May 25th ~ {continued...}

1862 – Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson notches a victory on his brilliant campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. Jackson, with 17,000 troops under his command, was sent to the Shenandoah to relieve pressure on the Confederate troops near Richmond, who were facing the growing force of George McClellan on the James Peninsula. In early May, Jackson struck John C. Fremont’s force at McDowell, in western Virginia.

After driving Fremont out of the area, Jackson turned his attention to an army under the command of Nathaniel Banks, situated at the north end of the Shenandoah Valley. With only 10,000 troops, Banks had the unenviable task of holding off the fast-moving Jackson. On May 25th, Jackson found Banks outside of Winchester. He attacked the Union force but was initially repulsed. The Confederates then struck each Union flank, and this time the Yankee line broke. A confused retreat ensued through the town of Winchester, and even some residents fired on the departing Yankees. Banks fled the Shenandoah into Maryland, and Jackson continued his rampage.

The Union lost 62 killed, 243 wounded, and over 1,700 captured or missing, while Jackson’s men lost 68 killed and 329 wounded. The numbers from Jackson’s 1862 valley campaign are stunning. His men marched 350 miles in a month; occupied 60,000 Yankee troops, preventing them from applying pressure on Richmond; won four battles against three armies; and inflicted twice as many casualties as they suffered. Jackson’s record cemented his reputation as one of the greatest generals of all time.

1863 – Federal authorities in Tennessee turned over former Ohio congressman Clement L. Vallandigham to the Confederates. President Abraham Lincoln had changed his sentence to banishment from the United States after his conviction of expressing alleged pro-Confederate sentiments.

1864 – Battle of New Hope Church, Ga. Joseph E. Johnston tried to halt Sherman’s advance on Atlanta at the Hell Hole.

1864 – Boat crew from U.S.S. Mattabesett, Captain M. Smith, made an unsuccessful attempt to destroy C.S.S. Albemarle in the Roanoke River near Plymouth, North Carolina. After ascending the Middle River with two 100-pound torpedoes, Charles Baldwin, coal heaver, and John W. Lloyd, coxswain, swam across the Roanoke carrying a towline with which they hauled the torpedoes to the Plymouth shore. Baldwin planned to swim down to the ram and position a torpedo on either side of her bow.

Across the river, Alexander Crawford, fireman, would then explode the weapons. However, Baldwin was discovered by a sentry when within a few yards of Albemarle and the daring mission had to be abandoned. John Lloyd cut the guidelines and swam back across the river to join John Laverty, fireman, who was guarding the far shore. They made their way to the dinghy in which they had rowed upriver and, with Benjamin Lloyd, coal heaver, who had acted as boatkeeper, made their way back to the Mattabesett. On May 29th, Baldwin and Crawford, exhausted, returned to the ship.

1865 – In Mobile, Alabama, 300 are killed when an ordnance depot explodes. The depot was a warehouse on Beauregard Street, where the troops had stacked some 200 tons of shells and powder. Some time in the afternoon of May 25, a cloud of black smoke rose into the air and the ground began to rumble. Flames shot up into the sky and bursting shells were heard throughout the city. In the nearby Mobile River, two ships sank, and a man standing on a wharf was blown into the river. Several houses collapsed from the concussion.

1877 – Training of first class of Revenue Cutter cadets began on the school-ship Dobbin at Curtis Bay, Maryland, with nine cadets, three officers, one surgeon, six warrant officers and 17 crew members.

1898 – 1st US troop transport to Manila left San Francisco.

May 25th ~ {continued...}

1942 – American submarines move into patrol positions as part of the countermeasures to the expected Japanese attack on Midway.

1943 – The Trident Conference ends. Roosevelt and Churchill, and their staffs, reach compromises on all of the significant differences. Among the decisions taken is the target date for the invasion of western Europe (D-Day) — May 1, 1944. British General Morgan is appointed to prepare plans for the invasion. His is designated Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC).

1943 – There was a riot at Mobile, Al., shipyard over upgrading 12 black workers.

1944 – Patrols of the US 2nd Corps link up with forces of the US 6th Corps from Anzio near Latina (Pontine Marshes). In its advance, the US 6th Corps captures Cisterna and Cori. The German 10th Army is in danger of being cut off and Army Group C (Kesselring) sends its last reserve, the “Hermann Goring” Division, for reinforcement. The US 5th Army (Clark), however, now puts the weight of its forces into the capture of Rome. Meanwhile, the British 8th Army crosses the Melfa River in strength.

1944 – American forces advancing from Arare cross the Tirfoam River after engaging Japanese defenders.

1945 – The American armed forces Chiefs of Staff set November 1, 1945 as the start date for the invasion of Japan — Operation Olympic.

1945 – On Okinawa, the US 4th Marine Regiment eliminates the Japanese casemates and underground positions on Machishi Hill. The US 29th Regiment secures Naha.

1951 – Eighteen U.S. Marines and one U.S. Army infantryman captured during the Chosin/Changjin Reservoir campaign were returned to U.N. control.

1952 – ROK President Syngman Rhee declared martial law in Pusan and arrested members of the Korean National Assembly.

1952 – The USS Iowa made its heaviest attack to date against the industrial seaport of Chongjin.

1953 – The first atomic cannon was fired at Frenchman Flat, Nevada. Fired as part of Operation Upshot-Knothole and codenamed Shot GRABLE, a 280 mm (11 inch) shell with a gun-type fission warhead was fired 10,000 m (6.2 miles) and detonated 160 m (525 ft) above the ground with an estimated yield of 15 kilotons.

This was the only nuclear artillery shell ever actually fired in the U.S. nuclear weapons test program. The shell was 1384 mm (4.5 ft) long and weighed 365 kg (805 lb). It was fired from a special, very large artillery piece, nicknamed “Atomic Annie”, built by the Artillery Test Unit of Fort Sill, Oklahoma. About 3,200 soldiers and civilians were present. The warhead was designated the W9 nuclear warhead and 80 were produced in 1952 to 1953 for the T-124 shell. It was retired in 1957.

1961 – President Kennedy asked the nation to work toward putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

1961 – NASA civilian pilot Joseph A. Walker took the X-15 to 32,770 meters.

1962 – US performed an atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island.

May 25th ~ {continued...}

1962 – A report of the International Control Commission (ICC) for Vietnam charges North Vietnam with subversion and aggression into South Vietnam. It also charges that the United States is violating the Geneva Agreements with its military buildup in South Vietnam, and accuses South Vietnam of violating the 1954 Geneva Accords by accepting US military aid and establishing ‘a factual military alliance’ with the US. The report is adopted by the Indian and Canadian members of the ICC but is opposed by the Polish member.

1967 – Fighting resumes in the southeastern section of the DMZ when two Marine battalions assault a North Vietnamese position on Hill 117, three miles west of the base at Conthien. They withdraw after blowing up enemy bunkers there on the 27th.

1968 – The Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, was dedicated.

1968 – The communists launch their third major assault of the year on Saigon. The heaviest fighting occurred during the first three days of June, and again centered on Cholon, the Chinese section of Saigon, where U.S. and South Vietnamese forces used helicopters, fighter-bombers, and tanks to dislodge deeply entrenched Viet Cong infiltrators. A captured enemy directive, which the U.S. command made public on May 28th, indicated that the Viet Cong saw the offensive as a means of influencing the Paris peace talks in their favor.

1969 – South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu assumes personal leadership of the National Social Democratic Front at its inaugural meeting in Saigon. Thieu said the establishment of this coalition party was “the first concrete step in unifying the political factions in South Vietnam for the coming political struggle with the communists,” and emphasized that the new party would not be “totalitarian or despotic.”

The six major parties comprising the NSDF coalition were: the Greater Union Force, composed largely of militant Roman Catholic refugees from North Vietnam; the Social Humanist Party, successor to the Can Lao party, which had held power under the Ngo Dinh Diem regime; the Revolutionary Dai Viet, created to fight the French; the Social Democratic Party, a faction of the Hoa Hao religious sect; the United Vietnam Kuomintang, formed as an anti-French party; and the People’s Alliance for Social Revolution, a pro-government bloc formed in 1968.

1972 – US performed a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1973 – Launch of Skylab 2 mission, which was first U.S. manned orbiting space station. It had an all Navy crew of CAPT Charles Conrad, Jr., USN. (commanding), CDR Joseph P. Kerwin, USN and CDR Paul J. Weitz, USN. During the 28 day mission of 404 orbits, the craft rendezvoused with Skylab to make repairs and conduct science experiments. Recovery by USS Ticonderoga (CVS-14).

1977 – US performed a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

May 25th ~ {continued...}

1990 – A congressional report cast doubts on the US Navy’s official finding that a troubled sailor probably had caused the blast that killed 47 servicemen aboard the battleship USS Iowa.

1995 – NATO warplanes struck Bosnian Serb headquarters. Serbs answered with swift defiance, storming UN weapons depots, attacking safe areas and taking peacekeepers as hostages.

1996 – President Clinton, honoring the men and women who died in military service, used his weekly radio address to defend America’s global military role, saying it “is making our people safer and the world more secure.”

1999 – The US government released a bipartisan congressional report that said China stole design secrets for nuclear warheads that included every weapon in the current US nuclear arsenal. The systematic espionage campaign was dated back to the 1970s.

Stolen technology included data on an Army antitank weapon, fighter airplanes and all the elements needed to launch a major nuclear attack. President Clinton responded that his administration was already “moving aggressively to tighten security.”

1999 – NATO approved plans for 50,000 ground soldiers to move into Kosovo.

2004 – U.S. warplanes helped Afghan forces pound Taliban militants in the mountains of southern Afghanistan, killing some 20 suspected insurgents at a recently discovered camp.

2005 – Voyager 1, the most distant man-made object, has entered the heliosheath and is on the cusp of leaving the Solar System and entering the interstellar medium.

2008 – NASA’s Phoenix lander lands in Green Valley region of Mars to search for environments suitable for water and microbial life.

2009 – North Korea allegedly tests its second nuclear device. Following the nuclear test, Pyongyang also conducted several missile tests building tensions in the international community.

2012 – The Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous with the International Space Station.

May 26th ~

1637 – During the Pequot War, an allied Puritan and Mohegan force under English Captain John Mason attacks a Pequot village in Connecticut, burning or massacring some 500 Indian women, men, and children. As the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay spread further into Connecticut, they came into increasing conflict with the Pequots, a war-like tribe centered on the Thames River in southeastern Connecticut. By the spring of 1637, 13 English colonists and traders had been killed by the Pequot, and Massachusetts Bay Governor John Endecott organized a large military force to punish the Indians.

On April 23, 200 Pequot warriors responded defiantly to the colonial mobilization by attacking a Connecticut settlement, killing six men and three women and taking two girls away. On May 26, 1637, two hours before dawn, the Puritans and their Indian allies marched on the Pequot village at Mystic, slaughtering all but a handful of its inhabitants.

On June 5th, Captain Mason attacked another Pequot village, this one near present-day Stonington, and again the Indian inhabitants were defeated and massacred. On July 28th, a third attack and massacre occurred near present-day Fairfield, and the Pequot War came to an end. Most of the surviving Pequot were sold into slavery, though a handful escaped to join other southern New England tribes.

1736 – In northwestern Mississippi, British and Chickasaw Indians defeated a combined force of French soldiers and Chocktaw Indians at the Battle of Ackia, thus opening the region to English settlement.

1783 – A Great Jubilee Day held at North Stratford, Connecticut, celebrated end of fighting in American Revolution.

1790 – Territory South of River Ohio was created by Congress.

1805 – Lewis and Clark first saw the Rocky Mountains.

1819 – The first steam-propelled vessel to attempt a trans-Atlantic crossing, the 350-ton Savannah, departed from Savannah, Ga., May 26 and arrived in Liverpool, England, June 20th.

1830 – The Indian Removal Act is passed by the U.S. Congress; it is signed into law by President Andrew Jackson two days later. The law authorized the president to negotiate with Indian tribes in the Southern United States for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their ancestral homelands. The act enjoyed strong support from the non-native peoples of the South, who were eager to gain access to lands inhabited by the Five Civilized Tribes. Christian missionaries, such as Jeremiah Evarts, protested against the law’s passage.

1853 – Major Jacob Zeilin (in charge of Marines) arrived with Commodore Matthew C. Perry’s squadron at Okinawa.

1859 – Captain James Simpson and his party, looking for the shortest route across Nevada, crossed the Hickison Summit into Big Smoky Valley. Their path was later followed by the Pony Express (1860) and the Overland Mail and Stage (1861).

1861 – Union blockaded New Orleans, Louisana, and Mobile, Alabama.

1864 – Anxious to create new free territories during the Civil War, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs an act establishing the Montana Territory. However, as Montana was on the unstable frontier, it did little to add to the integrity of the Union, and Sidney Edgerton, the territory’s first governor, fled after suffering through several months of Indian raids. Among those Indians known to have inhabited Montana in the 19th century were the Sioux, the Blackfoot, the Shoshone, the Arapaho, the Cheyenne, the Kutenai, and the Flathead.

The vast area of what we now call Montana became a U.S. possession in 1803 under the terms of the Louisiana Purchase. Two years later, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark became the first known explorers of European origin to explore the region on their journey to the Pacific Ocean. Significant U.S. settlement did not begin in Montana until the 1850s, when the discovery of gold brought people to mining camps such as those at Bannack and Virginia City. In 1864, Montana was deemed worthy of territorial status and 25 years later entered the Union as the 41st state.

1864 – There was a skirmish along the Totopotomoy Creek, Virginia.

1864 – The unsuccessful Red River campaign having drawn to a close, General Banks’ army on 20 May crossed the Atchafalaya River near Simmesport, Louisiana, protected by Rear Admiral Porter’s fleet. Porter, whose health was beginning to fail after many months of arduous duty on the western waters, arrived at his headquarters at Cairo, Illinois.

May 26th ~ {continued...}

1865 – Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi division, is the last general of the Confederate Army to surrender. Smith, who had become commander of the area in January 1863, was charged with keeping the Mississippi River open to the Southerners. Yet he was more interested in recapturing Arkansas and Missouri largely because of the influence of Arkansans in the Confederate Congress who helped to secure his appointment. Drawing sharp criticism for his failure to provide relief for Vicksburg in the summer of 1863, Smith later conducted the resistance to the failed Union Red River campaign of 1864.

When the Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee and Joseph Johnston surrendered in the spring of 1865, Smith continued to resist with his small army in Texas. He insisted that Lee and Johnston were prisoners of war and decried Confederate deserters of the cause. On May 26th, General Simon Buckner, acting for Smith, met with Union officers in New Orleans to arrange the surrender of Smith’s force under terms similar to Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. Smith reluctantly agreed, and officially laid down his arms at Galveston on June 2nd. Smith himself fled to Mexico, and then to Cuba, before returning to Virginia in November 1865 to sign an amnesty oath. He was the last surviving full Confederate general until his death in 1893.

1868 – At the end of a historic two-month trial, the U.S. Senate narrowly fails to convict President Andrew Johnson of the impeachment charges levied against him by the House of Representatives three months earlier. The senators voted 35 guilty and 19 not guilty on the second article of impeachment, a charge related to his violation of the Tenure of Office Act in the previous year. Ten days earlier, the Senate had likewise failed to convict Johnson on another article of impeachment, the 11th, voting an identical 35 for conviction and 19 for acquittal.

Because both votes fell short–by one vote–of the two-thirds majority needed to convict Johnson, he was judged not guilty and remained in office. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Johnson, a U.S. senator from Tennessee, was the only senator from a seceding state who remained loyal to the Union. Johnson’s political career was built on his defense of the interests of poor white Southerners against the landed classes; of his decision to oppose secession, he said, “Damn the negroes; I am fighting those traitorous aristocrats, their masters.”

For his loyalty, President Abraham Lincoln appointed him military governor of Tennessee in 1862, and in 1864 Johnson was elected vice president of the United States. Sworn in as president after Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865, President Johnson enacted a lenient Reconstruction policy for the defeated South, including almost total amnesty to ex-Confederates, a program of rapid restoration of U.S.-state status for the seceded states, and the approval of new, local Southern governments, which were able to legislate “black codes” that preserved the system of slavery in all but name.

The Republican-dominated Congress greatly opposed Johnson’s Reconstruction program and passed the “Radical Reconstruction” by repeatedly overriding the president’s vetoes. Under the Radical Reconstruction, local Southern governments gave way to federal military rule, and African American men in the South were granted the constitutional right to vote. In March 1867, in order to weaken further Johnson’s authority, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act over his veto.

The act prohibited the president from removing federal office holders, including cabinet members, who had been confirmed by the Senate, without the consent of the Senate. It was designed to shield members of Johnson’s cabinet, like Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who was appointed during the Lincoln administration and was a leading ally of the so-called Radical Republicans in Congress. In the fall of 1867, Johnson attempted to test the constitutionality of the act by replacing Stanton with General Ulysses S. Grant. However, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to rule on the case, and Grant turned the office back to Stanton after the Senate passed a measure in protest of the dismissal.

On February 21, 1868, Johnson decided to rid himself of Stanton once and for all and appointed General Lorenzo Thomas, an individual far less favorable to the Congress than Grant, as secretary of war. Stanton refused to yield, barricading himself in his office, and the House of Representatives, which had already discussed impeachment after Johnson’s first dismissal of Stanton, initiated formal impeachment proceedings against the president.

On February 24th, the House voted 11 impeachment articles against President Johnson. Nine of the articles cited his violations of the Tenure of Office Act; one cited his opposition to the Army Appropriations Act of 1867 (designed to deprive the president of his constitutional position as commander in chief of the U.S. Army); and one accused Johnson of bringing “into disgrace, ridicule, hatred, contempt, and reproach the Congress of the United States” through certain controversial speeches.

On March 13th, according to the rules set out in Section 3 of Article I of the U.S. Constitution, the impeachment trial of President Johnson began in the Senate. U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presided over the proceedings, which were described as theatrical.

On May 16th and again on May 26th, the Senate voted on the charges brought against President Johnson. Both times the vote was 35 for conviction and 19 for acquittal, with seven moderate Republicans joining 12 Democrats in voting against what was a weak case for impeachment. The vote fell just short of a two-thirds majority, and Johnson remained in office. Nevertheless, he chose not to seek reelection on the Democratic ticket. In November, Ulysses S. Grant, who supported the Republicans’ Radical Reconstruction policies, was elected president of the United States.

In 1875, after two failed bids, Johnson won reelection to Congress as a U.S. senator from Tennessee. He died less than four months after taking office, at the age of 66. Fifty-one years later, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the Tenure of Office Act unconstitutional in its ruling in Myers v. United States.

May 26th ~ {continued...}


1908 – At Masjed Soleyman in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.

1938 – House Committee on Un-American Activities began its work of searching for subversives in the United States.

1940 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt makes known the dire straits of Belgian and French civilians suffering the fallout of the British-German battle to reach the northern coast of France, and appeals for support for the Red Cross. “Tonight, over the once peaceful roads of Belgium and France, millions are now moving, running from their homes to escape bombs and shells and machine gunning, without shelter, and almost wholly without food,” broadcast FDR.

On May 26th, the British Expeditionary Force was evacuated from Dunkirk in France. Ships arrived at Calais to remove the Force before German troops occupied the area, and it was hoped that 45,000 British soldiers could be shipped back to Britain within two days. The German air force, though, had other plans. Determined to prevent the evacuation, the Luftwaffe initiated a bombing campaign in Dunkirk and the surrounding area. British, Polish, and Canadian fighter pilots succeeded in fending off the German attack in the air, allowing finally for a delayed, but successful, evacuation nine days later. But the cost to civilians was great, as thousands of refugees fled for their lives to evade the fallout of the battle.

1941 – A British Catalina aircraft, piloted by a US Navy officer, finds Bismark only 700 miles from Brest and it is clear that the aircraft of the Ark Royal (of Force H) offer the best chance of slowing the German ship so that she can be caught. The first strike launched by the Ark Royal finds and attacks the British cruiser Sheffield by mistake owing to bad weather.

The attack fails because of defects in the magnetic exploders of the torpedoes, so simple contact types are substituted for a second strike. The 15 Swordfish find the correct target and score two hits. One hit wrecks the German battleship’s steering and practically brings her to a halt. During the night Bismark is further harried by torpedo and gunfire attacks by five British destroyers. It is unclear whether they score any torpedo hits.

1942 – Japanese Admiral Nagumo’s 1st Carrier Fleet sails for Midway. His task force contains the carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu with two battleships, cruisers and destroyers as escort.

1942 – US Task Force 16, with the aircraft carriers Enterprise and Hornet, returns to Pearl Harbor. The Japanese believe that these ships are still active in the South Pacific.

1944 – USS England sinks fifth Japanese submarine in one week.

1944 – Allied advances continue despite German resistance. The British 10th Corps (McCreery) captures Roccasecca; the Canadian 1st Corps takes San Giovanni and reaches the Liri River; the US 2nd Corps reaches Priverno. The US 6th Corps, at Anzio, progresses toward Lanuvio; US 3rd Division takes Artena, but German defenses prevent it from advancing to Valmontone. The US 1st Armored Division proves too weak to mount a rapid drive towards Velletri.

1944 – German submarine U-541 stops the Portuguese liner Serpa Pinto, carrying Jewish refugees to Canada. Two American citizens are removed and 385 others are ordered into the lifeboats. Nine hours later, after the submarine has contacted its base, the passengers are allowed back on board the ship. Three die in the evacuation process, including a 16 month old baby.

1944 – An American destroyer force bombards Mili Island.

May 26th ~ {continued...}

1945 – On Okinawa, American bombers and artillery attack Japanese troops withdrawing from the Shuri Line. Soldiers of California’s 184th Infantry, assigned to the Regular Army’s 7th Infantry Division, succeed in reducing several Japanese strong points as American forces drive deeper into the island’s defenses. The 184th was one of 18 Guard infantry regiments separated from it peacetime parent division, in this case the 40th Infantry Division, by the restructuring of all infantry divisions into smaller organizations in 1942.

1945 – Some 464 American B-29 Superfortress bombers fire-bombed Tokyo with about 4000 tons of incendiares. Parts of the imperial palace were damaged as was the nearby business district of Marunouchi, which was the targeted area. A total of 26 of the Marianas-based bombers were lost.

1945 – The Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) is transferred from Rheims to Frankfurt-am-Main.

1946 – A patent was filed in U.S. for H-bomb.

1948 – The U.S. Congress passes Public Law 80-557, which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as an auxiliary of the United States Air Force. The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a congressionally chartered, federally supported non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CAP is a volunteer organization with an aviation-minded membership that includes people from all backgrounds, lifestyles, and occupations.

It performs three congressionally assigned key missions: emergency services, which includes search and rescue (by air and ground) and disaster relief operations; aerospace education for youth and the general public; and cadet programs for teenage youth. In addition, CAP has recently been tasked with homeland security and courier service missions. CAP also performs non-auxiliary missions for various governmental and private agencies, such as local law enforcement and the American Red Cross. The program is established as an organization by Title 10 of the United States Code and its purposes defined by Title 36.

Membership in the organization consists of cadets ranging from 12 to just under 21 years of age, and senior members 18 years of age and up. These two groups each have the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of pursuits; the cadet program contributes to the development of the former group with a structured syllabus and an organization based upon United States Air Force ranks and pay grades, while the older members serve as instructors, supervisors, and operators. All members wear uniforms while performing their duties.

Nationwide, CAP is a major operator of single-engine general aviation aircraft, used in the execution of its various missions, including orientation flights for cadets and the provision of significant emergency services capabilities. Because of these extensive flying opportunities, many CAP members become licensed pilots.

The hierarchical and military auxiliary organization is headed by the National Headquarters (with authority over the national organization) followed by eight regional commands and 52 wings (each of the 50 states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico). Each wing supervises the individual groups and squadrons that comprise the basic operational unit of the organization.

1951 – U.N. Forces drove the communists’ back across the 38th parallel on most of the Korean battlefields.

1952 – Tests from 26-29 May demonstrate feasibility of the angled-deck concept conducted on simulated angled deck on USS Midway.

1956 – Aircraft carrier “Bennington” burned off RI, killing 103.

May 26th ~ {continued...}

1960 – During a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge charges that the Soviet Union has engaged in espionage activities at the U.S. embassy in Moscow for years. The charges were obviously an attempt by the United States to deflect Soviet criticisms following the downing of an American U-2 spy plane over Russia earlier in the month.

On May 1st, 1960, a highly sophisticated (and supposedly invulnerable) U.S. spy plane, the U-2, was shot down over the Soviet Union. Although U.S. officials at first denied the existence of any such spy planes, the Soviets gleefully produced both the wreckage of the plane and its pilot, Francis Gary Powers. Embarrassed U.S. officials, including President Dwight D. Eisenhower, were forced to publicly admit that the United States was indeed spying on the Soviet Union with the high altitude planes. However, the U.S. government consistently declared that it was doing nothing that the Soviets themselves were not doing.

As evidence of that charge, Henry Cabot Lodge brought the issue before the U.N. Security Council. There, he produced a wooden reproduction of the Great Seal of the United States. Nestled inside was a small listening and transmitting device. Lodge claimed that the seal had been presented to the U.S. embassy in Moscow in 1945 by a group of Russian citizens. In 1952, a security sweep of the embassy discovered the listening device. Lodge went on to note that more than 100 other such devices had been found in the U.S. embassies in Russia and other communist-bloc countries during the last few years.

The Soviet representative on the Security Council chuckled often during Lodge’s presentation and then asked, “From what plays were these props taken and when will it open?” Despite the U.S. charges of Soviet espionage, nothing could undo the damage of the downed U-2 spy plane, the subsequent denials, and the public embarrassment suffered by Eisenhower and other U.S. officials when they were caught in a lie. Just 10 days before Lodge’s presentation in the Security Council, a summit meeting between Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev ended with each side exchanging angry accusations about spying and bad faith.

1961 – A USAF bomber flew the Atlantic in a record of just over three hours.

1964 – Sihanouk says he welcomes UN inquiry teams or UN troops to police the disputed border with South Vietnam.

1969 – The Apollo 10 astronauts returned to Earth after a successful eight-day dress rehearsal for the first manned moon landing.

1969 – Operation Pipestone Canyon began when the 1st Battalion, 26th Marines and 3d Battalion, 5th Marines began sweeps in the Dodge City/Go Noi areas southwest of Da Nang. It terminated at the end of June with 610 enemy killed in action at a cost of 34 Marines killed.

1971 – In Cambodia, an estimated 1,000 North Vietnamese capture the strategic rubber plantation town of Snoul, driving out 2,000 South Vietnamese as U.S. air strikes support the Allied forces. Snoul gave the communists control of sections of Routes 7 and 13 that led into South Vietnam and access to large amounts of abandoned military equipment and supplies. On May 31, the Cambodian government called for peace talks if all North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces agreed to withdraw. The communists rejected the bid. Cambodia ultimately fell to the communist Khmer Rouge and their North Vietnamese allies in April 1975.

May 26th ~ {continued...}

1972 – President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet Communist Party chief Leonid Brezhnev signed in Moscow an arms reduction agreement that became known as SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks).

1981 – An EA-6B Prowler crashes on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68), killing 14 crewmen and injuring 45 others.

1992 – The White House announced that the Coast Guard was returning a group of Haitian refugees picked up at sea to their homeland under a new executive order signed by Bush.

1995 – Serbs bombarded Serajevo. On Jun 6 NATO launched 2 air raids against an ammunition dump in Serb-held central Bosnia.

1999 – NATO military commanders won political approval to strike at the civilian telephone and computer networks of Yugoslavia. Warplanes carried out a record 650 sorties with 284 bombing attacks.

1999 – Serbian military fired over 30 missiles at NATO warplanes which had begun flying at lower altitudes to strike tanks, artillery and ground troops.

2004 – A District court jury in McAlester, Oklahoma, convicted Terry Nichols of 161 counts of 1st degree murder in the 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bombing.

2004 – U.S. troops captured a key lieutenant of radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr during overnight clashes in Najaf that killed 24 people and wounded nearly 50.

2006 – The United States Capitol building complex in Washington, D.C. is locked down after reports of what sounded like gunfire reached US Capitol police. The United States Senate was in session as a report of at least one person seeing a gunman in the Rayburn House Office Building gym was issued. Police say that the sound was likely that of a pneumatic hammer and that the ‘gunman’ may have been a plainclothes police officer.

2010 – Space Shuttle Atlantis completes what is believed to be its final scheduled mission after landing at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) was a NASA Space Shuttle mission, during which Space Shuttle Atlantis docked with the International Space Station on May 16th 2010. STS-132 was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on 14 May 2010. The primary payload was the Russian Rassvet Mini-Research Module, along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD). STS-132 was initially scheduled to be the final flight of Atlantis, provided that the STS-335/STS-135 Launch On Need rescue mission would not be needed.

However, in February 2011, NASA declared that the final mission of Atlantis and of the Space Shuttle program, STS-135, would be flown regardless of the funding situation.

2011 – The United States House of Representatives votes overwhelmingly against funding the involvement of ground troops in Libya.

2011 – The United States Congress votes to approve a four year extension of powers in the USA PATRIOT Act and President of the United States Barack Obama signs it into law.

May 27th ~

1813 – Americans captured Fort George, Canada. Fort George served as the headquarters for the Centre Division of the British Army. These forces included British regulars, local militia, aboriginal warriors, and Runchey’s corps of freed slaves. Major General Sir Isaac Brock, “the saviour of Upper Canada” served here until his death at the Battle of Queenston Heights in October, 1813. Brock and his aide-de-camp John Macdonell were initially buried within the fort.

Fort George was destroyed by American artillery fire and captured during the Battle of Fort George in May 1813. The U.S. forces used the fort as a base to invade the rest of Upper Canada, however, they were repulsed at the Battles of Stoney Creek and Beaver Dams. After a seven month occupation, the fort was retaken in December and remained in British hands for the remainder of the war. After the war, the fort was partially rebuilt, and by the 1820’s it was falling into ruins. It was finally abandoned in favor of a more strategic installation at Fort Mississauga and a more protected one at Butler’s Barracks.

1862 – Battle of Hanover Court House, VA (Slash Church, Peake’s Station). Elements of Brig. Gen. Fitz John Porter’s V Corps extended north to protect the right flank of McClellan’s Union army that now straddled the Chickahominy River. Porter’s objective was to cut the railroad and to open the Telegraph Road for Union reinforcements under Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell that were marching south from Fredericksburg. Confederate forces, attempting to prevent this maneuver, were defeated just south of Hanover Courthouse after a stiff fight. The Union victory was moot, however, for McDowell’s reinforcements were recalled to Fredericksburg upon word of Banks’s rout at First Winchester.

1863 – Confederate defenders turned back a major assault on Port Hudson, inflicting severe losses on the Union Army. General Banks’ troops fell back into siege position and appealed to Rear Admiral Farragut to continue the mortar and ship bombardment night and day, and requested naval officers and Marines to man a heavy naval battery ashore. A week later, Farragut reported the situation to Welles: “General Banks still has Port Hudson closely invested and is now putting up a battery of four IX-inch guns and four 24 pounders.

The first will be superintended by Lieutenant [Commander] Terry, of the Richmond, and worked by four of her gun crews and to be used as a breaching battery. We continue to shell the enemy every night from three to five hours, and at times during the day when they open fire on our troops. . . . I have the Hartford and two or three gunboats above Port Hudson; the Richmond, Genesee, Essex, and this vessel [Monongahela], together with the mortar boats below, ready to aid the army in any way in our power.

1863 – U.S.S. Cincinnati, Lieutenant Bache, “. . . in accordance with Generals Grant’s and Sherman’s urgent request,” moved to enfilade some rifle pits which had barred the Army’s progress before Vicksburg. Though Porter took great precautions for the ship’s safety by packing her with logs and hay, a shot entered Cincinnati’s magazine, “and she commenced filling rapidly.”

Bache reported: ”Before and after this time the enemy fired with great accuracy, hitting us almost every time. We were especially annoyed by plunging shots from the hills, an 8-inch rifle and a 10-inch smoothbore doing us much damage. The shot went entirely through our protection-hay, wood, and iron.” Cincinnati, suffering 25 killed or wounded and 15 probable drownings went down with her colors nailed to the mast. General Sherman wrote: “The style in which the Cincinnati engaged the battery elicited universal praise.”

1863 – Chief Justice Roger B. Taney issues ex parte Merryman, challenging the authority of Abraham Lincoln and the military to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in Maryland. Early in the war, President Lincoln faced many difficulties due to the fact that Washington was located in slave territory. Although Maryland did not secede, Southern sympathies were widespread. On April 27, 1861, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus between Washington and Philadelphia to give military authorities the necessary power to silence dissenters and rebels. Under this order, commanders could arrest and detain individuals who were deemed threatening to military operations. Those arrested could be held without indictment or arraignment.

On May 2th5, John Merryman, a vocal secessionist, was arrested in Cockeysville, Maryland. He was held at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, where he appealed for his release under a writ of habeas corpus. The federal circuit court judge was Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, who issued a ruling, ex parte Merryman, denying the president’s authority to suspend habeas corpus. A Marylander himself, Taney shrilly denounced the heavy hand played by Lincoln in interfering with civil liberties and argued that only Congress had the power to suspend the writ.

Lincoln did not respond directly to Taney’s edict, but he did address the issue in his message to Congress that July. He justified the suspension through Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution, which specifies a suspension of the writ “when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.”

May 27th ~ {continued...}

1908 – Congress passes the “Second Dick Act,” one of a series of laws enacted between 1903 and 1916 that completely restructured the old “militia” into the modern “National Guard.” This law requires the federal government to call forth the Guard in case of emergency before accepting any volunteers for military service. It also removed the previous nine month limitation on militia service, and stated that such service could take place “either within or without of the territory of the United States.”

This last aspect of the law was critical, because it appeared to remove a major objection the Army had regarding the militia: inability to employ the militia outside of the U.S. borders. However, less than four years later this aspect of the law was overturned when the Judge Advocate General of the Army and the Attorney General of the United States both opined that employing militia outside the boundaries of the country violated the Constitution, which limited Congress’ power to call forth the militia to only three purposes: “to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.”

It was only after World War I, when the entire National Guard had to be “drafted” into the Army as a quick and dirty way of getting the troops deployed to Europe, that the Congress in 1933 finally passed a new law giving every Guard member “dual status” in both the militia and as a federal reserve of the Army. In the latter capacity Guardsmen could be deployed overseas.

1916 – President Woodrow Wilson suggest the creation of an international body with the authority to maintain peace and the freedom of the seas.

1918 – General Erich Ludendorff, the deputy chief of the German General Staff, opens his third offensive on the Western Front in 1918. It is a diversionary attack against the French forces holding the Chemin des Dames section of the Aisne River. Ludendorff’s aim is to prevent the French from sending reinforcements to the British in northern France, where he is planning to attack again. The offensive is led by General Max von Boehn’s Seventh Army and the First Army under General Bruno von Mudra, a total of 44 divisions.

The objective of their advances, codenamed Bluecher and Yorck is General Denis Duchene’s French Sixth Army which consists of 12 divisions, including 3 British. The German onslaught is heralded by a bombardment from 4600 artillery pieces, followed by an attack by seven divisions on a front of 10 miles. The Germans immediately capture the Chemin des Dames and advance on the Aisne River, taking several intact bridges.

By the end of the day the Germans have advanced 10 miles. Although the offensive is intended to be limited in scope, its early successes convince the German high command to press forward, as Paris is only 80 miles distant. However the French are being sent reinforcements by the commander of the American Expeditionary Force, General John Pershing. They are General Omar Bundy’s 2nd Division and the 3rd Division under General J.T. Dickman. These will make their first contact with the Germans at the Marne River.

1919 – First Lieutenant Elmer F. Stone, USCG, piloting the Navy’s flying boat NC-4 in the first successful trans-Atlantic flight, landed in the Tagus River estuary near Lisbon, Portugal on 27 May 1919. Stone was decorated that same day by the Portuguese government with the Order of the Tower and Sword.

Three aircraft, designated NC-1, NC-3 and NC-4–called “Nancy” boats–had taken off from New York’s Rockaway Naval Air Station for Lisbon on May 8, with intermediate stops planned for Newfoundland and the Azores. Only NC-4 completed the 3,925-mile transatlantic flight. Heavy rain and fog forced NC-1 down at sea, where it sank on May 17. NC-3 came down in rough seas and taxied 200 miles into the harbor at Horta in the Azores.

1935 – New Deal: The Supreme Court of the United States declares the National Industrial Recovery Act to be unconstitutional in A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, (295 U.S. 495).

May 27th ~ {continued...}

1941 – Amid rising world tensions, President Roosevelt proclaimed an “unlimited national emergency.” Roosevelt had declared a “limited” national emergency two years earlier, but neither declaration granted the President nor the government any additional or extraordinary powers and appear to have been only for the purpose of conveying to the general public the gravity of world events. Nevertheless, President Truman took the step, in 1952, of formally repealing both declarations.

1941 – Despite US neutrality thus far into World War II, the US Navy assists the Royal Navy in its pursuit of the German battleship Bismarck. British code-breakers had been able to decrypt some German signals, including an order to the Luftwaffe to provide support for the damaged Bismarck making for Brest, and the French Resistance provided the British with confirmation that Luftwaffe units were relocating there.

British Admiral John Tovey, in charge of the pursuit, could now turn his forces toward France to converge in areas through which Bismarck would have to pass. A squadron of Coastal Command PBY Catalinas based in Northern Ireland joined the search, covering areas where Bismarck might be headed in her attempt to reach occupied France.

At 10:30, a Catalina piloted by Ensign Leonard B. Smith of the US Navy located her, some 690 nmi (1,280 km; 790 mi) northwest of Brest. At her current speed, she would have been close enough to reach the protection of U-boats and the Luftwaffe in less than a day. Bismarck would be sunk early the next day.

1942 – The Japanese invasion fleet for Midway puts to sea from Saipan and Guam with troop transports carrying 5000 men. They are escorted by cruisers and destroyers. Likewise, the invasion force for the Aleutians sets sail in two groups from Ominato.

1942 – The damaged USS Yorktown arrives at Pearl Harbor and repairs begin immediately.

1942 – The “Americal” Infantry Division is organized primarily from Guard elements separated from their parent divisions by the Army’s reorganization of 1942. Three former Guard infantry regiments, the 132nd from Illinois, 164th from North Dakota and the 182nd from Massachusetts are its primary elements.

In addition its four field artillery battalions also came from Illinois and Massachusetts. After completing its organization and training the division was committed to combat to relieve U.S. Marines fighting on Guadalcanal. Later in the war it saw hard fighting on Leyte and other southern Philippine Islands. When the war ended the “Americal” was inactivated, only to be reconstituted (with no Guard connection) during the Vietnam War.

1943 – On Attu American forces make some progress along the Clevesy Pass. Japanese are driven off of Fish Hook Ridge in heavy fighting. Also, Americans begin work on an airfield at Alexai Point.

1943 – Churchill and American General Marshall leave for North Africa for talks with General Eisenhower on the Italian campaign. Churchill wants to exploit opportunities in the Mediterranean and to get Italy to surrender. Marshall wants to avoid commitments that will interfere with the invasion of western Europe that is now being prepared.

1943 – The 29th Ranger Battalion (Provisional), composed of volunteers from the 29th Infantry Division (DC, MD, VA), takes part in Exercise “Columbus,” a joint Anglo-American wargame in southern England. The Battalion was assigned to the 175th Infantry along with the 29th Reconnaissance Troop, both also from the 29th Division. While the other elements of this task force kept the ‘enemy’ busy the rangers made a 20-mile forced night march coming in behind the British 42nd Armoured Division. They were credited with ‘destroying’ six tank carriers along with capturing two command posts and numerous prisoners.

On the next night, though arriving late due to fatigue, the battalion destroyed a newly constructed bridge over the Canal. The Chief Umpire’s report states “The work of this battalion was performed in an excellent manner. In spite of only one hot meal the men worked with enthusiasm and without complaining.” Unfortunately the Army decided the battalion was not needed for the invasion of France on D-Day so it was disbanded in October 1943. The men of the 29th Rangers were returned to their former units where they shared their specialized training with other soldiers in their companies. Veteran’s recount how this helped them to survive the horrific carnage suffered by the 29th Infantry Division on D-Day and in the Normandy campaign which followed.

May 27th ~ {continued...}

1944 – On Biak Island, the US 41st Infantry Division (General Fuller) lands near Bosnek. Naval escort for the landing is provided by cruisers and destroyers under the command of Admiral Fechteler. The forces of Admiral Crutchley and Admiral Berkey provide support. The Japanese garrison, led by Colonel Kuzume, numbers about 11,000 men but it does not resist the landings. On the mainland, American troops make limited gains in their advance toward Sarmi.

1944 – German forces counterattack around Artena but the US 3rd Division (part of the 6th Corps) holds on to the town.

1945 – For the first time in history, an entire army is moved by air transport. American aircraft fly the Chinese 6th Army from Burma to China.

1945 – On Okinawa, American forces attacking southward, continue to encounter heavy Japanese resistance. Japanese aircraft begin a two-day series of strikes against the Allied naval forces around the island. The US destroyer Drexler is sunk.

1945 – The US 25th Division, part of the US 1st Corps, takes Santa Fe on Luzon. There is still heavy fighting in several parts of Mindanao.

1949 – Russians stopped train traffic to and from West Berlin.

1954 – The aircraft carrier USS Bennington (CV-20), with about 2,000 persons aboard, suffered an explosion and fire 35 miles south of Brenton Reef Lightship, injuring some 100 persons. U.S. Coast Guard aircraft from Salem Air Station and Quonset Point proceeded to the scene, assisted in transporting medical personnel to Bennington and provided air cover for all helicopter operations. One of the Coast Guard’s helicopters made 7 landings aboard the aircraft carrier and transported 18 injured to the hospital; another transported 14 injured.

1958 – The Air Force received its first production Republic F-105B Thunderchief. In 1951, Republic Aviation began a project to develop a supersonic tactical fighter-bomber to replace the F-84F. The result was the F-105 Thunderchief, which later gained the affectionate nickname “Thud”. Although the prototype YF-105A made its first flight on October 22, 1955, the first production aircraft, an F-105B, was not delivered to the United States Air Force (USAF) until May 27, 1958.

A supersonic aircraft capable of carrying conventional and nuclear weapons internally as well as externally, the F-105B was the heaviest, most complex fighter in the USAF inventory when it became operational. F-105s were produced only in the “B,” “D” and “F” series (later, some “F”s were modified to become F-105Gs). Of the 833 Thunderchiefs built, only 75 were produced as F-105Bs.

May 27th ~ {continued...}

1958 – The F-4 Phantom II makes its first flight. The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor aircraft/fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. It first entered service in 1960 with the U.S. Navy. Proving highly adaptable, it was also adopted by the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Air Force, and by the mid-1960s had become a major part of their respective air wings. The Phantom is a large fighter with a top speed of over Mach 2.2. It can carry more than 18,000 pounds (8,400 kg) of weapons on nine external hard points, including air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, and various bombs.

The F-4, like other interceptors of its time, was designed without an internal cannon. Later models incorporated a M61 Vulcan rotary cannon. Beginning in 1959, it set 15 world records for in-flight performance, including an absolute speed record, and an absolute altitude record. During the Vietnam War, the F-4 was used extensively; it served as the principal air superiority fighter for both the Navy and Air Force, and became important in the ground-attack and aerial reconnaissance roles late in the war.

The Phantom has the distinction of being the last U.S. fighter flown to attain ace status in the 20th century. During the Vietnam War, the USAF had one pilot and two weapon systems officers (WSOs), and the US Navy one pilot and one radar intercept officer (RIO), achieve five aerial kills against other enemy fighter aircraft and become aces in air-to-air combat.

The F-4 continued to form a major part of U.S. military air power throughout the 1970s and 1980s, being gradually replaced by more modern aircraft such as the F-15 Eagle and F-16 in the U.S. Air Force, the Grumman F-14 Tomcat in the U.S. Navy, and the F/A-18 Hornet in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. The F-4 Phantom II remained in use by the U.S. in the reconnaissance and Wild Weasel (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) roles in the 1991 Gulf War, finally leaving service in 1996. It was also the only aircraft used by both U.S. flight demonstration teams: the USAF Thunderbirds (F-4E) and the US Navy Blue Angels (F-4J).

The F-4 was also operated by the armed forces of 11 other nations. Israeli Phantoms saw extensive combat in several Arab–Israeli conflicts, while Iran used its large fleet of Phantoms in the Iran–Iraq War. Phantoms remain in front line service with seven countries, and in use as an Target drone in the U.S. Air Force. Phantom production ran from 1958 to 1981, with a total of 5,195 built, making it the most numerous American supersonic military aircraft.

1965 – Augmenting the vital role now being played by U.S. aircraft carriers, whose planes participated in many of the raids over South and North Vietnam, U.S. warships from the 7th Fleet begin to fire on Viet Cong targets in the central area of South Vietnam. At first, this gunfire was limited to 5-inch-gun destroyers, but other ships would eventually be used in the mission. Organized into Task Group 70.8, the ships were assigned from the fleet’s cruiser-destroyer command, from the carrier escort units and amphibious units, from the Navy-Coast Guard Coastal Surveillance Force, and from the Royal Australian Navy.

Ships and weapons included the battleship New Jersey, with 16-inch guns; cruisers with 8-inch and 5-inch guns; destroyers with 5-inch guns, and inshore fire support ships and landing ships. Naval gunfire support and shore bombardment ranged the entire coast of Vietnam, but most of the operations took place off the coast of the northernmost region of South Vietnam, just south of the Demilitarized Zone. During the 1968 Tet Offensive, Task Group 70.8 had as many as 22 ships at a time on the gun line, offering invaluable naval gunfire support to ground forces.

In May 1972, as part of Operation Linebacker I, a 7th Fleet cruiser-destroyer group bombarded targets near Haiphong and along the North Vietnam coast, firing over 111,000 rounds at the enemy. One destroyer was hit by a MiG bombing attack and 16 ships were hit by communist shore batteries, but none were sunk.

May 27th ~ {continued...}

1967 – The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy is launched by Jacqueline Kennedy and her daughter Caroline. USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) (formerly CVA-67) is the only ship of her class (a variant of the Kitty Hawk class of aircraft carrier) and the last conventionally powered carrier built for the United States Navy. The ship is named after the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and is nicknamed “Big John.”

Kennedy was originally designated a CVA (fixed wing attack carrier); however, the designation was changed to CV to denote that the ship was capable of anti-submarine warfare, making her an all-purpose carrier. After nearly 40 years of service in the United States Navy, Kennedy was officially decommissioned on August 1st, 2007. She is berthed at the NAVSEA Inactive Ships On-site Maintenance facility in Philadelphia. She is available for donation as a museum and memorial to a qualified organization. The name has been adopted by the future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN-79).

1968 – Last Monday of the month. Memorial Day, which began in 1868 as Decoration Day, was set aside to remember those who have died in the service of their country. Celebrated on May 30 for the first 100 years, Memorial Day was officially changed to the last Monday in May in 1968.

1968 – Thai Premier Thanom Kittikachorn announces that, at President Johnson’s request, his country will send 5,000 more troops to Vietnam.

1968 – Future President George W. Bush enlists in the Texas Air National Guard.

1972 – Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev and U.S. President Richard Nixon, meeting in Moscow, sign the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) agreements. At the time, these agreements were the most far-reaching attempts to control nuclear weapons ever. Nixon and Brezhnev seemed unlikely candidates for the American and Soviet statesmen who would sign a groundbreaking arms limitation treaty. Both men carried reputations as hard line Cold War warriors.

Yet, by 1972, both leaders were eager for closer diplomatic relations between their respective nations. The Soviet Union was engaged in an increasingly hostile war of words with communist China; border disputes between the two nations had erupted in the past few years. The United States was looking for help in extricating itself from the unpopular and costly war in Vietnam. Nixon, in particular, wished to take the American public’s mind off the fact that during nearly four years as president, he had failed to bring an end to the conflict.

The May 1972 summit meeting between Nixon and Brezhnev was an opportune moment to pursue the closer relations each desired. The most important element of the summit concerned the SALT agreements. Discussions on SALT had been occurring for about two-and-a-half years, but with little progress. During the May 1972 meeting between Nixon and Brezhnev, however, a monumental breakthrough was achieved. The SALT agreements signed on May 27th addressed two major issues. First, they limited the number of antiballistic missile (ABM) sites each country could have to two. (ABMs were missiles designed to destroy incoming missiles.) Second, the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles was frozen at existing levels.

There was nothing in the agreements, however, about multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle missiles (single missiles carrying multiple nuclear warheads) or about the development of new weapons. Nevertheless, most Americans and Soviets hailed the SALT agreements as tremendous achievements. In August 1972, the U.S. Senate approved the agreements by an overwhelming vote. SALT-I, as it came to be known, was the foundation for all arms limitations talks that followed.

1988 – Two days before the start of the Moscow summit, the Senate voted 93-5 to ratify a treaty eliminating medium-range nuclear missiles.

May 27th ~ {continued...}

1997 – In Paris, Russian President Boris Yeltsin joined 16 NATO leaders, including President Clinton, to sign a historic agreement giving Moscow a voice in NATO affairs.

1997 – Former Iraqi oil minister Issam Al Chalabi estimates Iraq needs $5 billion of outside investment and two to three years for its oil industry to restore production to the level prior to the imposition of United Nations sanctions (3.8-4.2 million barrels per day). He also indicates that it would take 5 years and $30-50 billion to achieve production capacity of 5.5 million barrels per day.

1998 – Michael Fortier, the government’s star witness in the Oklahoma City bombing case, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after apologizing for not warning anyone about the deadly plot.

1999 – The space shuttle Discovery was launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida with 7 astronauts from the US, Canada and Russia. The shuttle was on a 10-day mission to stock the new space station.

1999 – The International War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague announced an indictment against Pres. Milosevic and 4 senior aides for atrocities and mass deportations and multiple counts of crimes against humanity. Also indicted were: Milan Milutinovic, president of Serbia; Vlajko Stojilkovic, Serbian interior minister; Nikola Sainovic, deputy prime minister of Yugoslavia; and Gen’l. Dragoljub Ojdanic, chief of staff of the Yugoslav army. Sainovic surrendered in 2002.

1999 – In North Korea US inspectors found an empty tunnel at a suspected nuclear arms site.

1999 – The Philippine Senate ratified an accord with the US for joint military exercises.

2001 – Gunmen abducted 21 people from the Dos Palmas Island Resort in Palawan province. Guillermo Sobero from Corona, Ca., was one of the 3 abducted Americans. The Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility. Sobero was later beheaded. Missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham were among the kidnapped. A $300,000 ransom for the Burnhams was paid in 2002, but the rebels then asked for $200,000 more.

2002 – President Bush commemorated Memorial Day at Normandy American Cemetery in France, where he honored the 9,387 men and women buried there.

2003 – A US weapons-inspection team arrived at Al Qaqaa weapons site and found that the IAEA seals were broken and the high explosives missing.

2004 – London police arrested Abu Hamza al-Masri, a radical Muslim cleric suspected of helping the deadly 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole. The US sought his extradition on terrorism charges.

2004 – The U.S.-led coalition agreed to suspend offensive operations in Najaf after local leaders struck a deal with radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to end a bloody standoff.

2008 – CGC Dallas departed Charleston, SC for a planned 4-1/2 month deployment to conduct maritime safety and security exchanges with countries along the central and west coasts of Africa, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It was an historic voyage that included delivering relief supplies to Georgia after that country was attacked by Russia in “Operation Assured Delivery” (she was the second U.S. military ship to deliver relief supplies to Georgia) and a port visit to Sevastopol, Ukraine.

2011 – Space Shuttle Endeavour crewmembers Mike Fincke and Greg Chamitoff undertake what is expected to be the last spacewalk ever conducted by a space shuttle crew.

2014 – President Barack Obama announced that U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan would end in December 2014 and that the troops levels will be reduced to 9,800 troops by this time.

2014 – The White House "accidentally" reveals the name of the CIA’s top intelligence official in Afghanistan to approximately 6,000 journalists during U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Bagram Airfield.

May 28th ~

1539 – Hernando de Soto sailed from Cuba to Florida with 13 pigs to help sustain his 700 men on his gold-hunting expedition. Some of the pigs later escape, becoming feral, and leading to todays Feral Pig population explosion throughout the United States.

1754 – In the first engagement of the French and Indian War, a Virginia militia under 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington defeats a French reconnaissance party in southwestern Pennsylvania. In a surprise attack, the Virginians killed 10 French soldiers from Fort Duquesne, including the French commander, Coulon de Jumonville, and took 21 prisoners. Only one of Washington’s men was killed.

The French and Indian War was the last and most important of a series of colonial conflicts between the British and the American colonists on one side, and the French and their broad network of Native American allies on the other. Fighting began in the spring of 1754, but Britain and France did not officially declare war against each other until May 1756 and the outbreak of the Seven Years War in Europe.

In November 1752, at the age of 20, George Washington was appointed adjutant in the Virginia colonial militia, which involved the inspection, mustering, and regulation of various militia companies. In November 1753, he first gained public notice when he volunteered to carry a message from Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie to the French moving into the Ohio Valley, warning them to leave the territory, which was claimed by the British crown. Washington succeeded in the perilous wilderness journey and brought back an alarming message: The French intended to stay.

In 1754, Dinwiddie appointed Washington a lieutenant colonel and sent him out with 160 men to reinforce a colonial post at what is now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Before Washington could reach it, however, it was given up without bloodshed to the French, who renamed it Fort Duquesne. Washington moved within about 40 miles of the French position and set about building a new post at Great Meadows, which he named Fort Necessity. From this base, he ambushed an advance detachment of about 30 French, striking the first blow of the French and Indian War. For the victory, Washington was appointed a full colonel and reinforced with several hundred Virginia and North Carolina troops.

On July 3rd, the French descended on Fort Necessity with their full force, and after an all-day fight Washington surrendered to their superior numbers. The disarmed colonials were allowed to march back to Virginia, and Washington was hailed as a hero despite his surrender of the fort. The story of the campaign was written up in a London gazette, and Washington was quoted as saying, “I have heard the bullets whistle; and believe me, there is something charming in the sound.” Reading this, King George II remarked, “He would not say so if he had been used to hear many.”

In October 1754, Washington resigned his commission in protest of the British underpayment of colonial offices and policy of making them subordinate to all British officers, regardless of rank. In early 1755, however, British General Edward Braddock and his army arrived to Virginia, and Washington agreed to serve as Braddock’s personal aide-de-camp, with the courtesy title of colonel. The subsequent expedition against Fort Duquesne was a disaster, but Washington fought bravely and succeeded in bringing the survivors back after Braddock and 1,000 others were killed.

With the western frontier of Virginia now dangerously exposed, Governor Dinwiddie appointed Washington commander in chief of all Virginia forces in August 1755. During the next three years, Washington struggled with the problems of frontier defense but participated in no major engagements until he was put in command of a Virginia regiment participating in a large British campaign against Fort Duquesne in 1758. The French burned and abandoned the fort before the British and Americans arrived, and Fort Pitt was raised on its site.

With Virginia’s strategic objective attained, Washington resigned his commission with the honorary rank of brigadier general. He returned to a planter’s life and took a seat in Virginia’s House of Burgesses. The French and Indian War raged on elsewhere in North America for several years. With the signing of the Treaty of Paris in February 1763, France lost all claims to the mainland of North America east of the Mississippi and gave up Louisiana, including New Orleans, to Spain.

Fifteen years later, French bitterness over the loss of their North American empire contributed to their intervention in the American Revolution on the side of the Patriots, despite the fact that the Patriots were led by one of France’s old enemies, George Washington.

May 28th ~ {continued...}

1813 – Frigate Essex and prize capture five British whalers.

1818 – P.G.T. Beauregard, Confederate general, was born. He first fired on Fort Sumpter and fought at First Manassas, and Shiloh.

1830 – U.S. President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act which relocates Native Americans.

1863 – The 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the most famous African-American regiment of the war, leaves Boston for combat in the South. For the first two years of the war, President Abraham Lincoln resisted the use of black troops despite the pleas of men such as Frederick Douglass, who argued that no one had more to fight for than African Americans. Lincoln finally endorsed, albeit timidly, the introduction of blacks for service in the military in the Emancipation Proclamation.

On May 22nd, 1863, the War Department established the Bureau of Colored Troops to recruit and assemble black regiments. Many blacks, often freed or escaped slaves, joined the military and found themselves usually under white leadership. Ninety percent of all officers in the United States Colored Troops (USCT) were white. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the idealistic scion of an abolitionist family, headed the 54th.

Shaw was a veteran of the 2nd Massachusetts infantry and saw action in the 1862 Shenandoah Valley and Antietam campaigns. After being selected by Massachusetts Governor John Andrew to organize and lead the 54th, Shaw carefully selected the most physically fit soldiers and white officers with established antislavery views. The regiment included two of Frederick Douglass’s sons and the grandson of Sojourner Truth.

On May 28, 1863, the new regiment marched onto a steamer and set sail for Port Royal, South Carolina. The unit saw action right away, taking part in a raid into Georgia and withstanding a Confederate attack near Charleston. On July 16, 1863, Shaw led a bold but doomed attack against Fort Wagner in which he and 20 of his men were killed.

1917 – First underway fueling in U.S. Navy, USS Maumee fuels 6 destroyers in North Atlantic. LCDR Chester W. Nimitz served as Maumee’s executive officer and chief engineer.

1918 – US forces undertake their first attack of World War I on the second day of the German offensive along the River Aisne. The fighting centers on the village of Cantigny to the east of Montdidier on the Somme River sector t the north. Elements of the US 1st Division under General Robert Lee Bullard are pitched against the German Eighteenth Army lead by General Oskar von Hutier. Bullard’s troops capture Cantigny, taking 200 prisoners and block a series of German counterattacks over the following days.

1942 – The rest of the Japanese forces directed at Midway set out. Admiral Yamamato, commanding the operation overall, believes that, if the plan to invade the island succeeds, the American fleet can be forced into a decisive engagement and that their defeat will force a truce before American production can swamp the Japanese war effort.

1942 – Task Force 16 sails from Oahu for Midway with the carriers Enterprise and Hornet and escorts. Admiral Fletcher’s Task Force 17 follows after miraculously quick repairs to the Yorktown.

1943 – A reported 100 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers attack the oil refinery and shipping at Livorno (Leghorn).

May 28th ~ {continued...}

1943 – American P-40 and Marauder aircraft strike four airfields and encounter heavy anti-aircraft (flak) defenses.

1943 – The Office of War Mobilization is established to coordinated production.

1944 – Allied forces continue the Italian offensive. The Canadian 1st Corps captures Ceprano. There is heavy fighting all along the front. However, other than rearguards from the German 14th Panzer Corps and the 51st Mountain Corps, German forces are retiring to the Caesar Line because of the threat to their rear posed by the US 6th Corps at Anzio.

1944 – Bombers of the US 8th Air Force attack Leuna and Magdeburg.

1944 – On Biak Island, the US 41st Infantry Division begins to expand its beachhead. There is heavy fighting near the village of Mokmer, where an airfield is located, and the American battalion pulls back.

1944 – General MacArthur announces that, strategically, the campaign for New Guinea has been won although there is still some hard fighting to be done.

1945 – William Joyce (“Lord Haw Haw”) is captured in Flensburg. He is a British fascist who became a radio propagandist for the Nazis during the war.

1945 – Admiral Halsey, commanding US 3rd Fleet, takes command of American naval forces operating against targets in Japan; US Task Force 58 is assigned to US 3rd Fleet, becoming TF38.

1945 – More than 100 Japanese planes are shot down near Okinawa. This is the last major effort against the Allied naval forces surrounding the island. One American destroyer is sunk in the otherwise unsuccessful air strikes.

1947 – The Coast Guard announced the disestablishment of all U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Marine Details in foreign ports. During World War II, a total of 36 foreign Merchant Marine Details had been activated for the purpose of performing “on-the-spot” services in connection with the preventive aspects of safety of life and property of the US Merchant Marine.

These functions reverted to the continental U.S. ports in which there were located U.S. Marine Inspection Offices. The Merchant Marine Details disestablished were located in the following ports: Antwerp, Belgium; Bremerhaven, Germany; London, England; Cardiff, Wales; Le Havre, France; Marseille, France; Naples, Italy; Piraeus, Greece; Shanghai, China; Manila, Philippine Islands; and Trieste, Venezia Giulia.

1951 – U.N. Forces drove the communists’ back across the 38th parallel on most of the Korean battlefields.

1951 – The Eighth Army took Hwachon and Inje in Korea.

1953 – The U.N. negotiating team presented its final terms and threatened to break off the talks if they were rejected.

1953 – The Chinese attack outposts of the 25th Infantry Division. OP Carson was overrun and OPs Elko and Vegas were abandoned on order. Friendly casualties were heavy, but enemy losses were far greater.

1957 – The 1st of 24 detonations...Operation Plumb Bob nuclear test(s).

1965 – A five day running battle begins in Quangngai Province. Vietcong forces ambush a battalion of ARVN troops near Bagia and reinforcements are called for. The US Marine battalion fails to arrive in time and other ARVN reinforcements are also ambushed. Only 3 US advisors and about 60 ARVN troops manage to get away. The battle instills a sense of urgency in US military leaders, as it reveals how vulnerable the South Vietnamese military remains facing a sizable and flexible Communist force.

May 28th ~ {continued...}

1969 – U.S. troops abandon Ap Bia Mountain. A spokesman for the 101st Airborne Division said that the U.S. troops “have completed their search of the mountain and are now continuing their reconnaissance-in-force mission throughout the A Shau Valley.” This announcement came amid the public outcry about what had become known as the “Battle of Hamburger Hill.” The battle was part of Operation Apache Snow in the A Shau Valley.

The operation began on May 10th when paratroopers from the 101st Airborne engaged a North Vietnamese regiment on the slopes of Hill 937, known to the Vietnamese as Ap Bia Mountain. Entrenched in prepared fighting positions, the North Vietnamese 29th Regiment repulsed the initial American assault and beat back another attempt by the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry on May 14. An intense battle raged for the next 10 days as the mountain came under heavy Allied air strikes, artillery barrages, and 10 infantry assaults.

On May 20th, Maj. Gen. Melvin Zais, commanding general of the 101st, sent in two additional U.S. airborne battalions and a South Vietnamese battalion as reinforcements. The communist stronghold was finally captured in the 11th attack, when the American and South Vietnamese soldiers fought their way to the summit of the mountain. In the face of the four-battalion attack, the North Vietnamese retreated to sanctuary areas in Laos. During the intense fighting, 597 North Vietnamese were reported killed and U.S. casualties were 56 killed and 420 wounded.

Due to the bitter fighting and the high loss of life, the battle for Ap Bia Mountain received widespread unfavorable publicity in the United States and was dubbed “Hamburger Hill” in the U.S. media, a name evidently derived from the fact that the battle turned into a “meat grinder.” The purpose of the operation was not to hold territory but rather to keep the North Vietnamese off balance so the decision was made to abandon the mountain shortly after it was captured. The North Vietnamese occupied it a month after it was abandoned.

Outrage over what appeared to be a senseless loss of American lives was exacerbated by pictures published in Life magazine of 241 U.S. soldiers killed during the week of the battle. Gen. Creighton Abrams, commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam, was ordered to avoid such battles. Because of Hamburger Hill, and other battles like it, U.S. emphasis was placed on “Vietnamization”–turning the war over to the South Vietnamese forces rather than engage in direct combat operations.

1971 – President Nixon ordered John Haldeman to do more wiretapping and political espionage against the Democrats. The orders were recorded on tape.

1971 – Audie Murphy (46), WW II hero, actor (Whispering Smiths), was killed in plane crash near Roanoke, Virginia.

1972 – Operatives working for the Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP) burglarize the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Washington, DC, Watergate office complex.

1980 – 55 women become first women graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy.

1984 – On Memorial Day the only American Unknown Soldier from the Vietnam War is laid to rest at ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC, attended by 250,000, including members of Congress and the international diplomatic community, and Vietnam veterans in fatigues.

President Reagan, named honorary next-of-kin, delivers the eulogy at the hero’s funeral, and urges greater efforts to locate the more than 2,400 service members still missing. The remains were unearthed in 1998 for DNA testing and possible identification. They were later identified as those of Air Force First Lieutenant Michael J. Blassie, and were sent to St. Louis for hometown burial.

1985 – David Jacobsen, director of the American University Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, was abducted by pro-Iranian kidnappers. He was freed 17 months later.

May 28th ~ {continued...}

1987 – Matthias Rust, a 19-year-old amateur pilot from West Germany, takes off from Helsinki, Finland, travels through more than 400 miles of Soviet airspace, and lands his small Cessna aircraft in Red Square by the Kremlin. The event proved to be an immense embarrassment to the Soviet government and military. Rust, described by his mother as a “quiet young man…with a passion for flying,” apparently had no political or social agenda when he took off from the international airport in Helsinki and headed for Moscow. He entered Soviet airspace, but was either undetected or ignored as he pushed farther and farther into the Soviet Union.

Early on the morning of May 28, 1987, he arrived over Moscow, circled Red Square a few times, and then landed just a few hundred yards from the Kremlin. Curious onlookers and tourists, many believing that Rust was part of an air show, immediately surrounded him. Very quickly, however, Rust was arrested and whisked away. He was tried for violating Soviet airspace and sentenced to prison. He served 18 months before being released. The repercussions in the Soviet Union were immediate. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sacked his minister of defense, and the entire Russian military was humiliated by Rust’s flight into Moscow.

U.S. officials had a field day with the event–one American diplomat in the Soviet Union joked, “Maybe we should build a bunch of Cessnas.” Soviet officials were less amused. Four years earlier, the Soviets had been harshly criticized for shooting down a Korean Airlines passenger jet that veered into Russian airspace. Now, the Soviets were laughingstocks for not being able to stop one teenager’s “invasion” of the country. One Russian spokesperson bluntly declared, “You criticize us for shooting down a plane, and now you criticize us for not shooting down a plane.”

1990 – Iraqi President Saddam Hussein opened a two-day Arab League summit in Baghdad with a keynote address in which he said if Israel were to deploy nuclear or chemical weapons against Arabs, Iraq would respond with “weapons of mass destruction.”

1991 – US Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and other NATO defense chiefs agreed to create a rapid reaction corps as part of a broad plan to reshape the Western alliance in the post-Cold War era.

1996 – A US jury convicted the former business partners of Pres. Clinton in the Whitewater Case. James and Susan McDougal, and Jim Guy Tucker, governor of Arkansas. Tucker was charged with creating a sham bankruptcy to avoid paying taxes on profits from a sold cable TV company in which he was a partner. Tucker resigned after the verdict. He briefly reversed his decision, but finally stepped down in July. In 1998 Tucker pleaded guilty to a felony charge of fraud and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors of independent council Kenneth Starr.

1998 – In Ecuador Simon Bolivar Chanalata, a hotel clerk, engaged in a fight with 2 US sailors who were visiting while on a naval exercise. Chanalata died 6 days later and his family filed a $1.5 million suit against the US Navy. The 2 Navy men faced charges of involuntary manslaughter.

1998 – NATO Ministers agreed to help Albania and Macedonia strengthen their border patrols.

2000 – In Russia President Putin signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. It would not be effective until the US and other nations also approve.

2001 – President Bush honored America’s veterans with the Memorial Day signing of legislation to construct a World War II monument on the National Mall.

2001 – The US and China tentatively agreed that the US spy plane on Hainan Island would be dismantled and possibly flown home aboard a giant Antonov-124 transport.

2002 – The last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City.

2002 – Libya offered $10 million in compensation for each victim in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in exchange for removal from the US list of states that sponsor terrorism.

2002 – Russia signed an agreement with NATO leaders in Rome for participation in NATO discussions on a fixed variety of subjects, bit no veto power.

2002 – The Mars Odyssey finds signs of large ice deposits on the planet Mars.

2003 – Russia’s upper house of parliament ratified a landmark nuclear deal with the United States that slashes both nation’s nuclear arsenals by two-thirds.

2004 – US officials and 5 Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua) signed a free trade pact (CAFTA), to be later approved by Congress. The Dominican Republic would be included later.

2004 – The Iraqi Governing Council nominated one of its own members, Iyad Allawi, a Shiite Muslim physician who spent years in exile, to become prime minister of the new government to take power June 30th.

2004 – In Saudi Arabia suspected Islamic militants sprayed gunfire inside two oil industry compounds on the Persian Gulf, killing at least 10 people including one American.

2014 – A preliminary report from the VA inspector general’s office finds systemic problems at health facilities nationwide, and serious management and scheduling issues in Phoenix.

May 29th ~

1677 – The Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and various Virginia Native American tribes including the Nottoway, the Appomattoc, the Wayonaoake, the Nansemond, the Nanzatico, the Monacan, the Saponi, and the Meherrin following the end of Bacon’s Rebellion.

The treaty designated those that signed as “tributary tribe(s),” meaning they were guaranteed their homeland territories, hunting and fishing rights, the right to keep and bear arms, and other colonial protections so long as they maintained obedience and subjugation to the English Empire. The twenty-one articles of the treaty were confirmed when England sent gifts to the chiefs along with various badges of authority.The Queen of Pamunkey, known as Cockacoeske to the English, received a red velvet cap which was fastened with a silver frontlet and silver chains.

1765 – Patrick Henry denounced the Stamp Act before Virginia’s House of Burgesses. Henry responded to a cry of “Treason!” by saying, “If this be treason, make the most of it!”

1780 – At the Battle of Waxhaws, the British continue attacking after the Continentals lay down their arms, killing 113 and critically wounding all but 53 that remained. The Battle of Waxhaws (also known as the Waxhaws or Waxhaw Massacre, and Buford’s Massacre) took place during the American Revolutionary War near Lancaster, South Carolina, between a Continental Army force led by Abraham Buford and a mainly Loyalist force led by Banastre Tarleton.

Buford refused an initial demand to surrender, but when his men were attacked by Tarleton’s cavalry, many of them threw down their arms to surrender. Accounts differ on significant details. Buford apparently then attempted to surrender, but his surrender was either rejected or not received (Tarleton possibly having been incapacitated at that time). Tarleton’s men continued killing the Continental soldiers, including men who were not resisting. Little quarter was given to the Patriots. Of the 400 or so Continentals, 113 were killed with sabres, 150 so badly injured they could not be moved, and only 53 prisoners taken by the British and Loyalists.

“Tarleton’s quarter” thereafter became a common expression for refusing to take prisoners, and in some subsequent battles in the Carolinas few of the defeated were taken alive by either side. The battle was used in an extensive propaganda campaign by the Continental Army to bolster recruitment and resentment against the British. Other accounts of the battle describe Tarleton as having no part in ordering the massacre, and having ordered thorough medical treatment of American prisoners and wounded.

1781 – Frigate Alliance captures HMS Atalanta and Trepassy off Nova Scotia.

1787 – The “Virginia Plan” was proposed.

1790 – Rhode Island became the last of the 13 original colonies to ratify the United States Constitution. They held out for an amendment securing religious freedom. The state was largely founded by Baptists fleeing persecution in Massachusetts.

1810 – Erasmus Darwin Keyes (d.1895), Major General (Union volunteers), was born.

1810 – Solomon Meredith (d,1875), Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), was born.

1825 – David Bell Birney (d.1864), Major General (Union volunteers), was born.

1827 – Reuben Lindsay Walker (d.1890), Brigadier General (Confederate Army), was born.

May 29th ~ {continued...}

1843 – John C. Fremont again departs from St. Louis to explore the West, having only recently returned from his first western expedition. The son of a French father and American mother, Fremont had an unstable and nomadic childhood, and money troubles often plagued his family. As a young man, he showed an aptitude for mathematics and surveying, and in 1838, he won a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Corps of Topographical Engineers.

In 1842, he received an assignment to make a survey of the Platte River, and set out with 24 companions, including the famous guide Kit Carson. During five months of travel, Fremont crossed the South Pass in central Wyoming and explored the Wind River Mountains. Scarcely before he had time to recover from his first expedition, Fremont was preparing to depart on his second. On this day in 1843, Fremont left St. Louis on a much more ambitious journey to explore the Oregon country. In Colorado the party met up with Carson, who had again agreed to serve as a guide.

On September 6th, the Fremont caught site of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, “stretching in still and solitary grandeur far beyond the limits of our vision.” By early November, they arrived at Fort Vancouver, across the Columbia River from the present-day site of Portland. Having surveyed the Oregon country, Fremont’s orders were to return east via the Oregon Trail. Fremont, however, apparently decided this would be an inadequately grand approach, and decided instead to head south and cross the Sierra Nevada in the middle of the winter. The journey was awful and nearly disastrous. Fremont and his men struggled with the deep snow and bitter cold; they often got lost and ate their horses to survive.

Thanks to the skill of Carson and amazing good luck with the weather, the expedition eventually emerged from the mountains and limped into Sutter’s Fort on March 6, 1844. After resting for three weeks, they returned east by a route that took them through the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains of Utah. With the help of his wife, Jessie, Fremont wrote a detailed account of his western adventures. The report made some notable errors. Fremont foolishly identified the country around the Great Salt Lake as fertile-a mistake that contributed to the Mormons decision to migrate to the area.

However, Fremont’s account did provide the first comprehensive scientific survey of vast areas of the West. Fremont went on to lead two other successful expeditions to the West. His reports of these and his earlier journeys made him a national hero and he later went into politics. He lived into his early 70s, but the four western journeys he made before he was 40 remained his greatest achievements.

1848 – Following approval of statehood by the territory’s citizens, Wisconsin enters the Union as the 30th state. In 1634, French explorer Jean Nicolet landed at Green Bay, becoming the first European to visit the lake-heavy northern region that would later become Wisconsin.

In 1763, at the conclusion of the French and Indian Wars, the region, a major center of the American fur trade, passed into British control. Two decades later, at the end of the American Revolution, the region came under U.S. rule and was governed as part of the Northwest Territory. However, British fur traders continued to dominate Wisconsin from across the Canadian border, and it was not until the end of the War of 1812 that the region fell firmly under American control.

In the first decades of the 19th century, settlers began arriving via the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes to exploit Wisconsin’s agricultural potential, and in 1832 the Black Hawk War ended Native American resistance to white settlement. In 1836, after several decades of governance as part of other territories, Wisconsin was made a separate entity, with Madison, located midway between Milwaukee and the western centers of population, marked as the territorial capital.

By 1840, population in Wisconsin had risen above 130,000, but the people voted against statehood four times, fearing the higher taxes that would come with a stronger central government. Finally, in 1848, Wisconsin citizens, envious of the prosperity that federal programs brought to neighboring Midwestern states, voted to approve statehood. Wisconsin entered the Union the next May.

1849 – A patent for lifting vessels was granted to Abraham Lincoln.

1861 – Dorothea Dix offered to help set up hospitals for Union Army.

1862 – Confederate General P.T. Beauregard retreated to Tupelo, Mississippi. He had taken command of the Trans-Mississippi area after the death of General Albert Sidney Johnson.

May 29th ~ {continued...}

1864 – Union troops lose another foot race with the Confederates in a minor stop on the long and terrible campaign between Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Potomac and Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. During the entire month of May 1864, Grant and Lee had pounded each other along an arc swinging from the Wilderness forest south to the James River. After fighting in the Wilderness, Grant moved south to Spotsylvania Court House to place his army between Lee and Richmond.

Predicting his move, Lee marched James Longstreet’s corps through the night and beat the Federals to the strategic crossroads. For 12 days the two armies fought in some of the bloodiest combat of the war. Finally, Grant pulled out and again moved south, this time to the North Anna River, where he probed the Rebel lines on the high banks of the river, but found no weakness. He moved south again, this time to Totopotomoy Creek.

Once again, Lee and his men beat him there and stood ready to defend Richmond from the Union army. Grant was getting frustrated. After the Totopotomoy, Grant slid south to Cold Harbor, just 10 miles from Richmond. His impatience may have gotten the best of him. At Cold Harbor, Grant would commit the foolish mistake of hurling his troops at well-fortified Confederates, creating a slaughter nearly unmatched during the war.

1865 – President Andrew Johnson issues general amnesty for all Confederates.

1903 – Bob Hope (d.2003), US comedian, was born as Leslie Townes in Kent, England.

1916 – Official flag of The President of United States was adopted.

1916 – U.S. forces invaded the Dominican Republic and stayed until 1924.

1917 – John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States (1961-1963), was born at 83 Beals St. in Brookline, Mass. He was assassinated in his first term.

1931 – Michele Schirru, a citizen of the United States, is executed by Italian military firing squad for intent to kill Benito Mussolini.

1932 – At the height of the Great Depression, the so-called “Bonus Expeditionary Force,” a group of 1,000 World War I veterans seeking cash payments for their veterans’ bonus certificates, arrive in Washington, D.C. One month later, other veteran groups spontaneously made their way to the nation’s capital, swelling the Bonus Marchers to nearly 20,000 strong, most of them unemployed veterans in desperate financial straits.

Camping in vacant government buildings and in open fields made available by District of Columbia Police Chief Pelham D. Glassford, they demanded passage of the veterans’ payment bill introduced by Representative Wright Patman.

While awaiting a vote on the issue, the veterans conducted themselves in an orderly and peaceful fashion, and on June 15th the Patman bill passed in the House of Representatives. However, two days later, its defeat in the Senate infuriated the marchers, who refused to return home. In an increasingly tense situation, the federal government provided money for the protesters’ trip home, but 2,000 refused the offer and continued to protest.

On July 28th, President Herbert Hoover ordered the army, under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, to evict them forcibly. MacArthur’s men set their camps on fire, and the veterans were driven from the city. Hoover, increasingly regarded as insensitive to the needs of the nation’s many poor, was much criticized by the public and press for the severity of his response.