The USS Bonhomme Richard and HMS Serapis

From W. Thomas Smith, Jr.’s “This Week in American Military History” article in Human Events:

Sept. 23, 1779: The famous battle of the North Sea opens between Continental Navy frigate Bonhomme Richard under the command of Capt. John Paul Jones​, and Royal Navy frigate HMS Serapis.

During the height of the fighting, Serapis’ Captain Richard Pearson issues an appeal to Jones that the American ship surrender. Jones refuses.

According to the story, the British captain – aware that Bonhomme Richard is badly damaged and sinking – shouts across the water between the two dueling ships, inquiring as to whether or not Jones has lowered or struck his colors. Jones shouts back, “I have not yet begun to fight!”

It has since been widely reported that Jones reply was, “I may sink, but I’ll be damned if I strike!”

In fact, Bonhomme Richard does sink: But not before Pearson himself surrenders (believed to be “the first time in naval history that colors are surrendered to a sinking ship”), and Jones transfers his flag to his newly captured prize, Serapis.

The American fleet sailed the Dutch port of Texel Roads, but Jones had to transfer the entire fleet – minus the USS Alliance – to the French due to political pressure. Jones may have lost his fleet, but his remarkable victory would earn him the title “the Father of the American Navy.”

Charleston, 28 June 1776 By H. Charles McBarron (Source: U.S. Army Center of Military History)

From the U.S. Army Center of Military History:

In June 1776 British Admiral Peter Parker ‘s fleet, loaded with troops commanded by General Henry Clinton, made an appearance off Charleston, South Carolina. The city, feverishly preparing for an attack, had partially completed Fort Sullivan, Charleston’s key defense position. The 30-gun fort on Sullivan’s Island was hastily constructed from the moat abundant materials available, palmetto logs and sand. The garrison, commanded by Colonel William Moultrie, contained over 400 men including 22 artillerists and the 2d South Carolina Provincial Regiment.

Because of a sand bar the British delayed their attack on Charleston until 28 June 1775 while they lightened ship. Clinton’s 2,000 British soldiers, landing on adjacent Long Island, were unable to cross an estuary to join in the attack. The fleet began its bombardment at a range of about 400 yards. Low on powder, Moultrie directed his men to fire slowly and accurately in reply.

During the engagement a shell struck the flagpole, and the blue South Carolina banner fell outside the fort. Sergeant William Jasper retrieved it and, oblivious to British fire, secured the flag to a makeshift staff.

The falling shells, absorbed by the soft palmetto loge and sand, caused little damage to the fort and few casualties. Even shells that did enter the fort buried themselves in the swampy parade ground. The wooden frigates on the other hand were riddled with shot. One explosion blew away Sir Peter Parker’s breeches.

Finally, after more than ten hours of firing, the British fleet withdrew and several weeks later sailed for New York. For three years following the defeat at Charleston the British were to leave the South unmolested and the Southern Tories, who were undoubtedly numerous, without succor.

Mar. 8, 1965: The lead elements of 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines begin coming ashore at Da Nang, South Vietnam. Within hours, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines will arrive aboard transport aircraft at the nearby airbase. The Marines of 3/9 and 1/3 – both part of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade – are the first of America’s ground-combat forces destined for offensive operations against the enemy in Southeast Asia, once again putting teeth in the Marine Corps’ claim that it is “first to fight.”

Mar. 9, 1847: Thousands of American soldiers and a company-sized force of Marines (though referred to as a battalion) under the overall command of U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott and “Home Squadron” Commodore David E. Conner begin landing at Collado Beach, Mexico, just south of Vera Cruz.

In what will prove to be “a model” for future amphibious operations, the landings are unprecedented: The largest American amphibious operation to date, conducted in less than five hours without a single loss of life.

A portion of Conner’s dispatch to the Secretary of the Navy reads:

“Gen. Scott has now with him upwards of 11,000 men. At his request, I permitted the Marines of the squadron, under Capt. [Alvin] Edson, to join him, as a part of the 3rd Regiment of artillery. The general-in-chief landed this morning, and the army put itself in motion at an early hour, to form its lines around the city. There has been some distant firing of shot and shells from the town and castle upon the troops as they advanced, but without result.”

Though the landings are bloodless, grim fighting will continue in the Mexican-American War.

Mar. 9, 1862: In day-two of the now-famous Battle of Hampton Roads (Virginia), the Confederate Navy’s ironclad warship, CSS Virginia (built from the remains of the previously scuttled frigate USS Merrimack) and her Union rival, the also-ironclad USS Monitor, begin exchanging shots in one of history’s first clashes of ironclads.

The battle ends in a draw with both vessels inflicting marginal damage on one another before breaking off the fight: Technically it is a tactical victory for Virginia because she has inflicted greater damage on the blockading ships than they on her (Virginia had attacked and destroyed the Union Navy’s wooden warships USS Congress and USS Cumberland the previous day before the arrival of the Monitor). But it may also be seen as a strategic victory for the Union because Virginia fails to break the blockade. The battle however will not be remembered for which side might have carried the day – though that is still being debated – but rather the lessons learned in this particular clash which greatly contributed to the ongoing revolution in Naval tactics and ship-design and construction.

Mar. 10, 1783: The Duc De Lauzun, a Continental Navy transport-vessel (laden with Spanish silver currency), and her escort, the frigate Alliance (the first of two so-named American warships), are spotted by three Royal Navy ships – HMS Sybil, HMS Alarm, and HMS Tobago –off Cape Canaveral, Florida. Sybil pursues the two American vessels, fires on the slow-moving Duc De Lauzun, then is aggressively engaged by Alliance. In less than one hour, the badly damaged Sybil disengages and flees, ending the last Naval battle of the American Revolution.

Alliance is commanded by Capt. (future commodore) John Barry, who – as we said Feb. 4 – is considered in some circles to be “the Father of the American Navy,” though some would argue that title belongs to Capt. John Paul Jones.

Mar. 11, 1862: President Abraham Lincoln – frustrated over Union Army Gen. George B. McClellan’s unwillingness to attack the Confederate Army – relieves McClellan of his post as general-in-chief of the U.S. Army, but keeps him on as commanding general of the Army of the Potomac. McClellan – who will lose his command after failing to destroy Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s wounded army following the Battle of Antietam – becomes the second well-known casualty in Lincoln’s series of firing, hiring, and firing generals until the Union Army (like the already well-commanded Confederate Army) is led by some of the most able generals in American military history.

Mar. 11, 1943: “The Flying Tigers” – the famous volunteer group of American fighter pilots contracted to the Chinese Air Force during World War II and ultimately brought under U.S. Army Air Forces command as the China Air Task Force – is absorbed into the 14th Air Force.

Commanded by Gen. Claire L. Chennault, “the Flying Tigers” were so-named because of the tiger-shark faces painted on the noses of their P-40 fighters.

Today, according to the U.S. Air Force, airmen of the 14th Air Force are “the day-to-day operators of Air Force Space Command’s space forces.” And the centerpiece of the 14th Air Force emblem is a tiger with wings.

Mar. 2, 1943: Elements of the U.S. Army Air Forces and Royal Australian Air Force intercept and all-but-destroy an entire Japanese troop-transport convoy in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Several enemy ships, scores of enemy aircraft, and thousands of enemy soldiers will be sent to the bottom. Gen. Douglas MacArthur will remark that Bismarck Sea “cannot fail to go down in history as one of the most complete and annihilating combats of all time.” Japanese Navy Capt. Tameichi Hara will refer to the battle as “shocking” and “unbelievable.”

Mar. 3, 1776:  A force of 250 Continental Marines and sailors under the command of Marine Capt. (future major) Samuel Nicholas land on New Providence in the British-held Bahamas and quickly seize Fort Montague in the first amphibious operation in American military history. The landing – largely unopposed (the British garrison spiking their own guns and fleeing) – nets for the Americans much-needed powder, shot, nearly 50 serviceable cannon, and a few mortars.

An avid foxhunter and the highest-ranking leatherneck in the American Revolution, Nicholas will lead Marines alongside Army forces in the future battles of (second) Trenton and Princeton. He is considered to be the first commandant of the Marine Corps.

Mar. 3, 1815:  The U.S. Congress authorizes American Naval action against the pirate state of Algiers.

Mar. 3, 1883:  The U.S. Congress approves the creation of the “new Navy” with an authorization to build three “steel-protected cruisers” and a “steel dispatch boat.” The authorization begins a steel-ship renaissance for the U.S. Navy.

Mar. 3, 1931:  The U.S. Congress adopts “The Star Spangled Banner” as the official national anthem.

The anthem’s lyrics were initially penned as a poem by Washington, D.C. lawyer Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812. Key wrote his now-famous words on an envelope as he witnessed the British night-bombardment of Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Sept. 13-14, 1814, from the deck of a Royal Navy ship aboard which had been detained.

Portions of the anthem read:

“…Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
…
“Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”

Mar. 4, 1944:  B-17 Flying Fortresses of the U.S. Army Air Forces participate in the first daylight bombing raid over Berlin. A massive B-17 raid over the German capitol will follow in two days.

Mar. 5, 1770:  A contingent of armed British soldiers fire into a crowd of protesting colonists in what will become known as the Boston Massacre. Five colonists are killed. The soldiers, charged with murder, will contend the protestors were threatening them with rocks and clubs. The killings will spark public outrage, demands for the death penalty for the soldiers responsible, and draw America even closer toward revolution.

Ironically, patriot and future U.S. President John Adams is the lawyer who will successfully defend the British soldiers. A portion of Adams’ argument reads:

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence: nor is the law less stable than the fact; if an assault was made to endanger their [the soldiers’] lives, the law is clear, they had a right to kill in their own defense.”

Mar. 5, 1776:  Six years to the day after the Boston Massacre, British Gen. Sir William Howe awakens to find Continental Army Gen. George Washington’s artillery well-positioned atop Boston’s commanding Dorchester Heights. Howe purportedly says, “The rebels have done more in one night than my whole army would have done in a month.”

Washington’s men continue to strengthen their gun-batteries and fortifications over the next 10-plus days forcing Howe to deem the American positions “impregnable.” The British will begin evacuating Boston on the 17th.

Mar. 5, 1942:  The Seabees – the U.S. Navy’s celebrated combat-capable Construction Battalions (CBs) – are established.

Mar. 5, 1966:  The “Ballad of the Green Berets” composed by U.S. Army Special Forces Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler and author Robin Moore hits the number-one spot on the Billboard Chart where it will remain for five weeks.

A portion of the lyrics read:

“Fighting soldiers from the sky
Fearless men who jump and die
Men who mean just what they say
The brave men of the Green Beret.

“Silver wings upon their chest
These are men, America’s best
One hundred men we’ll test today
But only three win the Green Beret. …”

Mar. 6, 1836:  The Alamo – commanded by Lt. Col. William Barret Travis – falls to Mexican forces after the garrison puts up one of the most heroic defenses in American military history (see previous week’s military milestones).

Mar. 7, 1942:  The first group of black airmen – including Capt. (future general) Benjamin O. Davis Jr. – graduates from the U.S. Army Air Forces flight school at Tuskegee, Alabama.

Mar. 7, 1945:  U.S. Army armored forces race to seize the strategically vital Ludendorff Bridge (also known as the Remagen bridge) before the Germans blow the structure. The Americans are successful, thus enabling the allies to establish a bridgehead on the enemy side of the Rhine River.

Jan. 17, 1991: Two-hundred-ten years to the day after the Battle of Cowpens (see last week); American, British, and French forces — this time all three on the same team — kick off what Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein predicted would be “the Mother of all Battles” with a series of blistering air attacks aimed at destroying the Iraqi Air Force, Iraq’s air-defense forces and overall command and control. It is day one of Operation Desert Storm.

Jan. 18, 1911: Flying over San Francisco Bay in his Curtiss Pusher Model “D” aircraft, pioneer aviator Eugene B. Ely approaches the anchored cruiser USS Pennsylvania and manages to land onto a special platform fitted with a makeshift tailhook system aboard the ship. Upon landing, he purportedly says, “It was easy enough. I think the trick could be successfully turned nine times out of ten.”

Ely’s landing is the first-ever airplane landing aboard a ship. Ely already had become the first man to take off from a ship in November. In July, he will be commissioned a second lieutenant in the California National Guard. In October, he will be killed in a crash during an aerobatic demonstration in Macon, Georgia.

Jan. 19-20, 1770: The little-known but historically significant Battle of Golden Hill erupts in New York City between a group of angry Manhattan patriots and a contingent of British soldiers.

The clash begins when members of the patriot organization “Sons of Liberty” snatch a few of the King’s men, who are cutting down wooden “liberty poles” (symbols of resistance against British rule) which had been erected by the “Sons.” The redcoats also were reportedly posting bills condemning the Sons of Liberty as “the real enemies of society.” A struggle ensues. Redcoats from the nearby barracks respond, and a bayonet charge is ordered. Several are wounded on both sides, and one civilian is killed.

Less than seven weeks before the Boston Massacre, the Battle of Golden Hill is considered by some historians as the first armed clash of the American Revolution.

Jan. 20, 1914: Nearly three years to the day after Eugene Ely lands his airplane on USS Pennsylvania, “the cradle of Naval aviation” is born at Pensacola, Florida.

According to the American Naval Historical Center: “The aviation unit from Annapolis [Maryland], consisting of nine officers, 23 men, seven aircraft, portable hangars, and other gear, under Lieutenant J. H. Towers” arrives at Pensacola aboard the battleship USS Mississippi and the bulk-cargo ship USS Orion “to set up a flying school.”

Jan. 21, 1903: The Militia Act of 1903 — also known as the “Dick Act” (Congressman and Maj. Gen. Charles Dick authored much of the legislation) — is passed, establishing federal standards and greater federal control over state militias, essentially creating the modern National Guard.

Jan. 21, 1954: First Lady Mamie Eisenhower breaks a bottle of champagne across the bow of USS Nautilus in Groton, Connecticut, launching the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine. The following year, Nautilus gets underway, begins breaking numerous sea-travel records, and becomes the first “ship” to cross the North Pole.

Nautilus is the U.S. Navy’s sixth vessel bearing the name. The first Nautilus, a schooner built in 1799, saw action against the Barbary pirates and in the War of 1812.

Jan. 22, 1944: Allied forces, including the U.S. VI Corps under the command of Maj. Gen. John P. Lucas (of Lt. Gen. Mark Clark’s Fifth Army), begin a series of landings along a stretch of western Italian coastline in the Anzio-Nettuno area. Codenamed Operation Shingle, the Allies achieve complete surprise against — and encounter little initial resistance from — the Germans. But the landings kick off what will become one of the most grueling campaigns of World War II.

It is during the subsequent fighting (which continues for several months) that a dead German officer’s diary is found, a portion of which reads:

“American parachutists — devils in baggy pants — are less than 100 meters from my outpost line. I can’t sleep at night; they pop up from nowhere and we never know when or how they will strike next. Seems like the black-hearted devils are everywhere.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE: “This Week in American Military History,” appears every Wednesday as a feature of HUMAN EVENTS.

[Let's increase awareness of American military tradition and honor America’s greatest heroes by supporting the Medal of Honor Society's 2010 Convention to be held in Charleston, S.C., Sept. 29-Oct. 3, 2010. For more information, click here.]

Jan. 12, 1945: Warplanes from the U.S. Navy’s carrier Task Force 38 under the command of Vice Adm. John Sidney McCain Sr. (father of Adm. John S. McCain Jr. and grandfather of Sen. John S. McCain III), attack enemy convoys and bases along the coast of Japanese-held French Indochina (Vietnam) in the Battle of the South China Sea.

Codenamed “Operation Gratitude,” the attacks are wildly successful. Despite rough seas and high winds from a dangerously close typhoon, Japanese bases at Saigon, Cape Saint Jacques (Vung Tau), Cam Ranh Bay, Qui Nhon, and Tourane Bay (Da Nang) are hit hard, resulting in the destruction of docks, barracks, weapons depots, hangars, and scores of Japanese seaplanes and other aircraft, as well as the sinking of more than 40 enemy ships.

Adm. McCain – who Adm. William “Bull” Halsey refers to as “”not much more than my right arm” – will die of a heart attack on Sept. 6, 1945, four days after witnessing the Japanese surrender ceremony aboard USS Missouri. He is posthumously awarded a fourth star.

Jan 13, 1865: U.S. soldiers, sailors, and Marines under the joint command of Maj. Gen. Alfred Howe Terry and Rear Adm. David Dixon Porter begin landing operations – in what will prove to be the largest American amphibious operation until World War II – aimed at seizing Fort Fisher, N.C., a Confederate stronghold near the port city of Wilmington.

The fort — commanded by Confederate Col. William Lamb (the fort’s ultimate responsibility was that of Gen. Braxton Bragg, and yes, Fort Bragg, N.C. is named in his honor) – will fall to Union forces within two days.

More than 50 Medals of Honor will be awarded to those who participated in the assault.

Jan. 14, 1784: The U.S. Congress, temporarily meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, ratifies the Treaty of Paris, officially ending America’s War of Independence.

Jan. 16, 1781: Three years prior to the ratification, Brig. Gen. Daniel Morgan — commanding Continental infantry, cavalry, dragoons (horse-mounted infantry), and militia — strolls his encamped forces in a sprawling pastureland known as Hannah’s Cowpens in the South Carolina upcountry.

There, throughout the night, Morgan urges his men to take heart in the coming fight against a better-equipped, more-experienced force of British Army regulars and Loyalists under the command of Lt. Col. Banastre “Bloody Ban” Tarleton.

In specific instructions to his militia, Morgan directs them to fire two volleys at the attacking redcoats (and green-coated dragoons), then fall back on the veteran Continental regulars.

The forthcoming battle of Cowpens (Jan. 17) will end with a decisive victory for Morgan – who will defeat Tarleton in a classic double-envelopment – and a near-irrevocable loss of men, equipment, and reputation for the infamous Tarleton and his “British Legion.”

Tarleton’s boss, Gen. Sir Charles Cornwallis, will abandon South Carolina and in less than two months chalk up a pyrrhic victory at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse (N.C.). Meanwhile, word of Morgan’s victory will spread like wildfire throughout the Carolinas and up into Virginia where – at Yorktown – Cornwallis’ entire army (including Tarleton and his feared green-jacketed horsemen) will surrender to the combined American-French forces of Generals George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau on October 19, almost nine months to the day after Cowpens.

[Originally published at Blackfive]

Originally published at Human Events

This Week in American Military History:

Nov. 16, 1778: In a letter to Frenchman Jacques Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont, an intermediary between King Louis XVI and American emissaries seeking support for the American Revolution (including ships), Continental Navy Capt. John Paul Jones writes, “I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm’s way.”

Readers will recall Jones dramatic refusal-to-surrender — “I have not yet begun to fight!” — the following year during the famous battle of the North Sea between the Continental Navy frigate Bonhomme Richard and the British frigate HMS Serapis.

Nov. 16, 2004: Nine days after launching Operation Phantom Fury — the Second Battle of Fallujah (Iraq) — U.S. Marines and soldiers (as well as a few British and Iraqi troops) begin the mopping-up phase of what has since been described as the most intense urban combat since the bloody battle for the Vietnamese city of Hué in 1968.

It is during the height of the battle for Fallujah, that a radio transmission is intercepted by U.S. forces in which a panicking al-Qaeda insurgent is heard exclaiming to his chief: “We are fighting, but the Marines keep coming! We are shooting, but the Marines won’t stop!”

Nov. 17, 1775: The Continental Congress unanimously elects Henry Knox “Colonel of the Regiment of Artillery,” thus the official birth of the U.S. Field Artillery, known affectionately as the “King of Battle.” Infantry, by the way, is known as the “Queen of Battle.”

Knox’s regiment will become operational on Jan. 1, 1776. Knox (Yes, Fort Knox is named in his honor) is destined to become a major general and America’s first Secretary of War.

According to the U.S. Army’s Institute of Heraldry, “Although [today] Field Artillery and Air Defense Artillery are separate branches, both inherit the traditions of the Artillery branch,” and so both trace their ancestry to Knox and his regiment.

Nov. 18, 1967: U.S. Army Private First Class (future Sgt.) Sammy L. Davis, badly wounded, and with his artillery battery about to be overrun by an overwhelming force of Viet Cong diehards; mans a machinegun and singlehandedly mans two different howitzers, blasting away at the enemy and beating back the attack near Cai Lay, South Vietnam.

During the all-night battle, Davis — despite his wounds — also manages to swim across a nearby river to rescue three wounded buddies.

For his actions, Davis will be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Nov. 19, 1863: Pres. Abraham Lincoln delivers his now-famous Gettysburg Address, a portion of which reads:

“…we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. … we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE: “This Week in American Military History,” appears every week as a feature of HUMAN EVENTS.

Let’s increase awareness of American military tradition and honor America’s greatest heroes by supporting the Medal of Honor Society’s 2010 Convention to be held in Charleston, S.C., Sept. 29 – Oct. 3, 2010 (for more information, click here).

Oct. 18, 1859: U.S. Marine Lt. Israel Greene and a detachment of Marines – under the overall command of U.S. Army Col. (future Confederate general) Robert E. Lee – storm the now-famous fire-engine house at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. Inside the building, abolitionist John Brown and his raiders have barricaded themselves following a failed attempt to spark a slave uprising in the town.

The signal for Greene’s Marines to attack is a simple waving of U.S. Army Lt. (future Confederate general) James Ewell Brown “J.E.B.” Stuart’s plumed hat, after Stuart (Col. Lee’s aide and the designated negotiator) fails to persuade Brown to surrender.

Signal given, the Marines rush forward. Two leathernecks attempt to batter down the door with sledgehammers. Greene then orders 10-12 men to break through the door by ramming it with a wooden ladder. They do, and Greene leads his Marines into the breach.

According to Greene’s report:

“I brought my saber down with all my strength upon his [John Brown’s] head. He was moving as the blow fell, and I suppose I did not strike him where I intended, for he received a deep saber cut in the back of the neck. He fell senseless on his side, then rolled over on his back. He had in his hand a short Sharpe’s cavalry carbine. I think he had just fired as I reached Colonel [Lewis] Washington [a hostage], for the Marine who followed me into the aperture made by the ladder received a bullet in the abdomen, from which he died in a few minutes. …

“Instinctively as Brown fell I gave him a saber thrust in the left breast. The sword I carried was a light [dress] uniform weapon, and, either not having a point or striking something hard in Brown’s accouterments, did not penetrate. The blade bent double.”

Greene, whose blade strikes Brown’s belt-buckle, goes on to describe his Marines as “tigers,” adding “a storming assault is not a play-day sport.”

The Marines overwhelm Brown’s men and retake the building in three minutes.

Brown will be hanged. Greene will rise to the rank of major in the yet-to-be formed Confederate States Marine Corps.

Oct. 19, 1781: British Gen. Sir Charles Cornwallis surrenders his entire army to the combined American-French forces of Generals George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown, Virginia.

Oct. 19, 1950: United Nations forces — primarily the U.S. Eighth Army under the command of Gen. Walton Harris Walker — enter and seize Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea.

Oct. 20, 1944: U.S. Army Gen. and Medal of Honor recipient Douglas MacArthur makes good on his promise to “return to the Philippines,” landing at Leyte, and declaring:

“By the grace of Almighty God our forces stand again on Philippine soil …

“Rally to me. Let the indomitable spirit of Bataan and Corregidor lead on. As the lines of battle roll forward to bring you within the zone of operations, rise and strike. Strike at every favorable opportunity. For your homes and hearths, strike! For future generations of your sons and daughters, strike! In the name of your sacred dead, strike! Let no heart be faint. Let every arm be steeled. The guidance of divine God points the way. Follow in His Name to the Holy Grail of righteous victory!”

Within days, the great sea battle of Leyte Gulf will open.

Oct. 22, 1962: As the Cuban Missile Crisis unfolds, Pres. John F. Kennedy directs a “quarantine” — essentially a Naval blockade — of Cuba.

In an address to the nation, Kennedy says, “The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are; but it is the one most consistent with our character and courage as a nation and our commitments around the world. The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission.”

Oct. 23, 1983: A Jihadist terrorist driving a bomb-laden truck crashes into and detonates inside the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 243 American military personnel.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: “This Week in American Military History,” appears every week as a feature of HUMAN EVENTS.

Let’s increase awareness of American military tradition and honor America’s greatest heroes by supporting the Medal of Honor Society’s 2010 Convention to be held in Charleston, S.C., Sept. 29 – Oct. 3, 2010 (for more information, click here).

LCdr. Virgil C. "Squash" Griffin becomes the first man to take off from an aircraft carrier in 1922.

This Week in American Military History (by W. Thomas Smith Jr.):

Oct. 12, 1862: Confederate cavalry commander Gen. James Ewell Brown “J.E.B.” Stuart completes his “second ride” around Union Gen. George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac.

Oct. 13, 1775: Happy Birthday U.S. Navy!

According to the Naval History and Heritage Command:

“…meeting in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress voted to fit out two sailing vessels, armed with ten carriage guns, as well as swivel guns, and manned by crews of eighty, and to send them out on a cruise of three months to intercept transports carrying munitions and stores to the British army in America.

“This was the original legislation out of which the Continental Navy grew and as such constitutes the birth certificate of the navy.”

Oct. 14, 1943: In what will become known as “Black Thursday,” U.S. Army Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses – elements of the famed 8th Air Force – attack the ball-bearing plants (critical to Germany’s aviation industry) at the heavily defended Bavarian city of Schweinfurt. Though the raid is successful, scores of bombers – and more than 600 airmen – are lost.

According to Bruce Crawford writing for Aviation History magazine: “There is not much there to commemorate the carnage that took place overhead so many years ago, and that is too bad, because Schweinfurt should rank with Pickett’s Charge, Bataan, Chosin and other battlefields as an epic of American heroism. As it is, we can only look at grainy wartime pictures of the bombers going down in flames, and try to imagine what it was like for the men trapped inside.”

Oct. 16, 1859: Abolitionist John Brown and his raiders seize several buildings in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (see next week).

Oct. 17, 1777: After having been decisively defeated by Continental Army Gen. Horatio Gates at Second Saratoga (see Oct. 7), British Gen. John “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne surrenders his entire army, between 5,000 and 7,000 men.

Oct. 17, 1922: Lt. Commander Virgil C. Griffin, piloting a Vought VE-7SF bi-winged fighter, makes the first-ever “official” takeoff from a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, USS Langley – a coaling ship which had been converted into America’s first aircraft carrier – in York River, Virginia.

Though Griffin is indeed the first man to takeoff from a “carrier”, he is not the first to takeoff from a warship. That distinction belongs to Eugene B. Ely who took-off from a platform affixed to a cruiser in 1910.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: “This Week in American Military History,” appears every week as a feature of HUMAN EVENTS.

Let’s increase awareness of American military tradition and honor America’s greatest heroes by supporting the Medal of Honor Society’s 2010 Convention to be held in Charleston, S.C., Sept. 29 – Oct. 3, 2010 (for more information, click here).

Oct. 7, 1777: Continental forces under the command of Gen. Horatio Gates decisively defeat British forces under Gen. John “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne in the Second Battle of Saratoga (also known as the Battle of Bemis Heights).

According to the National Parks Service, “This crucial American victory renewed patriots’ hopes for independence, secured essential foreign recognition and support, and forever changed the face of the world.”

But the war is far from over.

Oct. 7, 1780: Three years to the day after Second Saratoga, patriot militia forces armed with rifles, knives, and tomahawks decisively defeat musket-armed Loyalist militia under the command of British Army Maj. Patrick Ferguson (who will be killed in the fighting) in the bloody Battle of King’s Mountain on the N.C.-S.C. border.

Among the patriots is John Crockett, father of Davy Crockett.

Oct. 7, 1918: Nearly two weeks into the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of World War I, the U.S. Army’s 82nd Division (destined to become the famed 82nd Airborne Division) battles its way toward — and successfully relieves — the now famous “Lost Battalion” (combined elements of three battalions of the 77th Infantry Division, which had been surrounded during a German counterattack).

For days without blankets and overcoats, always running short of ammunition and medical supplies (the wounded often patched up with bloody bandages removed from the dead), and with little food and nearly no water; the “Lost Battalion” — under the command of Maj. (future lieutenant colonel) Charles S. Whittlesey — had refused to surrender. Responding to a German surrender-demand, Whittlesey allegedly replied, “Go to hell!” Some reports suggest he said, “Come and get us.”

Whittlesey and two of his officers — Captains George McMurtry and Nelson Holderman — will receive the Medal of Honor.

Oct. 7, 2001: Post 9/11 America goes on the offensive against terrorists when U.S. and allied forces launch a massive retaliatory air and naval strike against the Taliban and Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network in Afghanistan.

Oct. 8, 1918: The day following the relief of the “Lost Battalion,” Private First Class (future U.S. Army sergeant and future colonel in the Tennessee State Guard) Alvin C. York captures “the whole damned German Army.”

In the action for which he will receive both the Medal of Honor and the French Croix de Guerre, York leads a seven-man team of doughboys against a strong enemy position. The team kills at least 25 Germans and captures four officers, 128 soldiers, and over 30 machineguns.

York, an expert rifleman from the Tennessee backcountry (yes, the home of John and son, Davy, Crockett), will later describe the action as something akin to a Tennessee turkey shoot: “Every time one of them raised his head, I just teched him off,” he said.

French Marshall Ferdinand Foch will tell York, “What you did was the greatest thing accomplished by any private soldier of all the armies of Europe.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE: “This Week in American Military History,” appears every week as a feature of HUMAN EVENTS.

Let’s increase awareness of American military tradition and honor America’s greatest heroes by supporting the Medal of Honor Society’s 2010 Convention to be held in Charleston, S.C., Sept. 29 – Oct. 3, 2010 (for more information, click here).