Today in Military History 1 Jul - 30 Sep

28 Aug
1861 Union forces invest Ft. Clark, Hatteras, NC, which falls the next day
1862 Battle of Thoroughfare Gap, Va
1862 Rebel spy Belle Boyd released from the Old Capitol Prison
1862 Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas/Gainesville/Bristoe), Day 1 of 3: Union advances
1867 Capt William Reynolds takes possession of Midway for the US.
1942 USS 'Washington' (BB-56) enters the Pacific via the Panama Canal.
1942 Milne Bay: Aussie & US troops beat off Japanese attacks.
1943 Elms 43rd Div advance on Arundel against light Japanese resistance.
1943 Denmark: A general strike protests Nazi occupation
1943 Marines occupy Nanomea in the Ellice Islands unopposed.
1944 B-24 raid on the Kuriles, Japanese Submarine Chaser No. 77 is sunk.
1944 'LSM-270' commissioned at Newark, under Ens. Owen R. Meredith, USNR
1963 The March on Washington: Martin Luther King delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial
1986 Former Navy WO Jerry Whitworth convicted of spying for the USSR
1988 Ramstein air show: Italian stunt jets collide, 70 die
1990 Iraq declares Kuwait its 19th province

BORN
1728 John Stark, Continental major general, Hero of Bennington, d. 1822
1798 Gershom Jaques Van Brunt, Capt, U.S.N., d. 1863
1828 Count Leo Tolstoy, soldier, novelist ("War and Peace"), d. 1910
1828 William Alexander Hammond, Brig Gen, US, Surgeon General, d. 1900

DIED
1955 Emmett Till, 14, black American, lynched in Money, Mississippi
1978 Bruce Catton, Civil War historian ("A Stillness at Appomattox"), at 78
2010 Wing Commander John Freeborn, 90, the RAF pilot with the most air time in the Battle of Britain, and 12 kills

 

29 Aug
1664 Peter Stuyvesant surrenders Nieuw-Nederland to the Royal Navy, English regulars, & Connecticut militiamen.
1861 Confederates surrender Ft Clark, Hatteras, NC, besieged since the 28th
1861 Skirmish at Lexington, Mo
1862 2nd Battle of Bull Run, Day 2 of 3: Confederates hold
1939 Einstein writes to FDR about the A-Bomb
1942 Guadalcanal: "Tokyo Express" lands elmts Japanese Kawaguchi Detachment
1942 Japanese cruisers attempt to support SNLF at Milne Bay with little success
1944 The 28th Inf. Div. marches down the Champs Elysee
1944 China: Japanese launch 11 division offensive against Kwelin & Liuchow.
1945 4th Marines land at Yokosuka Naval Base
1945 British liberate Hong Kong from Japan
1949 USSR explodes its first atomic bomb
1958 Air Force Academy moves to new facilities at Colorado Springs
1990 C-5 transport plane crashes at Ramstein AFB, Germany, killing 13
1997 Islamic militants murder over 300 people in an Algerian village

BORN
1632 John Locke, English political philosopher, d. 1704
1809 Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., physician, poet ("Old Ironsides"), d. 1894
1815 Anna Ella Carroll, abolitionist, advisor to generals and presidents, d. 1894 -- Learn More
1915 Ingrid Bergman, actress ("Casablanca"), d. this date 1982 at 67

DIED
29 John the Baptist, c. 30, beheaded [Trad]
1941 Lt. Cdr. Count Honore d'Estienne d'Orves (40), 2nd Lt. Maurice Barlier (35), & Jan Doornik (36), Martyrs of the Resistance, executed by the Germans in Mt. Valerian, near Paris
1981 Lowell Thomas, intrepid war correspondent, author, at 89
1982 Ingrid Bergman, actress ("Casablanca"), d. this date 1982
1983 David Niven, soldier, actor ("Dawn Patrol"), at 74
1987 Lee Marvin, Marine, actor ("The Big Red One"), at 63

 

30 Aug

1780 Benedict Arnold promised to betray West Point to the British -- Learn More
1781 Battle of the Chesapeake: French fleet defeats the Royal Navy, sealing the fate of Yorktown
1856 Battle of Osawatomie, Ks: c. 250 pro-slavery thugs defeat John Brown's small anti-slavery gang, and then loot and burn the town
1862 Battle of Richmond, Ky: Kirby Smith's Rebs defeat Horatio Wright's Yanks
1862 Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas/Gainesville/Bristoe Station), Day 3 of 3: Confederates win
1936 USS 'Kane' (DD-235) near-missed by a bomb from Spanish Nationalist aircraft which mistook her for a Republican vessel
1937 Near Shanghai the Chinese Air Force mistakes the liner 'President Hoover' for a Japanese ship, inflicting light damage.
1942 Guadalcanal: U.S. DDs and APDs land reinforcements, lose one ship.
1942 U.S. troops land on unoccupied Adak Island, in the Aleutians.
1944 6th Infantry Div completes movement from San Francisco to Hawaii
1945 11th Airborne Div flies into Atsugi Airfield, Japan
1945 Gen MacArthur arrives in Japan
1951 US-Philippines mutual defense treaty signed
1956 White rioters block enrollment of blacks at Mansfield HS, Texas
2007 Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia pardons Gabriel Prosser and 34 others, hanged at Richmond for "servile insurrection" this date in 1800

BORN
1797 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, author ("Frankenstein"), d. 1851
1856 Rear Adm. Rufus Fairchild Zogbaum, Jr., 77, pioneer naval aviator, d. 1956 -- Learn More
1901 John Gunther, journalist, the "Inside" man, d. 1970
1918 Ted Williams, Marine, outstanding baseball player, d. 2002
1919 Joachim Holmboe Rønneberg, Notregian Army officer who led the 'Heroes of Telemark", d. 2018
1960 Gary Gordon, American soldier, kia 1993, in Mogadisciu, earning the Medal of Honor

DIED
1800 Gabriel Prosser (c. 24) and 34 others, hanged at Richmond for "servile insurrection" [See Events]
1879 John Bell Hood, Gen, C.S.A., who lost Atlanta, yellow fever at 48
1918 Col. Bertram T. Clayton, 55, Alabama-born Brooklyn cavalryman, the highest ranking West pointer to be kia in World War I -- Learn More

 

31 Aug
1778 British troops kill 17 Stockbridge Indians in the Bronx
1864 Atlanta Campaign: Battle of Jonesborough
1935 FDR signs an act prohibiting export of US arms to belligerents
1940 President Roosevelt orders the National Guard into Federal service -- Learn More
1943 U.S. troops occupy Baker I, Central Pacific.
1944 Allied offensive against the Gothic Line in Italy
1944 MacArthur declares declares Noemfoor secured; fighting continues.
1949 The 83rd - and last - GAR encampment, attended by 6 of the 14 remaining GI's
1994 The last Russian troops in Germany are withdrawn

BORN
1811 Goode Bryan, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1885
1822 Fitz John Porter, Maj Gen, U.S., aeronaut, d. 1901
1828 George Leonard Andrews, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1899
1842 The USN Bureaus ("CNOs come and go, but the Bureaus go on forever") & the Naval Observator, by act of Congress
1963 The Moscow-Washington "Hot Line"

DIED
1729 John Blackader, late Lt Col, 26th Foot (the Cameronians), and Col of the Glasgow Militia, diarist, at 65
1888 Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols, 43, first known victim of Jack the Ripper
2006 Guy Gabaldon, marine, the "Pied Piper of Saipan," at 80

 

1 Sep

1774 Boston: British seize Massachusetts Bay Colony's store of powder & cannon
1807 Former VP Aaron Burr found innocent of treason
1814 USS 'Wasp' sinks HMS 'Avon'
1861 Brig. Gen. U.S. Grant assumes cmd of Federal forces at Cape Girardeau, Mo
1861 Skirmish at Bennett's Mills, Mo
1862 Battle of Chantilly, Virginia
1862 Congress abolishes the daily issue of grog in the US Navy -- Learn More
1863 Atlanta Campaign: Sherman wins the Battle of Jonesborough, causing the Confederates to evacuate & burn Atlanta
1863 Union fleet bombards Fort Sumter
1863 Union troops capture Fort Smith, Arkansas
1866 Manuelito surrenders at Fort Wingate, last resisting Navaho chief
1918 US troops land in Vladivostok, Siberia, stay until 1920
1933 Pulitzer Prize winning Chicago Daily News reporter Edgar Ansel Mowrer was expelled from Nazi Germany -- Learn More
1939 George C. Marshall becomes Chief-of-Staff, Army, serves until Nov 18, 1945.
1942 A Federal court upholds detention of Japanese-Americans
1943 Espiritu Santo: Japanese sub 'I-182' is sunk by USS 'Wadsworth' (DD-516)
1943 USN makes air and gunnery attacks on Marcus I
1951 US, Australia, & New Zealand sign the ANZUS treaty ANZUS - Wikipedia
1983 Soviets shoot down Korean Air Flight 007, a Boeing 747 that had strayed over Kamchatka

BORN
1798 Richard Delafield, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1873
1824 Isaac Hardin Duval, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1902
1829 James Conner, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1883
1875 Edgar Rice Burroughs, war correspondent, author ("Tarzan"), d. 1950
1922 Melvin R Laird, Secretary of Defense (1969-73)

DIED
1838 William Clark, of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, at 68
1862 Maj Gen Phil Kearny, 47, "the bravest man in the Union Army," kia, Chantilly
1862 Maj. Gen. Isaac I. Stevens, U.S.A., 44, kia, Chantilly
1864 Emmeran Bliemel, CSA, only Catholic chaplain kia in the Civil War
1947 Frederick Russell Burnham, 86, American scout, soldier of fortune (Matabele, Boer Wars, etc.), conservationist

 

2 Sep
VJ-Day in the United States
1752 Britain adopts the Gregorian calendar, having delayed for 170 years, to screw up chronology
1777 Battle of Cooch's Bridge, NJ: First use of the "Stars and Stripes" in combat
1861 Skirmish at Bethel's Mills, Va
1861 Skirmish at Dallas, Mo
1861 Skirmish at Dry Wood/Ft Scott, Mo
1863 Burnside's Union troops capture Knoxville
1863 The Alabama legislature suggests recruiting slaves for the Confederate Army
1864 Robert E. Lee suggests recruiting blacks for Confederate service "every place in the Army"
1864 Union forces under Gen Sherman capture Atlanta, get blamed for torching
1901 VP Roosevelt cites the African proverb, "Speak softly and carry a big stick"
1943 Truk: Japanese patrol vessel is torpedoed by USS 'Snapper' (SS-185),
1943 US a/c bomb Lae, in northeastern New Guinea, sinking a patrol vessel
1944 Anne Frank is sent to Auschwitz
1944 Lt jg George H.W. Bush bails out near Chichi Jima, and is rescued by 'Finback' (SS-230) -- Learn More
1944 Third Fleet raids the Bonins
1945 Douglas MacArthur says "These proceedings are closed," USS 'Missouri' (BB-63), Tokyo Bay.

BORN
1837 James H. Wilson, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1925
1838 Lydia Kamekeha Liliuokalani, last sovereign and only Queen Regnant of Hawaii (1891-93), d. 1917
1948 Christa McAuliffe, teacher-astronaut, d. 1986, Space Shuttle 'Challenger'

DIED
1953 Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, Defender of Bataan, sometime prisoner-of-war, 70 -- Learn More
2010 Eileen Nearne, 89, SOE operative, D-Day veteran, Ravensbruck survivor

 

3 Sep
1782 The US gives its only ship-of-the-line, the 80 gun 'America', to France.
1783 Treaty of Paris ends the Revolutionary War, as Britain recognizes American independence
1858 The first Atlantic cable ceases to function, after only 12 days in service
1861 Confederates - Leonidas Polk invade Ky, insuring its adherence to the Union
1864 Battle of Berryville, Va
1885 First Naval War College class convenes
1917 Imperial German Air Service conducts its first night bombing of London
1918 Five black soldiers are hanged on charges of "mutiny" for a riot protesting racism in Houston in 1917
1925 USN airship 'Shenandoah' (ZR 1) crashes near Caldwell, Ohio, 13 die
1940 The Anglo-American "Destroyers for Bases" Deal: US gives Britain 50 old destroyers in exchange for basing rights in the Empire
1944 US Navy shells the Japanese on Wake Island.
1945 Japanese forces in the Philippines surrender to the US
1967 Nguyen Van Thieu elected president of Vietnam (1967-75)

BORN
1825 Armistead Lindsay Long, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1891
1825 William Wallace Burns, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1892
1831 States Rights Gist, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1864
1835 William Gaston Lewis, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1901
1923 Mort Walker, veteran, cartoonist ("Beetle Bailey"), de. 2018

DIED
1929 Owen Thomas Edgar, last known Mexican War veteran, at 98
1969 Ho Chi Minh/Nguyen Sinh Cung, Vietnamese revolutionary, President (1945-69)
1991 Frank Capra, 94, veteran, film maker ("Why We Fight")

 

4 Sep
1792 The U.S. Army is regorganized as the Legion of the United States -- Learn More
1804 USS 'Intrepid' blows up during anl attack on Tripoli
1864 Bread riot in Mobile, Alabama
1886 Geronimo surrendered to Gen Nelson A Miles at Skeleton Canyon, Ariz -- Learn More
1918 US troops land in Archangel, Russia, stay 10 months
1941 German submarine 'U-652' unsuccessfully attacks USS 'Greer' (DD 145), which drops depth charges
1942 Lunga Point, Guadalcanal: Japanese DDs sink two U.S. destroyer transports
1944 1st Marine Div sails from the Solomons for Palau.
1945 US reoccupies Wake Is
1950 First appearance of the comic strip "Beetle Bailey"
1957 Arkansas Gov Fabus orders the National Guard to keep blacks out of Central High School

BORN
1882 Paul B. Clemens, National Guardsman, Brig. Gen., d. 1960 -- Learn More
1902 Mary Renault, novelist ("The King Must Die"), d. 1983

DIED
1804 Richard Somers, US naval officer, kia at Tripoli, c. 24
1864 John Hunt Morgan, Brig. Gen., CSA, kia, 39
1882 Brig. Gen. Paul B. Clemens, National Guardsman, Cdr, 64th Inf. Bde. (1940-1942), at 78-- Learn More
1922 Lt. Gen. Sir Pratap Singh, Maharaja of Idar, at 76 -- Learn More
1974 Creighton W Abrams, soldier, US Army Chief-of-Staff, at 59
1986 Henry "Hammerin' Hank" Greenberg, ball player, OSS agent, at 75
1989 Sir Ronald Syme, 86, historian ("The Roman Revolution")

 

5 Sep
1774 First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia
1775 Continental Navy issues uniform regulations for officers
1781 Battle of the Virginia Capes: de Grasse's French fleet defeats the British, trapping Cornwallis at Yorktown
1795 US pays Algiers $1 million to ransom 100 sailors
1813 USS 'Enterprise' captures HM brig 'Boxer' off Portland, Me
1836 Sam Houston is elected as the first permanent president of Republic of Texas (1836-1838)
1862 Antietam Campaign: Lee crosses the Potomac into Maryland
1876 Powder River Campaign -- Battle of Slim Buttes: Gen Crook defeats the Cheyenne & Sioux
1905 Pres. Teddy Roosevelt engineered the Treaty of Portsmouth, ending the Russo-Japanese War and winning a Nobel Peace Prize -- Learn More
1918 Due to WW I, the World Series begins a month early
1918 USS 'Mount Vernon' (ex-liner 'Kronprinzesin Cecilie'), survives a German torpedo off France
1923 US Asiatic Fleet arrives at Tokyo to assist after the Great Kanto Plain earthquake
1939 FDR creates Neutrality Patrol, to defend hemispheric waters
1942 British and American aircraft bomb Le Havre and Bremen
1943 US airborne troops land at Nadzab, New Guinea
1961 US resumes nuclear testing after a temporary ban
1972 Palestinian terrorists murder 11 Israelis at the Munich Olympics
1975 Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme tries to assassinate Pres Ford in Sacramento
1978 Sadat, Begin, & Carter begin a peace conference at Camp David
1984 Discovery completes 12th Space Shuttle mission

BORN
1793 John Lawrence Burns, 1812 veteran, the "Old Hero of Gettysburg," who joined the Union firing line, d. 1872
1815 Tyree Harris Bell, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1902
1847 Jesse James, Confederate raider, outlaw, killed 1882
1902 Darryl F Zanuck, underage Doughboy, film magnate ("The Longest Day"), d. 1979
1905 Arthur Koestler, novelist ("Darkness at Noon"), suicide 1983

DIED
1877 Crazy Horse, 32-35, cavalryman, who did in Fetterman, Custer, and others, killed "trying to escape"
1894 Maj. Gen. George Stoneman Jr., 72, sometime Commander, Cavalry, Army of the Potomac -- Learn More
1912 Lt Gen Arthur MacArthur, Jr., American soldier, 67 -- Learn More

 

6 Sep
1861 Brig. Gen. U.S. Grant captures Paducah, Kentucky, without opposition
1862 Stonewall Jackson occupies Fredrick, Maryland
1863 Confederates evacuate Ft Wagner, SC, ending 59 day Union siege
1901 Pres McKinley is mortally wounded by Leon Czologosz in Buffalo (d. 14th)
1918 US Navy 14-inch railroad guns open fire on the Western Front
1940 'Charles F. Hughes' (DD-428) commissioned by Lt Cdr. G. L. Menocal; GM Eugene Paulson
1943 Japanese CA 'Nachi' survives torpedo from USS 'Halibut' (SS-232), off Japan.
1944 Western Carolines: 16 U.S. carriers strike Japanese held islands
1983 USSR admits to shooting down KAL 007 on 9/2

BORN
1757 Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, The Marquis de La Fayette, international revolutionary hero, honorary American, d. 1834
1797 William "Extra Billy" Smith, Maj Gen, C.S.A.
1811 James Melville Gilliss, Lt., USN, founder of the Naval Observatory, d. 1865
1815 John Richardson Liddell, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1887
1819 William Rosecrans, Maj Gen, U.S., who attained "the edge of glory", d. 1898
1827 John Morrison Oliver, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1872
1860 Jane Addams, 1931 Peace Nobelist, d. 1935
1946 Bryan D O'Connor, USMC, astronaut

DIED
1609 John Colman, a sailor on Henry Hudson's 'Half Moon', killed by an arrow off Sandy Hook; the first recorded casualty between Native Americans and Europeans in the NJ-NY metro area
1945 Vice-Adm. John S. McCain, Sr., 61, four days after attending the Japanese surrender
2005 1st Sgt Mark Matthews, at 111, the last "Buffalo Soldier"

 

7 Sep
1776 David Bushnell's sub 'American Turtle' tries to sink HMS 'Eagle' in New York harbor -- Learn More
1842 Celebrating Labor Day,150 warships are laid down or launched by shipyard men
1862 Stonewall Jackson writes a pass so he can attend divine services
1862 Battle of Cumberland Gap, Tn: By the 9th Union forces have seized the Gap and c. 2,500 prisoners

BORN
1811 William Hemsley Emory, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1887
1815 Howell Cobb II, Maj Gen, C.S. A., d. 1868
1913 Anthony Quayle, SOE operative, actor ("Lawrence of Arabia"), d. 1989
1914 J Van Allen, co-inventor of the proximity fuze, with a belt named after him, d. 2006
1923 Peter Lawford, actor ("White Cliffs of Dover," "The Longest Day"), d. 1984

DIED
1840 Étienne Jacques Joseph Alexandre MacDonald, 74, Marshal of France
1997 Mobutu Sese Seku, Dictator of Zaire (1965-1997), at 66
2002 Uziel "Uzi" Gal, born Gotthard Glas, 78, Israeli soldier and weapons designer

 

8 SEP

1664 Peter Stuyvesant surrenders the Nieuw Netherlands to the English fleet, backed up by Royal troops and New England militiamen [Gregorian] [ see Births]
1755 Battle of Lake George: Sir William Johnson's Colonials and Mohawks defeated the Baron de Dieskau's French and Indians -- Learn More
1863 Battle of Telford's Depot, TN
1863 Texans repel Union invasion force at Sabine Pass, TX
1900 Galveston is devastated by a hurricane: Perhaps 6,000 die
1919 Ticker tape parade on Broadway for General of the Armies John J. Pershing & 25,000 Doughboys
1923 Seven USN destroyers ground at Point Honda, Ca., by a navigational error, 23 die
1939 FDR declares a "limited national emergency" due to war in Europe
1945 US troops land in Korea to assume occupation duties
1954 Manila: Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) formed
1966 "Star Trek" debuts on NBC

BORN
1592 Peter Stuyvesant, Dutch general, Director-General of the Nieuw Netherlands (1647-1664), d. 1672
1821 Henry Baxter, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1873
1828 Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Maj Gen, U.S.V., citizen-soldier, d. 1914
1829 George Crook, Maj Gen, U.S., noted Indian fighter, d. 1890
1829 Seth Maxwell Barton, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1900
1912 James Lincoln Holt Peck, American airman, reputed ace in the Spanish Civil War, d. 1996 -- Learn More

DIED

1935 Louisiana Senator Huey P. Long, 42, shot by Dr. Carl Austin Weiss, Jr.
1935 Dr. Carl Austin Weiss, Jr, 28, shot by Long's bodyguards.
2013 Shalom Yoran (born Selim Sznycer), 88, Polish Jewish resistance fighter, aeronautical executive, philanthropist

 

9 Sep
1609 Henry Hudson sails up his river in the 'Half Moon'
1739 Slave revolt in Stono, SC: c. 25 whites, 50 blacks die
1776 "The United Colonies" adopt the name "The United States of America"
1825 Lafayette sails for France after a year-long visit to America
1863 Battle of Cumberland Gap, TN
1903 N.Y. National Guard wins the first National Rifle Matches; Sea Girt, N.J.
1939 German 15th Mtzd Inf massacres 300 Polish P/Ws near Ciepielow
1940 Congress passed the "Two Ocean Navy" Act, to add over 200 ships to the fleet -- Learn More
1942 Sub-based pilot Nobuo Fujita firebombs Mt. Emily, Ore.
1943 Operation Avalanche: Anglo-American forces land at Salerno, Italy
1944 TF 38 carriers begin a 2-day raid on Japanese bases on Mindanao.
1955 The premiere Audie Murphy's "To Hell and Back", in which he played himself
1990 GHW Bush and Gorbachev meet in Helsinki & urge Iraq to leave Kuwait
2003 24 tons of steel from the World Trade Center are melted & poured at a steel mill in Louisiana to form the bow section of the new USS 'New York' (LPD-21)

BORN
1754 William Bligh, of the 'Bounty', d. 1817
1817 Speed Smith Fry, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1892
1819 Martin Luther Smith, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1866
1826 Thomas John Lucas, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1908
1828 Leo Tolstoy, military engineer (Sebastopol), novelist ("War and Peace"), d. 1910
1834 William MacRae, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1882
1925 Cliff Robertson, actor ("PT-109"), warbird collector, d. 2011

DIED
1976 Mao Tse-Tung, poet, scholar, mass murderer, at 82
2001 Ahmad Shah Massoud, 48, the "Lion of Panjshir," Afghan anti-Taliban resistance leader, assassinated by al-Qaeda suicide bombers
2003 Edward Teller, "Father of the H-Bomb," at 95

 

10 Sep
1776 Nathan Hale volunteers for secret service against the British
1813 Battle of Lake Erie: Commo Oliver Perry meets the enemy and they are his
1861 Combat at Carnifex Ferry, Va
1862 1st Penna Cav appoint the US Army's first Jewish chaplain, Rabbi Jacob Frankel
1863 Battle of Bayou Fourche, Ark: Union cavalry under BG. John W. Davidson raid across the Arkansas River, forcing CSA under John S. Marmaduke to retire on Little Rock
1914 Battle of the Marne: The Germans begin falling back, ending the six-day fight -- Battle of the Marne: The Germans begin falling back, ending the six-day fight.
1976 Five Croatian terrorists capture TWA plane at La Guardia Airport, NY
2004 Keel laid for USS 'New York' (LPD-21) at Avondale, La

BORN
1810 Albert Gallatin Blanchard, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1891
1815 Eleazer Arthur Paine, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1882
1832 Randall Lee Gibson, Brig Gen, C.S.A. d. 1892
1836 Joseph Wheeler II, Maj Gen, C.S.A. & U.S., mediocre in either service, d. 1906
1945 Richard M Mullane, USAF, astronaut

DIED
1067 Lady Godiva, Countess of Mercia, c. 85.
1977 Hamida Djandoubi, c. 27, having the honor of being the last person guillotined in France
1992 Nathan E. Cook, last veteran of the Spanish-American War, at 106
2011 Cliff Robertson, actor ("PT-109"), warbird collector, at 88 and one day

 

11 Sep
Patriot Day -the National Day of Service and Remembrance in the United States
1773 Benjamin Franklin writes "There never was a good war or a bad peace" -- Learn More
1777 Battle of Brandywine: Americans lose to British
1812 USS 'Constitution' captures and destroys brig 'Lady Warren'
1814 Battle of Plattsburgh/Lake Champlain: Americans defeat the British by land & lake -- the decisive battle of the War of 1812
1842 Mexican troops occupy San Antonio, retiring unmolested several days later
1851 Christiana, Pa: Black citizens help defend fugitive slaves from their "owner," who is killed
1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre: 120 colonists killed by Mormon extremists
1861 Skirmish at Lewisville, Va
1918 Col. George S. Patton leads the first US tank attack, St. Mihiel, France
1939 "Former Naval Person" FDR writes an informal letter to First Lord of the Admiralty Winston S. Churchill, initiating the most important friendship of the twentieth century
1941 Charles A. Lindbergh charges that "the British, the Jews, and the Roosevelt administration" are trying to force the US into World War II
1941 FDR orders the Navy to "shoot on sight" Axis warships in American waters
1944 FDR & Churchill convene the Second Quebec Conference
1944 A US submarine sinks two Japanese prison ships in China Sea, hundreds of Allied troops die.
1944 SGT Walter H. Holzinger & six men from the 2nd Platoon, Troop B, 85th Cavalry Recon Sqn, 5th Armored Div, cross the River Our from Luxembourg to become the first Allied troops to enter Germany
1976 Croatian nationalists plant a bomb in a locker at Grand Central Terminal; 1 dead, c. 30 injured
2001 Islamist terrorists crash two hijacked jetliners into the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon, but heroic passengers die retaking a fourth aircraft
2012 Islamist militants attack the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, killing U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three others.

BORN
600 King Yuknoom Cheen II "the Great" of Kaan (636-685), in the Mayan highlands
1525 Duke Johan Georg of Brandenburg (1571-1591)
1611 Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, Marshal General of France, kia 1675 -- Learn More
1806 Joshua Blackwood Howell, Brig Gen, U.S. d. 1864
1813 Conrad Feger Jackson, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1862
1835 William Wirt Allen, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1894
1877 Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, Chekist, mass murderer, d. 1935
1935 Gherman Titov, 1st man to spend a day in space, Vostok 2, d. 2000
1937 Robert L Crippen, USN, astronaut

DIED
1956 Air Marshal William "Billy" Bishop, 62, Canadian Great War ace (72 kills)
1971 Nikita Khrushchev, 77, Stalingrad War Commissar, 1942-1943, First Secretary, CPUSSR (1954-1964) & Premier of the USSR (1958-1964), heart attack
2000 Martin James Monti, 78, American airman who deserted to the Nazis -- Learn More
2001 Nearly 3000 Americans and others, murdered by Islamist terrorists in the U.S.
2012 Maurice H. Keen, 78, historian of "Chivalry", who proved it wasn't

 

12 Sep
1609 Henry Hudson lands on a hilly island "as pleasant with grasse and flowers, and goodly trees, as ever they had seene, and very sweet smells came from them" -- Manhattan
1776 Nathan Hale leaves Washington's camp on Harlem Heights (at 127th St) on a spy mission
1814 Battle of North Point: Regulars & Militiamen prevent the British from capturing Baltimore
1861 Confederates invest Lexington, Mo (Falls 20th)
1861 Skirmish at Black River, Mo
1861 Skirmish at Cheat Mtn, WVa
1862 Battle of Harpers Ferry VA
1912 Cadet Dwight D. Eisenhower, of the West Point football squad, flubs a tackle of Jim Thorpe, who then scores a touchdown, helping the Carlisle Indian School thump the Military Academy, 26-6.
1941 Coast Guardsmen capture the German trawler 'Busko' in Greenland waters
1943 New Guinea: Australian and U.S. troops capture Salamaua
1944 John Blythe crash lands his USAAF Spitfire recon plane at Mount Farm Air Base, England -- Learn More
1983 USSR vetoes UN resolution deploring its downing of KAL Flight 007
1990 US, Britain, France, & the USSR agree to reunification of Germany

BORN
1806 Andrew Hull Foote, Rear Adm, U.S., d. 1863
1818 Richard Jordan Gatling, who invented a clever device, d.1903
1913 James "Jesse" Owens, who spoiled Hitler's 1936 Olympics, d. 1980

DIED
1642 Henri Coiffier de Ruzé (22), Marquis of Cinq-Mars, favorite of Louis XIII, and François De Thou (35), decapitated by Richelieu at Lyon for conspiracy
2006 Joachim Fest, historian ("Hitler"), b. 1926

 

13 Sep

1814 British began an overnight bombardment of Fort McHenry, inspiring "The Star Spangled Banner"
1847 US soldiers & marines storm Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City -- Learn More
1861 Skirmish at Booneville, Mo
1942 Guadalcanal: Bloody Ridge - Marines probe the Japanese positions.
1943 Chiang Kai-shek becomes president of China
1944 Palau Is: USN pounds Peleliu
1971 New York National Guard storm Attica Correctional Facility, to end 4-day uprising; 32 prisoners, 9 guards die
1978 Maiden flight of the McDonnell Douglas F-18A Hornet

BORN

1806 Joseph Lewis Hogg, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1862
1813 John Sedgwick, Major Gen, U.S., kia 1864
1817 John McAuley Palmer, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1900
1836 John McCausland, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1927
1847 Maj. Levi Twiggs, USMC, kia Chapultepec, at 54 -- Learn More
1851 Walter Reed, U.S.A., confirmed mosquitoes caused yellow fever, d. 1902
1860 General of the Armies John J. Pershing, d 1948
1887 Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., who earned every American decoration for ground combat, d. 1944 -- Learn More

DIED

1803 John Barry, c. 58, first commodore of the U.S. Navy
1921 Ludwig-Alexander Battenberg/Mountbatten, British admiral, at 67

 

14 Sep

1847 American troops under Winfield Scott capture Mexico City -- Learn More
1856 Battle of San Jacinto: Nicaraguans defeat American filibusters under William Walker
1861 Naval skirmish off Pensacola, Fl
1862 Antietam Campaign: Battle of South Mountain/Boonesboro/Crampton's Gap/Fox's Gap, Md.
1862 Battle of Munfordsville, Ky: Confederates under Simon B. Bucker invest John T. Wilder's Union garrison, which surrenders on the 17
1901 Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., was sworn in as President, the youngest ever at 42 -- Learn More
1938 Navy N2C-2 radio drone makes a simulated dive-bombing attack on ship 'Utah'
1940 FDR signs the first U.S. peacetime draft bill.
1942 First US air raid on Kiska, from Adak
1945 Ticker tape parade on Broadway for General Jonathan Wainwright.
1966 Vietnam: Operation Attleboro begins against VC sanctuaries on the Cambodian Border
1973 Israel shoots down 13 Syrian MIG-21s

BORN

1819 Henry Jackson Hunt, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1889
1835 Joseph Hayes, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1912
1838 John Pelham, Major, C.S.A., "The Gallant Pelham," KIA 1863
1864 Edgar Algernon Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood , 1937 Peace Nobelist, d. 1958
1892 Ben Moreell, Admiral, "Father of the SeaBees", d. 1978
1960 OPEC, formed by Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi-Arabia, & Venezuela to control oil prices

DIED

1901 Pres Wm. McKinley, 58, of gunshot wounds suffered on the 6th -- Learn More
1982 Bashir Gemayel, 34, ,Lebanese warlord, president-elect, killed by a bomb

 

15 Sep

1776 British make an amphibious assault at Kip's Bay, New York (East River & 34th St)
1861 Skirmish at Pritchard's Mills, Va
1862 Antietam Campaign: Stonewall Jackson captures Harpers Ferry
1862 Antietam Campaign: US troops find Lee's GO No. 191, wrapping some cigars
1914 US forces evacuate Vera Cruz, Mexico
1918 Cpl Lee Duncan, US 135th Aero Sqn, finds some German shepherd pups in a bombed out military kennel near Toul in France, one of whom becomes Rin Tin Tin
1923 Gov. John Walton places Oklahoma under martial law to cope with KKK terrorism
1938 Br PM Neville Chamberlain visits Hitler at Berchtesgarden
1940 Battle of Britain: The Luftwaffe loses 185 aircraft
1940 Hitler cancelled Operation Sea Lion, about a week before the expected D-Day -- Learn More
1940 The National Guard began activation for Federal service in WW II -- Learn More
1942 US carrier 'Wasp' (CV-7) torpedoed and sunk off Guadalcanal
1943 Japanese sub 'Ro-101' is sunk by US DD 'Saufley' & two aircraft.
1944 Marines land on Peleliu, 450 miles east of Mindanao in the Philippines
1950 Inchon Landing: Marines lead the attack behind North Korean lines.
1963 White supremacists bomb the 16th St. Baptist Church, in Birmingham, 4 kids die

BORN

1789 James Fenimore Cooper, naval officer, author ("History of the Navy of the United States of America"), d. 1851
1857 William H Taft, SecWar, President (1909-1913), Chief Justice (1921-30), d. 1930
1907 Fay Wray, King Kong's girl, d. 2004
1914 Creighton Abrams, American soldier, d. 1974 -- Learn More
1922 Mary Spencer-Churchill, sometime anti-aircraft officer, aide-de-camp to her father, Baroness Soames, d. 2014
1946 Oliver Stone, Vietnam veteran, director ("Platoon")

DIED

1963 Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Denise McNair (11), in Birmingham
1973 King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden (1950-1973), at 90
1982 Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, c.46, former Iranian foreign minister (1978-1980), executed by the Islamists he served

 

16 Sep
1776 Battle of Harlem Heights: Washington ambushes the Brits on the Upper West Side of Manhattan -- Learn More
1831 Auber's "Fra Diavolo" has its American premiere, Philadelphia
1854 Cdr David G. Farragut opens 1st Navy Yard on the Pacific, at Mare I.
1861 Battle of Princeton, WVa Learn More
1864 "The Beefsteak Raid": Wade Hampton's Confederate cavalry captures over 2,000 cattle and 304 prisoners from a Union supply depot at Coggins Point, Va
1864 Nathan Bedford Forrest begins a raid from Verona, Ms, into Alabama & Tennessee
1917 Navy Department authorizes 16 naval air stations to be built abroad
1919 American Legion incorporated by an act of Congress
1920 A "wagon bomb" detonates in front of the New York Stock Exchange, c. 40 die, c. 300 injured; the case is never solved
1942 3rd Marine Div is activated at San Diego.
1942 New Guinea: High Tide of the Japanese advance: The Aussies hold Imita Ridge, safeguarding Port Moresby
1943 US Fifth and British Eighth Armies unite in Italy
1944 548th Night Fighter Squadron arrives in the Marianas
1950 Eighth Army breaks out of the Pusan Perimeter, in support of the Inchon Landing.
1958 USS 'Grayback" (SSG-574) fires the first Regulus II cruise missile, carrying mail
1974 Pres Ford announces conditional amnesty for Vietnam War deserters
2013 Maniac opens fire in the Washington Navy Yard; before he is killed, 12 die and many are wounded

BORN
1832 George Washington Custis Lee, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1913
1906 John "Mad Jack" or "Fighting Jack" Churchill, who fought WW II with a longbow, claymore, & bagpipes, earning an DSO & MC, with bars, d. 1996

DIED

1862 Dixon Standsbury Miles, Col., US, 58, kia, Harper's Ferry
1948 Ferdinand I, Prince (1887-1908) and Tsar (1908-1918) of Bulgaria, 87
2006 Helene Deschamps Adams, Heroine of the French Resistance, at 85