Military Milestones from Shay’s Rebellion to Looking Glass
From W. Thomas Smith, Jr.‘s “This Week in American Military History”:
Jan. 31, 1974: The first of three U.S. Army Ranger battalions since World War II is activated.
Yes, there were post-war Rangers and Ranger units of varying sizes, but the modern battalion-organization is launched in 1974 by Gen. Creighton Abrams, who proclaims: “The Ranger battalion is to be an elite, light and [the] most proficient infantry battalion in the world; a battalion that can do things with its hands and weapons better than anyone. The battalion will contain no hoodlums or brigands, and if the battalion is formed of such persons it will be disbanded. Wherever the battalion goes it will be apparent that it is the best.”
Feb. 1, 1800: The frigate USS Constellation (the first of four so-named American warships) under the command of Capt. Thomas Truxtun defeats the French frigate La Vengeance under Capt. F.M. Pitot in a night battle lasting several hours. The engagement, fought during America’s Quasi War with France, is — according to Truxtun — “as sharp an action as ever was fought between two frigates.”
Feb. 1, 1862: Julia Ward Howe’s poem “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which begins “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,” is published in the Atlantic Monthly. It will become a Union Army ballad. Today, the ballad is a martial hymn sung in American military chapels worldwide and by descendents of Union and Confederate soldiers alike.
Feb. 1, 1961: The Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) — the first three-staged, solid-fueled ICBM — is launched for the first time in a successful “all systems” test.
Minuteman I is the first missile in the still-operational Minuteman family. Minuteman IIIs are still deployed. The name “Minuteman” comes from the famous “minutemen” of America’s colonial militia.
In: Military History · Tagged with: Army Rangers, Capt. John Paul Jones, US Air Force, US Navy, W. Thomas Smith Jr.
