond, Va, is designated the Confederate Capital
1863 Union Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana, begins
1864 US Maj Gen David Hunter takes command of Dept of West Virginia
1917 Leo Pinckney is the first American drafted during WW I
1941 SS 'Robin Moore' is sunk off Brazil, first U-boat kill of an American ship in WW II
1944 Pearl Harbor: ammo-laden LST blows up, 6 LSTs lost, c. 200 die
1944 Wadke, New Guinea: Japanese crushed, c. 750 dead to 43 US
1944 The U.S. observes "I Am an American Day" celebrating the nation's diversity
1956 US explodes the first airdropped hydrogen bomb, Bikini Atoll
1964 US begins intelligence flights above Laos
1968 USS 'Scorpion' (SSN-589) sinks off Azores, 99 die

BORN
1793 Levi Twiggs, later Maj., USMC, kisa Chapultepec, 1847 -- Learn More
1822 Dabney Herndon Maury, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1900
1822 Mosby Monroe Parsons, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1865
1825 George Lafayette Beal, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1896
1835 Newton Martin Curtis, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1910
1878 Glenn Hammond Curtiss, aviation pioneer, d. 1930
1881 The American Red Cross, founded by Clara Barton and others
1924 Telly Savalas, veteran, actor ("The Battle of the Bulge"), d. 1994
1925 General Donn Albert Starry, soldier, scholar, military reformer, d 2011
1942 Robert C. Springer, USMC, astronaut

DIED
1827 William M. James, British attorney and naval historian, c. 47 -- Learn More
1993 Maj. Gen. John Frost, CB, DSO & Bar, MC who held the "Bridge Too Far" in 1944, at 80

 

22 May
1771 Spain cedes the Falkland Islands to Britain
1872 U.S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act, restoring full civil rights to most former Confederates
1942 Mexico declares war on Nazi Germany and Japan
1942 Ted Williams enlists in the US Marine Corps
1947 "Truman Doctrine" goes into effect, aiding Turkey & Greece
1959 Benjamin O Davis Jr. (USMA '36) becomes U.S. major general
1962 Robert A Rushworth, USAF major, takes X-15 to 30,600m
1968 The USS 'Scorpion' (SSN-589) sinks in the Atlantic, 99 die.
1969 Stafford & Cernan pilot Apollo 10 LEM 9.4 mi (15km) above lunar surface
1985 US sailor Michael L Walker arrested for spying for USSR
Former U.S. sailor who spied for Soviets dies in prison; John A. Walker Jr. led family spy ring


BORN
1813 Richard Wagner, composer ("The Flying Dutchman," "The Ring Cycle"), d. 1883
1821 Alfred Sully, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1879
1859 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author ("Sherlock Holmes), d. 1930
1885 Toyoda Soemu, CinC Combined Fleet, 1944-1945, d. 1957

DIED
337 Constantine I "the Great", 65, Roman Emperor (306-337), who adopted Christianity -- Learn More#
1925 Sir John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, 72, inept Field Marshal

 

23 May

1533 King Henry VIII invalidates his marriage to Catherine of Aragon
(and the beginning of the Anglican church
1780 Congress issued regulations for the award of prize in the Continental Navy -- Learn More
1809 Battle of Aspern-Essling, Day 2: Austrians draw with Napoleon
1861 White Virginian men vote 3 to 1 for secession - a month after the state has already seceded
1862 Valley Campaign - Battle of Front Royal: Stonewall Jackson captures the town
1864 Battle of North Anna River/Totopotamy River/Haw's Shop/Hanovertown, Va: Three day fight begins
1865 Grand Review of the Union Army begins in Washington, DC
1911 The New York Public Library opens its main building, on Fifth Avenue
1939 USS 'Squalus" (SS-192) sinks off Portsmouth, NH; 26 die, but 33 are rescued next day
2014 Maniac goes beserk in Isla VIsta, California, kills six by knife or gunfire and 13 are injured before he kills himself

BORN
1813 Mason Brayman, Bvt Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1895
1824 Ambrose E. Burnside, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1881
1837 James Sanks Brisbin, Bvt Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1892
1873 Canada's North West Mounted Police
1874 Ludwig Frank, Jewish socialist and lawyer, one of two Reichstag members kia in WW I, d. 1914 -- Learn More
1957 Princess Caroline of Monaco

DIED

1701 Captain William Kidd, c. 55, New York-based entrepreneur, and 3 henchmen, hanged in London
1868 Kit Carson, 58, scout, Brig Gen, U.S.
1934 Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (23) and Clyde Barrow (24), ambushed by police after a three year killing spree
1945 Heinrich Himmler, 44, Nazi, suicide
2012 Paul Fussell, 88, who earned a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts in the ETO, historian ("The Great War in Modern Memory")
2021 Josep Almudevar Mateu, the last surviving veteran of the International Brigades, died at 101

 

24 May

1764 James Otis coined the phrase "No taxation without representation!"
1822 Battle of Pichincha: Bolivar secures independence of Peru -- Learn More
1861 Alexandria, VA, occupied by Federal troops
1861 Benjamin Butler declares fugitive slaves Frank Baker, Shepard Mallory, & James Townsend "contraband of war"
1864 Gala reception welcoming the "14th Brooklyn" (84th NY Volunteers) home after 3 years of war
1883 The Brooklyn Bridge opens
1944 US carrier aircraft raid Wake Island.
1959 Pleasant Hills, Pa: first home with built-in bomb shelter exhibited
1962 Scott Carpenter goes into earth orbit aboard 'Aurora 7'
1980 Iran rejects a call by World Court to release US hostages

BORN

1753 Oliver Cromwell, black American patriot, d. >1800
1811 Charles Clark, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1877
1816 Emanuel Leutze, painter ("Washington Crossing the Delaware"), d. 1868
1816 Robert Seaman Granger, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1894
1819 Alexandrina Victoria, later Queen of Great Britain and Ireland (1837-1901), Empress of India (1876-1901) -- Learn More
1924 Jürgen Rohwer, sometime Kriegsmarine sailor, prolific naval historian (e.g., "The Critical Convoy Battles of March 1943," "Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945"), d. 2015

DIED
1861 Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth, 11th NY, shot at 24 by irate Reb James W. Jackson after pulling down a Confederate flag, Alexandria, Va
1861 James W. Jackson, 35-40, shot & bayoneted by irate Yank Francis E. Brownell after having shot Elmer Elsworth
1879 William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist, at 73
1986 Lt Cdr Stephen D Thorne, astronaut, plane crash, at 33
1995 Harold Wilson, Prime Minister (1964-70, 74-76), of cancer at 79
2004 Alberta Martin, 97, Civil War veteran's widow (born 1906)
Alberta Martin

 

25 May

1787 The Constitutional Convention opens in Philadelphia
1862 Battle of Winchester, VA
1864 Battle of New Hope Church, GA
1865 Magazine explosion in Mobile, c. 300 die
1919 U.S. Navy flying boat 'NC-4' completes a trans-Atlantic flight to Portugal (from 16th)
1925 Scopes "Monkey Trial" begins, Dayton, Tennessee
1953 First, and only, live test firing of the "Atomic Cannon," Nevada
1961 JFK committed the US to put a man on the moon by 1970
1961 NASA pilot Joseph A Walker takes 'X-15' to 32,770 m
1979 Israel pulls out of Sinai, implementing peace with Egypt

BORN
1889 Igor Sikorsky, aviation pioneer, d. 1982
1908 David Lean, British director ("In Which We Serve", "Lawrence of Arabia"), d. 1991

DIED
1971 Jo Etha Collier, 17, murdered by white racists in Drew, Ms.
1996 Renzo de Felice, historian ("Mussolini"), at 6
2017 Alistair Horne, 91, MI6 operative, historian ("The Fall of Paris", "A Savage War of Peace", etc)

 

26 May

1538 John Calvin is expelled from Geneva
1647 Massachusetts bars Catholic priests, on penalty of death
1789 The Duke of York, Colonel of the Coldstream Guards, refuses to return fire though slightly wounded in a duel with Lt Col Charles Lenox, of his regiment
1861 The U.S. Navy initiates a blockade of Confederate Gulf coast ports
1864 Battle of Dallas, GA
1938 House Un-American Activities Comm begins investigating fascistic groups
1945 US fire bomb raid on Tokyo
1946 US Patent filed for the H-Bomb
1954 Explosion & fire in 'Bennington" (CV-20), 103 die, over 200 injured
1961 USAF bomber flies the Atlantic in a record of just over three hours
1972 US-USSR sign SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty)
1981 USMC jet crashes on flight deck of USS 'Nimitz' (CVN-68), 14 die

BORN
1806 Henry Knox Thatcher, naval officer, U.S., d. 1880
1835 Edward Porter Alexander, Brig Gen, C.S.A., artilleryman, d. 1910
1907 John Wayne, IV-F actor ("Sands of Iwo Jima"), d. 1979
1923 James Arness, Anzio veteran, actor ("The Thing", "Gunsmoke"), d. 2011
1941 Aldrich Hazen Ames, CIA officer convicted of spying for the USSR in 1994

DIED

1818 Michael A Barclay de Tolly, Russian field marshal, 57
1840 Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, G.C.B., who bested Napoleon repeatedly, 75

 

27 May

1813 Battle of Fort George: Col. Winfield Scott captures the British post on the Niagara River
1862 Battle of Hanover Court House/Slash Church/Peake's Station, Va.
1863 Boiler explosion aboard the CSS 'Chattahoochee', on the Chattahoochee River, 18 die
1926 Asa K. Bartlett, a Michigan KKK leader, a local constable and former Justice of the Peace, kills Muskegon Town Supervisor August Krubaech, his daughter, and her fiance with a mail bomb.
1941 FDR proclaims an "unlimited national emergency"
1944 Allied landing on Biak, off New Guinea
1952 Formation of the European Defense Community

BORN
1823 John Gray Foster, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1874
1836 Edwin Gray Lee, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1870
1837 James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok, d. 1876
1837 Robert Frederick Hoke, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1912
1923 Henry Kissinger, in Germany, US Bulge veteran. Sec of State
1936 Louis Gossett, Jr., actor ("An Officer & a Gentleman")

DIED
1819 Abraham Whipple, Patriot & Revolutionary War commodore, b. 1833
1863 André Cailloux, c. 38, Captain, LA Native Guard -- U.S. Army officer killed in action, Port Hudson,
1916 Joseph Gallieni, 67, who sent the taxis to the Marne
2008 Franz Kunstler, 107, last veteran of the kaiserlich-und-koniglich Armee; veteran of two world wars -- Learn More
2010 John W. Finn, 100, last surviving Pearl Harbor Medal of Honor awardee

 

28 May

1754 Battle of Jumonville Glen: Washington's small band of militiamen and Indians defeat the French and Indians near Ft Duquesne, but his Indian allies kill several prisoners
1774 First Continental Congress convenes
1813 Second Battle of Sackett's Harbor: Americans defeat a British attack from across Lake Onario
1813 USS 'Essex' and prize capture 5 British whalers in the Pacific
1830 Congress authorizes Indian removal from the Eastern states
1860 Henry B. Hallowell enlisted in the Marine Corps -- Learn More
1937 Neville Chamberlain becomes PM of Great Britain, to May 1940
1954 USAF Maj. Arthur Murray takes the Bell 'X-1A' to 90,440 feet
1961 The American Republican Army (membership 2) blows up communications facilities in Nevada and Utah.
1971 USSR 'Mars 3' launched, first spacecraft to make a soft landing on Mars
1980 First 55 women graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy

BORN
1818 Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, General, C.S.A., d. 1893
1819 William Birney, Brig Gen, U.S. d. 1907
1828 Alpheus Baker, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1891
1830 George Lucas Hartsuff, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1874
1838 Basil Wilson Duke, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1916
1908 Ian Fleming, British spymaster, author ("James Bond"), d. 1964

DIED
1971 Audie Murphy, America's "Most decorated soldier" of WW II, actor ("To Hell and Back"), at 45 in an air accident
1972 Edward, Duke of Windsor (1936-1972), at 77, sometime King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (Jan 20-Dec 11, 1936),
2013 Victor Kulikov, 91, the last Marshal of the Soviet Union, who soldiered from 1939 to 1990

 

29 May

1660 The Restoration: Charles II ascends the English throne
1781 US frigate 'Alliance' captures HMSs 'Atalanta' & 'Trepassy' off Nova Scotia
1899 Iosip Dzhugashvili is expelled from the Orthodox Seminary at Tiblisi, for failure to take exams; later adopts the name Stalin.
1943 US initiates meat and cheese rationing
1944 Biak: Unsuccessful Japanese tank assault on American troops.
1945 Okinawa: the 5th Marines storm Shuri Castle
1989 Student protesters in China erect a replica of the Statue of Liberty

BORN
1736 Patrick Henry, patriot, d. 1799
1810 Erasmus Darwin Keyes, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1895
1810 Solomon Meredith, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1875
1824 Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1890
1825 David Bell Birney, Maj Gen, U.S., d .1864
1827 Reuben Lindsay Walker, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1890
1880 Oswald Spengler, philosopher ("The Decline of the West"), d. 1936
1903 Bob Hope, USO entertainer, d. 2003
1917 John F. Kennedy, naval officer, president, k. 1963

DIED
1265 Dante, 56, cavalryman, traveler, poet, who loved Beatrice,
1866 Bvt Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott, "Old Fuss and Feathers", greatest American general of the nineteenth century, 79
1877 Benny Havens, c. 90, tavern keeper to wayward West Pointers
1944 2nd Lt. Allen Brown, killed by a German sniper in Italy; step-son of George C. Marshall
1946 Martin Gottfried Weiss, by hanging at 40, former SS-concentration camp commandant (Neuengamme, Majdanek, Dachus)
2017 Manuel Antonio Noriega, 83, Panamanian strongman and dictator (1983-1989), jailbird in the US, France, Panama (1989-2017)

 

30 May

1814 US gunboats capture 3 British ones on Lake Ontario
1861 CS Post Office Department set up, as US PO ceases deliveries in the South
1864 Battle of Bethesda Church, Va.
1868 The first "Decoration Day", designated by GAR CINC Maj Gen John Logan
1937 Chicago police fire on union marchers at Republic Steel, 10 die
1942 First Allied air raid on Cologne
1943 US troops complete recapture of Attu
1958 Unknown soldiers of WWII & Korean War are entombed in Arlington National Cemetery
1962 The USS 'Arizona' Memorial dedicated in Pearl Harbor
1966 300 US airplanes bomb North Vietnam
2012 Mass shooting at a coffee shop in Seatlle, 5 die

BORN
1812 John Alexander McClernand, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1900
1832 George Doherty Johnston, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1900
1922 Harry Clement Stubbs -- Hal Clement, sometime B-24 pilot, sciencefictioneer ("Mission of Gravity," etc), d. 2003
1958 Michael Lopez-Alegria, USN, astronaut

DIED
1912 Wilbur Wright, aviation pioneer, at 45
1931 Madison Grant, sometime well-regarded American racist, author of "The Passing of the Great Race", which helped convince Hitler America was a 'degenerate' nation, at 71
1967 Claude Rains, London Scottish veteran and actor (Captain Renault in "Casablanca", Caesar in "Caesar & Cleopatra", etc.), at 77