Today in Military History 1 Jul - 30 Sep

1 Jul

776 BC The First Olympiad begins.
1782 American privateers raid Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
1823 Batman was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army -- Learn More
1861 Skirmish at Falling Waters/Martinsburg, Md: Union victory
1862 Battle of Holly Spring, MS
1862 Day 7 of the 7 Days: Malvern Hill/Harrison's Landing/Crew's Farm, Va.
1862 US taxes incomes of $600 or more to help finance the Civil War
1862 Battle of Booneville Ms: Gen Beauregard evacuates Corinth
1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Day1: Lee wins, but Union fall back on a very strong position -- Learn More
1864 Battle of Petersburg (to July 31)
1870 James W Smith enters West Point
1873 Henry Flipper of Georgia enters West Point
1898 Battles of El Caney and San Juan Hill, outside Santiago, Cuba -- Learn More
1898 Skirmish at Aguadores, Cuba
1898 Action at Havana: US ships and Spanish batteries exchange fire
1903 The former Apache war chief Geronimo is baptized in the Methodist Church -- Learn More
1918 The US 4th Marine Brigade secures Belleau Wood -- Learn More
1923 Batman was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in the 6th Infantry -- Learn More
1943 USS 'Thresher' (SS-200) damages Japanese DD 'Hokaze' in the Southwest Pacific.
1943 Marine 4th Raider Bn captures Viru Harbor on New Georgia.
1943 The "Women's Army Auxiliary Corps" is renamed the "Women's Army Corps"
1946 US atomic bomb test at Bikini Atoll, the 4th nuclear explosion
1950 First US ground troops arrive in Korea
1960 USSR shoots down US RB-47
1995 GEN. Charles C. Krulak was appointed Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps -- Learn More

BORN
1725 Jean Baptiste, Comte de Rochambeau, who commanded the French army that supported Washington during the Revolutionary War, d. 1807
1802 Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, d. 1878
1833 Alfred Thomas Archimedes Torbert, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1880
1872 Louis Bleriot, first to fly an airplane across English Channel, d. 1936
1903 Amy Johnson, aviatrix, first woman to fly England to Australia, d. 1941

DIED
1863 John Reynolds, 42, Maj. Gen., U.S.A., kia, Gettysburg,
1898 Joaquín Vara de Rey y Rubio, c. 58, Brig. Gen., kia at El Caney -- Learn More
1929 Henry L. Johnson, 36, black National Guardsman, the first American soldier in World War I to receive the Croix de Guerre with star and Gold Palm, awarded the Medal of Honor in 2015 -- Learn More
1944 Adm Chuichi Nagumo, 57, Victor of Pearl Harbor, Loser of Midway, suicide on Saipan.
1991 The Warsaw Pact, 36

 

2 Jul

1776 Continental Congress declares the Thirteen Colonies independent
1777 Vermont abolishes slavery, the first "state" to do so
1814 Jacob Brown captures Ft. Erie, Ontario, from the British
1861 Battle of Hoke's Run, WV
1862 Lincoln calls for an additional 300,000 volunteers
1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Day 2: A draw
1863 John Hunt Morgan's Burksville-Salineville Raid begins (to July 26)
1881 Charles J. Guiteau mortally wounded Pres. James A. Garfield -- Learn More
1898 Action at Cape Tunas, Cuba: US ships & Spanish batteries exchange fire
1898 Skirmishing at Santiago: US ships & Spanish batteries exchange fire, as US troops begin close investment of the town
1903 US leases Guantanamo Bay from Cuba for $2,000 a year
1917 J. J. Pershing admonishes his troops to avoid catching VD -- Learn More
1917 Illinois Guard were dispatched to quell a "race riot" in East St. Louis -- Learn More
1917 The "East St. Louis Massacre" took place, as white rioters joined by National Guardsmen, attacked blacks, killing nearly 100 and driving thousands more from their homes -- Learn More
1926 Congress authorizes the Distinguished Flying Cross.
1942 JCS authorize "Operation Watchtower," the seizure of Guadalcanal
1943 37th and 43rd Divs and Marines land on Munda on New Georgia
1943 Japanese cruisers and destroyers shell U.S. positions at Rendova
1943 Lt Charles Hall, 99th Pursuit Sqn, becomes the first black USAAF pilot to shoot down a Nazi plane, a Focke-Wulf 190 over Pantelleria
1944 US troops land on Noemfoor, off New Guinea.
1957 'Grayback' (SSG 574) launched, first sub designed to fire guided missiles
1957 'Seawolf '(SSN 575) completed, first sub with liquid metal cooled reactor
1959 "Plan 9 from Outer Space" released; perhaps the worst movie in history
1980 Pres Carter resumes draft registration for 18 year old men

BORN

1830 John Bordenave Villepigue, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1862
1836 Henry Eugene Davies, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1894
1898 Anthony C. McAuliffe, American soldier, who had occasion to say "Nuts!" in 1944, d. 1975.
1923 Cyril M. Kornbluth, Battle of Bulge Bronze Star, American sciencefictioneer, d. 1958
1923 Naval Research Laboratory , in Washington
1926 The Army Air Corps, declared formed as an arm of the Army by Act of Congress

DIED

1822 Denmark Vesey, c. 55, and five others, hanged in Charleston for a slave conspiracy
1863 George Nixon, 42, 73rd Ohio, d/w at Gettysburg, g-g-father of a president, along with some thousands of others
1863 Strong Vincent, 26, Brig. Gen., U.S.A., posthumous, kia, Gettysburg
1937 Amelia Earhart, 39, & Fred Noonan, 44, lost over the Pacific
1961 Ernest Hemingway, war correspondent, novelist, suicide, at 61
1997 James "Jimmy" Stewart, 89, actor and airman
2004 Marlon Brando, actor ("Morituri"), at 80
2016 Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel, 87, Holocaust Survivor, humanitarian, Peace Nobelist
2016 John Gresham, 57, American defense analyst and author

 

3 Jul

1754 The Battle of Ft. Necessity: Col. George Washington (22) surrenders to the French after a short siege -- Learn More
1775 G Washington assumed command of the Patriot forces investing Boston -- Learn More
1778 Wyoming Valley Massacre, Pa: British & Indians do in c. 360 American men, women & children
1798 Geo. Washington commissioned Lt Gen for the Quasi-War with France -- Learn More
1814 Maj. Gen. Jacob Brown captured Ft. Erie, Ontario, from the British -- Learn More
1814 American troops under Maj. Gen. Jacob Brown captured Ft. Erie, Canada -- Learn More
1861 Martinsburg, Va: Confederates pull out before US advance
1863 Battle Gettysburg, Day 3: Robert E. Lee's grand assault ("Pickett's Charge") is shattered
1898 Naval Battle of Santiago: the U.S. Navy destroys a Spanish cruiser squadron -- Learn More (scroll down)
1915 Erich Muenter blows up the Senate reception room
1939 Ernst Heinkel demonstrates 800-kph rocket plane to Hitler
1943 New Guinea: Australian 3rd Div links with MacKechnie Force, Nassau Bay
1944 U.S. Navy ships bombard Iwo Jima and the Bonin Islands.
1947 USSR refuses to join the "Imperialistic" Marshall Plan
1950 First US-North Korean clash: TF Smith is overrun
1954 World War II food rationing ends in Britain
1986 Relighting of the Statue of Liberty after protracted renovations
1988 USS 'Vincennes' (CG-49) accidentally shoots down an Iranian airliner, 290 die

BORN
1567 Samuel de Champlain, French explorer of North America, d. 1635
1737 Samuel Huntington, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1791
1878 George M. Cohan, not on the 4th, as he claimed, d. 1942
1886 Adm. Raymond A Spruance, Victor of Midway, d. 1969

DIED
1863 Lewis A. Armistead, 46, Brig Gen, C.S.A., Richard B Garnett, 46, Brig Gen, C.S.A., and thousands of others, kia, Gettysburg, among them Alonzo Cushing, 1st Lt, U.S.A., 22, receiving a Medal of Honor in 2010
1916 Hetty Green, 81, America's most miserable millionaire miser.

 

4 Jul
1776 Independence Day: Two days after voting for independence, the Continental Congress adopts a formal "Declaration of Independence"
1777 John Paul Jones hoists the Stars and Stripes on the USS 'Ranger', Portsmouth, NH.
1794 The Veteran Corps of Artillery of the State of New York initiates the custom of firing an Independence Day salute at The Battery
1801 1st Presidential Review of the Marine Band, at the White House.
1802 US Military Academy opens at West Point
1818 Congress: the flag shall have 13 stripes, and 1 star for each state
1832 Samuel Francis Smith's "America" is sung in public for the first time
1842 Old USN gunboat 'Boxer' is sunk in trials of an electrical underwater "torpedo"
1861 Skirmish at Harper's Ferry, WV
1862 John Hunt Morgan begins a raid in Kentucky, from Tomkinsville to reach Somerset by the 28th
1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Day 4: The armies hold their ground, as Lee hopes Meade will do a "Pickett", while Meade sees no point in reprising a disaster
1863 Battle of Helena, Ark: Union Victory
1863 Skirmish at Smithburg, TN
1863 Vicksburg surrenders to U.S. Grant
1865 The 69th New York marches up Broadway to mark its return from the Civil War -- Learn More
1876 The "Centennial Legion of Historic Military Commands" is formed at Philadelphia -- Learn More
1895 Publication of Katherine Lee Bates' "America the Beautiful"
1917 Colonel Charles E. Stanton has occasion to say "La Fayette, we are here!" --
1918 Great Army-Navy Baseball Game in London, before King George V & thousands of Britons and Americans; Navy 2, Army 1
1918 U.S. yards launch c. 500,000 tons of shipping, from sub chasers and destroyers to freighters, tankers, and troopers
1923 Dedication of a statue of Alan Seegar and the "Momument to American Volunteers for France" at the Place des Etas Unis in Paris.
1942 First American bombing mission over Nazi-occupied Europe
1942 USS 'Triton'(SS-201) sinks the .Japanese DD 'Nehoni' in the Aleutians
1942 The American Volunteer Group ("Flying Tigers") becomes the Fourteenth Air Force
1943 Elms 37th Infantry Div land at Bairoko, on Kula Gulf
37th Infantry Division (United States) - Wikipedia
1943 Japanese DDs with reinforcements for Vila, Kula Gulf, sink a U.S. DD
1944 Elms 503rd Parachute Inf drop on Noemfoor, New Guinea, to reinforce troops there
1946 Philippines gain independence from US, on schedule despite World War II
1950 Carriers USS 'Valley Forge' (CV-45) & HMS 'Triumph' make the first UN air strikes of the Korean War

BORN
1804 Nathaniel Hawthorne, militiaman, novelist ("The Scarlet Letter"), d. 1864
1807 Giuseppe Garibaldi - "Hero of Two Continents", d. 1882 -- Learn More
1826 Green Clay Smith, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1895
1828 James Johnston Pettigrew, Brig Gen, C.S.A., kia 1863
1872 Calvin Coolidge, only President born on the Glorious 4th, d. 1933 -- Learn More

DIED
1826 John Adams (90) and Thomas Jefferson (82),on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence
1831 James Monroe, major of the Continental Line, President (1817-1824), at 73 -- Learn More
1916 Allan Seeger, 28, war poet -- Learn More
1940 NYPD Detectives Joseph Lynch & Ferdinand Socha, by a bomb at the British Pavilion, NY World's Fair; IRA or Nazi involvement suspected but never proven
1971 ADM Tom Hart, who commanded the Asiatic Fleet in 1941-1942, at 94
2002 Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., 89, first African-American USMA grad in the 20th century

 

5 Jul
1814 US Sloop-of-War 'Peacock' captures four British ships
1827 Emancipation Day in New York State: After nearly 30 years of "gradual emancipation" all remaining slaves the state are freed
1861 Battle of Carthage, Mo
1861 Skirmish at Newport News: US retakes Gosport Naval Base
1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Day 5: Lee retreats
1942 Aleutians: USS 'Growler' (SS-215) sinks Japanese destroyer 'Arare' near Kiska.
1943 "Tokyo Express" supply mission departs Rabaul
1943 Damaged Japanese submarine 'I-7' is scuttled at Kiska

BORN

1801 David Glasgow Farragut, the USN's First Admiral, d. 1870
1865 The United States Secret Service, formed to combat counterfeiting
1902 Henry Cabot Lodge Jr, tank officer, diplomat, d. 1985
1927 Thomas Fleming, World War II cruiserman, prolific historian and novelist, d. 2017.

DIED
1950 Pvt Kenneth Shadrick, first American kia in the Korean War
Kenneth R. Shadrick - Wikipedia
1975 Otto Skorzeny, 67, Hitler's commando
2005 Vice Adm. James B. Stockdale, 82, Medal of Honor, b. 1923

 

6 Jul

1699 Capt William Kidd arrested in Boston
1777 Burgoyne's British & Hessians capture Fort Ticonderoga
1801 First Naval Battle of Algeciras: Franco-Spanish squadron defeats the British
1844 Radical Protestant Nativists in Philadelphia, attempted to burn the church of St. Philip Neri, leading to 12 deaths
1861 Skirmish at Middle Creek Fork/Buckhannon, WVa
1862 Battle of Devall's Bluff, AR
1863 Battle of Williamsport/Hagerstown/Falling Waters Line, Md begins (to Jul 14)
1864 Jubal Early's Rebs capture Hagerstown, Maryland
1898 US Auxiliary Cruiser 'Dixie' captures three Spanish merchantmen
1911 First naval air station established, Annapolis, MD.
1937 Battle of Brunete: Spanish Republicans open offensive (defeated by 26th)
1940 HM destroyer 'Griffen' is attacked in the English Channel by 36 Dornier bombers, suffers no casualties and only minor damage from near misses
1943 Kula Gulf: USS 'Helena' (CL-50) lost to "Tokyo Express," which loses a destroyer
1943 U.S. ships begin periodic shelling of Japanese positions on Kiska
1945 Movement to the US of captured German scientists and equipment begins
1945 President Truman establishes the Medal of Freedom
1976 Women are admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy for the first time
1985 USS 'Nautilus' (SSN-571) arrives at Groton, Ct., to become a museum
1989 Col. Oliver North convicted of accepting an illegal gratuity, obstruction of a congressional inquiry, and ordering the destruction of documents, in the Iran-Contra Scandal; later vacated

BORN
1747 John Paul Jones, American naval officer and Russian admiral, who would go "in harm's way", d. 1792 -- Learn More
1785 The US Dollar
1814 Justus McKinstry, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1897
1821 Edward Winston Pettus, Brig Gen, C.S.A. d. 1907
1918 Eugene List, noted concert pianist & the GI who played for the "Big Three" at Potsdam, d. 1985
1946 George W. Bush, Air Guardsman, President (2001-2009)

DIED
1918 John Purroy Mitchel, 38, Mayor of New York (1914-1918), US Army Air Service, air crash
2009 Robert Strange McNamara, 93, sometime US SecDef, engineer of a disastrous military policy
2015 John Maxtone-Graham, 85, sometime marine, maritime historian ("The Only Way to Cross," etc.)

 

7 Jan

1798 US Frigate 'Delaware', under Capt. Stephen Decatur, captured French privateer 'Croyable' -- Learn More
1846 Commo John D. Sloat takes Monterey, claims California for the US
1861 Skirmish at Great Falls, Va
1864 Jubal's Raid: Skirmish at Middleton, MD
1908 Great White Fleet leaves San Francisco Bay
1916 Thomas Edison becomes head of Naval Consulting Board, to study new technology
1920 USN aircraft tests a "radio compass", Norfolk, Va
1941 Iceland: US Marines relieve British forces on occupation duty, so they can fight elsewhere
1944 U.S. B-29s from China attack Japan.
1944 US troops capture Rosignano, NW of Rome
1948 First women sworn into the Naval Reserve
1960 USSR shoots down a US aircraft over the Barents Sea
1966 Marines initiate "Operation Hasting" - to clear NVA from the DMZ.

BORN
1813 William Scott Ketchum, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1871
1816 Isaac Fitzgerald Shepard, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1889
1824 Alfred Pleasonton, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1897
1827 James Murrell Shackelford, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1909
1827 William Montague Browne, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1883
1907 Robert Heinlein, sometime naval officer, grand master of science fiction, d. 1988
1919 William Kunstler, Maj., U.S. Army, WW II, leftist attorney, d. 1995
1933 David Gaub McCullough, American historian ('The Great Bridge," "Truman," etc.)

DIED
1865 David Herold (23), George Atzerodt (30), Lewis Thornton Powell - "Lewis Paine" (21), & Mary Surratt (42), hanged for Lincoln's assassination
1930 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, b. 1859
1983 Herman Kahn, 61, strategist ("Thinking About the Unthinkable")

 

8 Jul
1776 Col John Nixon gives the first public reading of Declaration of Independence
1853 Commo Matthew C. Perry sails frigate Susquehanna into Tokyo Bay
1860 Great Fire of Dallas, touches off slave insurrection hysteria across central Texas, scores of blacks lynched
1861 Skirmish at Florida, Ms
1861 Skirmish at Laurel Hill/Bealington, WVa
1865 C.E. Barnes receives a US patent for a machine gun
1876 The Hamburg Massacre: White racist attackers leave 6 black men dead in South Carolina
1898 Commo George Dewey's US forces occupy Isla Grande at Manila
1918 Ambulance driver Ernest Hemingway wounded at Fossalto, on the Piave
1944 Guam shelled by U.S. ships
1950 Douglas MacArthur named CinC UN forces in Korea

BORN
1819 Alexander Hays, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1864
1821 William H. L. Wallace, Brig Gen, U.S., d/w 1862
1824 Waldimir Bonawentura Krzyzanowski, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1887
1826 Benjamin Henry Grierson, Maj Gen, U.S., intrepid trooper, musician, d. 1911
1826 Robert Kingston Scott, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1900
1838 Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin, d. 1911

DIED
1933 Anthony Hope, author ("The Prisoner of Zenda"), at 70
1959 Dale Buisand & Chester Ovnand, first Americans killed in the Vietnam War
Chester M. Ovnand - Wikipedia
1994 Kim Il-sung, "The Great Leader" of Korea (1948-1994), at 82 -- Learn More
2012 Ermes Efron Borgnino -- Ernest Borgnine, 95, USN destroyerman (1935-1945), actor ("McHale's Navy")

 

9 Jul
586 BC Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II takes Jerusalem; beginning of the "Babylonian Captivity""
1776 The Declaration of Independence is read to Washington's troops in NY, whereupon the citizens pull down George III's statue at Bowling Green to make musket balls
1846 Landing party from USS 'Portsmouth' occupies San Francisco.
1860 Moslems commence 3-day massacre of Christians at Damascus
1860 The slaveship "Clotide" lands c. 150 kidnapped Africans in Mobile Bay, in defiance of the U.S. band on the importation of slaves
1862 CS Brig Gen John Hunt Morgan captures Tompkinsville, Ky
1864 Jubal's Raid - Battle of Monocacy, Md: US Maj Gen Lew Wallace conducts a successful delaying action
1864 Jubal's Raid - Confederates extort $200,000 from Frederick, Md
1876 Black landowner murdered by white supremacists in Hamburg, SC
1916 Cargo submarine 'Deutschland' arrives in US from Germany
1918 Congress establishes the Distinguished Service Cross
1918 Henry Ford launches the first of 100 Eagle boats
1926 Chang Kai-shek appointed national-revolutionary supreme commander
1943 US ships shelling Munda beat off c. 100 Japanese aircraft.
1944 US secures Saipan: 3,200 US, 27,000 Japanese KIA, & many civilian suicides

BORN
1887 Samuel Eliot Morison, sailor, naval officer, historian ("Admiral of the Ocean Sea"), d. 1976
1956 Tom Hanks, actor ("Saving Private Ryan")

DIED
1797 Edmund Burke, Anglo-Irish liberal political philosopher, at 68
1850 Zachary Taylor, soldier, President (1849-1850), in the White House at 65 -- Learn More
1870 Augustus Baldwin Longstreet,70, American attorney, humorist, slaveocrat, secessionist -- Learn More
1920 Admiral of the Fleet Sir John "Jackie" Fisher, b. 1841

 

10 July

1775 Horatio Gates orders blacks excluded from the Continental Army
1821 U.S. takes possession of Florida from Spain
1861 Combat at Monroe Sta., Va.
1863 Siege of Morris Island, SC, begins (ends Sep 6)
1926 Explosion at the Picatinny Arsenal, Lake Denmark, NJ: 21 die, scores injured
1938 Howard Hughes completes 91-hour 'round-the-world flight, NY-NY
1942 Himmler orders sterilization of all Jewish woman in Ravensbruck Camp
1942 USAAF agrees to increase a/c strength in the Pacific, slowing buildup in Britain
1943 First B-25 raid on Paramushiro (Kuriles) from Attu
1943 Operation Husky: US & Commonwealth forces invade Sicily
1945 Massive U.S./Br naval air strikes on airfields and industrial sites around Tokyo
1953 American troops abandon Pork Chop Hill, Korea
2015 The so-called Confederate Battle Flag is removed from the grounds of the South Carolina state house

BORN
1509 John Calvin, Protestant reformer with a high body count, d. 1564
1818 John Stuart "Cerro Gordo" Williams, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1898
1820 Andrew Porter, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1872
1821 Christopher Columbus Augur, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1898
1833 Lucius Eugene Polk, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1892
1834 James McNeill Whistler, USMA drop-out, artist ("Whistler's Mother"), d. 1903
1856 Nikola Tesla, brilliant inventor, inept businessman, d. 1943
1898 Charles B. McVay III, American naval officer, Rear Adm., sometime commander USS 'Indianapolis' (CA-35), suicide 1968
1922 Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist-Schmenzin, German soldier, anti-Hitler conspirator, last surviving veteran of the "July Plot", d. 2013
1927 David N. Dinkins, marine, Mayor of New York (1990-1994)

DIED
1920 Eugenie de Montijo y de Guzman, Mrs. Napoleon III, at 94
1944 Count Giovanni Pallavicini, kia, Warsaw.
1945 Robert Goddard, American scientist, inventor of the liquid fueled rocket, 62

 

11 Jul

1786 US pays Morocco $10,000 to "protect" merchant ships from piracy
1798 Congress reactivates the USMC, disbanded in 1784
1812 US invades Canada near Detroit
1861 Battle of Rich Mountain, VA: Gen Rosecrans forces rebels to surrender
1872 Battle of the Hotel d'Europe, Alexandria: the American Consul and his party have a shoot out with some former Confederate officers serving in the Egyptian Army, everyone demonstrating bad aim
1898 USN bombards Santiago harbor defenses
1919 US Navy Pay Corps becomes the Supply Corps
1934 FDR became the first sitting president to transit the Panama Canal, passing from the Caribbean to the Pacific aboard USS 'Houston' (CA 30) -- Learn More
1942 Japanese GHQ acknowledges the results of the Battle of Midway
1943 U.S. cruisers and destroyers shell Munda.
1943 USN surface ships break German-Italian tank attack at Gela, Sicily
1955 USAF Academy opens with 300 cadets at Lowry AFB, Colo.
1999 Puerto Barrios, Guatemala: Cols Bill Gross & Austin Bay, and Capt. Jim McCarthy lend a hand after a 6.8 earthquake at 0814

BORN
1767 John Quincy Adams, diplomat, President (1825-1829), d. 1848 -- Learn More
1825 Edward Henry Hobson, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1901
1841 William Paul Roberts, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1910
1914 Mildred Dalton [Manning], Army Nurse, who became the last surviving "Angel of Corregidor", d. 2013
1915 Colin Kelly, American airman, kia 1941

DIED
1806 James Smith, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. 1711
1989 Laurence Olivier, actor ("Henry V"), at 82

 

12 Jul
1812 Gen Hull's US forces invade Canada
1836 First USN Engineer Officer commissioned, Charles H. Haswell
1856 US filibuster William Walker becomes President of Nicaragua (July 12, 1856- May 1, 1857), promptly legalizes slavery
1861 Combat at Barboursville/Red House, WVa
1861 Combat of Beverly Ford, Va
1864 Battle of Ft. Stevens: Lincoln observes Jubal Early's Rebel skirmishers
1916 USS 'North Carolina' (ACR-12) becomes the first American ship regularly operating aircraft
1942 U-Boat lands four German saboteurs on Long Island, soon captured
1943 Kolombangara: "Tokyo Express" tangles with Allied ships, who lose, badly
1944 Allied attempt to take Myitkina, Burma, foiled by "friendly" air attacks
1978 Puerto Rican nationalist Willie Morales is severely injured by a blast in his bomb factory in New York, but escapes anyway
1982 FEMA promises that survivors of a nuclear war will get their mail

BORN
1807 Silas Casey, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1882
1821 Daniel Harvey Hill, Lt Gen, C.S.A., d. 1889
1862 The Navy "Medal of Honor" by Act of Congress
1918 Emmett L. Bennett, Jr., American classicist, sometime US cryptanalyst, who helped decipher Cretan Linear B, d. 2011

DIED
1536 Desiderius Erasmus, humanist, c. 70
1705 Titus Oates, 54, Espiscopal cleric, Royal Navy chaplain, persecutor of Catholics
1949 Hubert Renfro "H. R. " Knickerbocker, American war correspondent, 51 -- Learn More

 

13 Jul
587 BC The Babylonians captured Jerusalem, and burned Solomon's Temple
1863 thee days of rioting began in New York City protesting the introduction of a Federal draft
1864 Jubal Early retreats from Washington, towards the Shenandoah Valley
1919 Race riots in Longview & Gregg Counties, Texas
1936 15,000 WW I veterans from all nations swore an "Oath of Peace" and observed a minute of silence at the Ossuary at Ft. Douaumont, Verdun
1944 Fighting continues on Noemfoor.

BORN
1821 Nathan Bedford Forrest, Lt Gen, C.S.A., Klansman, d. 1877
1864 John Jacob Astor IV, American financier and volunteer soldier, d. 1912, in the 'Titanic' -- Learn More
1940 Patrick Stewart, actor -- Sejanus in "I, Claudius", Captain Jean Luc Picard in ST:TNG

DIED
1755 Maj Gen Edward Braddock, 60, d/w from the Battle of the Monongahela, Jul 9
1890 John C Frémont, soldier, explorer, politician, grafter. at 76
1989 Arnaldo Ochoa Sanchez, 59, Cuban general, murdered by Castro on trumped up charges of drug trafficking.

 

14JUL

1789 The citizens of Paris storm the Bastille, initiating the French Revolution --
1813 Lt John M. Gamble, becomes the only US Marine to command a ship, the prize 'Greenwich'
1825 Lafayette reviews 2nd Bn, 11th NY Arty, which adopts the name "The National Guard" and later becomes the famous 7th NY
1853 Commo Matthew Perry holds first meeting with Japanese officials
1861 USN blockades Wilmington, NC
1863 Battle of Tupelo/Harrisburg, Ms, begins (ends Jul 15)
1867 Alfred Nobel gives the first public demonstration of dynamite
1880 The French Republic establishes July 14th as a national holiday.
1882 Four U.S. ships help British restore order in Alexandria, Egypt.
1898 Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood receives a report on the performance of the Sims-Dudley pneumatic gun -- Learn More
1898 Brig. Gen. Leonard Wood reports on the performance of the Sims-Dudley pneumatic cannon on service in Cuba -- Learn More
1936 Cashiered LtCdr John Semer Farnsworth (USNA 1915) is arrested for espionage -- Learn More
1938 FDR reviews the U.S. Fleet in San Francisco Bay, from the deck of the USS 'Houston' (CA-30) -- Learn More
1952 Keel is laid for the USS 'Forrestal' (CVA-59), the first supercarrier to be completed
1959 First nuclear powered cruiser commissioned, USS 'Long Beach' (CGN 9)
1972 Vietnam: Jane Fonda makes first of 10 broadcasts on Radio Hanoi.

BORN
1818 Nathaniel Lyon, Brig Gen, U.S., kia Wilson's Creek 1861
1830 Richard Henry Jackson, in Ireland, Brig. Gen, U.S.
1831 William Dwight, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1888
1913 Gerald Ford, naval officer, President (1974-1976), d. 2006
1922 Bill Millin, Scotsman, who would pipe for Lord Lovat during the relief of Pegasus Bridge on D-Day, d. 2010

DIED
1965 Helen Mackay, pioneering British pediatrician and poet, 74 -- Learn More
1974 Carl A Spaatz, bomber baron, USAF chief of staff, at 83

 

15 Jul

1215 King John of England "assents" to Magna Carta
1862 Battle of Yazoo Pas: CSS 'Arkansas' fights USSs 'Cardondelet' & 'Queen of the West'
1863 USS 'Wyoming' defeats a Japanese warlord at the Shimonoseki Straits
1864 Great Shohola Train Wreck, Pa: A train carrying Confederate P/Ws collides with a coal train, 65 die, 109 injured
1870 Congress establishes the Navy Pay Corps, now the Supply Corps.
1907 Turret blast in battleship 'Georgia' (BB-15); 10 dead, 27 injured
1916 William Boeing founds an aircraft company in Seattle
1918 Second Battle of the Marne begins
1930 Debut of the motion picture 'All Quiet on the Western Front' starring Lew Ayers, based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque
1937 Buchenwald Concentration Camp opens
1942 USS 'Grunion' (SS-216) sinks 3 Japanese sub chasers and a ship in the Aleutians
1943 Air Battle in the Central Solomons: Japan loses 45 a/c, US 3
1944 Britain's Greenwich Observatory is damaged by a German V-1 flying bomb
1944 Allied and Japanese troops engage in heavy fighting in the Aitape area of New Guinea.
1945 U.S. battleships shell industrial installations at Kamaishi, Honshu
1958 Marines land in Lebanon, to support government (to October).

BORN
1798 Charles H Bell, Rear Adm, U.S., d. 1875

DIED
1869 Capt A. J. Hayne, black militia officer, assassinated in Marion, Ark
1948 General of the Armies John J Pershing, at 87 -- Learn More
1961 Umberto Pugliese, 81, Jewish Italian naval architect, designer of 'Zara,', 'Littorio', etc., d. 1961)

 

16 Jul

1054 The Great Schism between Western and Eastern Christianity, as leaders of the two branches swap excommunications
1779 "Mad" Wayne captured Stony Point, NY, in a bayonet attack -- Learn More
1861 Skirmish at Millsville/Wentzville, Mo
1861 Bull Run Campaign: Gen McDowell advances from Washington toward Fairfax Courthouse
1862 David G. Farragut is named the first Rear Admiral in the USN
1912 Rear Adm Bradley Fiske, USN, receives a patent for the airborne torpedo.
1920 Brig Gen Amos Fries is appointed first US Chief of Chemical Warfare
1945 Trinity: the first Atomic Bomb is tested in New Mexico.
1946 A US court sentences 46 SS-men to death for the Malmedy massacre; Sen. Joseph McCarthy attempts to secure commutations
Malmedy massacre - Wikipedia
1957 Marine Maj John Glenn sets transcontinental air speed record (03:28:08)
1962 NASA civilian test pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to 32,600 m
1969 Apollo 11 leaves for the Moon

BORN
1823 James Isham Gilbert, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1884.
1829 Robert Brown Potter, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1887
1921 Bernard Rogers, General, U.S., Supreme Commander, NATO, d. 2008
1921 Robert Remini, in the Bronx, later USN, and still later noted biographer of Andrew Jackson, d. 2013

DIED
1777 Nicholas Herkimer, c. 50, Brig. Gen., NY Militia, d/w, Oriskany
1989 Herbert von Karajan, 81, Hitler's Generalmusikdirektor

 

17 Jul

1812 USS 'Constitution' escapes a British squadron after a 3-day chase off NJ
1858 US Sloop-of-War 'Niagara' & HM Ship-of-the-Line 'Agamemnon' begin laying the first Atlantic cable.
1861 Skirmish at Bunker Hill, Va
1861 Skirmish at Fulton, Mo
1861 Skirmish at Martinsburg, Mo
1861 Skirmish at Scarrytown, WVa
1862 John Hunt Morgan raids Cynthiana, Ky
1862 Skirmish at Columbia, TN
1862 US army authorized to accept blacks as laborers
1863 Battle of Honey Springs: largest Civil War action in the Indian Territory
1864 John Bell Hood assumes command of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, sealing the fate of Atlanta
1898 Spanish-American War: Santiago surrenders to the US
1903 The US Army and Navy form the Joint Board, to coordinate common policy
HyperWar: Joint Action of the Army and the Navy (1935)
1917 British Royals change their name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor
1927 USMC pilots conduct first combat dive bombing, Ocotal, Nicaragua.
1942 Amphib Force, SoPac Area, is established under Richmond Kelly Turner
1942 MacArthur issues orders to occupy Buna, northeastern Papua.
1943 U.S. destroyers shell Kiska.
1944 Two ammunition ships explode at Port Chicago, Ca., 322 die
1945 The Potsdam Conference began: Truman, Stalin, & Attlee -- Learn More
1945 Third Fleet undertakes surface and air attacks on targets near Tokyo.
1962 Robert White in X-15 sets altitude record of 108 km (354,300 ft)

BORN
1744 Elbridge Gerry, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1814
1763 John Jacob Astor, The First Millionaire, d. 1848
1900 James Cagney, actor ("The Fighting 69th", "The Gallant Hours"), d. 1986

DIED
1794 Dr. John Roebuck, c. 76, founder of the Carron Ironworks, inventor of the carronade
1903 James McNeill Whistler, West Point dropout, painter, at 60
2009 Walter Cronkite, 92, war correspondent, Cold Warrior
2011 Joe Walker, 85, Navaho "Code Talker", 22nd Marines, 6th Marine Division

 

18 Jul

1775 Congress authorizes each colony to provide armed ships of war
1779 US Commo Abraham Whipple's squadron takes 11 British prizes
1813 US Frigate 'President' captures 4 British ships.
1814 British capture Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
1861 Bull Run Campaign: Combat at Blackburn's Ford, Va
1863 Cavalry skirmish near Columbus, Ga
1863 The 54th Massachusetts leads a gallant attempt to storm Fort Wagner, near Charleston
1898 Naval Acton of Manzanillo, Cuba: US and Spanish light forces skirmish
1918 US & French forces launch Aisne-Marne offensive
1920 US naval aircraft sink ex-German cruiser 'Frankfurt' during target practice.
1925 "Mein Kampf" is published, and sells badly, until 1930, when it begins to top the charts
1943 German U-boat downs 'K-47', the only US airship lost to enemy action in WW II
1944 US troops capture St. Lo, Normandy

BORN
1787 Ichabod Crane, Col., U.S., d. 1857, still on active duty -- Learn More
1823 Leonard Fulton Ross, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1901
1914 US Army Air Service, in the the Signal Corps
1921 John H Glenn Jr, Marine, astronaut, senator, d. 2016

DIED
1792 John Paul Jones, 45, American naval hero who often went "In harm's way", in Paris
2005 Gen. William Westmoreland, 91, Commander, US forces in Vietnam, 1964-1968
2009 Henry Allingham, at 113+, the oldest man in the world, the last surviving Jutland veteran and the last original member of the RAF -- strategypage.com/cic/docs/cic463d.asp

 

19 Jul

1799 French troops building fortifications near Rosetta, on the Nile Delta, found a curious stone
1812 1st Battle of Sackett's Harbor: Americans beat off British attack across Lake Erie
1861 Combat at Parkersville, Mo
1863 Battle of Buffington I/St. Georges Creek, Oh/WVa: Union cavalry defeat John Hunt Morgan's Confederate raiders, but many escape into WVa,
1886 'Atlanta' commissioned, first steel cruiser in the USN
1897 Lt Robert E. Peary departs on a year long Arctic Expedition
1898 Action at Havana: US ships & Spanish batteries exchange fire
1918 German 'U-156' sinks the armored cruiser 'San Diego' off Fire Island, NY
1939 RAdm Richard Byrd named commanding officer of the 1939-1941 Antarctic Expedition
1941 Winston Churchill flashes "V for Victory" for the first time
1969 Apollo 11 goes into orbit around the Moon

BORN
1814 Samuel Colt, firearms inventor, d. 1862
1817 Mary Ann Ball "Mother" Bickerdyke, Union relief worker, nurse, and hospital administrator, d. 1901
1823 George Henry Gordon, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1886
1828 Roger Atkinson Pryor, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1919
1833 John Wesley Turner, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1899
1860 Lizzie Borden, who may have given 'her mother forty whacks . . ..', d. 1927
1922 George McGovern, B-24 pilot who earned the DFC over Germany, senator, presidential candidate (1972), d. 2012

DIED
1965 Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea (1948-1960)

 

20 Jul

1812 USS 'Nautilus' captured by the Royal Navy
1861 Confederate Congress convenes at Richmond
1864 Battle of Peachtree Creek: Confederates defeated
1881 Sioux leader Sitting Bull surrenders to federal troops
1899 Five Americans of Italian heritage are lynched in Tallulah, Louisiana
1917 Eugene Jacque Bullard, black American Foreign Legionnaire, is commissioned a fighter pilot in the Lafayette Flying Corps
1942 Congress creates the Legion of Merit
1942 First WAACs begin basic training
1944 Marines land on Guam.
1944 The July Plot: Hitler isn't assassinated
1944 Battle of the Philippine Sea: Japanese CV 'Hiyo' sunk by US air attack
1945 Gala harbor reception for 15,000 men of the 44th Inf Div (NY/NJ NG) as they arrive at Pier 90, Manhattan, aboard the 'Queen Elizabeth' --- 44th Infantry Division (United States) - Wikipedia
1945 USS 'Threadfin' (SS-410) sinks Japanese 'Minesweeper No. 39' in the Yellow Sea.
1948 US reinstitutes the draft, for the Cold War
1949 Israel's 19 month war of independence ends
1969 The First Moon Landing: Apollo XI astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
1976 Last US troops leave Thailand
2012 Mass shooting at a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado, 12 die

BORN
356 BC Alexander III "the Great" of Macedon (336-323 BC) [or maybe the 21st]
1304 Francesco Petrarcha, poet, humanist, lover of Laura, d. 1374
1774 Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont, Marshal of France, d. 1852
1785 Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II (1808-39)
1824 Alexander Schimmelpfennig, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1865
1900 Heinrich Himmler, mass murderer, suicide, 1945
1919 Sir Edmund Hillary, war hero, co-conqueror of Mt. Everest, d. 2008
1920 Benjamin Rush Toland, later 1st Lt., U.S.M.C.R, kia on Iwo Jima -- Learn More

DIED
1937 Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of radio, at 63
1959 Fleet Admiral William Daniel Leahy, First Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 84
1976 Joseph John Rochefort, 76, U.S. naval officer, cryptanalyst. who broke the Japanese code
2005 James Doohan, Canadian, D-Day Veteran, actor ("Lt. Cdr Montgomery Scott"), at 80