Today in Military History 1 Aug - 30 Sep

9 Sep

1609 Henry Hudson sails up his river in the 'Half Moon'
1776 "The United Colonies" adopt the name "The United States of America"
1903 N.Y. National Guard wins the first National Rifle Matches; Sea Girt, N.J.
1940 Congress passed the "Two Ocean Navy" Act, to add over 200 ships to the fleet --
1955 The premiere Audie Murphy's "To Hell and Back", in which he played himself
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

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
1834 William MacRae, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1882
1925 Cliff Robertson, actor ("PT-109"), warbird collector, d. 2011


DIED

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 Hazard Perry meets the enemy - they are his
1862 The men of the 1st Penna Cav appoint the US Army's first Jewish chaplain, Rabbi Jacob Frankel
1863 Battle of Bayou Fourche, Ark: Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. John W. Davidson raid across the Arkansas River, forcing Confederates 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

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

DIED
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 and 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

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
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
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

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
1937 Robert L Crippen, USN, astronaut

DIED

1971 Nikita Khrushchev, 77, Stalingrad War Commissar, 1942-1943, First Secretary, CPUSSR (1954-1964) & Premier of the USSR (1958-1964), heart attack
2001 Nearly 3000 Americans and others, murdered by Islamist terrorists in the U.S.

 

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
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.
1919 Gefreiter Adolf Hitler joins the "Deutsche Arbeiterpartei -- German Workers' Party", becoming its 55th member
1941 Coast Guardsmen capture the German trawler 'Busko' in Greenland waters
1942 Guadalcanal, Battle of Bloody Ridge: Marines repulse the Kawaguchi Detachment
1983 USSR vetoes UN resolution deploring its downing of KAL Flight 007
1990 US, Britain, France, & the USSR agree to reunification of Germany


BORN

1913 James "Jesse" Owens, who spoiled Hitler's 1936 Olympics, d. 1980

DIED

 

13 Sep

1814 British began a bombardment of Fort McHenry, inspiring "The Star Spangled Banner" --
1942 Guadalcanal: Bloody Ridge - Marines probe the Japanese positions.
1943 Chiang Kai-shek becomes president of China
1971 New York National Guardsmen storm Attica Correctional Facility, to end 4-day uprising; 32 prisoners, 9 guards die
1978 Maiden flight of the McDonnell Douglas F-18A Hornet
1990 Iraqi troops storm residence of French ambassador in Kuwait
1999 Islamist terror bombing in Moscow, c. 120 killed

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
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
1891 Max Pruss, German airshipman, last captain of the ill-fated 'Hindenburg'

DIED

1803 John Barry, c. 58, first commodore of the U.S. Navy

 

14 Sep

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 Theo. Roosevelt is sworn in as President, the youngest ever at 42
1940 FDR signs the first U.S. peacetime draft bill.
1945 Ticker tape parade on Broadway for General Jonathan Wainwright.
1966 Vietnam: Operation Attleboro begins against VC sanctuaries on the Cambodian Border

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
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

 

15 SEP

1862 Antietam Campaign: Stonewall Jackson captures Harpers Ferry
1862 Antietam Campaign: US troops find Lee's GO No. 191, wrapping some cigars
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
1944 Sofia liberated by Bulgarian and Soviet troops
1950 Inchon Landing: Marines lead the attack behind North Korean lines.
1959 Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev begins 13 day tour of the US


BORN

1857 William Howard Taft, SecWar, President (1909-1913), Chief Justice (1921-30), d. 1930
1914 Creighton Abrams, American soldier, d. 1974 -- Learn More
1946 Oliver Stone, Vietnam veteran, director ("Platoon")

DIED

 

16 SEP

1854 Cdr David G. Farragut opens 1st Navy Yard on the Pacific, at Mare I.
1861 Battle of Princeton, WVa
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

1919 American Legion incorporated by an act of Congress
1942 3rd Marine Div is activated at San Diego..
1943 US Fifth and British Eighth Armies unite in Italy
1944 548th Night Fighter Squadron arrives in the Marianas
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

DIED

1862 Dixon Standsbury Miles, Col., US, 58, kia, Harper's Ferry

 

1800 Franklin Buchanan, naval officer, C.S.A, d. 1874
1820 Earl Van Dorn, Maj Gen, C.S.A., shot by a jealous husband, 1863, probably to the benefit of the Confederate war effort


DIED

1908 Thomas E. Selfridge, 1st Lt., U.S. Army, the first person to die in an airplane accident
2006 Dorothy Stratton, Director, the SPARS - Coast Guard Women's Reserve, 1942-1946, at 107

 

18 Sep

1873 Jay Cooke & Company declares bankruptcy, setting off the "Panic of 1873", one of several "Great Depressions" (1873-1879)
1965 "The Wackiest Ship in the Army" premiers on NBC, runs for one season
1969 Trimaran yacht 'Mianna' goes down at 16° 48' N, 28° 21' W


BORN
1805 Robert Cowdin, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1874
1815 Henry Constantine Wayne, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1883
1818 Marcellus Augustus Stovall, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1895
1926 Joe Kubert, in Poland, American soldier, cartoonist ("Sgt. Rock", "Hawkman", etc.), d. 2012


DIED

 

19 Sep

1957 First underground nuclear explosion, Nevada
1959 Nikita Khrushchev is denied access to Disneyland
1988 Israel launches 1st satellite, for secret military reconnaissance

BORN

1737 Charles Carroll of Carrollton, d. 1832, the last surviving Signer of the Declaration of Independence
1800 William Wister McKean, naval officer, U.S. d. 1865
1822 Joseph Rodman West, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1898

DIED

1881 James A. Garfield, 49, Maj Gen, U.S., and President (Mar 4-Sep 19, 1881), of wounds from an assassin and medical malpractice

 

20 SEP

1797 US frigate 'Constitution' - "Old Ironsides" - launched in Boston
1850 Slave sales are abolished in the District of Columbia
1861 Confederates capture Lexington, Mo (invested on the 12th)
1881 Former New York QM General Chester Arthur sworn in as president
1950 Omar Bradley is promoted to five star rank as a General of the Army
1955 "Navy Log" premiers on CBS, later moves to ABC, runs for 102 shows over two seasons
1955 "You'll Never Get Rich" premieres on CBS ("Sgt Bilko"), runs for 142 episodes through 1959
1984 Hezbollah suicide bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, 25 die

BORN

1809 Sterling "Old Pap" Price, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1867
1810 Alpheus Starkey Williams, Brig Gen, U.S., d.1878
1820 George Washington Morgan, Brig Gen, U.S.
1820 John Fulton Reynolds, Maj Gen, U.S., kia Gettysburg, 1863


DIED

1947 Fiorello La Guardia, 64, bomber pilot (1917-18), Mayor of NY (1933-45)

 

20 Sep

1797 US frigate 'Constitution' - "Old Ironsides" - launched in Boston
1850 Slave sales are abolished in the District of Columbia
1861 Confederates capture Lexington, Mo (invested on the 12th)
1881 Former New York QM General Chester Arthur sworn in as president
1950 Omar Bradley was promoted to five star rank as a General of the Army -- Learn More
1955 "Navy Log" premiers on CBS, later moves to ABC, runs for 102 shows over two seasons
1955 "You'll Never Get Rich" premieres on CBS ("Sgt Bilko"), runs for 142 episodes through 1959
1984 Hezbollah suicide bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, 25 die

BORN

1809 Sterling "Old Pap" Price, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1867
1810 Alpheus Starkey Williams, Brig Gen, U.S., d.1878
1820 George Washington Morgan, Brig Gen, U.S.
1820 John Fulton Reynolds, Maj Gen, U.S., kia Gettysburg, 1863

DIED
1947 Fiorello La Guardia, 64, bomber pilot (1917-18), Mayor of NY (1933-45)
2005 Simon Wiesenthal, Survivor, Nazi Hunter, at 96

 

21 Sep

1776 Great Fire of New York: five days after the British occupy the city perhaps a quarter of it burns
1780 Benedict Arnold gives British Major John Andre the plans to West Point
1821 Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, & El Salvador declare independence of Spain
1863 Union forces retreat to Chattanooga after defeat at Chickamauga
1940 Initial D-Day for 'Operation Sealion' - Hitler's invasion of Britain
1942 Nazis execute 116 hostages in Paris
1949 Federal Republic of Germany established
1950 George C. Marshall becomes Secretary of Defense

BORN

1817 Carter Littlepage Stevenson, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1888
1820 Williams Carter Wickham, Brig Gen, C.S.A. d. 1888
1824 Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1901
1827 Michael Corcoran, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1863
1832 Samuel Sprigg Carroll, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1893
1867 Henry L. Stimson, NYNG Sqn A, WW I veteran, SecWar (1911-1913, 1940-1945), SecState (1929-1933), d. 1950


DIED

 

Sep 22

1776 John Paul Jones & USS 'Providence' raid British shipping in Canso Bay, N.S. -- Learn More
1862 President Lincoln issues the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
1864 Sheridan sets up camp in Harrisonburg, Va
1914 German sub 'U-9' sinks the British cruisers 'Aboukir', 'Cressy', & 'Hogue', 1,397 die -- Learn More
1943 Kate Smith's 13 hour radio appeal sells $39 million in war bonds
1950 Omar Bradley is promoted to General of the Army
1958 Elvis arrives at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, to board a transport for Germany
1975 Sarah Jane Moore attempts to assassinate Pres. Gerald Ford
1980 Iraq invades Iran, initiating an eight year war
1995 AWACS crashes on takeoff, Elmendorf AFB, 24 die

BORN

1796 Cornelius Kinchiloe Stribling, Rear-Adm, U.S., d. 1880
1822 Eppa Hunton, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1908
1827 John Grubb Parke, Maj Gen, U.S. d. 1900
1829 William Worth Belknap, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1890
1833 Stephen Dill Lee, Lt Gen, C.S.A., d. 1908

DIED
1776 Nathan Hale, 21, hanged by the British at what is now 66th Street and Third Avenue, Manhattan
1951 Jacob Horner, last 7th Cavalry veteran of the Little Big Horn
1989 Irving Berlin, Doughboy, composer ("God Bless America"), at 101
1999 George C. Scott, sometime US Marine and actor ("Patton"), at 71

 

23 Sep

1779 Celebrated frigate duel between John Paul Jones' 'Bonhomme Richard' & HMS 'Serapis'
1780 Maj. John Andre is captured, revealing Benedict Arnold's treason
1806 Lewis & Clark Expedition ends at St Louis
1931 Navy tests its first rotary wing aircraft, an XOP-1 autogiro, on 'Langley' (CV-1)
1941 Charles de Gaulle forms a French government-in-exile in London
1976 "Baa Baa Black Sheep" premieres on TV
1996 "JAG" premiers on NBC, later moves to CBS, runs for ten seasons
Then begins spinoff of the NCIS family of shows

BORN

1816 Julius White, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1890
1820 Thomas Kilby Smith, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1887
1910 Elliot Roosevelt, Brig Gen, USAAF, d. 1990 -- Learn More

DIED

 

24 Sep

1794 Pres Washington ordered the militia out to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion
1846 Zachary Taylor captured Monterey, Mexio, after a three day battle -- Learn More
1852 First Powered Flight: Henri Giffard flies 17 miles from Paris to Trappes in his coke-fired steam powered semi-rigid airship.
1918 Ens David S. Ingalls becomes the first USN ace, in a Sopwith Camel, while seconded to the Royal Air Force
1929 Lt James H Doolittle makes the first all-instrument flight, over Brooklyn
1942 "Chesty" Puller's Marines engage Japanese on Mt. Austen, Guadalcanal
1943 Soviet forces liberate Smolensk
1960 USS 'Enterprise' (CVN-65) is launched, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier

BORN
1755 John Marshall, soldier, Chief Justice (1801-1835), d. 1835
1824 Truman Seymour, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1891
1827 Henry Warner Slocum, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1894
1829 James St Clair Morton, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1864
1833 Henry Alanson Barnum, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1892
1920 Richard "Dick" Bong, highest scoring US ace of WW II, with at least 40 Japanese a/c, d. 1945 in a flying accident

DIED
1978 Hasso-Eccard Freiherr von Manteuffel, 81, panzer leader

 

25 Sep

1861 SecNav Welles authorizes the enlistment of former slaves
1957 Little Rock: 300 troops escort nine black students to Central High School

BORN

1822 Baron Adolph Wilhelm August Friedrich von Steinwehr, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1877
1823 Thomas John Wood, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1906
1902 Ayatollah Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini, Iranian religious despot (1979-1789), d. 1989

DIED

1864 Col. George S. Patton III, 33, of wounds leading the 22nd Virginia at Winchester
1970 Erich Maria Remarque, 72, Frontsoldat, novelist ("All Quiet on the Western Front")
2005 Don Adams (Donald James Yarmy), Guadalcanal USMC, actor ("Get Smart"), at 82

 

26 SEP

1777 British troops occupy Philadelphia during the American Revolution
1941 The Babi Yar Massacre: In 24 hours the Nazis murder 33,771 Jews in a ravine near Kiev
1950 UN troops liberate Seoul
1953 US and Spain sign a mutual defense treaty


BORN
1897 Giovanni Battista Montini - Pope Paul VI (1963-1978)

DIED

1820 Daniel Boone, militiaman, frontiersman, at 85
1918 2nd Lt. Guy R. Chamberlain, 26, Coy C, 345th Tank Battalion -- the first American armor officer to be killed in action, in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive
1954 Air Vice Marshal Charles Humphrey Kingsman Edmonds, WW I naval aviator and innovator, at 63 -- Learn More

 

27 SEP

1777 Battle of Germantown: Washington is defeated by the British in a close fight
1779 John Adams negotiates Revolutionary War peace terms with Britain
1938 League of Nations declares Japan the aggressor in "China Incident"
1939 Warsaw surrenders to the Germans after a 19 day siege
1940 Tripartite Pact: Nazi Germany, Italy, & Japan sign a formal alliance
1941 The SS 'Patrick Henry' was launched, the first of 2,710 "Liberty" ships that helped carry the war to the Axis
1942 Japanese aircraft bomb Marine positions on Guadalcanal.
1942 Papua: Japanese fall back from Ioribaiwa on the Kokoda Trail.
1957 The end of the world as we knew it -- the Dodgers leave Brooklyn
1991 Pres GHW Bush ends full-time airborne B-52 bomber alert
1996 The Taliban capture Kabul, installing an Islamist theocracy in Afghanistan


BORN

1722 Samuel Adams, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1803
1803 Samuel Francis DuPont, Rear Adm, U.S., d. 1865
1809 Raphael Semmes, naval officer, C.S.N., d. 1877
1824 William Nelson, Maj Gen, U.S., murdered 1862
The Murder of Bull Nelson - Warfare History Network

1830 William Babcock Hazen, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1887
1835 John Murray Corse, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1893
1840 Alfred Thayer Mahan, Rear-Adm., U.S.N., who influenced history, d. 1914
1840 Thomas Nast, militiaman, cartoonist, bigot, d. 1902

DIED

1876 Braxton Bragg, General, CSA., victor at Chickamauga, at 59
1942 Douglas Munro, 22, USCG, kia at Guadalcanal, earning the Medal of Honor
1956 Milburn Apt, 32, USAF test Pilot, crash after reaching 3370 kph in the X-2
1981 Robert Montgomery, sometime ambulance driver and naval officer, actor, at 77
1996 Pres Mohammad Najibullah of Afghanistan (1986-1992), hanged by the Taliban