Today in Military History 1 Jul - 30 Sep

21 Jul
1823 Lt David G. Farragut leads a raid to destroy a pirate base in Cuba
1861 First Battle of Bull Run/Manassas: Confederate victory -- Learn More
1905 USS 'Bennington' (PG-4): Boiler explosion, 62 dead, 40 injured
1919 The hydrogen-filled blimp 'Wingfoot Air Express' explodes over downtown Chicago, 13 die (10 on the ground), 27 on the ground injured
1943 US Navy cancels the 'Montana' Class battleships
Montana-class battleship - Wikipedia
1945 U.S. radio broadcasts demand that Japan surrender or be destroyed.
1946 USN begins carrier trials of jets, an XFD-1 Phantom off the USS 'FDR'
1969 Neil Armstrong's "small step" on the moon - 2:56:15 AM GMT
10:56:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time 20 July
1997 The ashes of Little Sorrel, Stonewall Jackson's horse, interred at his statue at VMI
1997 Restored USS 'Constitution' sails for the first time in 116 years

BORN
1802 David Hunter, Maj Gen, U.S., abolitionist, d. 1886
1815 Stewart Van Vliet, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1901
1816 Paul Julius Freiherr von Reuter, founder of Reuter's press service, d. 1899
1817 Joseph K Barnes, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1883
1826 James Gillpatrick Blunt, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1881
1828 John Rutter Brooke, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1926
1899 Ernest Hemmingway, adventurer, author, d. 1961
1930 The Veterans' Administration

DIED
1796 Robert Burns, Scots poet, 37 -- Learn More
1899 Robert Ingersoll, politician, orator, Col, USV, 65
1944 Col. Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg (37), executed by firing squad, & Gen. Ludwig Beck (64), assisted suicide, for their part in the plot to assassinate Hitler
1967 Basil Rathbone, 75, sometime captain, Liverpool Scottish (MC), Anglo-American actor ("Sherlock Holmes," "Captain Blood", "Robin Hood" etc.)
1998 Alan Shepard, first American in space, at 74

 

22 Jul
1775 George Washington takes command of the American Army outside Boston -- Learn More
1802 US Frigate 'Constellation' defeats 9 corsair gunboats off Tripoli
1861 Skirmish at Forsyth, Mo
1878 "Great Re-union of the Soldiers & Sailors of Ohio" - Newark.
1905 The remains of John Paul Jones are removed from Paris to be transported to Annapolis
1916 A bomb at a "Preparedness" parade in San Francisco kills 10, probable anarchist act
1942 US initiates gasoline rationing
1943 Aleutians: U.S. warships shell Kiska and nearby islets
1943 Bougainville: Japanese seaplane CV 'Nisshin' sunk by U.S. aircraft
1943 Patton captures Palermo
1975 House of Reps votes to restore citizenship to Robert E Lee
1987 USN begins escorting re-flagged Kuwaiti tankers in the Persian Gulf

BORN
1822 John George Walker, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1893
1830 William Sooy Smith, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1916
1849 Emma Lazarus, Poet of the Immigrants --- "Give me your tired, your poor, . . . .", d. 1887
1898 Stephen Vincent Benet, poet ("John Brown's Body"), d. 1943
1914 Lionel Casson, sailor, historian ("Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World"), d. 2009
1923 Bob Dole, veteran, senator, presidential candidate d 2021

DIED
1868 John Augustus Roebling, 63, who designed the Brooklyn Bridge
1951 Admiral Forrest Percival Sherman, 54, CNO (1949-1951), of a heart attack in Naples, following a sumptuous meal
1967 Carl Sandburg, veteran, biographer, poet, at 89
2001 Bertie Felstead, Royal Welch Fusiliers, last known survivor of the Christmas Truce of 1914, at 106
Christmas truce - Wikipedia
2003 Uday (39) and Qusai Saddam Hussayn al-Tikriti (37), sons of Dictator Saddam Hussein, and Mustapha, son of Qusai (14), kia by US forces

 

23 Jul

586 BC Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon captures Jerusalem, besieged since Jan 588 BC
1775 George Washington issues instructions on insignia of rank to Patriot forces outside Boston -- Learn More
1846 Henry David Thoreau goes to jail for a night for refusing to pay taxes, in protest of the Mexican War
1847 Brigham Young says "This is the place" and founds Salt Lake City
1886 Steve Brodie allegedly survives a jump from the Brooklyn Bridge into the East River
1898 US landing at Rio Manimani, Cuba
1939 FDR signed the 'Coast Guard Reserve Act' into law, authorizing the raising of the Coast Guard Auxiliary -- Learn More
1940 Hitler's last visit to the Bayreuth festival, to hear 'Gotterdammerung'
1940 The "Blitz" begins: the first all-night Luftwaffe raid on London
1943 New Georgia: As US forces begin a drive to capture the airfield at Munda, the Japanese attempt to land by barge frustrated by PT-boats.
1944 US forces land on Japanese-held Tinian from nearby Saipan
1945 Raiders off USS 'Barb' (SS-317) blow up a train on the east coast of Sakhalin Island
1945 U.S. & Commonwealth ships raid Japan, sinking over 100 ships
1958 'Nautilus' (SSN-571) leaves Pearl Harbor to begin the first submerged crossing of the North Pole (90 N on August 3)

BORN
1822 Darius Nash Couch, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1897
1824 Gabriel Colvin Wharton, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1906

DIED
1885 Ulysses S Grant, General-in-Chief, USA, former president (1869-1877)
1955 Cordell Hull, sometime Captain, 4th Tennessee Volunteers, Cuba, Sec State (1933-1944), Noble Peace Prize, 1945, b. 1871
1973 Eddie Rickenbacker, 82, top American ace of WW I, 26 kills
2011 John Shalikashvili, born in Warsaw of Georgian parents, rose to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1993-1997), the first foreign born officer to hold the post, at 75 -- Learn More
2017 Thomas Fleming, 90, World War II cruiserman, prolific historian and novelist.

 

24 Jul

1861 Skirmish at Blue Mills, Mo
1861 Skirmish at Taylor Mountain, WVa,
1864 Second Battle of Kernstown, Va: Jubal Early drives Union forces out of the Shenandoah into Maryland
1900 Race riot in New Orleans
1915 Steamer 'Eastland' capsizes dockside in Chicago, 800 die
1919 Race Riot in Washington DC, 6 killed, 100 wounded
1929 Pres Hoover proclaims Kellogg-Briand Pact, which declares war naughty
1942 U.S. submarines begin operating in the Kurile Islands.
1943 U.S. destroyers land supplies at Bairoko, on Kula Gulf.
1943 U.S. subs ordered to deactivate defective magnetic torpedo exploders.
1944 The Mexican fighter squadron "Aguilas Aztecas” commences training in the United States -- Learn More
1945 Over 1,500 Allied carrier aircraft raid Kure, sinking three battleships
1948 Soviets initiate a blockade of Berlin
1959 The Nick & Dick Show: VP Nixon's "Kitchen debate" with Soviet Premier Khrushchev at the US exhibition in Moscow
1969 Muhammad Ali is convicted of refusing induction in the US Army
1999 Debut of StrategyPage -- Learn More

BORN
1798 John Adams Dix, Maj Gen, U.S., who would say "If anyone attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot." d. 1879
1827 Julius Adolph de Lagnel, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1912
1828 Cuvier Grover, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1885
1840 Ranald Slidell Mackenzie, Brig. Gen., USV, noted cavalryman and Indian fighter, d. 1889 in an insance asylum

DIED
1862 Martin Van Buren, 79, militiaman, President (1837-1841) -- Learn More
2015 Jürgen Rohwer, 91, Kriegsmarine veteran, prolific naval historian (e.g., "The Critical Convoy Battles of March 1943," "Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945")

 

25 Jul

1814 Battle of Lundy's Lane: Americans defeat the British -- Learn More
1861 Skirmish at Fort Fillmore, NM
1866 David G. Farragut is appointed the first Admiral in the US Navy
1866 U.S. Grant is named the first full general in the history of the US Army
1898 First US troops land in Puerto Rico, at Guanica Bay
1912 USN publishes its first specifications for aircraft
1918 Race riot in Chester, Pennsylvania; 3 blacks & 2 whites killed
1934 1st presidential visit to Hawaii: FDR lands from USS 'Houston' (CA-30)
1943 New Georgia: 25th Inf Div lands, to join heavy fighting
1944 Allied breakthrough at St-Lo, Patton begins his drive across France
1944 First jet fighter used in combat, the Messerschmitt 262
1945 Japan says it will surrender, but not unconditionally
1946 US detonates an underwater A-bomb at Bikini, the fifth atomic explosion
1947 The US Army, Navy, & Air Force are subordinated to the new DOD
1963 US, Russia, and Britain sign the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
1998 USS 'Harry S. Truman' (CVN-75) is commissioned

BORN
1750 Henry Knox, later Continental general, the first Secretary of War, d. 1806: Washington's fattest general
1822 Schuyler Hamilton, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1903
1894 Gavrilo Princep, who would shoot Franz Ferdinand in 1914, d. 1918. [13 July OS]

DIED
1846 Louis Bonaparte, 67, sometime King of Holland (1806-1810) courtesy of his brother, father to Napoleon the Little
1929 Robert Todd Lincoln, 82, veteran, Sec of War
1959 Curley Jefferson, 76, last surviving Black Seminole Indian Scout, Brackettville, Texas
2009 Henry John "Harry" Patch, at 111 , the last British Army veteran of the trenches -- Learn More

 

26 Jul
1812 US Frigate 'Essex' captures British brig 'Leander'
1861 Skirmish at Lane's Prairie, Mo
1863 Salineville, OH: CSA Brig Gen. John Hunt Morgan surrenders with 364 troopers
1898 Skirmish near Yauco, Puerto Rico; Spanish withdraw
1898 US Navy sweeps mines at Caimanera, Cuba
1912 Lt. John Rodgers makes the 1st airborne radio commo to a ship, USS 'Stringham' (TB-19)
1918 Race riot in Philadelphia, 3 whites & 1 black killed
1941 Pres Roosevelt calls the Philippine Army into Federal Service
1942 Capt Joy Bright Hancock is appointed Director, Women's Naval Reserve
1943 U.S. destroyers shell Munda.
1944 Pacific conference in Hawaii: FDR orders the liberation of the Philippines
1945 Churchill resigns as Britain's PM
1945 Japanese disregard US ultimatum
1948 Truman initiates the integration of the Armed Forces
1953 Fidel Castro makes an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks
1954 Chinese aircraft shoot down a British airliner, whereupon fighters off USS 'Philippine Sea' (CVA-47) shoot down 2 Chinese a/c that fired on them while covering rescue operations

BORN
1739 George Clinton, Revolutionary war general, governor of New York, Vice-President, d. 1812
1820 John Marshall Jones, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1864
1890 Daniel Callaghan, Read Adm, USN, kia 1942 Guadalcanal, Medal of Honor
1922 Jason Robards, Pearl Harbor veteran, actor ("Tora! Tora! Tora!"), d. 2001
1928 Stanley Kubrick, director ("Paths of Glory"), d. 1999
1947 The CIA, under terms of National Security Act

DIED
1863 Sam Houston, Liberator of Texas, at 70
1934 James Cook Hayes, 78, presidential son, businessman, soldier -- Learn More
1952 Maria Eva "Evita" Duarte Peron, at 33
2019 Richard H. Berg, noted game designer

 

27 Jul
1813 Battle of Burnt Corn Creek: Red Stick Creek Indians carrying supplies from Spanish Florida defeat an ambush by American militiamen.
1861 Combat at Ft Fillmore, NM: Confederate victory
1861 McClellan replaces McDowell in command of Union forces around Washington
1861 Skirmish at St. Augustine Springs, NM
1864 Battle of Darbytown/Deep Bottom/ Newmarket Road/Strawberry Plains, Va
1897 Grand Review of the Royal Navy off Spithead marking Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee
1909 Orville Wright demonstrates a plane for the Army, flying 72 minutes
1919 Chicago race riot: 38 killed (23 blacks & 15 whites) and 537 injured (c. 65% blacks), several blacks, no whites are convicted of riot-related charges
1943 Battle of the Pips: USN fires 100s of rounds at false radar blips, off Kiska.
1943 China Seas: USS 'Sawfish' (SS-276) sinks two Japanese ships
1943 Japanese DDs 'Ariake' & 'Mikazuki' sunk off New Britain by U.S. Army a/c.
1943 Stalin issues Order No. 227: "Panic makers and cowards must be liquidated on the spot. Not one step backward . . . !"
1945 Japan's cities are "bombed" with leaflets demanding surrender
1953 North Korea & UN sign armistice
1954 Armistice divides Vietnam in two
1995 Korean War Veterans Memorial dedicated in Washington

BORN
1812 Thomas Lanier Clingman, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1897
1824 Alexandre Dumas fils, bon viveur, novelist ("The Lady of the Camillias")
1840 Ranald Slidell Mackenzie, US cavalryman, d. 1889
1924 Vincent Canby, US Navy, WW II, drama critic, d. 2000
1929 The Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners-of-war was signed -- Learn More

DIED
1777 Jane McRae, slain by Indians, inflaming frontier New Yorkers against the British
1984 James Mason, conscientious objector, actor ("Rommel"), at 75
2003 Bob Hope, veteran of 60 years of USO shows, at 100

 

28 July

1862 Skirmish at More's Hill, Mo: Confederates defeated
1864 Atlanta Campaign: Battle of Ezra Church
1866 The Kasson Act was passed by Congress, authorizing use of the metric system in the United States
1898 Skirmish at Ponce, Puerto Rico, which shortly surrenders to the US
1917 The Negro Silent Protest Parade: Some 10,000 Blacks march on Fifth Avenue to protest racist violence
1918 The U.S. 332nd Infantry Regiment arrived in Italy -- Learn More
332nd Infantry Regiment (United States) - Wikipedia
1931 Congress makes "The Star-Spangled Banner" the national anthem
1932 Douglas MacArthur routs the Bonus Army, against orders
1943 FDR announces an end to coffee rationing
1945 Kamikaze sink their last ship, the USS 'Callaghan' (DD-792), off Okinawa.
1945 US Army B-25 crashes into 79th floor of Empire State Bldg, 14 die

BORN
1746 Thomas Heyward, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1809
1778 Charles Stewart, naval officer, U.S., d. 1869
1809 Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, Maj Gen, U.S., astronomer, d. 1862
1825 William Duncan Smith, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1862
1833 James Henry Lane, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1907

DIED
1746 John Peter Zenger, 48, hero of "Freedom of the Press"
1933 Admiral William Christopher Pakenham, GCB, KCMG, KCVO, who took part in the three greatest battleship battles, at 72 -- Learn More

 

29 Jul
1846 Landing party off USS 'Cyane' captures San Diego
1874 Maj. Walter Copton Wingfield patents a portable tennis court
1910 Slocum, Texas: White racists begin several days of attacks on Blacks, scores die as blacks are driven from the town
1915 A briefcase with German sabotage plans is found on the IRT subway in NYC
1918 First meeting between FDR & Winston Churchill, Gray's Inn, London
1943 New Guinea: 43rd Div Cdr relieved, as his troops press on slowly.
1944 Marines take Orote airstrip on Guam against fierce Japanese resistance
1945 U.S. warships shell naval and air bases on Honshu.
1949 Berlin Airlift ends, as Soviets end blockade
1953 Soviets shoot down US patrol bomber northeast of Vladivostok
1967 Fire aboard USS 'Forrestal' (CV-59), Gulf of Tonkin, 134 die

BORN
1817 James Blair Steedman, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1883
1830 Alvan Cullem Gillem, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1875
1883 Benito Mussolini, journalist, soldier, politician, Prime Minister/Dictator of Italy (1922-1945), k. 1945 - Learn More
1958 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration

DIED
1857 Prince Charles Bonaparte of Canino, at 54
2011 John Cullen, 90, former Coast guardsman who caught the Nazi saboteurs on a Long Island beach in 1942

 

30 Jul

1839 "Mutiny" in the slave ship 'Amistad': Enslaved Africans liberated
1863 Lincoln orders retaliation if Confederates kill black P/Ws
1864 Petersburg Campaign: Battle of the Crater
1866 White racists attack blacks in New Orleans
1898 Skirmish at Manila: US ships & Spanish batteries exchange fire
1909 US Army accepts delivery of its first military airplane
1916 German saboteurs blow up munitions stored at Black Tom Island, NJ, 7 die, $20 million in damages (perhaps $1.5 billion today)
1918 1st Marine Aviation Force lands at Brest, France
1941 Japs "accidentally" bomb USS 'Tutuila' (PR-4), Chungking, China
1942 USS 'Grunion" (SS-216) is declared "over due," probably lost to hazards of the sea.
1942 VAdm Mikawa arrives at Rabaul to assume command of the Eighth Fleet.
1943 U.S. DDs shell suspected Japanese positions on Kiska.
1944 US 6th Inf Div lands on the Vogelkop, NW New Guinea, and offshore islands
1945 USS 'Indianapolis' (CA-35) torpedoed & sunk; nearly 900 die over the next four days, many in shark attacks
1966 US airplanes bomb demilitarized zone in Vietnam
1971 Japanese Boeing 727 collides with an F-86 fighter, 162 die
1971 US Apollo 15 (Scott & Irwin) lands on Mare Imbrium on the Moon

BORN
1863 Henry Ford, American innovator and bigot, d. 1947
1881 Smedley Darlington Butler, maverick Marine, with the Brevet Medal and two Medals of Honor, d. 1940
1909 C. Northcote Parkinson, historian, literary critic ("The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower"), d 1993
1942 The U.S. Navy WAVES -- Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service

DIED
1875 George Edward Pickett, 50, US Army officer, Confederate Maj. Gen.
1918 Joyce Kilmer, 31, soldier-poet of the "Fighting 69th", kia, Battle of the Ourcq - Learn More
1963 Patrick Jay Hurley, 80, Maj. Gen., & Sec War (1929-1933)
1978 Admiral Ben Moreell, 85, "Father of the SeaBees"

 

31 Jul
593 BC Ezekiel has a vision, on banks of the River Chebar in the Land of the Chaldeans (Ez 2, 9-10) [Astron]
1498 Christopher Columbus lands at Trinidad, on his third voyage
1777 The Marquis de Lafayette becomes a major-general in the Continental Army
1813 British attack Plattsburgh, NY
1815 Bey of Tunis agrees to compensate U.S. for seizure of ships
1865 USN East India Squadron established, origins of Asiatic Fleet
1874 USS 'Intrepid' becomes the first American warship armed with automotive torpedoes
1898 US and Spanish troops skirmish outside Manila
1925 Last Allied occupation forces leave the Rhineland
1932 German Election; Nazis get 37.3% of the vote
1938 Hitler decorates fellow anti-Semite Henry Ford with the "Grand Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle"
1942 Allied air attack forces Japanese Buna-bound convoy back to Rabaul
1942 USS 'Essex' (CV-9) is launched at Newport News, the first of a class of 26.
1991 George H.W. Bush and Mihail Gorbachev sign the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
1997 NYC police capture three Islamist terrorists planning subway attacks

BORN
1803 John Ericsson, inventor, naval architect - USS 'Monitor', d. 1889
1815 Thomas Jackson Rodman, artilleryman, U.S., d. 1871
1816 George Henry "Pap" Thomas, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1870
1817 Philip Cook Jr, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1894
1825 Thomas Hart Taylor, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1901
1837 William Clarke Quantrill, pro-Confederate terrorist, d. 1865
1887 George Fleming Moore, Maj. Gen., US, Defender of Bataan, d. 1949 -- Learn More

DIED
1837 Capt. Mark Wolfe Batman, U.S.A., c. 38 -- Learn More
1875 Andrew Johnson, veteran, President (1865-1869), at 66
2012 Gore Vidal, 86, author ("Julian"), playwrite, who served in WW II, but didn't think much of it

 

31 Jul
593 BC Ezekiel has a vision, on banks of the River Chebar in the Land of the Chaldeans (Ez 2, 9-10) [Astron]
1498 Christopher Columbus lands at Trinidad, on his third voyage
1777 The Marquis de Lafayette becomes a major-general in the Continental Army
1813 British attack Plattsburgh, NY
1815 Bey of Tunis agrees to compensate U.S. for seizure of ships
1865 USN East India Squadron established, origins of Asiatic Fleet
1874 USS 'Intrepid' becomes the first American warship armed with automotive torpedoes
1898 US and Spanish troops skirmish outside Manila
1925 Last Allied occupation forces leave the Rhineland
1932 German Election; Nazis get 37.3% of the vote
1938 Hitler decorates fellow anti-Semite Henry Ford with the "Grand Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle"
1942 Allied air attack forces Japanese Buna-bound convoy back to Rabaul
1942 USS 'Essex' (CV-9) is launched at Newport News, the first of a class of 26.
1991 George H.W. Bush and Mihail Gorbachev sign the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
1997 NYC police capture three Islamist terrorists planning subway attacks

BORN
1803 John Ericsson, inventor, naval architect - USS 'Monitor', d. 1889
1815 Thomas Jackson Rodman, artilleryman, U.S., d. 1871
1816 George Henry "Pap" Thomas, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1870
1817 Philip Cook Jr, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1894
1825 Thomas Hart Taylor, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1901
1837 William Clarke Quantrill, pro-Confederate terrorist, d. 1865
1887 George Fleming Moore, Maj. Gen., US, Defender of Bataan, d. 1949 -- Learn More

DIED
1837 Capt. Mark Wolfe Batman, U.S.A., c. 38 -- Learn More
1875 Andrew Johnson, veteran, President (1865-1869), at 66
2012 Gore Vidal, 86, author ("Julian"), playwrite, who served in WW II, but didn't think much of it

 

1 Aug
1781 Cornwallis' British army occupies Yorktown, Virginia
1791 Whiskey Rebellion began, desultory outbreaks continue to 1794 -- Learn More
1801 U.S. schooner 'Enterprise' captures Tripolitanian ship 'Tripoli'
1864 Phil Sheridan takes command of the Army of the Shenandoah
1898 US and Spanish troops skirmish outside Manila
1907 U.S. Signal Corps forms an Aviation Section - which would become the United States Air Force
1936 Hitler opens the Berlin Olympics, the 11th modern games, initiating the now routine "Olympic Torch" ceremony
1942 Allied fleets begin diversionary moves to mask the Guadalcanal Ops
1942 U.S. battlefleet departs San Francisco for Pearl Harbor
1944 George S. Patton's Third Army began 281 days of operations
1945 B-29s raid Toyama, Japan
1946 Office of Naval Research is established
1946 McMinn County War (Battle of Athens): WW II veterans take up arms to help local citizens oust a corrupt political machine in Athens & Etowh, Tenn
1950 Belgium's parliament mandates that King Leopold III (1934-1951) must abdicate in favor of his son Baudouin (1951-1993)
1958 USS 'Nautilus' (SSN 571) passes beneath the Arctic ice-pack [See Aug 3]
1961 East Germany limits traffic to West Berlin, Cold War intensifies
1966 UT Austin Massacre: former Marine Charles Whitman leaves 13 dead, 31 wounded

BORN
1520 Sigismund II Augustus, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lituania (1548-1572)
1770 William Clark, of the "Corps of Exploration" , d. 1838
1779 Francis Scott Key, of "The Star Spangled Banner", d. 1843
1814 Maxcy Gregg, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d/w 1862
1815 Richard Henry Dana, Jr., sailor, attorney, author ("Two Years Before the Mast"), d. 1882
1819 Herman Melville, sailor, war poet, author ("White Jacket"), who loved Fayaway, d. 1891
1843 Robert Todd Lincoln, Capt, U.S.V., SecWar, d. 1926

DIED

1776 Francis Salvador, c. 29, the first American w/ Jewish Heritage known to have been kia
1977 Francis Gary Powers, U-2 pilot, at 47 in a helicopter accident
2009 Maria Corazon "Cory" Aquino, 76, President of the Philippines (1986-1992)

 

1 Aug
1781 Cornwallis' British army occupies Yorktown, Virginia
1791 Whiskey Rebellion began, desultory outbreaks continue to 1794 -- Learn More
1801 U.S. schooner 'Enterprise' captures Tripolitanian ship 'Tripoli'
1864 Phil Sheridan takes command of the Army of the Shenandoah
1898 US and Spanish troops skirmish outside Manila
1907 U.S. Signal Corps forms an Aviation Section - which would become the United States Air Force
1936 Hitler opens the Berlin Olympics, the 11th modern games, initiating the now routine "Olympic Torch" ceremony
1942 Allied fleets begin diversionary moves to mask the Guadalcanal Ops
1942 U.S. battlefleet departs San Francisco for Pearl Harbor
1944 George S. Patton's Third Army began 281 days of operations
1945 B-29s raid Toyama, Japan
1946 Office of Naval Research is established
1946 McMinn County War (Battle of Athens): WW II veterans take up arms to help local citizens oust a corrupt political machine in Athens & Etowh, Tenn
1950 Belgium's parliament mandates that King Leopold III (1934-1951) must abdicate in favor of his son Baudouin (1951-1993)
1958 USS 'Nautilus' (SSN 571) passes beneath the Arctic ice-pack [See Aug 3]
1961 East Germany limits traffic to West Berlin, Cold War intensifies
1966 UT Austin Massacre: former Marine Charles Whitman leaves 13 dead, 31 wounded

BORN
1520 Sigismund II Augustus, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lituania (1548-1572)
1770 William Clark, of the "Corps of Exploration" , d. 1838
1779 Francis Scott Key, of "The Star Spangled Banner", d. 1843
1814 Maxcy Gregg, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d/w 1862
1815 Richard Henry Dana, Jr., sailor, attorney, author ("Two Years Before the Mast"), d. 1882
1819 Herman Melville, sailor, war poet, author ("White Jacket"), who loved Fayaway, d. 1891
1843 Robert Todd Lincoln, Capt, U.S.V., SecWar, d. 1926

DIED

1776 Francis Salvador, c. 29, the first American w/ Jewish Heritage known to have been kia
1977 Francis Gary Powers, U-2 pilot, at 47 in a helicopter accident
2009 Maria Corazon "Cory" Aquino, 76, President of the Philippines (1986-1992)

 

2 Aug
1776 Royal Navy lands 32,000 British & Hessians on Staten I, near New York City
1819 First parachute jump in the US, from a balloon
1832 Bad Axe River Battle : final action of the Black Hawk War, many Indians slain
1865 In Pacific, CSS 'Shenandoah' learns the Civil War ended four months earlier
1867 Wagon Box Fight: c. 30 army woodcutters defeat c. 1000 Sioux
1887 Rowell Hodge receives a patent for barbed wire
1931 Albert Einstein urges scientists to refuse military work
1943 Blackett Str: JFK's 'PT-109' rammed & sunk by HIJMS 'Amagiri'.
1943 New Georgia: 27th RCT arrives to reinforce U.S. troops.
1945 B-29s drop 6,600 tons of bombs on five Japanese cities.
1950 The 1st Marine Provisional Bde lands at Pusan
1964 Gulf of Tonkin: North Vietnamese patrol boats attack USS Maddox, escorting CIA gun runners
1990 Iraq invades & occupies Kuwait, initiating the First Gulf War, "Desert Shield/Desert Storm"

BORN
1785 Oliver Hazard Perry, USN, who "met the enemy" on Lake Erie, d. 1819
1810 Luigi Ghilardi, liberal soldier-of-fortune, Garibaldino, Juarista, executed by the French, 1864
1826 William Denison Whipple, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1902
1834 Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, French: sculptor ("The Statue of Liberty," "The Lion Monument" of Belfort, etc.), d. 1904
1868 King Constantine I of Greece (1913-1917 & 1920-1922), brilliant commander, d. 1
1932 Peter O'Toole, Royal Navy signalman, actor ("Lawrence of Arabia," "The Lion in Winter," etc.). d. 2013

DIED

1822 Alexander Graham Bell, 75, Scottish-American inventor of the practical telephone
1876 James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok, 39, shot by Jack McCall while holding black aces & eights & a jack of diamonds
1903 "Calamity Jane" - Martha Jane Cannary, 51
1921 Enrico Caruso, 48, noted tenor --
1934 Paul von Hindenburg, 86, field marshal, President of Germany (1928-1934), leaving the country in Hitler's hands
1956 Albert Woolson, drummer boy, Coy C, 1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery, USV, last Civil War veteran, at 106
2012 Sir John Keegan, OBE, FRSL, 78, historian -- "The Face of Battle", etc.

 

3 Aug
1804 USN squadron bombards Tripoli
1812 US Frigate 'Essex' captures the British brig 'Brothers'
1861 First manned balloon ascent from a ship, USS 'Fanny', Hampton Roads
1861 U.S. Navy authorizes three ironclads: 'Monitor', 'Galena', & 'New Ironsides'
1917 The N.Y. Guard is activated for duty on the home front in WW I -- Learn More
1942 Mildred McAffee becomes the first woman officer in the Naval Reserve.
1943 New Georgia: Fijian and Solomons troops join US forces.
1943 Patton slaps Pvt Charles H. Kuhl, 1st Inf Div, 15th Evac Hosp, near Nicosia, Sicily
1958 "Nautilus 90 North", US sub 'Nautilus' (SS 571) passes under the ice @ North Pole
1990 US announces commitment of naval forces to the Persian Gulf

BORN
1816 John Eugene Smith, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1897
1820 William Miller, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1909
1823 Thomas Francis Meagher, Brig Gen, U.S., Irish Patriot, d. 1867
1824 William Burnham Woods, Bvt Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1887
1867 Stanley Baldwin, British PM (1923-24, 1924-29, 1935-37), appeaser, d. 1974
1900 Ernie Pyle, noted war correspondent, kia Ie Shima, Okinawa, 1945 --
1922 John Eisenhower, presidential son, soldier, ambassador, historian ("The Bitter Woods," Agent of Destiny," etc.), d. 2013
1924 Leon Uris, marine, novelist ("Battle Cry"), d. 2003

DIED

1802 Prince Frederick Henry Louis of Prussia, 76, general who never lost a battle, unlike his brother Frederick the Great
2008 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Red Army major, Soviet dissident, author ("The GULAG Archipelago"), b. 1918
2015 Robert Conquest, 98, British poet who became the historian of the Soviet horrors ("The Great Terror," "Harvest of Sorrow," etc.)

 

4 Aug

U.S. Coast Guard Day -- Learn More
1735 Journalist John Peter Zenger cleared of slander charges in New York
1753 George Washington becomes a Master Mason
1846 USS 'Congress' captures Santa Barbara, Ca
1916 US agrees to buy the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million
1917 US takes title to the Virgin Islands from Denmark
1918 Adolf Hitler wais awarded the Iron Cross, First Class, on the recommendation of Lt. Hugo Gutmann, a Jewish officer -- Learn More
1918 During a German raid on 82nd Div lines, YMCA worker Bernetta Miller walks the trenches handing out hot chocolate, cake, and cigarettes, earning a mention in dispatches.
1927 Peace Bridge between US & Canada opened
1942 G. C. Kenney takes command of Allied AF SW Pacific, under MacArthur.
1942 USS 'Tucker' (DD 374) is mined and sunk at Espiritu Santo.
1943 Kiska: USAAF bombers drop 152 tons of bombs
1943 Munda, New Georgia: U.S. troops close in on Japanese airfield.
1944 Anne Frank and her family are betrayed to the Nazis
1944 Guam: Army and Marine forces cut Japanese defenders into two groups.
1944 T. D. Dean, RAF, scores the first V-1, by "tipping" its wing
1964 Gulf of Tonkin: US DDs report second attack by North Vietnamese PT boats
2005 The USS 'New York' (LPD-21) receives her bow section, with 24 tons of steel from the World Trade Center, during construction in Louisiana

BORN
1790 The U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, later the USCG
1816 Israel Vogdes, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1889
1818 Lovell Harrison Rousseau, Maj Gen, U.S.. d. 1869
1918 Brian Crozier, historian and biographer ("Franco", etc.), d. 2012
1961 Barak Obama, President (2009-)

DIED
1804 Adam Duncan, 73, 1st Viscount Duncan, admiral, victor of Camperdown -- Learn More
2012 Brian Crozier, on his 94th birthday, historian and biographer ("Franco", etc.)
2013 Adm. John Woodward, RN, 81, who led the liberation of the Falklands in 1982
2015 John Leslie Munro, 96, last surviving "Dam Buster" pilot

 

5 Aug
1620 The 'Mayflower' & 'Speedwell' sail from Plymouth for Virginia.
1781 Battle of Dogger Bank: Royal Navy defeats the Dutch
1812 Battle of Brownstone Creek: Tecumseh routs Col Thomas Van Horn's Americans
1832 1st Royal visit to a U.S. warship; USS 'Potomac' hosts King Kamehameha III
1857 HMS 'Agamemnon' & USS 'Niagara' commence laying the first Atlantic cable, at Valentia, Ireland
1858 After many vicissitudes, HMS 'Agamemnon' & USS 'Niagara' complete laying the first Atlantic cable, which fails in about three weeks
1861 Skirmish at Athens, Mo
1861 US Army abolishes flogging
1861 US levies the first federal income tax; 3% on incomes over $800.
1862 Battle of Baton Rouge, LA
1864 Battle of Mobile Bay: Farragut "damns" the torpedoes
1873 Battle of Massacre Canyon, the Dakotas: Sioux slay 350 Pawnee men, women, & children
1884 Work begins at Ft. Wood, in NY harbor, for the erection of the Statue of Liberty
1898 US and Spanish troops skirmish outside Manila
1898 US naval landing party goes ashore at Cape San Juan, Puerto Rico
1898 US troops land at Guayamo, Puerto Rico
1921 Yangtze River Patrol Force established within the US Asiatic Fleet.
1936 Berlin Olympics: Jesse Owens wins his third medal
1963 Britain, US, & USSR sign a limited nuclear test ban treaty
1964 US begins bombing of North Vietnam
2012 Mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, 6 die

BORN
1749 Thomas Lynch, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1779
1818 Carnot Posey, Brig Gen, C.S.A., died of wounds, 1863
1829 Milo Smith Hascall, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1904
1850 Guy de Maupassant, Volunteer of 1870, author ("Ball of Fat"), d. 1893
1930 Neil Armstrong, US Navy, would take a "small step" on the Moon in 1969, d. 2013

DIED
1901 Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa, Princess Royal of Great Britain, 60, wife to German Emperor & King of Prussia Frederick III (1888), mother to Emperor-King Wilhelm II -- "Kaiser Bill", d. 1901
1984 Richard Burton, WW II RAF cadet, actor ("Where Eagles Dare", etc.), at 58
2000 Alec Guinness, 86, naval officer, actor ("Star Wars IV", "Bridge on the River Kwai" -- Learn More

 

6 Aug

1777 Battle of Oriskany: American militiamen defeat British, Tories, and Indians
1780 13 year old Andrew Jackson was captured by the British in the Battle of Hanging Rock -- Learn More
1862 CSS 'Arkansas' is blown up in the Mississippi to prevent capture by US forces
1864 Rebels evacuate Ft Powell, Mobile Bay
1905 Doyers St Massacre, NY: Members of the Hip Sing Ton ambush On Leong members leaving a threater, 4 die, 20 wounded
1927 Bombs explode in two NYC subway stations, one dead, many injured.
1930 "Where is Judge Crater?" - Joseph F. Crater disappears forever from a New York street.
where is judge joe crater - AOL Search Results
1942 MacArthur creates the New Guinea Force, under Aussie Gen Thomas Blamey.
1943 New Georgia: U.S. troops pursue Japanese forces into the interior.
1943 U.S. engineers begin to repair the Munda airstrip.
1944 German counter attack at Avranches fails to halt Patton's Third Army
1944 US aircraft begin raiding the Philippines from bases in New Guinea.
1945 A-Bomb destroys Hiroshima, over 75,000 die.
2001 A note on the threat of Al-Qaeda air hijackings is included in one of several briefings of potential dangers to US security for Pres. GW Bush
2002 The Marquis de La Fayette, already an honorary citizen of several states, is made an honorary U.S. citizen

BORN
1811 Judah Philip Benjamin, Confederate statesman, d. in 1884
1819 Samuel Perry "Powhatan" Carter, Maj Gen, USV, & Rear Adm, USN, d. 1891
1861 Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, wife to TR, mother of soldiers, d. 1948 -- Learn More
1865 Frederick T. Jane, military journalist, Sciencefictioneer, game designer -- "Jane's Fighting Ships," "The Naval War Game", etc. d. 1916
1901 Simon Flegenheimer, commonly known as "Dutch Schultz", American gangster, k. 1935
1917 Robert Mitchum, IV-F actor ("The Story of GI Joe"), d. 1997

DIED
1890 William Kemmler, 30, murderer, first man executed in the electric chair, Auburn Prison, NY
1945 Richard Ira "Dick" Bong, 24, highest scoring US ace of WW II (at least 40 Japanese a/c), killed test flying a P-80 Shooting Star jet fighter 10 days before VJ Day
1987 Ira Eaker, USAAF WW II "Bomber Baron," at 91

 

7 Aug

1760 Ft Loudon, Tennessee, surrenders to Cherokee Indians
1861 Confederate troops under John Magruder burn Hampton, Va., to deny it to advancing Union troops
1864 Battle of Moorefield, WV: Brig. Gen. William W. Averell's Union troopers defeat Brig. Gen. John McCausland's Confederates
1940 Churchill recognizes de Gaulle as head of the Free French
1942 Guadalcanal: 1st Marine Div lands against light resistance, though some Japanese units on outlying islets fight to the death
1942 Tulagi: 1st Marine Div captures the island against fierce resistance
1942 US warships bombard Kiska for the first time.
1943 U.S. troops on New Georgia break Japanese resistance.
1944 "Trial" of anti-Hitler "July Plot" conspirators begins
1944 USS 'Croaker' (SS 246) sinks the light cruiser 'Nagara' off Japan
1964 US Congress approves Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
1990 Operation Desert Shield: First American troops reach Saudi Arabia
1998 Islamists bomb US embassies in Nairobi & Dar es Salaam, 224 die, c. 5,500 wounded

BORN
1742 Nathanael Greene, Revolutionary War general who never won a battle, but was second only to Washington in helping win the war, d. 1783 -- Learn More
1782 The Purple Heart, created as the 'Badge of Military Merit' by George Washington
1789 The US War Department
1829 Thomas Ewing Jr, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1896
1833 Powell Clayton, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1914
1836 Evander McIvor Law, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1920

DIED
1927 Leonard Wood, who had gone from Army surgeon to Chief of Staff, at 66 -- Learn More
2011 Hugh Carey, 92, National Guardsman, veteran of the 104th Division, Governor of N.Y. (1975-1982) -- 104th Infantry Division (United States) - Wikipedia