Today in Military History 1 Oct - 31 Dec

1 Oct

1835 Battle of Guadalupe Ford: Texians defeat the Mexicans
1837 U.S treaty with Winnebago Indians
1851 Citizens of Syracuse, NY, broke into a police station, freeing fugitive slave William "Jerry" Henry, who been apprehended by slaver agents
1880 John Philip Sousa becomes director of the Marine Corps Band
1939 Churchill says the USSR "is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma"
1945 US Army discharged MSGT Joe Louis -- Learn More
1950 ROK troops advance northwards across the 38th Parallel
1951 The historically Black 24th Infantry, falsely accused of cowardice in Korea, is deactivated; restored
1955 Commissioning of the USS 'Forrestal' (CVA-59) the first supercarrier; serves until 1993
1958 Elvis arrives by ship in Bremerhaven, bound for Ray Caserne in Frieberg
1958 NASA is formed, takes over the Vanguard Project from the USN
1962 "Combat" premiers on ABC, runs for five seasons

BORN

1730 Richard Stockton, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1788
1746 Rev John Muhlenberg, Continental general, d. this date in 1807
1781 James Lawrence, Capt., USN, d/w 1812 saying "Don't give up the ship!"
1830 Jeremiah C. Sullivan, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1890
1831 Claudius C. Wilson, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1863
1834 Francis Marion Cockrell, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1915
1835 Robert H. Anderson, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1888
1835 William Hicks "Red" Jackson, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1903
1881 William Edward Boeing, aviation entrepreneur, d. 1956
1921 James Whitmore, marine, actor ("Battle Cry"), d. 2009
1924 James Earl Carter, naval officer, president (1977-1981)
1936 Stephen Ambrose, historian ("Band of Brothers"), d. 2002


DIED

1807 Rev. John Muhlenberg, Continental general, on his 61st birthday
1864 Rose Greenhow, loose woman, Confederate spy, drowned, at c. 47

1990 Curtis E LeMay, bomber baron, & Veep candidate at 83
2013 Tom Clancy, 66, novelist and defense writer -- "The Hunt for Red October," etc.

 

Oct 2

1799 Washington Navy Yard established
1835 Battle of Gonzales: Texians rout Mexicans, touching off the Texas Revolution
1864 Battle of Saltville, Va: Confederates slaughter black p/ws
1942 RMS 'Queen Mary' slices light cruiser 'Curacao' in half in the North Atlantic, 338 die
1943 Japanese sub 'Ro-103' sinks USS 'Henley' (DD-391) off Finschhafen, New Guinea


BORN

1737 Francis Hopkinson, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1791
1819 George Washington Getty, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1901
1821 Alexander Peter "Old Straight" Stewart, Lt Gen, C.S.A., d. 1908
1827 Edmund Jackson Davis, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1883
1895 Ruth Cheney Streeter, Col., USMC, first director of the USMC Women's Reserve, d. 1990
1937 David McCullough, historian, biographer ("Truman")


DIED

1780 British Maj. John Andre, 30, hanged by the US as a spy
1782 Charles Lee, 50, British, Polish, and American soldier, Patriot Maj. Gen.

 

3 Oct

1861 Combat at Greenbriar, WVa
1862 Battle of Corinth: Rosecrans's Yanks defeat Van Dorn's Rebs (to Oct 4)
1863 Lincoln designates the last Thursday in November as "Thanksgiving Day"
1895 Publication of Stephen Crane's "The Red Badge of Courage"
1921 The Unknown Soldier sails from France aboard USS 'Olympia' (C-6)
1937 Dedication of Ernst Durig's "Peace Memorial" -- commonly known as the "Gold Star Mother Monument" -- at Greenwood, Wisconsin
1943 Operation Leander: USS 'Ranger' (CV 4) aircraft raided German shipping in the Norwegian leads
1952 Britain explodes its first atom bomb, the Montebello Islands, Australia
1955 Former US Marine Bob Keeshan's "Captain Kangaroo" airs, runs 29 years
1959 US Army veteran Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" premieres on CBS, runs for four seasons [Still on the air in reruns, and spawned two successor series]
1985 21st Space Shuttle Mission: 'Atlantis' makes the first all-military space flight
1990 The Communist German Democratic Republic merges into the German Federal Republic.
1993 "Black Hawk Down": Insurgents ambush US troops in Mogadisciu, Somalia

BORN
1766 John Baptiste de Barth Walbach, later Baron de Walbach, later Col. & Bvt Brig Gen, US, d. 1857 -- Learn More
1789 Francis Hoyt Gregory, naval officer, U.S., d. 1866
1800 George Bancroft, greatest SecNav, historian, d. 1891
1854 William Crawford Gorgas, military surgeon, conqueror of yellow fever, d. 1920
1925 Gore Vidal, in the Cadet Hospital at West Point, where his father was an instructor, sometime Warrant Officer, USA, author, d. 2012


DIED

1838 Black Hawk, c. 70-71, Sauk war leader -- Learn More
1993 Gary Gordon (33) and Randy Shughart (35), American soldiers, kia in Mogadisciu, earning the Medal of Honor

 

4 Oct

1775 Continental Army Chief Surgeon Benjamin Church convicted of espionage
1777 Battle of Germantown: Washington almost wins -- Learn More
1821 First USN squadron sails for anti-slavery patrol off Africa
1940 Hitler and Mussolini confer at the Brenner Pass
1942 USS 'Greenling' (SS-213) sinks 'Setsuyo Maru' east of Tokyo: Since Dec 7, '41 Japan has lost 700,000 grt of merchant shipping
1944 Aircraft off USS 'Ranger' (CV-4) raid German bases in Norway, sink or damage 8 ships
1957 USSR orbits Sputnik I - the "Space Race" begins
1962 USAF Maj Robert A Rushworth takes X-15 to 32,300 m

BORN

1809 Robert Cumming Schenck, Maj. Gen, U.S., d. 1890
1816 Egbert Benson Brown, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1902
1822 R.B. Hayes, Bvt Brig Gen, US, 5 times wounded Civil War veteran, president (1877-81), d. 1893
1903 Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Nazi criminal, executed 1946


DIED

1904 Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, 70, French: sculptor ("The Statue of Liberty," "The Lion Monument" of Belfort, etc.), d. 1904
2008 Ted Briggs, last survivor of the sinking of HMS 'Hood', at 85
2013 Võ Nguyên Giáp, 102, brilliant Vietnamese commander, who fought Japanese, French, & Americans

 

5 OCT

1863 Torpedoboat CSS 'David' damages USS 'New Ironsides' with a spar torpedo off Charleston
1913 USN initiates trials of an amphibian flying boat
1943 US aircraft & ships raid Japanese positions on Wake Is, leading to the execution of American civilians held prisoner
1962 "The Gallant Men" premiers on ABC, runs for one season
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gallant_Men
1969 Cuban defector flies an MiG-17 undetected to Homestead Air Force Base, Fla


BORN

1743 Thomas Stone, Signer of the Declaration of Independence (See Deaths)
1808 Thomas Algeo Rowley, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1892
1830 Chester Alan Arthur, militiaman, President, 1881-85
1833 Cyrus Bussey, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1915
1836 George Washington Gordon, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1911
1895 Walter Bedell Smith, Ike's C/S, Head of CIA (1950-52), 1961
1929 Richard F Gordon Jr., USN, astronaut


DIED

1787 Thomas Stone, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, on his 44th birthday
1813 Tecumseh, Shawnee statesman and war leader, kia at 45, Battle of the Thames
1857 Ichabod Crane, Col., U.S., at 70, still on active duty -- Learn More
1918 Eddie Grant, Giants third baseman, 35, kia, the Argonne
1967 Clifton C Williams Jr., astronaut, at 35, T-38 crash

 

6 OCT

1777 George Washington returns British General Sir William Howe's dog, "captured" at Germantown -- Learn More
1781 Americans & French begin siege of Cornwallis at Yorktown
1928 Chiang Kai-Shek becomes Chairman of the Kuomintang Party
1939 Hitler announces he had no intention of making war on Britain and France
1944 U.S. troops secure Anguar, but mopping up continues.
1949 Iva Toguri "Tokyo Rose" D'Aquino is sentenced to 10 years & fined $10,000
1951 Stalin announces Russia has the atom bomb
1958 The USS 'Seawolf' (SSN-575) completed 60 days under the polar ice
1961 JFK advises Americans to build bomb shelters


BORN

1884 Naval War College, in a former poor house at Newport, RI
1908 Carole Lombard, 33, actress, wife to Clark Gable, killed in an air crash during a war bond drive in early 1942
1952 Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (1999-2008), PM (2008-2012), President (2012-)

DIED

1981 Muhammad Anwar El Sadat, 62, 1978 Peace Nobelist, President of Egypt (1970-1981) assassinated

 

7 Oct

1864 Bahia, Brazil: USS 'Wachusett' "accidentally" disables CSS 'Florida'
1916 Gefreiter Adolf Hitler is wounded on the inner left thigh by a shell fragment during the Battle of the Somme
1943 U.S. carriers and cruisers raid Wake Island
1944 Uprising at Birkenau concentration camp
1944 US a/c from Morotai begin raids on Japanese bases in the Philippines.
1949 Soviets establish the German Democratic Republic
1955 USS 'Saratoga' (CV-60) is launched at the Brooklyn Navy Yard
1985 PLO terrorists seize Italian cruise liner 'Achille Lauro' off the Egyptian coast
2001 US & Allies initiate war in Afghanistan after the Taliban refuses to surrender Osama bin Laden

BORN
1728 Caesar Rodney, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1784
1817 Bushrod Rust Johnson, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1880
1821 Richard Heron Anderson, Lt Gen, C.S.A., d. 1879
1821 William Still, abolitionist, notable Underground Railroad Stationmaster, d. 1902
1826 William Brimage Bate, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1905
1841 Nikola I Petrovic-Njegoš, Prince (1860-1910), then King of Montenegro (1910-1918), d. 1921
1854 Christiaan de Wet, Boer General & politician, d. 1922
1943 Oliver North, Marine Lt Col, Iran-Contra figure, television personality

DIED

1800 Gabriel, sometimes known as "Gabriel Prosser," c. 24, leader of the Richmond slave rebellion, hanged
1849 Edgar Allan Poe, West Point drop out, author & poet, of drink at 40
1999 Richard A. Hough, 77, sometime RAF fighter pilot, author, historian ("Dreadnought", "Admirals in Collision', etc.)

 

8 Oct

1812 USN cutting out party takes HMSs 'Detroit' & 'Caledonia' in the Niagara River
1862 Battle of Perryville: Confederate invasion of Kentucky halted
1863 Britain seizes the "Laird Rams" - ironclads illicitly building for the Confederacy
1871 Heat wave in the old Northwest causes disastrous forest fires around Peshtigo, Wisc (c. 1100 die) and in Chicago (c. 250 die), where Mrs. O'Leary's cow gets blamed
1916 The German 'U-53' sinks five ships off Nantucket
1917 Leon Trotsky is named chairman of the Petrograd Soviet
1918 Sgt Alvin York captures "the whole damned German Army"
1940 German troops enter Romania
1941 Germans capture Mariupol, Russia
1942 Guadalcanal: Battle on the Matanikau -- Marines halt a Japanese assault


BORN
uhtar Bej Zogolli, President and later King of Albania, as Zog I (1928-1939), d. 1961
1956 Janice E Voss, astronaut

DIED
1869 Franklin Pierce, militiaman, Brig Gen, President (1853-1857), at 64 -- Learn More
1879 Arturo Prat, 31, Peruvian naval officer, kia at Angamos
1895 Empress Consort Min Bi' of Korea (1873-1895), 44, stabbed to death by Japanese diplomatic personnel
1967 Clement Atlee, 84, sometime soldier, Deputy PM of Great Britain (1940-1945), PM (1945-1951) -- Learn More
1985 Leon Klinghoffer, 69, disabled veteran, murdered by Palestinian terrorists aboard the 'Achille Lauro'

 

9 Oct
1000 Leif Eriksson "Discovers" America [three days "before" Columbus!]
1930 Laura Ingalls completes the first trans-US flight by a woman
1942 Guadalcanal: Marines encircle Japanese 4th Inf Regt
1944 Elms Third Fleet shell Marcus Island.
1945 Ticker tape parade on Broadway for Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Marine ace Col. Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, and a dozen Pacific War veterans who held the Medal of Honor
1962 NASA pilot John B McKay takes X-15 to 39,200 m


BORN

1782 Lewis Cass, soldier, politician, SecWar, d. 1866 -- Learn More
1819 Samuel McGowan, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1897
1822 George Sykes, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1880
1899 Bruce Catton, historian ("A Stillness at Appomattox"), d. 1978
1911 Joe Rosenthal, who took a picture on Iwo Jima; d. 2006

DIED

 

10 Oct
1944 17 US carriers raid the Ryukyus
1962 Federal troops secure entry of black veteran James Meredith to "Ole Miss"

BORN

1829 Dandridge McRae, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1899
1832 Theodore Shelton Bowers, Bvt. Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1866
1917 Herschel Schacter, US Army Chaplain who directed relief efforts at Buchenwald and went on to head the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, d. 2013

DIED

2004 David Chandler, historian ("The Campaigns of Napoleon"), b. 1934
2012 Basil L. Plumley, 92, Command Sgt Maj, US Army, veteran of three wars and five combat jumps, hero of the Ia Drang Valley

 

11 Oct

1776 Battle of Valcour I.: American squadron under Benedict Arnold halts the British on Lake Champlain
1860 The Irish 69th NY Militia refuses to parade for the Prince of Wales -- Learn More
1862 J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry sacks Chambersburg, Pa.
1943 USS 'Wahoo' (SS 238) sunk by Japanese aircraft in La Perouse Strait.
1944 Japan announces it will "fight to the last man, woman, child, weapon, and piece of equipment."
1945 Chinese civil war begins: Chiang Kai-Shek vs. Mao Tse-Tung
1961 USAF Major Robert M White takes X-15 to 66,100 m
1962 "McHale's Navy" premiers on ABC, runs for four seasons
1968 Apollo 7 (Schirra, Eisele & Cunningham) complete 163 orbits in 260 hours


BORN

1820 Alfred Washington Ellet, Brig Gen, U.S., riverine expert, d. 1895
1825 Elkanah Brackin Greer, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1877
1884 Eleanor Roosevelt, formidable First Lady (1933-1945), d. 1962
1897 Nathan F Twining, general, USAF, d. 1982


DIED

1809 Meriwether Lewis, soldier, explorer, suicide at 35
1971 Lewis "Chesty" Puller, 73, iconic US Marine with 5 awards of the Navy Cross, plus a DSC
1990 Douglas Edwards, WW II correspondent, cancer at 73

 

12 OCT

1776 British troops begin guarding Throgg's Neck Road, the Bronx
1851 The Irish 69th Regiment is accepted into the New York State Militia
1861 Confederate ram 'Manassas' damages the USS 'Richmond' on the Mississippi
1862 JEB Stuart completes his "Second ride around McClellan"
1862 Maj Gen Earl Van Dorn takes over CSA troops in Mississippi
1898 The USS 'Oregon' (BB 3) begins it's "Second Dash Around Cape Horn" -- Learn More
1942 US aircraft sink two Japanese destroyers near Guadalcanal
1944 German army withdraws from Athens
1944 US carriers raid Formosa, to destroy Japanese air power in the area
1960 Nikita Khrushchev pounds a shoe on his desk in the General Assembly
1972 Race riot aboard the USS 'Kitty Hawk' (CV 63), results in 46 injured
1984 Unsuccessful IRA attempt to assassinate PM Margaret Thatcher, 5 die

BORN


1815 William Joseph Hardee, Lt Gen, C.S.A., d. 1873
1822 Joseph Haydn Potter, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1892
1844 Charles King, soldier, author, the last Civil War veteran to serve in uniform, d. 1933 -- Learn More
1860 Elmer A Sperry, inventor of the gyrocompass, d. 1930
1919 Doris "Dorie" Miller, American sailor, Pearl Harbor hero, & first black man to be awarded the Navy Cross, kia 1943
1932 Jake Garn, naval aviator, Air Guardsman, politician, astronaut

DIED

1870 Robert E Lee, at 63
1915 Edith L Cavell, 49, nurse, executed by the Germans

 

13 Oct

1812 Battle of Queenstown Height: British/Canadians defeat the Americans
1864 John Mosby raids Harpers Ferry
1917 NYC Bd of Ed bars "German" music in schools
1918 Gefreiter Adolf Hitler is temporarily blinded in a mustard gas attack near Ypres
1942 Guadalcanal: Japanese air, artillery, & naval bombardment of the Marines, as U.S. destroyers shell the Japanese
1943 Italy declares war on former ally Germany
1944 US carriers conduct a 2nd day of raids against Japanese installations on Formosa
1960 Fidel Castro stages mass executions in a stadium in Havana
1964 Brezhnev & Kosygin oust Khrushchev from Soviet leadership
1987 First operational use of dolphins by the US Navy, in the Persian Gulf

BORN
1775 The United States Navy, as Congress establishes the Continental Navy
1808 Henry Haywood Bell, Rear Adm., U.S., d. 1868
1810 James Shedden Palmer, Rear Adm., U.S., d. 1867
1826 Lafayette Curry Baker, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1868
1873 Harris Laning, Adm., US, President, Naval War College, 1930-1933, d. 1941 -- Learn More
1925 Margaret Thatcher, PM of Great Britain (1979-90), d. 2013
1926 Jesse LeRoy Brown, the first African-American naval aviator, DFC in Korea, kia 1
1952 Michael Richard Clifford, astronaut

DIED

1990 Le Duc Tho, 78, Vietnamese diplomat, who refused a Nobel Peace Prize (1975)
2000 Gus Hall, USN veteran, CPUSA President (1959-2000), still believing, at 90
2002 Stephen Ambrose, 64, historian ("Citizen Soldiers")

 

14 Oct

1066 Battle of Hastings: William the Conqueror wins England -- Learn More
1912 Theodore Roosevelt wounded by an assassin, but continues his speech anyway
1933 Nazi Germany announces withdrawal from League of Nations
1941 Adm Husband Kimmel warns of possible surprise attack on Pearl Harbor . . . .
1942 Guadalcanal: Japanese ships land reinforcements, shell Marines
1942 New Guinea: Heavy fighting, Templeton's Crossing, Kokoda Trail.
1943 Attempted mass escape from Sobibor Concentration Camp
1943 US Army Air Force bombs Schweinfurt
1944 USN completes 3rd day of air strikes against Formosa.
1947 Chuck Yeager takes a Bell XS-1 on the first supersonic flight, to Mach 1.015
1964 Martin Luther King Jr. awarded Nobel Peace Prize
1965 Joe Engle reaches 80 km in the X-15
1986 Concentration camp survivor Elie Wiesel wins the Nobel Peace Prize

BORN
1633 King James II of England (1685-88), naval officer, d. 1701 -- Learn More
1734 Francis Lightfoot Lee, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1797
1784 King Ferdinand VII of Spain (1808-1833) - "Ferdinand the Unavoidable"
1827 James Sidney Robinson, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1892
1837 Ellison Capers, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1908
1877 Rafael de Nogales Mendez, soldier-of-fortune, d. 1937
1882 Eamon De Valera, Irish revolutionary, President (1959-1973), d. 1975
1890 Dwight D Eisenhower, General of the Army, President (1953-1961), d. 1969 -- Learn More
1906 Hannah Arendt, historian ("The Origins of Totalitarianism"), d. 1975

DIED
1066 King Harold II Godwinson of England (Jan 5-Oct 14, 1066), kia at c. 44,, Hastings
1944 Erwin Rommel, German field marshal, "The Desert Fox", forced suicide at 52 -- Learn More
1983 Sgt Allen Soifert, USMC, peacekeeper, slain by a sniper in Beirut
2002 Norbert Schultze, tunesmith ("Lili Marlene"), at 91 -- Learn More

 

15 Oct
1815 Congress rejects a proposal to relocate the nation's capital from Washington, recently captured and burned by the British, further west.
1860 Grace Bedell, 11, suggests candidate Lincoln grow a beard
1917 USS 'Cassin' (DD-43) torpedoed by German 'U-61' off Ireland.
1935 Germany activates three panzer divisions.
1936 Benito Mussolini (53) and Clara Petacci (24) become lovers
1938 Hitler's propagandist Josef Goebbels may have attempted suicide when Hitler refuses him permission to divorce his wife in order to marry an actress
1941 Hideki Tojo becomes prime minister of Japan (resigns, July 22, 1944)
1942 Japanese aircraft off 'Zuikaku' sink the USS 'Meredith' (DD 434) off San Cristobal.


BORN

1816 Amiel Weeks Whipple, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1863
1818 Irvin McDowell, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1885
1832 Henry Harrison Walker, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1912
1836 Thomas Lafayette Rosser, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1910


DIED

1917 GM Osmond Kelly Ingram, 30, earning a Medal of Honor, USS 'Cassin' (DD-43)
1946 Herman Goring, 53, sometime war hero, Nazi criminal, suicide to cheat the hangman

 

16 Oct

1775 Portland, Maine, burned by the British
1834 "Second" Great Fire of London burns much of the city, including Parliament
1863 U.S. Grant is named commander of Union forces in the West
1885 Capt Alfred Thayer Mahan becomes Superintendent of the Naval War College
1891 Barroom riot at Valparaiso between US sailors & local civilians; 2 die, causing an international incident almost leading to war
1901 Pres. Theodore Roosevelt shares a meal with Booker T. Washington in the White House, setting off a national furor among white racists
1918 Establishment of what is now the US Navy Support Center Dahlgren
1940 Nazis establish the Warsaw Ghetto
1940 WW II draft begins; #158 is drawn first
1942 USAAF sinks a Japanese destroyer near Kiska
1946 Execution of the ten major Nazi leaders convicted at Nuremberg
1953 Cuba's Dictator Fulgencio Batista sentences Fidel Castro to 15 years for rebellion
1962 Missile Crisis: JFK learns of Soviet missiles in Cuba
1964 China becomes world's fifth nuclear power
1973 Henry A Kissinger & Le Duc Tho are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; the latter refuses it
1990 US forces in the Persian Gulf reach 200,000

BORN

1430 James Stewart, King James II of Scots (1437-1460)
1816 William Preston, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1887
1825 Thomas Turpin Crittenden, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1905
1832 George Crockett Strong, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1863


DIED

1793 Queen Marie Antoinette of France, 37, guillotined
1959 General of the Army George C Marshall, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Peace Nobelist (1953), at 78 -- Learn More
1981 Moshe Dayan, Israeli general, Minister of Defense, at 66

 

17 Oct
1781 British General Lord Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown -- Learn More

1861 Skirmishing around Frederickstown/Ironton, Mo (to 21st)
1894 Ohio National Guard rescues a black man from a lynch mob, 3 whites killed

1916 Battleship 'Arizona' (BB-39) commissioned at the Brooklyn Navy Yard
1917 First British air raid over Germany
1922 1st US carrier take-off: Virgil C. Griffin in a VE-7SF off 'Langley' (CV 1)
1933 Albert Einstein arrives in US, a refugee the Nazis
1941 The 'U-568' damages the USS 'Kearny' (DD-432) near Iceland, 11 killed and 22 injured
1943 Japanese recon plane from sub 'I-36' scouts Pearl Harbor
1978 Congress restores Jefferson Davis' citizenship


BORN

1835 The "Texas Rangers", formed by the Provisional Gov't of the Republic of Texas to fight Indians and collect "stray cattle" to feed the Republic's army
1920 Edward Montgomery Clift, actor (Robert E. Lee Prewitt in "From Here to Eternity"), d. 1966
1933 William "Bill" Alison Anders, USAF officer, astronaut, one of the first three men to orbit the moon, with Borman & Lovell
1956 Mae Jemison, astronaut

DIED


1910 Julia Ward Howe, poet ("Battle Hymn of Republic"), at 91 --
1967 Terry de la Mesa Allen, Jr., Lt. Col., USA, kia at 38 leading the 2-28th Inf, Vietnam

 

18 Oct
1767 Completion of the survey of the Mason-Dixon Line, defining the mutual borders of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware
1776 Col John Glover & his Marblehead Regiment fight the British in the Bronx

1812 USS 'Wasp' takes HMS 'Frolic' off Virginia, but then strikes to HMS 'Poictiers,' a 74 -- Learn More

1859 US Marines under Robert E. Lee capture John Brown & his party at Harper’s ferry


1867 Alaska formally transferred from Russia to the US
1870 Prussians capture Chateaudun after a day-long fight with French volunteers



1942 Guadalcanal: US sub damages a "Tokyo Express" light cruiser
1942 VAdm Ghormley replaced by VAdm Halsey as commander of the South Pacific Theatre
1944 Rangers begin landing on outlying islands in Leyte Gulf.



BORN

1806 John Breckinridge Grayson, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1861
1811 Hugh Thompson Reid, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1874
1818 Edward Otho Cresap Ord, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1883
1829 Charles Sidney Winder, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1862
1829 Lucius Marshall Walker, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1863


1919 Pierre Trudeau, PM of Canada (1968-79, 1980-84), d. 2000
1930 Frank Carlucci, National Security Adviser, SecDef (1987-89)
1931 John LeCarre, novelist ("The Spy Who Came in from the Cold")
1939 Lee Harvey Oswald, sometime marine, assassin, k by Jack Ruby, 1963

DIED

1908 Field Marshal the Marquis Nozu Michitsura, 67, Japanese soldier (Boshin, Sino-Japanese, Russo-Japanese Wars)

 

1799 William Balch becomes the US Navy's first commissioned Chaplain
1889 William T Sherman lays the foundation for the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch on the Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn
1938 Orson Welles' radio broadcast of "The War of the Worlds" sparks some panic across America
1941 US Navy oiler 'Salinas' (AO-19) survives a torpedo off Newfoundland
1943 U.S. subs mine the waters off Indochina.
1944 Anne Frank is transferred from Auschwitz to Belsen
1944 US Navy TG 38.4 is attacked by Kamikaze off Leyte, two carriers damaged.
1945 US announces the end of shoe rationing
1953 General of the Army George C Marshall is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
1954 Defense Department announces elimination of all segregated units

BORN

1735 John Adams, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, second President (1797-1801), d. 1825 -- Learn More
1807 James Samuel Wadsworth, Maj Gen, U.S., d/w 1864
1830 John Stevens Bowen, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1863
1882 William F Halsey, Fleet Admiral, d. 1959 -- Learn More
1896 Forrest Percival Sherman, CNO (1949-1951), d. 1951
1946 Robert "Hoot" Gibson, USN, astronaut

DIED

2005 Gordon A. Craig, historian (´The Politics of the Prussian Army´), at 91

 

Oct 31

1803 US Frigate 'Philadelphia' grounds off Tripoli, & is taken by the Barbary pirates
1813 Ottoman authorities sell 1,800 Serb women & children into slavery at Belgrade
1938 Charles Lindbergh test flew an Me-109, courtesy of his friend Herman Göring -- Learn More
1941 'U-552' sinks USS' Reuben James' (DD-245), 115 die; first US ship lost in WW II
1968 President Johnson orders a halt to all bombing of North Vietnam

BORN

1740 William Paca, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1799
1825 Raleigh Edward Colston, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1896
1826 Hugh Boyle Ewing, Bvt Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1905
1831 Daniel Butterfield, Maj Gen, U.S., composer of "Taps," d. 1901
1835 Adelbert Ames, Brig Gen, U.S., last surviving Civil War general, d. 1933
1843 Alexandre-Georges-Henri Regnault, French artist, Volunteer of 1870, kia, 1871
1860 Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the American Girl Scouts, d. 1927
1887 Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Chinese Nationalists, d. 1975
1930 Michael Collins, in Rome, USAF, astronaut (Gemini 10, Apollo 11)
1949 Terrence Wilcutt, USMC, astronaut


DIED

1879 Joseph Hooker, 64, Union Maj. Gen., who choked at Chancellorsville --
1926 Anteo Zamboni, 15-year old anarchist, lynched as he attempted to shoot Mussolini
1964 Theodore C Freeman, astronaut, at 34, T-38 crash
1991 Joseph Papp, USN veteran, producer, of cancer at 70