Today in Military History 1 Jan - 31 Mar

10 Feb

1807 Congress establishes the US Coast Survey
1840 Queen Victoria weds her beloved Albert
1906 HMS 'Dreadnought' is launched, initiating a naval arms race
1942 After burning for nearly 24 hours, the liner 'Normandie' capsizes in the slip between Piers 88 and 90 on the North River, Manhattan
1943 Guadalcanal: Marine and Army troops mop up Japanese stragglers
1954 Eisenhower warns against US intervention in Vietnam
1962 USSR swaps U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for spy Rudolph Abel
1991 Lithuania votes for independence from USSR

BORN

1894 Harold Macmillan, Guardsman, Prime Minister of the UK (1957-1963), d. 1986

DIED

1992 Alex Haley, Coastguardsman, author ("Roots"), 70
2017 Lt. Gen. Harold Gregory "Hal" Moore, Jr., 84, American soldier, Hero of the Ia Drang Valley

 

11 Feb

1864 US Navy bombards Lamar, Texas.
1941 Erwin Rommel lands in Tripoli to assume command of the Afrika Korps
1971 US, UK, USSR, others sign a treaty banning nuclear weapons on the seabed

BORN

1805 Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, son of Toussaint & Sacajawea Charbonneau, during the Lewis & Clark Expedition, d. 1866
1812 Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President, CSA, d. 1883
1812 Benjamin Franklin Sands, naval officer, U.S., d. 1883
1829 William Anderson Pile, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1889
1840 Samuel Dana Greene, naval officer, U.S., d. 1884
1847 Thomas A. Edison, productive inventor, d. 1931
1847 the [third] 15th Infantry was activated in the Regular Army for the war with Mexico -- Learn More
1850 Albert Woolson, drummer boy 1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery, the last surviving veteran of the Civil War, d. 1956 -- Learn More
1920 Farouk, King of Egypt and the Sudan, Sovereign of Nubia, of Kordofan, and of Darfur (1936-1952), d. 1965
1920 Daniel "Chappie" James Jr., Tuskegee airman, four-star general, d. 1978

DIED

2009 Peter John Hall Leng (73), British General & Master-General of the Ordnance (1981-1983)
2012 Whitney Houston, 48, vocalist, who put "The Star Spangled Banner" in the Top 20 for nearly two years -- Learn More

 

12 fEB
1839 The "Aroostook War" begins: Maine-New Brunswick dispute their common boundary -- settled by Federal and Crown intervention and later treaty
1861 Arkansas state troops seize US arsenal at Napoleon
1862 US Grant begins the siege of Ft Donelson, which surrenders on the 16th after an unsuccessful break out attempt
1901 Delaware ratifies the XIII Amendment, that abolished slavery in 1865
1935 USS 'Macon' (ZRS-5) crashes into Pacific Ocean, only 2 die
1944 U.S. Marines occupy Umboi Island, west of New Britain.
1945 'Batfish' (SS-310), sinks its 3rd Japanese sub in 4 days ('I-41', 'Ro-112', & 'Ro-113')
1948 1st Lt Nancy Leftenant commissioned in the Regular Army Nurse Corps: retires 1965 as major, USAF
1955 Pres Eisenhower sends US advisors to South Vietnam

BORN

1809 Abraham Lincoln, militiaman, volunteer of 1832, President (1861-1865)
1809 Charles Darwin, scientist, author ("On the Origin of Species", etc.), d. 1882
1828 Robert Ransom Jr., Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1892
1838 Charles Carroll Walcutt, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1898
1893 General of the Army Omar Bradley, 'The GI General', d. 1981 -- Learn More
1915 Andrew J Goodpaster, American general, NATO Supreme Commander (1969-1974), d. 2005

DIED

1836 Copenhagen, who had carried the Duke of Wellington for 16 hours at Waterloo, at about 30 -- Learn More

 

13 Feb

1779 Battle of Kettle Creek: American militia defeats Tory militia
1924 Japanese Adm. Kenji Ide and his aide, Capt. Isoruku Yamamoto, visit the U.S. Naval War College
1941 Francisco Franco and Benito Mussolini confer at Bordighera, on the Riviera
1942 Hitler finally cancels "Operation Seelöwe", the invasion of Britain
1942 US and Canada agree to construct the ALCAN Highway
1944 Marines take possession of Arno Atoll in the Marshall islands
1945 USAAF & the RAF begin two nights of heavy bombardment of Dresden, 50,000-100,000 die -- Learn More
1945 The Red Army captures Budapest after a 49-day battle

BORN

1831 John A. Rawlins, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1869
1833 William Whedbee Kirkland, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1915
1843 Isaac Hull, 69, Commodore, USN, who commanded the 'Constitution' in her fight with HMS ' Guerriere'
1849 Lord Randolph Churchill, who had a famous son, d. 1895
1887 Alvin York, who captured "the whole damned German Army", d. 1964
1919 Ernest "Tennessee Ernie" Ford, B-29 bombardier, entertainer, d. 1991
1922 Harold Gregory "Hal" Moore, Jr., American soldier, Hero of the Ia Drang Valley, d. 2017
1923 Chuck Yeager, airman extraordinaire , WW II ace, X-craft pilot, first man to break Mach 2, etc.

DIED

1818 George Rogers Clark, 65, Patriot, who secured the northwest for the Republic
1883 Richard Wagner, 70, composer ("The Flying Dutchman")
1891 David D Porter, naval officer and reformer, U.S., at 77

 

14 FEB
1778 The First Foreign Salute to the "Stars & Stripes": A French squadron under Adm Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte salutes John Paul Jones' USS 'Ranger'
1814 USS 'Constitution' captures the British merchanmen 'Lovely Ann' and 'Pictou'
1862 The Confederate Congress authorizes a "Territory of Arizona"
1912 US sub 'E-1' (SS-24) commissioned, the first American diesel boat
1945 King Abd al-`Aziz of Saudi Arabia & Pres. Franklin Delano Roosevelt confer aboard the USS 'Murphy' (DD 603) -- Learn More
1945 US troops reach the Bataan peninsula outside Manila
2018 Mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, 17 die

BORN

1813 John McNeil, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1891
1818 Frederick Douglass, American [Traditional date], d. 1895
1819 James Green Martin, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1878
1824 Winfield Scott Hancock, Maj Gen, U.S., "The Superb," d. 1886
1829 Alfred Iverson Jr., Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1911
1921 Skeezix Wallet, Pvt., U.S. Army, World War II, found on a doorstep in "Gasoline Alley"
1945 Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein (1989-date), the last absolute monarch in Europe

DIED
1779 Capt. James Cook, RN, 50, explorer, killed by Hawaiians
1870 St. John Richardson Liddell, 54, Brig. Gen., CSA,
1876 Andrés Pico, 65, Mexican Brig. Gen., victor of the Battle of S. Pascual (near S. Diego), against the US, later Brig. Gen. California militia in the Civil War
1891 William Tecumseh Sherman, Maj. Gen., US, Civil War, later General-in-Chief, at 71 - the only person who ever said he didn't want to be President and meant it
1979 Adolph Dubs, 58, US ambassador to Afghanistan, murdered

 

15 Feb

856 USS 'Supply' loads 21 camels at Smyrna, Turkey, for the US Army
1869 Charges of Treason against Jefferson Davis are dropped
1898 Havana Harbor: Second class battleship USS 'Maine' blows up from undetermined causes, 258 die.
1933 Anarchist Giuseppe Zangara attempts to kill Pres-elect FDR, mortally wounds Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak m/w. dies Mar 6
1936 Hitler orders production of the Volkswagen
1943 The Allies form Aircraft Solomons Command, to coordinate air operations in the SW Pacific
1945 Philippines: As US troops land on Bataan, Japanese troops in Manila are surrounded
1965 Canada adopts the "Maple Leaf" flag

BORN
1726 Abraham Clark, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1794
1795 Charles Niellon, general, Belgian War for Independence (1831), d. 1871
1835 Alexander Stuart Webb, Maj Gen, U.S., who held "The Angle," d. 1911
1845 Elihu Root, reforming SecWar (1901-05), State (1905-09), Peace Nobelist, d 1937
1892 James Forrestal, naval aviator, SecNav, first SecDef, suicide 1949
1919 The American Legion, formed in Paris by Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., and other WW I veterans
1929 James Schlesinger, SecDef (1973-75)

DIED
1820 William Ellery, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, at 92
1905 Lew Wallace, Maj. Gen., US, novelist ("Ben Hur"), at 77

 

16 Feb
1804 Stephen Decatur retook the USS 'Philadelphia' from the Tripolitanian pirates and burned her -- Learn More
1815 USS 'Constitution' takes HMS 'Susannah'
1862 U.S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee, after a five day siege
1943 USS 'Amberjack' (SS-219) sunk by Japanese torpedo boat 'Hiyodori' and 'SC-18' off Rabaul
1945 US airborne forces land on Corregidor (fighting lasts until March 3)
1959 Fidel Castro becomes premier of Cuba (1959-1976), later President (1976-2008)

BORN
1807 Lysander Cutler, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1866
1813 Joseph Reid Anderson, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1892
1822 James Patton Anderson, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1872
1823 John D Imboden, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1895
1832 Camille Armand Jules Marie Prince de Polignac, Maj Gen, C.S.A. & French Army, d. 1913

DIED

1974 John Garand, 86, who invented the M1 Rifle
1992 Abbas Musawi, leader of Hezbollah, assassinated along with his wife, six-year-old child, and four bodyguards, by an Israeli helicopter

 

17 Feb

1815 Congress ratified the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812 -- Learn More
1859 Battle of Saigon: A French naval landing force storms the citadel to capture the city from the Vietnamese
1864 CSS 'H.L. Hunley' sinks USS 'Housatonic', and herself: 1st submarine victory, albeit Pyrrhic
1913 The "Armory Art Show" opens at NY's 69th Regiment Armory
1915 Edward Stone, 1st US combatant to die in WW I, is mortally wounded
1919 USS 'Texas' (BB-35) conducts firing trials with aerial spotting, for a 200% increase in accuracy.
1919 New York City’s 369th Infantry “The Harlem Rattlers”, received a tumultuous reception as it marched up Broadway to Harlem on its return from France --
1943 "Joltin' Joe" DiMaggio joins the Army
1945 US Navy "frogmen" clearing beaches at Iwo Jima take heavy losses
1947 Voice of America begins broadcasting to the USSR
1998 USNA midshipman Diane Zamora, 20, convicted of capital murder

BORN
1740 John Sullivan, Continental major general, Governor of New Hampshire, d. January 23, 1795)
1804 Samuel Read Anderson, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1883
1824 William Farrar "Baldy" Smith, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1903
1837 Francis Jay Herron, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1902

DIED
1909 Goyaalé ("Yawner") - Geronimo, warrior, card sharp, c. 79 -- Learn More
1968 2nd Lt. Richard W. Pershing (25), 502nd Infantry, grandson of John J., kia, Vietnam
1970 Alfred Newman, composer ("Captain from Castille"), at 69
2019 George Mendonsa, 95, sailor who kissed a nurse in Times Square

 

18 Feb
1846 US Navy adopts "port" in place of the traditional "larboard"
1861 Inauguration of Jefferson Davis as Provisional POTCS, Montgomery, Ala
1865 Union troops force Confederates to abandon Ft Anderson, NC
1865 Union troops under W. T. Sherman occupy Charleston and its outlying defenses
1901 Winston S. Churchill makes his maiden speech in the House of Commons
1919 F. Scott Fitzgerald is discharged from the Army
1941 CINCUS Husband Kimmel writes, "I feel that an attack . . . on Pearl Harbor is a possibility."
1943 Attu: U.S. ships shell Japanese positions for the first time.

BORN

1805 Louis Malesherbes Goldsborough, Rear Adm, U.S., d. 1877
1817 Lewis A. Armistead, Brig Gen, C.S.A., who fell in "The Angle" at Gettysburg, 1863
1817 Walter Page Lane, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1892
1829 Jean Jacques Alfred Mouton, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1864
1833 James Deshler, Brig Gen, C.S.A., KIA, 1863
1899 Sir Arthur Bryant, airman, historian ("The Summer of Dunkirk"), d. 1985
1920 Eddie Slovik, PVT, USA, executed, 1945
1920 Jack Palance, airman, actor ("Attack!"), d. 2006
1925 George Kennedy, army officer, actor ("The Dirty Dozen")
1929 Len Deighton, airman, historian ("Blitzkrieg"), novelist ("The IPCRESS File")

DIED

1932 Frederik Augustus III, deposed King of Saxony (1904-18), at 66
1967 J. Robert Oppenheimer, 62, "Father of the Atomic Bomb"
2010 John Babcok, 109, last Canadian Army WW I veteran, in Spokane, Wa. -- Learn More
2016 Delmer Berg, 100, American leftist, last surviving American veteran of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War

 

19 Feb

1859 Dan Sickles is acquitted of murdering Barton Key, who had seduced his wife, the first use of the "temporary insanity" plea in American jurisprudence
1934 US Army Air Corps begins air mail deliveries (for 6 months)
1941 Amsterdam: Nazis round up 429 young Jews for deportation
1942 FDR orders the internment of Japanese-Americans on the West Coast
1943 US Naval forces under MacArthur are designated the Seventh Fleet
1945 US Marines land on Iwo Jima

BORN
1817 King William III of the Netherlands (1849-90), last male Dutch sovereign until 2013
1888 Thomas Spencer Vaughan "Tom Thumb" Phillips, British admiral, kia, "Force Z", South China Sea, 10 December 1941
1923 George Mendonsa, the sailor who kissed the nurse in Times Square, d. 2019

DIED

1867 Samuel Downey, last Revolutionary War veteran (b. Nov 31, 1761)
1871 John Bankhead Magruder, Maj. Gen., C.S.A., 63
1936 Billy Mitchell, able airman, self-centered, manipulative, b. 1879

 

20 Feb

1815 USS 'Constitution' takes HMSs 'Cyane' and 'Levant'
1839 Congress prohibits dueling in District of Columbia
1861 Confederate Department of the Navy established
1864 Battle of Olustee, Fla: Confederates win
1919 Anarchist bombing attempt at the American Woolen Co. mill, near Franklin, Mass., goes awry; the 4 attackers blow themselves up
1942 E. H. "Butch" O'Hare downs 5 Japanese aircraft, helping USS 'Lexington' (CV-2) beat off an air attack c. 300 miles ENE of Rabaul
1943 Admiralty Is: 'Albacore' (SS-218) sinks the Japanese DD 'Oshio'
1944 Allied bombers begin five days of intensive air attacks on German aircraft production facilities and air bases, while their fighter escorts devastate defending Luftwaffe squadrons
1945 Iwo Jima: Heavy fighting continues
1962 John Glenn becomes the first American in orbit
2016 Mass shooting in Kalamazoo: six die, 2 wounded

BORN
1809 Henry Walton Wessells, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1889
1820 Mahlon Dickerson Manson, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1895
1827 Edward Stuyvesant Bragg, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1912
1838 James Barbour Terrill, Brig Gen, C.S..A., d. 1864
1844 Joshua Slocum, first solo circumnavigator (1895-1898), lost at sea 1909

DIED

1895 Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, at 78
1966 Fleet Adm Chester W Nimitz, at 80 -- Learn More
1980 Alice Roosevelt Longworth, the last of TR's brood, at 94.
2010 Alexander Haig, Jr, General, National Security Advisor, at 85

 

21 Feb

1848 Publication of "The Communist Manifesto" by Marx & Engels, inspiring extraordinary slaughter
1862 Battle of Valverde, NM Terr: Confederate victory
1903 Washington: Cornerstone laid for the Army War College (now NDU)
1943 Russell Is.: Elms 43rd Infantry Div land unopposed
1944 PM Tojo takes over direct control of the Japanese Army as Chief of Staff.
1945 Fierce Japanese resistance encountered on Iwo Jima
1973 Israeli fighters down Libyan Airlines Boeing 727 over the Sinai, 108 die, 5 survive

BORN
1794 Antonio López de Santa Anna, perennial president/dictator of Mexico, inept commander, who did much to insure Texas independence, d. 1876 -- Learn More
1800 John Henry Winder, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1865
1802 George Douglas Ramsey, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1882
1829 Johnson Hagood, Brig Gen, C.S.A, d. 1898
1945 John E. Hill, American wargame designer, d. 2015

DIED
1919 Mary Edwards Walker, 86, feminist and physician, Civil War Army contract surgeon, awarded a Medal of Honor
1945 Benjamin Rush Toland, 1st Lt., USCMR, kia, Iwo Jima -- Learn More
1994 Johannes Steinhoff, 80, Luftwaffe ace (176 kills), later Chairman of the NATO Military Committee
2016 Capt. Eric Melrose "Winkle" Brown, RN, 97, who flew 487 different types of aircraft, made 2,407 deck landings at sea and 2,721 take offs

 

22 FEB

1819 Adams-Onis Treaty: Spain cedes Oregon & West Florida to the US
1821 Spain sells East Florida to United States
1864 Battle of Okolona, MS
1865 Battle of Wilmington, NC: Fort Anderson occupied by Federals
1909 The Great White Fleet returns to Hampton Roads after its world cruise
1935 Airplanes are prohibited from flying over the White House
1942 FDR orders MacArthur to leave the Philippines for Australia
1943 'Iowa' (BB-61) commissioned in Brooklyn -- Learn More
1943 Nazi Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels gives Japanese violinist Nejiko Suwa a 1722 Stradivarius, probably looted from a Jewish family, which postwar she uses to entertain imprisoned Japanese war criminals
1944 US Eighth Air Force erroneously bombs Enschede, Arnhem, & Nijmegen, the Netherlands, c. 800 die
1945 Iwo Jima: Marines make slow gains against heavy resistance
1958 Egypt and Syria merge to form the United Arab Republic; Syria secedes in 1961
1974 First woman naval aviator: Lt, j.g., Barbara Ann Allen

BORN
1732 George Washington, "First in War, first in Peace, first in the hearts of his Countrymen", d. 1799 -- Learn More
1798 Charles Mynn Thruston, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1873
1827 James Barnet Fry, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1894
1828 Robert Alexander Cameron, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1894
1881 James Reese Europe, American composer, Jazz master, and Bandmaster of the369th Infantry in the Great War, d. 1919
1932 Edward "Ted" Kennedy, sometime soldier, senator, d. 2009

DIED

1898 F. B. Baker, black postmaster, & his wife Dora, lynched in Lake City, SC
2007 CPL Howard V. Ramsey, last veteran of the American Expeditionary Forces, at 108 less one month -- Learn More
2007 George Jellicoe, 88, only son of ADM of the Fleet Jellicoe, Guardsman, SBS veteran, diplomat, cabinet member

 

23 Feb

1778 Baron von Steuben joins the Continental Army at Valley Forge
1795 USN Supply Corps founded as the Office of Purveyor of Supplies
1836 Santa Anna lays siege to the Alamo, which is stormed, March 6
1847 Zachary Taylor defeated Santa Anna in the Battle of Buena Vista/Angustura -- Learn More
1903 US leases Guantanamo Bay from Cuba for $4,000 a year; the checks have not been cashed since 1959
1919 USS 'Osmond Ingram' (DD-255) launched,1st Navy ship named for an enlisted man
1942 Japanese sub 'I-17' shells oil depot at Goleta, California, to no effect
1945 Iwo Jima: the 28th Marines raise the flag on Mount Suribachi -- Learn More
1945 Liberation of the captives in the Japanese internment camp at Los Baños, the Philippines
1971 William Calley confesses to My Lai massacre, implicates Ernest Medina

BORN
1818 Jeremy Francis Gilmer, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1883
1824 Lewis Cass Hunt, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1886
1838 Gilbert Moxley Sorrel, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1901
1904 William L Shirer, journalist, historian ("The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich"),
1915 Paul Tibbets, pilot of the 'Enola Gay', d. 2007

DIED
1781 George Taylor, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. 1716
1847 Lt. Col. Henry Clay, Jr., 2nd Kentucky Volunteers, kia at 36, Buena Vista
1848 John Q Adams, POTUS (1825-1829), at 80, on the floor of the House -- Learn More
1915 Robert Smalls, black Civil War naval hero and politician, at 75
1990 James Gavin, 82, Lt. Gen. US., then ambassador to France, who had led the 82nd Airborne into Normandy -- Learn More

 

24 Feb

1779 George Rogers Clark captures Vincennes from the British
1813 USS 'Hornet', under Captain James Lawrence, takes HMS 'Peacock'
1863 Bedford Forrest raids Brentwood, Tennessee
1865 The Confederate Senate votes down bill to put “200,000 negroes in the army”
1917 Britain gives the "Zimmermann Note" to the United States, revealing German efforts to get Mexico and Japan to go to war with the US
1920 Nazi Party founded in Munich, Hitler not joining until later
1933 League of Nations tells Japanese to pull out of Manchuria
1942 USS 'Enterprise' (CV-6) raids Wake Island
1942 Heavy fighting for the Sittang River bridgehead in Burma.
1942 The "Second Battle of Los Angeles"
1968 US and Vietnamese troops complete liberation of Hue
1991 Ground Phase of Operation Desert Storm begins, resulting in the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation within 100 hours

BORN
1723 John Burgoyne, British general & amateur playwright, who lost the big one at Saratoga, d. 1792
1811 Edward Dickinson Baker, Senator, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1861
1824 John Crawford Vaughn, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1875
1827 Charles Davis Jameson, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1862
1838 Thomas Benton Smith, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1923
1885 Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, d. 1966 -- Learn More

DIED
1828 Jacob Brown, 52, NY militiaman, CG, US Army (1821-1828) -- Learn More
1914 Maj. Gen., U.S.V, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, 85, citizen soldier
2007 Lother-Gunther Buchheim, U-bootsman, author ("Das Boot"), at 89

 

1942 Burma: Japanese threaten to flank the 17th Indian Div.
1944 Burma: British, U.S. and Chinese forces all advance.
1945 B-29s made the first fire bomb raid on Tokyo, and US Navy carrier aircraft raided the city -- Learn More


BORN

1808 James Bowen, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1886
1809 George Washington Cullum, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1892
1815 Robert Hall Chilton, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1879
1833 Clement Anselm Evans, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1911
1888 John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State (1953-59), Cold Warrior, d. 1959

DIED

1912 Grand Duke Guillaume IV of Luxembourg (1905-1912), 59
1978 Daniel "Chappie" James, 179 combat air missions, four star general, at 58
2007 CDR William R. Anderson, who took the 'Nautilus' to 90-North, at 85
2013 Allan B. Calhamer, 81, designer of "Diplomacy"

 

26 Feb

1775 Battle of Salem, Mass.: British expedition to seize colonists' arms is turned back peacefully -- Learn More
1862 Combat of Woodburn, KY
1863 Lincoln signs the Legal Tender Act, establishing greenbacks
1918 Col. Douglas MacArthur accompanies a French patrol on a trench raid near Luneville, for which he is eventually awarded the Croix de guerre and the Silver Star
1936 Hitler decrees production of the Volkswagen
1940 US Air Defense Command established at Mitchell Field, LI, NY
1942 Aircraft transport USS 'Langley' (AV-4/ex-CV-1) sunk off Java with 32 aircraft aboard.
1942 USN aviator Don Mason signals, "Sighted sub, sank same"
1944 USSs 'Bennington' (CV-20) and 'Steamer Bay' (CVE-87) are launched
1949 USAF plane begins first nonstop around-the-world flight
1952 PM Winston Churchill announces that Britain has the atomic bomb
1993 Islamist terrorists bomb the World Trade Center, 7 die

BORN
1832 John George Nicolay, Lincoln's secretary, d. 1901
1846 William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, scout, showman, d. 1917
1888 Husband E. Kimmel, admiral, didn't understand what a "war warning" was, d. 1968
1918 Edward Hamilton Waldo, later known as Theodore Sturgeon, American science fiction and horror writer and critic, d. 1985.

DIED

1790 Brig. Gen. Francis Marion, "The Swamp Fox" -- Revolutionary War guerrilla, c. 63
1813 Robert Livingston, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, at 66
1903 Richard Gatling, inventor of the first practical "machine gun", at 84

 

27 Feb

1776 The Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge (N.C.): Patriot forces breaks up Loyalist militia.
1864 Confederates open "Camp Sumter" for POWs, near Andersonville
1942 Brig. Gen. Ralph McT. Pennell told off a Congressman -- Learn More
1991 Operation Desert Storm: ground operations end, Iraqis ousted from Kuwait

BORN
1807 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet ("Paul Revere's Ride", "The Song of Hiawatha," etc), educator, and scholar (translator of Dante), d. 1882
1823 Ferdinand Van Derveer, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1892
1823 William Buel Franklin, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1903
1827 Richard W Johnson, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1897
1886 Hugo L Black, veteran, Senator, Supreme Court Justice, d. 1971

DIED
1844 Nicholas Biddle, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, at 85
1859 Philip Barton Key, 40, son of Francis Scott Key, shot by Dan Sickles in front of the White House for having seduced his wife
2002 Spike Milligan, Royal Artilleryman, humorist ("Adolph Hitler: My Part in His Downfall"), b. 1918.
2006 Robert L. Scott, Jr., Flying Tiger, USAF general, author ("God is My Co-Pilot"), b. 1908
2011 Frank Buckles, 110, AEF ambulanceman, WW II P/W, the last Doughboy
2013 Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr., 78, pianist, hero of the Cold War
2015 Leonard Nimoy, 83, soldier, actor (“Mr. Spock”)

 

28 Feb

1778 The Rhode Island General Assembly authorizes enlistment of black troops
1836 The Battle of San Patricio: Mexicans defeat Texians in a surprise cavalry attack
1844 USS 'Princeton': 12-inch gun "Peacemaker" explodes with heavy casualties -- Learn More
1847 Battle of the Sacramento River: US forces under Alexander Doniphan defeat the Mexicans in Chihuahua -- Learn More
1864 Kilpatrick's Raid on Richmond begins (to 10 March)
1893 USS 'Indiana' (BB-1) launched, the first American first class battleship
1933 Hitler bans the German Communist Party
1944 Alamo Scouts are withdrawn from Los Negros, as Allied air strikes continue
1944 Mounted 2nd Cav Div (Colored) ships out for North Africa.
1990 65th American manned space mission, Atlantis 6, begins

BORN
1817 James Craig, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1888
1822 Matthew Duncan Ector, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1879
1824 John Creed Moore, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1910
1825 Quincy Adams Gillmore, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1888
1893 Col. John W. Thomason, USMC, "The Kipling of the Corps", d. 1944
1907 Milton Caniff, cartoonist ("Terry & the Pirates", "Steve Canyon"), d. 1988
1926 Svetlana Alliluyeva, Stalin's daughter, American, d. 2011

DIED

1781 Richard Stockton, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, at 50
1844 SecState Abel P Upshur, SecNav Thomas W Gilmer, Rep Virgil Maxey of Maryland, Capt Beverly Kennon, Chief, Bureau of Construction, Equipment, & Repair, David Gardiner of New York, the father of Julia Gardiner, fiancée to Pres John Tyler, presidential slave-valet Armistead Tyler, and two others, explosion, USS 'Princeton'
1942 Karel Willem Doorman, 52, Dutch admiral, Commander ABDA Force, kia Battle of the Java Sea
1966 Charles A Bassett II (34) and Elliot McKay See Jr (34), astronauts, in a T-38 crash
2007 Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., 89, OSS veteran, historian ("The Age of Jackson")

 

1 MAR
1780 Pennsylvania adopts "gradual emancipation" of slaves
1781 Continental Congress adopts the "Articles of Confederation"
1781 The Articles of Confederation went into effect, establishing a perpetual union of "The United States of America"
1836 Texas Convention meets at Washington-on-the-Brazos to consider Independence from Mexico
1913 Federal income tax takes effect, as per 16th amendment
1942 Battle of Bali Strait: US destroyers 'Ford', 'Paul Jones', 'Edwards', & 'Alden' escape a Japanese DesDiv
1942 Battle of Sunda Strait: Cruisers USS 'Houston' & HMAS 'Perth', and destroyer HNMS 'Evertsen' go down fighting around 0100
1942 Battle off Borneo: HMS 'Exeter' & destroyers HMS 'Encounter' and USS 'Pope' sunk by Japanese heavy cruisers
1954 Puerto Rican nationalists open fire in Congress, 5 wounded
1971 Washington: Bomb goes off in a men's room in the Capitol, apparently set by the Weather Underground
2008 USS 'New York' (LPD-21), incorporating steel from the World Trade Center, is christened at New Orleans

BORN

1794 William Worth, US soldier and Brig. Gen, 1812, Mexico, d. 1849 -- Learn More
1808 William Radford, Rear Adm, U.S., d. 1890
1811 Robert Christie Buchanan, Brig. Gen. U.S., d. 1878
1822 Albin Francisco Schoepf, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1886
1822 Charles Champion Gilbert, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1903
1828 James Fleming Fagan, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1893
1831 Hiram Bronson Granbury, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1864
1904 Glenn Miller, military bandmaster, MIA, 1944
1924 Donald "Deke" Slayton, USAF, astronaut, d. 1993
1941 "Captain America", in Captain America Comics #1
1961 The Peace Corps

DIED

1985 Eugene List, concert pianist, GI, who played for the "Big Three" at Potsdam and for several presidents, b. 1918