Today in Military History 1 Jan - 31 Mar

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3 Mar

1776 Americans begin shelling British troops in Boston
1807 Congress bans the importation of slaves effective Jan 1, 1808
1836 Texas declares independence from Mexico [See Births, 1793]
1859 Paddle steamer USS 'Saginaw' commissioned, the first American warship built on the West Coast, at Mare Island
1867 Congress abolishes peonage in New Mexico
1867 First Reconstruction Act passed by Congress
1867 The James gang robs a bank in Savannah, Mo, 1 k
1867 US Navy Civil Engineering Corps founded
1938 15th Infantry leaves China after 26 years in garrison at Tientsin & Peking.
1942 Action South of Java: USS 'Pillsbury' (DD-227) sunk by Japanese heavy cruisers
1943 Battle of the Bismarck Sea: Japanese convoy attacked by USAAF aircraft
1944 Philippines: US troops capture Momote on Los Negros

BORN
1793 Samuel P. Houston, President of Texas (1836-38, 1841-44)
1824 Henry Beebee Carrington, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1912
1828 Jefferson Columbus Davis, Brig Gen, U.S., unindicted murderer of Maj.Gen. William "Bull" Nelson, d. 1879
1829 Carl Schurz, "Red '48-er", Maj Gen, U.S., Senator, d. 1906 at 77
1904 "Dr. Seuss" -, who fought Nazis with a pen, and amused generations of children, d. 1991
1932 Frank Peterson, USMC aviator and general, d. 2015

DIED
1939 Howard Carter, 64, who found Tut's tomb in 1922, allegedly dead by an ancient curse, albeit a slow acting one
1977 Edgar Mowrer, Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and author, at 84 -- Learn More
1987 Randolph Scott, 89, AEF mortarman, actor ("Gung Ho!")
2015 Dean Hess, 97, USAF "Flying Preacher" with 300 combat missions

 

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4 Mar

1776 the Continental Navy captured Nassau in the Bahamas -- Learn More
1789 U.S. Constitution goes into effect
1814 Battle of Longwood: Americans defeat the British, near Wardsville, Ontario.
1861 CSA adopts the "Stars & Bars" as a national flag
1877 Five-times wounded veteran Rutherford B Hayes inaugurated as president
1881 Former Maj Gen James A Garfield inaugurated as president
1885 Draft-dodger Grover Cleveland becomes 20th president
1889 Bvt Brig Gen. Benjamin Harrison inaugurated as 21st president
1893 Draft-dodger Grover Cleveland becomes 22nd president
1897 Bvt Maj William McKinley inaugurated as 23rd president
1924 The U.S.S. 'Arizona' (BB 39), anchored in the North River off W. 103rd St for Fleet Week -- Learn More
1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as 32nd President
1942 USS 'Enterprise' (CV-6) raids Marcus Island
1942 2 Japanese flying boats, refueled by sub at French Frigate Shoal, raid Oahu
1943 Battle of the Bismarck Sea ends: Japanese lost 12 ships, thousands of men.
1944 Responding to reports that Japanese troops cursed his name during a banzai attack, Babe Ruth takes to the streets of New York to help raise money for the Red Cross
1945 Princess Elizabeth of England (later Queen Elizabeth II), 18, joins the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service as a driver.
1945 US Army Air Force B-24s accidentally bomb Zurich
1991 Gulf War: Iraq releases P/Ws -- 6 US, 3 British, & 1 Italian

BORN

1798 John Joseph Abercrombie, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1877
1826 John Buford, Maj Gen, U.S., who opened the ball at Gettysburg, d. 1863
1828 Elisha Franklin "Bull" Paxton, Brig Gen, C.S.A., kia, Chancellorsville, 1863
1864 David W. Taylor, sailor, naval architect, invented model towing basin, d. 1940

DIED

1858 Commo Matthew C. Perry, 63, who opened Japan
1883 Alexander Hamilton Stephens, 71, sometime Vice-President of the Confederate States of America
1906 John McAllister Schofield, 74, soldier, Secretary of War

 

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5 Mar

1770 The Boston Massacre
1821 Veteran James Monroe is inaugurated as the 5th president, having postponing the ceremony by one day to avoid the Sabbath
1863 Battle of Thompson's Station, TN
1864 the 20th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment received its colors in Union Square, NY
1906 First Battle of Bud Dajo: U.S. troops inflict a devastating defeat on the Moros of Jolo, the Philippines
1943 USS 'Grampus' (SS-207) is probably sunk in Blackett Strait, Solomon Islands
1944 Admiralty Is: U.S. Navy ships bombard Manus
1945 US VII Corps captures Cologne
1946 Winston Churchill makes his "Iron Curtain" speech, Fulton, Mo -- Learn More
1960 Elvis is honorably discharged from the US Army -- Learn More

BORN

1825 John Dunovant, Brig Gen, C.S.A., KIA 1864
1853 Howard Pyle, illustrator ("The Pirates"), d. 1911
1924 Christopher Hibbert, soldier with the Military Cross, historian - "Il Duce," "Garibaldi & His Enemies," d. 2008
1934 Sidney Shachnow, Lithuanian-born, Jewish Holocaust survivor, later Green Beret legend, Commander, U.S. Army-Berlin, and Maj. Gen., US, d. 2018
1942 The US Navy Seabees

DIED
1953 Josef V Stalin, Soviet dictator (c. 1926-1953), mass murderer, in bed at 73 -- Learn More

 

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6 Mar
1822 USS 'Enterprise' captures four pirate ships in the Gulf of Mexico
1831 Edgar Allen Poe is expelled from West Point
1836 Santa Anna's Mexicans storm the Alamo, after a 13 day siege -- Learn More
1836 After a thirteen day siege, Mexican troops stormed the Alamo of San Antonio -- Learn More
1861 Confederate Congress calls for 100,000 volunteers - a month before Ft. Sumter
1865 Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida
1916 Pancho Villa raids Columbus, NM, 17 die
1918 USN collier 'Cyclops' disappears at sea, inspiring many woo-woo theories
1943 Solomons: U.S. ships sink two Japanese DDs off Vila.
1944 USAAF begins daylight bombing of Berlin
1944 William Patrick Hitler, Der Führer’s nephew, enlisted in the U.S. Navy.
1945 Luzon: 1st Cav Div is relieved by the 43rd Inf Div.
1947 XB-35, 4-engine flying wing propellor bomber, makes its 1st test flight, Muroc, CA
1966 Barry Sadler's "Ballad of the Green Berets" hits #1 (On the charts 13 weeks)
1967 Selective Service System orders induction of Muhammad Ali
1967 Stalin's daughter Svetlana Allilujeva seeks political asylum in US
1970 Explosion at a Weather Underground bomb-making operation in a house in Greenwich Village, 3 terrorists die
1990 SR-71 sets a transcontinental record, 2,404 miles in 1:08:17

BORN
1820 Horatio Gouverneur Wright, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1899
1831 Philip "Little Phil" Sheridan, Gen, U.S., d. 1888
1835 Charles Ewing, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1883
1923 Ed McMahon, Marine aviator, California Air Guardsman, TV personality, d. 2008

DIED
1836 Jim Bowie (39), William Barret Travis (26), James Butler Bonham (29), David Crockett (49), & c. 200 other Texians
1932 John Philip Sousa, soldier, sailor, marine, bandmaster, composer, at 77
1933 Mayor Anton J Cermak of Chicago, 59, wounded Feb 15 by an assassin who was trying to kill FDR.
1984 Martin Niemöller, WW I U-boat skipper, anti-Nazi clergyman, at 92

 

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7 Mar
1774 British close the port of Boston to all commerce
1778 USS 'Randolph' (32 guns) blows up fighting HMS 'Yarmouth' (64), c. 310 die
1850 D Webster endorses the "Compromise of 1850" as necessary to avoid civil war
1862 Battle of Pea Ridge/Elkhorn Tavern: Samuel Curtis' Yanks defeat Earl Van Dorn's Rebs (6th-7th)
1876 Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for the telephone
1936 Hitler breaks the Treaty of Versailles, sends troops into the Rhineland, and the Allies fail to act
1941 Lt. Gen. Walter Short assumed command of the Hawaiian Department -- Learn More
1942 First black cadets graduate from the USAAF flying school at Tuskegee
1943 Japanese refuse a German request to join war against Russia..
1945 Troops of the US 9th Armored Div, commanded by German-American Lt. Karl Timmerman, captured the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine at Remagen
1974 Wreck of the USS 'Monitor' is located off Cape Hatteras

BORN

1707 Stephen Hopkins, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1785
1827 Henry DeLamar Clayton, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1889
1831 John Bratton, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1898
1832 Orlando Metcalfe Poe, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1895
1885 John Cronyn Tovey was born, later Admiral of the Fleet, Baron Tovey, d. 1971 -- Learn More
1885 Admiral of the Fleet, Baron Tovey, John Cronyn Tovey, at 85 -- Learn More

DIED
1862 Brig. Gen. Ben McCulloch, CSA, 49, kia, Pea Ridge/Elkhorn Tavern
1862 Brig. Gen. McIntosh, CSA, c. 34, kia, Pea Ridge/Elkhorn Tavern
1999 Stanley Kubrick, director ("Paths of Glory"), b. 1928

 

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8 March

1861 Union troops capture St Augustine, Fl.
1862 Battle of Hampton Roads I: CSS 'Virginia' & gunboats sink two sailing frigates, threatening the Union blockade -- Learn More
1865 Battle of Kingston/Wilcox's Ridge/Wise's Forks, NC
1865 The Confederacy adopts a new flag, adding a red band along the fly of the "Stainless Banner"
1915 The old cruiser 'Baltimore' (C-3) is recommissioned as a minelayer (CM-1), the first in the USN
1950 First woman medical officer assigned to a US naval vessel: B R Walters
1950 USSR announces they have developed the atomic bomb
1958 'Wisconsin' (BB-64) decommissioned; for the first time in 62 years the USN has no battleships in commission
1965 Vietnam: First US combat troops arrive (3,500 Marines)

BORN
1799 Simon Cameron, crooked SecWar (1861-1862), d. 1889
1836 Matthew Calbraith Butler, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1909
1841 Oliver W Holmes Jr., one of those "touched by fire", Supreme Court Justice, d. 1935
1891 Sam Jaffe, actor ("Gunga Din"), d. 1984
2004 Muhammad Zaidan, 55, also known as Abu 'Abbas or Muhammad ‘Abbas, founder of the PLO, professional terrorist, d. in US custody in Iraq

DIED
1862 Nathaniel Gordon, c. 28, slave smuggler, hanged in New York
1874 Millard Fillmore, militiaman, President (1850-53), at 74 -- Learn More
1889 John Ericsson, 85, designer of the 'Monitor'
1916 Fred T. Jane, 50, military journalist, Sciencefictioneer, game designer -- "Jane's Fighting Ships," "The Naval War Game"
1930 William Howard Taft, 72, President (1909-1913), SecWar (1904-1908), Chief Justice (1921-1930)
1996 Lt Col John "Mad Jack" or "Fighting Jack" Churchill, DSO, MC, 89, who fought WW II with a longbow, claymore, & bagpipes
2013 Mildred Dalton Manning, 98, Army Nurse, last surviving "Angel of Corregidor"
2013 Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist, 90, German officer, anti-Hitler conspirator, last surviving veteran of the "July Plot"

 

[Salty]

9 Mar

1798 Dr George Balfour is appointed the first surgeon in the USN
1861 Confederate Congress authorizes paper currency in bills of $50, $100, $500, & $1,000
1862 Battle of Hampton Roads II: USS 'Monitor' fights CSS 'Virginia' to a draw, preserving the blockade
1864 Ulysses S. Grant promoted to lieutenant general and commanding general
1924 Italy annexes Fiume
1942 Ernest J. King, COMMINCH U.S. Fleet, is also named CNO -- Learn More
1945 US B-29s drop 1,665 tons of incendiaries on Tokyo, creating a firestorm; by dawn on the 10th c. 80,000-120,000 have died, the highest toll in a single air raid, exceeding even the atomic bombs

BORN
1454 Amerigo Vespucci, explorer, d. 1512
1773 Isaac Hull, USN, who commanded the 'Constitution' in her fight with HMS ' Guerriere',
1839 Felix Robertson, Brig Gen, C.S.A., the only Texas-born general in the Civil War. d. 1928
1922 Hiroo Onoda, later a Japanese Army officer, who did not surrender until 1974, on his 52nd birthday, d. 2014
1959 Barbie
1970 Melissa Rathburn-Nealy, American soldier, POW, Iraq, 1991

DIED
1949 Walter Short, 68, sometime Commander, Hawaiian Department, who didn't understand the words "war warning" -- Learn More
2005 Redmond A. Simonsen, innovative wargamer, S&T art director, at 62

 

[Salty]

10 Mar

1783 John Barry's USS 'Alliance' takes HMS 'Sybil'
1849 Lincoln applies for a patent for a technique to lift grounded barges; he remains the only president to hold a patent
1880 The Salvation Army invades the US from Britain
1905 Japanese Army captures Mukden from the Russians
1927 Hitler barred from speaking in Bavaria
1942 Luzon: MacArthur appoints MG Jonathan Wainwright commander of US forces in the Philippines
1942 NY's 27th Inf Div sails for Hawaii - first division to ship out in WW II.
1942 Vice Adm Wilson Brown's TF 11 (carriers 'Lexington' & 'Yorktown') raids Japanese shipping at Lae and Salamaua
1944 Severe restrictions are imposed on all private travel in the UK, in preparation for D-Day
1964 US begins reconnaissance flights over East Germany
1966 North Vietnamese capture US Green Beret Camp in the Ashau Valley
1969 James Earl Ray pleads guilty of killing Martin Luther King, Jr.

BORN

1824 Thomas James Churchill, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1905
1830 Robert Lowry, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1910
1832 William Henry Penrose, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1903

DIED
1913 Harriet Tubman, intrepid Underground Railroad conductor, at c. 93

 

[Salty]

11 Mar

1847 The U.S. Army raised the [third] 15th Infantry for service in Mexico -- Learn More
1861 The Confederate convention in Montgomery adopts a "permanent" constitution
1862 Lincoln appoints Henry Halleck general-in-chief, limiting George B. McClellen's command to the Army of the Potomac
1865 Sherman occupies Fayetteville, NC
1941 FDR signs the Lend-Lease Act -- Learn More
1942 Bataan: MacArthur leaves for Mindanao on a PT-Boat
1942 Paris: First deportation train leaves for Auschwitz
1943 American Volunteer Group ("Flying Tigers") renamed Fourteenth Air Force
1945 Kamikaze hit USS 'Randolph' (CV 15) at Ulithi Atoll, heavy casualties
1990 Lithuania declares independence from the USSR

BORN
1731 Robert Treat Paine, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1814
1779 The US Army Corps of Engineers
1811 Marsena Rudolph Patrick, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1888
1818 John Wilkins Whitfield, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1879
1822 Allison Nelson, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1862
1832 William Ruffin Cox, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1919
1840 Edmund Kirby, Jr, Brig Gen, U.S., d/w 1863
1892 Raoul Walsh, director ("Battle Cry", "Captain Horatio Hornblower"), d. 1980
1899 King Frederick IX of Denmark (1947-72)


DIED
1944 Hendrik van Loon, 62, impish historian ("Van Loon's Lives", etc.)
1957 Richard E Byrd, Rear Adm, US, arctic explorer, at 68
2012 Whitney Houston, 48, vocalist, who put "The Star Spangled Banner" into the Top 100 for nearly two years -- Learn More

 

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12 Mar

1865 Skirmish near Lone Jack, Missouri
1943 Washington: "Pacific Military Conference" reviews war plans.
1947 US announces the "Truman Doctrine," to contain communism
1951 North Korean/Red Chinese troops driven out of Seoul
1999 Poland, Hungary, & the Czech Republic join NATO

BORN
1816 David Stuart, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1868
1818 John Lorimer Worden, who would command the 'Monitor', d. 1897
1823 William Flank Perry, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1901
1827 John Robert Jones, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1901
1827 William Richard Terry, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1897
1830 William Felix Brantley, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1870
1863 Gabriele D'Annunzio, poet & condottiero, d. 1938
1864 Charles Young, USMA 1889, colonel in the Regular Army, d. 19
1911 William Patrick Hitler, who fought Uncle Adolf in the USN (1944-1947), d. 1987
1923 Walter "Wally" Schirra, Jr, USN, astronaut, d. 2007

DIED

1925 Sun Yat-Sen, 58, founder of the Chinese Republic
1944 Col. John W. Thomason, USMC, 51, "The Kipling of the Corps"
1945 Anne Frank, of typhus at 14
1947 Winston Churchill, 75, popular American author ("Mr. Keegan's Elopement", "The Crisis", etc), not to be confused with Winston S. Churchill
2008 Lazare Ponticelli, 110, the last French, last Foreign Legion, and last Italian veteran of WW I

 

[Salty]

13 Mar

1836 The Battle of King's Defeat: Texians routed by larger Mexican force
1865 The Confederacy authorizes enlistment of 300,000 slaves as soldiers
1942 Julia Flikke, of the Nurse Corps, becomes the first woman colonel in the US Army
1943 Abortive assassination attempt against Hitler during a flight from Smolensk to Rastenburg
1954 General Giap's Viet Minh attack That Bien Phu
1963 Russians conduct two reconnaissance flights over Alaska
1979 New Jewel Movement overthrows the Gairy dictatorship in Grenada, and imposes its own

BORN
1818 Albion Parris Howe, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1897
1820 Louis Hebert, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1901
1877 Charles D. Herron, Commanding General, Hawaii 1938-1941, d. 1977 -- Learn More
1913 William J Casey, CIA director (1981-87), d. 1987
1914 Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare, naval ace, MoH, mia 1943.
1942 The U.S. Army K9 Corps

DIED

1901 Benjamin Harrison, 67, veteran and President (1889-1893) -- Learn More
1941 A Coenradi, B Iron, E Hellenbyn, and J Eyl, Dutch resistance fighters, executed by Nazis
1943 Stephen Vincent Benét, Puletizer Prize winning oet ("John Brown's Body"), b. 1898
1945 Charles Dick, 87, militiaman, congressman, senator, - "Father of the National Guard" -- Learn More

 

[Salty]

14 Mar

1812 Congress authorizes bonds to finance War of 1812
1836 Battle of Refugio: Mexicans capture Texian force
1862 Battle of New Bern, NC
1917 SecNav Josephus Daniels authorizes the U.S. Navy to recruit women as "yeomen, radio electricians, and other useful ratings" under the terms of the Naval Reserve Force Act
1919 After a parade up Fifth Avenue, the colors of the 367th Infantry ("The Black Devils"), New York City's black draftee regiment, are presented to the Union League Club
1933 Winston Churchill calls for better air defense of Britain
1941 German Air Raid on Clydbank: After two night of bombing nearly every building the town is damaged or destroyed, more than 500 are dead, and over 50,000 homeless
1942 MacArthur arrives on Mindanao by PT-boat, from Bataan en route to Australia.
1945 B-29s raid Osaka, 13,000 casualties.
1945 RAF bombs railway link at Hanover-Hamm
1945 HM South African Frigate Natal sank the German submarine U-714 in the North Sea, four hours after being commissioned
1946 Ticker tape parade on Broadway for Winston Churchill
1953 Nikita Khrushchev succeeds Malenkov as secretary of the CPUSSR
1991 The Emir returns to Kuwait, newly liberated from Iraqi occupation

BORN
1804 Johann Strauss "the Elder", composer ("The Radetzky March"), d. 1894
1808 Catharinus Putnam Buckingham, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1888
1816 Montgomery Dent Corse, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1895
1823 Roswell Sabine Ripley, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1887
1833 John Sappington Marmaduke, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1887
1854 Thomas R. Marshall,Vice-President of the U.S. (1913-1920), d. 1925 -- Learn More
1879 Albert Einstein, greatest scientist of the twentieth century, d. 1955
1928 Frank Borman, astronaut
1933 The Civilian Conservation Corps
1934 Eugene Cernan, USN, astronaut, last surviving person to have walked on the moon, d. 2017
1939 William B Lenoir, astronaut, d. 2010

DIED

1883 Karl Marx, who inspired the greatest exploitation of the masses, b. 1818
2018 Stephen Hawking, theoretical physicist and cosmologist, at 76

 

[Salty]

15 Mar

1781 Battle of Guilford Court House: The Brits barely defeat the Yankees, and decide to retire from the Carolinas into Virginia, where they will have an unfortunate encounter with George Washington at Yorktown
1930 USS 'Nautilus' (SS 168) is launched at Mare Is., California
1942 Hawaii: NY's 27th Inf Div arrives, first division to land overseas in WW II.
1943 U.S. Navy forces in the Central Pacific are designated the Fifth Fleet.
1944 Admiralty Is.: U.S. Army invades Manus
1957 Britain becomes the third nation to detonate a nuclear bomb
1978 Israel raids Lebanon to rid area of Palestine guerrillas

BORN
1493 Anne Pierre Adrien, Duke of Montmorency, Marshal of France, d. 1567
1638 Shunzhi, Emperor of China (1643-1661)
1767 Andrew Jackson, soldier and president (1828-37), d. 1845 -- Learn More
1811 Robert Allen, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1886
1831 Edward Aylesworth Perry, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1889
1905 Joe Ross, actor ("Sgt Ritzik" - the Phil Silvers Show), d. 1982
1919 The American Legion, in Paris
1924 Richard Topus, in Brooklyn, senior US Army pigeonmaster, 1942-1945, d. 2008
1932 Alan Lavern Bean, USN, astronaut (Apollo 12, Skylab 3)

DIED
1937 Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 46, American author, creator of 'Cthulhu'
1944 Otto von Below, 87. German general, Victor of Caporetto -- Learn More

 

[Salty]

16 March

1861 Confederate government appoints commissioners to Britain & France in the hope of securing recognition or aid
1865 Battle of Averysboro, NC
1882 US Senate ratifies treaty establishing the International Red Cross
1935 Hitler announces German rearmament, after years of covert efforts under the Weimar Republic, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles
1941 The Pennsylvania Railroad's Cleveland-Pittsburgh express is derailed near Baden, Pa., by Ukrainian fascists acting in German pay; 5 dead,. c. 114 injured
1944 USS 'Tautog' (SS-199) sinks Japanese DD 'Shirakumo' off Hokkaido
1945 Iwo Jima: organized Japanese resistance ends, mopping up continues.
1966 Gemini 8 launched with Armstrong & Scott, aborted after 6.5 orbits
1968 My Lai Massacre, perhaps 450 die
1985 Hezbollah terrorists capture Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson, hold him until 1991

BORN
1739 George Clymer, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1813
1751 James Madison, militiaman, President (1809-1817), d. 1836 -- Learn More
1802 George Archibald McCall, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1868
1802 U.S. Military Academy, at West Point
1812 Henry Dwight Terry, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1869
1822 John Pope, Maj Gen, U.S., who did very badly at Second Bull Run, d. 1892
1832 Charles Camp Doolittle, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1903
1932 Walter M Cunningham, USMC, astronaut (Apollo 7)

DIED
1838 Nathaniel Bowditch, oceanographer ("American Practical Navigator"), at 64
1930 Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 60, Spanish general and dictator (1923-30)
1978 Aldo Moro, 61, former prime minister of Italy, assassinated by terrorists
1995 Simon Frazier, Lord Lovat, commando (Loflotten, Hardelot, Dieppe, Relief of Pegasus Bridge at Normandy), at 83

 

[Salty]

17 Mar
1776 British forces evacuate Boston; George Washington orders an extra gill of whiskey to every Irish soldier in the army
1863 Battle of Kelly's Ford, VA
1913 F D. Roosevelt is appointed Asst Sec of the Navy (1913-1921) -- Learn More
1942 MacArthur flies from Mindanao to Australia in a B-17.
1944 Admiralty Is: 1st Cav Div captures Lorengau airfield, Manus
1945 B-29s raid Kobe, c. 15,000 casualties.
1966 US mini-sub locates H-bomb in the Mediterranean by Palomares, Spain
1969 Golda Meir becomes Israeli PM (1969-1974)

BORN
1473 King James IV of Scotland (1488-1513)
1828 Patrick Cleburne, Irish-born Confederate Maj. Gen., kia 1863, Battle of Franklin
1832 Walter Quintin Gresham, Brig Gen., U.S., d. 1895
1843 Henry Ware Lawton, Volunteer of 1861, later Maj. Gen., highest ranking officer killed in action in the Philippine-American War, 1899 -- Learn More
1930 James B Irwin, USAF, astronaut (Apollo 15)
1936 Thomas K Mattingly II, USN, astronaut

DIED
461 St Patrick
1891 Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte -- "Plon-Plon", 68, nephew of Napoleon, French politician and soldier (Crimea, Italy)
1933 Charles King, 88, soldier, author, arguably the last Civil War veteran to serve in uniform -- Learn More

 

[Salty]

18 March

1921 Peace of Riga: Ends Polish-Soviet War
1944 Mt Vesuvius begins an eleven day eruption, slightly inconveniencing World War II
1944 U.S. Task Group 50.1 bombards Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
1945 Massive USAAF raid on Berlin, c. 1250 bombers
1945 US Task Force 58 attacks targets on Kyushu
1952 Communist offensive in Korea begins
1991 USS Princeton (CG 59) was mined in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm -- Learn More

BORN
1782 John Caldwell Calhoun, greatest Secretary of War, architect of secession, d. 1850
1829 William Robertson Boggs, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1911
1837 Grover Cleveland, draft dodger, President (1885-89, 93-97) -- Learn More
1839 Francis Fessenden, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1906
1848 Nathaniel Herreshoff, yacht & torpedo boat designer, d. 1938
1858 Rudolph Diesel, who made a little engine, d. 1913
1869 N Chamberlain, British Prime Minister (1937-40), d.1940, appeaser or wily politician
1890 The U.S. Naval Militia, in Massachusetts
1893 Wilfred Owen, soldier-poet ("Anthem for a Doomed Youth"), kia 1918

DIED
1965 King Farouk of Egypt (1936-52), at 45
1983 King Umberto II of Italy (May 9-June 12, 1946), 78

 

[Salty]

19 Mar

1865 Battle of Bentonville: Last major Civil War engagement in the East
1898 USS 'Oregon' (BB 3) began an epic 14,000 mile voyage from San Francisco around South America to Key West -- Learn More
1920 The US Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time
1942 FDR orders men between 45 & 64 to register for non-military duty
1945 USS 'Franklin' (CV 13) is hit by Japanese air attack, 724 die, 265 wounded
1945 Kure Naval Base: USN air raids destroy last of the IJN.
1947 Chiang Kai-Shek's forces captures Jenan from the Communists
1951 Herman Wouk's novel "The Caine Mutiny" is published
1989 Maiden flight of the Boeing V-22 Osprey VTOL aircraft
2003 Operation Iraqi Freedom begins (2003-)

BORN
1813 David Livingstone, who got "lost" in Africa, d. 1873
1817 Lewis Henry Little, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1862
1819 David Henry Williams, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1891
1821 Francis Barretto Spinola, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1884
1827 Alexander Shaler, Brig Gen., U.S., d. 1911
1837 Robert Daniel Johnston, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1919
1848 Wyatt Earp, lawman, gambler, d. 1929
1860 William Jennings Bryan, Colonel, U.S.V., perennial presidential candidate, d. 1925
1883 Gen. Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, US/Chinese commander, CBI, d. 1946
1925 Brent Scowcroft, Air Force general, NSA advisor

DIED
1814 Col. H Sturgeon, Royal Artillery, c. 33, kia under curious circumstances -- Learn More
1894 Anna Ella Carroll, advisor to generals and presidents, at 78 -- Learn More
1950 Edgar Rice Burroughs, war correspondent, novelist ("John Carter of Mars", "Tarzan"), 74

 

[Salty]

20 Mar

1760 Great Fire at Boston, leaves much of the city in ruins
1833 Cdr Geisinger of USS 'Peacock' & the King of Siam negotiate a commercial treaty
1836 Battle of Coleto Creek: Texian garrison of Goliad surrenders to the Mexican Army
1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is published
1896 Marines land in Nicaragua to protect US citizens
1918 1Lt. H A. Bootz led a raid by the 'Fighting 69th' into No Man's Land -- Learn More
1922 First US carrier commissioned: 'Langley' (CV-1) -- Learn More
1933 The Nazis open their first concentration camp, at Dachau, near Munich
1939 Naval Research Lab proposes development of nuclear power
1942 Gen MacArthur vows "I shall return"
1952 Final ratification of peace treaty restoring full sovereignty to Japan
2003 Widespread coalition air strikes in Iraq

BORN
1804 Neal Dow, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1897
1812 George Bibb Crittenden, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1880
1823 John Echols, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1896
1825 William Nelson Rector Beall, Brig Gen, C.S.A.
1830 Eugene Asa Carr, Brig Gen., U.S., d. 1910
1856 James Webb Cook Hayes, presidential son, businessman, soldier with a Medal of Honor, d. 1934 -- Learn More

DIED

2004 Juliana Luise Emma Marie Wilhelmina van Oranje-Nassau, 95, sometime Queen of the Netherlands (1948-1980)
2005 Andrew Toti, inventor of the "Mae West" life jacket, at 89

 

[Salty]

21 Mar

1788 Second Great Fire of New Orleans: c. 800-850 buildings houses burn after a votive candle ignites some curtains
1866 Congress authorizes a national soldiers' homes
1942 Jimmy Stewart enlists in the USAAF
1943 Assassination attempt on Hitler fails
1945 Navy Chaplain Rabbi Roland Gittelson dedicates a cemetery on Iwo Jima --

1967 Battle of Suoi Tre: Major US victory over the VC/NVA
1984 Soviet sub collides with USS 'Kitty Hawk' (CV-63) off Japan
1988 The Amerasian Homecoming Act went into effect -- Learn More (scroll down_

BORN
1713 Francis Lewis, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1803
1946 The Strategic Air Command

DIED
1617 Pocahontas -- Mrs. John Rolfe, about 22, in England
1958 Cyril M. Kornbluth, 34, Battle of Bulge Bronze Star, American sciencefictioneer
2013 Herschel Schacter, 95, sometime US Army Chaplain who directed relief efforts at Buchenwald and later headed the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

 

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22 Mar
1794 Congress prohibits the export of slaves from the United States.
1917 3rd Lt. Elmer F. Stone becomes USCG Aviator No. 1
1945 Patton's Third Army crosses the Rhine -- Learn More
1979 Israeli parliament ratifies the peace treaty with Egypt

BORN
1817 Braxton Bragg, unsuccessful Confederate general, d. 1876 -- Learn More
1819 William Wirt Adams, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1888
1822 Seth Williams, Brig Gen., U.S., d. 1866
1824 William Henry Chase Whiting, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1865
1834 Francis Asbury Shoup, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1896
1882 John W. Wilcox, Jr., later Rear Adm, USN, lost at sea, 1942
1907 James "Slim Jim" Gavin, Commander, 82nd Airborne Division, d. 1990
1910 Nicholas Monsarrat, naval officer, novelist ("The Cruel Sea"), d. 1979 -- Learn More
1913 Karl Malden (Mladen George Sekulovich), actor ("Patton"), d. 2009
1924 Paul Fussell, who would earn a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts in the ETO, historian ("The Great War in Modern Memory"), d. 2012
1931 William Shatner, actor ("Captain Kirk"); see 2233
2228 Capt. James Tiberius Kirk of the 'Enterprise', in Riverside , Iowa

DIED
1861 Commo. Uriah P. Levy, USN, highest ranking Jewish officer in US military service until the twentieth century, 69
1924 Robert Nivelle, 67, inept French Chief-of-the General Staff