This Date in Military History:

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1831 – In Southampton County, Virginia, escaped slave Nat Turner is captured and arrested for leading the bloodiest slave rebellion in United States history.

1862 – Dr. Richard Gatling patented a machine gun. The Gatling Gun consisted of six barrels mounted in a revolving frame. A later version with ten barrels, fired 320 rounds a minute. The United States Army purchased these guns in 1865 and over the next few years most major armies in Europe purchased the gun. In 1870 Gatling opened a new factory in Hartford, Connecticut to produce his gun. He continued to improve the Gatling Gun and by 1882 it could fire up to 1,200 rounds per minute. However, sales of the gun declined after Hiram Maxim began producing his automatic Maxim Machine Gun. As well as guns, Gatling manufactured machines for sowing and breaking hemp, a steam power and a marine steam ram.

1862 – Union General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchell, commander of the Department of the South, dies at Beaufort, South Carolina. Born in Kentucky in 1809, Mitchell grew up in Lebanon, Ohio. He attended West Point and graduated in 1829 along with future Confederate leaders Joseph Johnston and Robert E. Lee. He excelled at mathematics and graduated 15th out of a class of 56 cadets. Mitchell taught at West Point before becoming a surveyor on the Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad. He served another stint in the military when he went to St. Augustine, Florida, but he found his true calling when he accepted a professorship at Cincinnati College in 1836. He soon gained wide acclaim as a lecturer on astronomy. His lecture tours in the United States and Europe helped fund the Cincinnati Observatory, which he directed when it opened in 1845. When the war erupted in 1861, Mitchell used his West Point education as a brigadier general in the Army of the Ohio under General Don Carlos Buell and participated in operations in Kentucky and Tennessee in 1862. Mitchell also directed raids into northern Alabama, capturing Huntsville in April 1862. Mitchell was a critic of the “soft war,” or limited approach, of many northern generals, and his actions made him a target of conservative northern newspapers. Advocating a tougher stance against Southern civilians and the institution of slavery, he confiscated the property of prominent Confederates and protected slaves who escaped to his lines well before the practice was mandated by Federal policy. In July 1862 he was named commander of the Department of the South. He moved to headquarters on the Sea Islands of South Carolina, where he oversaw the building of schools and homes for slaves in the captured territory. This movement, begun by his predecessor, General David Hunter, is considered the first experiment in the reconstruction of the South. However, Mitchell’s death from yellow fever cut short his participation in the experiment.

1882 – William F. “Bull” Halsey, Jr., American admiral, was born. He played an instrumental role in the defeat of Japan during World War II. William Halsey, the son of a naval captain, was born in New Jersey. He attended the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis and graduated in 1904 (43/62) and joined the United States Navy. Halsey won the Navy Cross during the First World War while commanding destroyer patrol forces in the Atlantic. After the war he served as a naval attaché in Germany, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Halsey, who learnt to fly in 1935, became one of the country’s leading exponents of naval air power. He commanded the aircraft carrier Saratoga for two years before becoming head of the Pensacola Naval Air Station in 1937. The following year he was given the responsibility of training air squadrons for the new carriers, Enterprise and Yorktown. In June 1940 he was promoted to vice admiral. Fortunately for Halsey he was at sea at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Serving under Admiral Chester Nimitz Halsey led the task force that attacked Japanese positions in the Gilbert Islands. In April 1943 he helped organized the air attacks on Tokyo. A nervous skin disease meant that Halsey missed the battle of Midway and Raymond Spruance led the task force that inflicted considerable damage on the Japanese Navy. Promoted to admiral in November, 1942, Halsey took control of naval operations during the Guadalcanal campaign (12th-13th November, 1942) and sunk two Japanese battleships, two destroyers and six transport ships for the loss of two cruisers and four destroyers.

The following year he took command of the South Pacific Force. Working closely with General Douglas MacArthur Halsey developed what became known as his island hopping tactics. This strategy involved amphibious landings on vulnerable islands, therefore bypassing Japanese troop concentrations on fortified islands. This had the advantage of avoiding frontal assaults and thus reducing the number of American casualties. In the Leyte Gulf campaign Halsey had the task of supporting the landing of troops and to destroy the main Japanese fleet. On 24th October 1944 Halsey fell into a Japanese trap when he headed north with all 64 ships to attack Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa . He left the San Bernardino Strait unprotected and only the actions of Vice-Admiral Thomas Kinkaid and the 7th Fleet prevented a military disaster. Halsey’s fleet were twice hit by typhoons in December 1944 and June 1945 and this led to the loss of several ships and many lives. At the subsequent enquiry he was criticized for taking inappropriate action in both cases. At the end of the Pacific War Halsey’s flagship, Missouri, was used for the signing of the Japanese surrender on 2nd September 1945. Three months later Halsey was promoted to admiral of the fleet. After retiring from the US Navy in April 1947, Halsey was a director of several large companies. William Halsey died in Pasadina, California on 16th August 1959.

1918 – Germany sent a note to the U.S.A. stating Armistice terms are being awaited.

1922 – Mussolini sent his black shirts into Rome and formed a government. The Fascist takeover was almost without bloodshed.

1939 – German U boat failed in an attack of English battleship Nelson with Winston Churchill, Dudley Pound and Charles Forbes aboard.

1941 – President Roosevelt, determined to keep the United States out of the war while helping those allies already mired in it, approves $1 billion in Lend-Lease loans to the Soviet Union. The terms: no interest and repayment did not have to start until five years after the war was over. The Lend-Lease program was devised by President Roosevelt and passed by Congress on March 11, 1941. Originally, it was meant to aid Great Britain in its war effort against the Germans by giving the chief executive the power to “sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of” any military resources the president deemed ultimately in the interest of the defense of the United States. The reasoning was: If a neighbor was successful in defending his home, the security of your home was enhanced. Although the Soviet Union had already been the recipient of American military weapons, and now had been promised $1 billion in financial aid, formal approval to extend the Lend-Lease program to the USSR had to be given by Congress. Anticommunist feeling meant much heated debate, but Congress finally gave its approval to the extension on November 7. By the end of the war, more than $50 billion in funds, weapons, aircraft, and ships had been distributed to 44 countries. After the war, the Lend-Lease program morphed into the Marshall Plan, which allocated funds for the revitalization of “friendly” democratic nations-even if they were former enemies.

1943 – The US 5th Army captures Mondragone on the west coast after penetrating the German Barbara Line defenses in the area. Other elements of the army, further inland, continue their advance.

1944 – Last transport for Auschwitz arrived in Birkenau.

1944 – On land around the Leyte Gulf, troops of US 7th Infantry Division (part of US 24th Corps) take Dagami. As sea, two carriers are badly damaged by Kamikaze attacks as the ships of US Task Force 38 begin to withdraw toward Ulithi.

1945 – The U.S. government announced the end of shoe rationing.

1950 – The First Marine Division was ordered to replace the entire South Korean I Corps at the Chosin Reservoir area.

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1950 – General Douglas McArthur ordered a combined Marine and Army outfit to cross the 38th parallel and “mop up” remaining North Korean soldiers. 12,000 Marines found themselves surrounded by 8 Chinese divisions. The marines lost 4,000 men and the Chinese lost 37,500.

1953 – Gen. George C. Marshall was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Albert Schweitzer received his 1952 Peace Prize.

1953 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally approves National Security Council Paper No. 162/2 (NSC 162/2). The top secret document made clear that America’s nuclear arsenal must be maintained and expanded to meet the communist threat. It also made clear the connection between military spending and a sound American economy. The paper began by warning that the Soviet Union already possessed sufficient atomic weapons and delivery capabilities to inflict a “crippling blow to our industrial base and our continued ability to prosecute a war.” While in the short-term such action by the Soviets seemed unlikely, this did not mean that the United States could afford to slacken its efforts to stockpile “sufficient atomic weapons.” In specific situations, the United States should “make clear to the USSR and Communist China…its intention to react with military force against any aggression by Soviet bloc armed forces.” Nuclear weapons should be “as available for use as other weapons.” NSC 162/2 indicated the growing reliance of the United States on its nuclear arsenal as a deterrent to communist aggression during the Eisenhower years. It also suggested that concerns were being raised about the ability of the American economy to support both a booming domestic standard of living and massive military expenditures. Its approval by the President was a definite sign of his so-called “New Look” foreign policy that depended on more cost efficient nuclear weapons to fight the Cold War.

1954 – US Armed Forces ended segregation of races. The Truman desegregation order of 1948 is finally, fully implemented.

1961 – The most powerful nuclear weapon the world has seen was detonated by the Soviet Union. Tsar Bomba was 1,400 times Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined and ten times the entire combined fire power expended in WWII.The resulting fireball had a radius of nearly 10,000 vertical feet and its 210,000 foot tall mushroom cloud reached into the stratosphere. The light generated by the reaction could be seen from over a 1,000 km and the force of its explosion registered a 5.0 on the Richter scale. The shock wave generated air pressures topping 300 PSI, circled the Earth thrice, and cracked windows 900 km away in Norway and Finland. Buildings in the abandoned town of Severny 55 km away were leveled—all of them—and upon later inspection, ground zero was reportedly the texture of a skating rink. As one observer recalled, “The clouds beneath the aircraft and in the distance were lit up by the powerful flash. The sea of light spread under the hatch and even clouds began to glow and became transparent. At that moment, our aircraft emerged from between two cloud layers and down below in the gap a huge bright orange ball was emerging. The ball was powerful and arrogant like Jupiter. Slowly and silently it crept upwards…. Having broken through the thick layer of clouds it kept growing. It seemed to suck the whole earth into it. The spectacle was fantastic, unreal, supernatural.”

This utter destruction is only half of what the Tsar Bomba was capable of. It was designed and built to deliver a staggering 100 megaton payload. The Tsar was supposed to utilize fast-fissioning uranium tampers on the second and third stages of the bomb, which would have allowed for a bigger reaction and subsequent energy release. However, just before the test was to take place, Soviet leadership ordered the tampers swapped out with lead replacements in order to prevent nuclear fallout from reaching populated areas of the USSR. These lead tampers cut the bomb’s yield by 50 percent but they also eliminated 97 percent of the resulting fallout. As such the Tsar Bomba, the largest, most destructively powerful device ever built by man also holds the notable distinction of being the relatively “cleanest” nuclear weapon ever tested. Luckily, that record was only important for two years until the signing of the Partial Test Ban Treaty which brought an end to above-ground nuclear weapons tests.

1965 – Just miles from Da Nang, U.S. Marines repel an intense attack by successive waves of Viet Cong troops and kill 56 guerrillas. A search of the dead uncovered a sketch of Marine positions written on the body of a 13-year-old Vietnamese boy who had been selling drinks to the Marines the previous day. This incident was indicative of the nature of a war in which even the most seemingly innocent child could be the enemy. There were many other instances where South Vietnamese civilians that worked on or near U.S. bases provided information to and participated in attacks alongside the enemy. Also on this day: Two U.S. planes accidentally bomb a friendly South Vietnamese village, killing 48 civilians and wounding 55 others. An American civic action team was immediately dispatched to the scene, and a later investigation disclosed that a map-reading error by South Vietnamese officers was responsible. Also on this day: In New York City, military veterans lead a parade in support of government policy in Vietnam. Led by five recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor, 25,000 people march in support of America’s action in Vietnam.

1970 – Fighting in the five northern-most provinces of Vietnam comes to a virtual halt as the worst monsoon rains in six years strikes the region. The resultant floods killed 293 people and left more than 200,000 homeless.

1985 – The launch of the space shuttle “Challenger” was witnessed by school teacher Christa McAuliffe. This was the first Space Shuttle mission largely financed and operated by another nation, West Germany. It was also the first Space Shuttle flight to carry a crew of eight. The primary mission was to operate a series of experiments, almost all related to functions in microgravity, in Spacelab D-1, the fourth flight of a Spacelab. Two other mission assignments were to deploy the Global Low Orbiting Message Relay Satellite (GLOMR) out of a Getaway Special canister in the cargo bay, and operate five materials processing experiments mounted in the cargo bay on a separate device called the German Unique Support Structure.

1987 – President Reagan announced that Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev would visit Washington in December for a summit, during which the two leaders would sign a treaty banning intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

1990 – The Iraqi News Agency quoted Saddam Hussein as saying Iraq was making final preparations for war, and that he expected an attack by the United States and its allies within days.

1990 – In the Persian Gulf, ten American sailors died when a steam pipe ruptured aboard the USS “Iwo Jima”; in Saudi Arabia, a Marine was killed in an accident while driving in the desert.

1992 – Iran-Contra special prosecutor Lawrence E. Walsh released an excerpt of notes taken by former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger in January 1986 which suggested then-Vice President Bush was fully aware of the Reagan administration’s arms-for-hostages deal with Iran. (Bush said despite the notes, he was not aware until December 1986 that the arrangement was an actual arms-for-hostages swap.)

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1993 – Martin Fettman, America’s first veterinarian in space, chopped the heads off six rats and performed the world’s first animal dissections in space, aboard the shuttle Columbia.

1993 – A United Nations deadline for ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to return to power passed with the country’s military still in control.

1997 – Al-Sha’if tribesmen kidnapped a US businessman near Sanaa, Yemen. The tribesmen sought the release of two fellow tribesmen who were arrested on smuggling charges and several public works projects they claim the government promised them. They released the hostage on 27 November.

1998 – Four abortion clinics in 3 states, Indian, Kentucky and Tennessee, received letters claiming to contain anthrax bacteria. The letters were tested and found to be free of anthrax.

2000 – Astronauts Bill Shephard of the US and Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev of Russia blasted off for the Int’l. Space Station for a 4-month stay.

2001 – NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey snapped its first picture of Mars, one week after the spacecraft safely arrived in orbit around the Red Planet.

2001 – The Pentagon reported that a small number of US ground forces were operating in northern Afghanistan.

2001 – Yasser al-Siri, an Egyptian activist, was charged in London in connection with the assassination in Afghanistan of Ahmed Shah Massood, a Northern Alliance leader.

2001 – In the Philippines Marvin Deonzon (27) was arrested following the weekend bomb attack. Deonzon claimed to be part of the al Qaeda network and warned of another 40 bombs planted around Zamboanga.

2001 – Ukraine destroyed its last nuclear missile silo, fulfilling a pledge to give up the vast nuclear arsenal it had inherited after the breakup of the former Soviet Union.

2002 – Allied warplanes bombed Iraqi defense systems in the northern no-fly zone over Iraq after being fired upon during routine patrols.

2002 – In Belarus authorities reported the discovery of a mass grave on a military base at Slutsk with the remains of up to 12,000 people killed during World War II. Some 800,000 Jew of Belarus were killed by Nazis.

2002 – Senior Sinn Fein-IRA figure Martin McGuinness declared his war has ended in a documentary broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corp.

2003 – The US and 29 other countries pledged $18.4 million to create a new war crimes court in Bosnia that will lighten the load at the U.N. tribunal in the Netherlands.

2004 – The US Army extended Iraq tours by 2 months for some 6,500 soldiers.

2005 – The rebuilt Dresden Frauenkirche (destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II) is reconsecrated after a thirteen-year rebuilding project.

2006 – Specialist Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, an Iraqi American United States Army soldier currently listed as missing in action in Iraq, is reported to have married an Iraqi citizen, against U.S. military regulations.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

ROSS, WILBURN K.
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Army, Company G, 350th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near St. Jacques, France, 30 October 1944. Entered service at: Strunk, Ky. Birth: Strunk, Ky. G.O. No.: 30, 14 April 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty near St. Jacques, France. At 11:30 a.m. on 30 October 1944, after his company had lost 55 out of 88 men in an attack on an entrenched. full-strength German company of elite mountain troops, Pvt. Ross placed his light machinegun 10 yards in advance of the foremost supporting riflemen in order to absorb the initial impact of an enemy counterattack. With machinegun and small-arms fire striking the earth near him, he fired with deadly effect on the assaulting force and repelled it. Despite the hail of automatic fire and the explosion of rifle grenades within a stone’s throw of his position, he continued to man his machinegun alone, holding off 6 more German attacks. When the eighth assault was launched, most of his supporting riflemen were out of ammunition. They took positions in echelon behind Pvt. Ross and crawled up, during the attack, to extract a few rounds of ammunition from his machinegun ammunition belt. Pvt. Ross fought on virtually without assistance and, despite the fact that enemy grenadiers crawled to within 4 yards of his position in an effort to kill him with hand grenades, he again directed accurate and deadly fire on the hostile force and hurled it back.

After expending his last rounds, Pvt. Ross was advised to withdraw to the company command post, together with 8 surviving riflemen, but, as more ammunition was expected, he declined to do so. The Germans launched their last all-out attack, converging their fire on Pvt. Ross in a desperate attempt to destroy the machinegun which stood between them and a decisive breakthrough. As his supporting riflemen fixed bayonets for a last-ditch stand, fresh ammunition arrived and was brought to Pvt. Ross just as the advance assault elements were about to swarm over his position. He opened murderous fire on the oncoming enemy; killed 40 and wounded 10 of the attacking force; broke the assault single-handedly, and forced the Germans to withdraw. Having killed or wounded at least 58 Germans in more than 5 hours of continuous combat and saved the remnants of his company from destruction, Pvt. Ross remained at his post that night and the following day for a total of 36 hours. His actions throughout this engagement were an inspiration to his comrades and maintained the high traditions of the military service.

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[tazo2503]

Damn dude, between this and the citizenship write up you’ve been busy today! Amazing what you can do after a good cooked breakfast from momma!

 

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You should see me after lunch...



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31 October

1803 – Congress ratified the purchase of the entire Louisiana area in North America, which added territory to the United States for 13 subsequent states.

1831 – Daniel Butterfield (d.1901), Major General (Union volunteers), was born. Thoroughly hated by his fellow officers, Daniel Butterfield was wounded at Gettysburg and “fortunately for him and to the joy of all has gone home.” A New York businessman with the American Express company, he had been active in the militia before the war. Leading his regiment of militia-the first to cross the Long Bridge-into Virginia, he later commanded a brigade of Patterson’s army. About this time he was given a commission in one of the new regular army regiments. In the Peninsula Campaign he earned a Congressional Medal of Honor-awarded in 1892-for the carrying of the flag of the 3rd Pennsylvania at Gaines’ Mill. He was also wounded in this action. While the army was encamped at Harrison’s Landing, he experimented with bugle calls, designing a special call for his brigade to be played before the regular calls to avoid confusion with those of other commands. He is also, incorrectly, credited with originating “Taps.” His subsequent rise was rapid-commanding a brigade at 2nd Bull Run and a corps by Fredericksburg. When Hooker was given command of the army, Butterfield, by now a major general, was made his chief of staff. It was during this period that the army headquarters was termed “a combination of bar-room and brothel.” Most officers considered the culprits to be Hooker, Daniel E. Sickles, and Butterfield.

During the fighting at Chancellorsville, Butterfield was left behind at Falmouth to coordinate the actions of the two wings and communicate with Washington. With Meade’s taking command of the army, a few days before Gettysburg, he reluctantly kept Butterfield as his staff chief, preferring not to replace him during active campaigning. The problem was finally solved when Butterfield was struck by a spent piece of shell on the third day of the battle. Returning to duty in the fall of 1863, he joined Hooker again at Chattanooga and was his chief of staff in the battle. With the formation of the 20th Corps he was given a division, which he commanded in the Atlanta Campaign. Illness forced him to leave the field before its conclusion. He later was given an assignment at Vicksburg and then was on recruiting duty in New York as a regular army colonel following his August 24, 1865, muster out of the volunteers. Resigning in 1870, he returned to his business interests and was active in veterans groups. Ironically he is buried at West Point, which he never attended, with one of the most ornate monuments.

1835 – Adelbert Ames (d.1933), Bvt Major General (Union Army), was born. Born in Rockland, Maine, Adelbert Ames went to sea on a clipper ship as a young man. Attending West Point and graduating fifth in his class in 1861, he was commissioned a lieutenant of artillery. Ames commanded a section of Battery D/5th U.S. Artillery at the First Battle of Bull Run, and was seriously wounded in the thigh. He issued orders until he was unable to continue, refusing to leave the field. Brevetted a major for his courage, he returned to duty in a few weeks. Ames commanded Battery A/5th U.S. Artillery in the Peninsula Campaign, and led the 20th Maine infantry in the Antietam Campaign and at Fredericksburg, Virginia. He served as Maj., Gen. George G. Meade’s aide at the Battle of Chancellorsville. In 1863, Ames was commissioned a brigadier general of volunteers, and he commanded a division at the Battles of Gettysburg, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Fort Fisher. Ames was brevetted major general of volunteers and major general in the Regular Army for his efforts. After the war, he served as Mississippi’s provisional governor, U.S. senator, and the state’s elected governor. Involved in the corrupt politics of Reconstruction Mississippi, he resigned from public office in 1876, while facing impeachment. During the Spanish-American War, Ames served briefly as brigadier general of volunteers. Awarded the Medal of Honor in 1893, he died in Ormand, Florida, on April 13, 1933, at the age of 97. Ames was the last surviving full-rank Civil War general.

1860 – Juliette Low, founder of the Girl Scouts, was born. She was born into the wealthy Gordon Family of Savannah on the eve of the Civil War. Her socialite mother was impatient with the trouble of bearing children and could not take seriously her husband’s loyalty to the Confederacy. The tension between social appearance and hard reality was felt by little Juliette from her earliest years. All through her childhood, she showed a rebellious, tomboyish streak that kept her from ever entirely fitting the conventional image of the aristocratic Southern Belle. An unhappy marriage to a wealthy and self-indulgent English gentleman left her determined to find a life of service. At this point, she was fortunate to meet Sir Robert Baden-Powell, a popular hero of the Boer War. He was making good use of his heroic charisma to found and promote the Boy Scouts. Mrs. Low was thoroughly captivated by his values of self-discipline and personal honor and his success in communicating these values to the Boy Scouts. She was troubled, however, that he could not find much place for girls in his plans.

Like others of his time, he could not see girls learning to live outdoors and be leaders, much less learning to follow careers outside the home. He would not permit girls’ groups to be called “scouts” at all, although he authorized a few troops of Girl Guides under the direction of his sister. Juliette Low did all she could with troops of the Girl Guides in England, but found the program too restricted for her high hopes. In 1912, she returned to Savannah determined to put everything she had into those hopes. On the night of her return, she called an old friend and cousin and said, “I’ve got something for the girls of Savannah, and all America, and all the world, and we’re going to start it tonight!” On her own property and with her own wealth, she began Girl Scouts, U.S.A., with a group of eighteen Savannah girls. On a tennis court shielded by curtains, she put them in bloomers and put them through a physical fitness program. She trained them in the basics of independent living and service to others, preparation for careers as well as for home and family. She broke the traditional walls that restricted the life of the southern lady and prepared girls to compete and succeed in any endeavor they chose.

As the movement spread like wildfire across the country, she directed it into paths of community and national service. In World War I, she had Girl Scout troops working with the Red Cross, raising vegetables in their backyard gardens, and selling Liberty Bonds. Presidents and other national leaders showered her with honors. By the end of her life there were some 167,000 Girl Scouts in the United States and how, on their eightieth anniversary, the Girl Scouts have served an estimated fifty million members worldwide. In the early days, Juliette Low shocked her fashionable contemporaries by decorating her hat with parsley and carrots. She would tell them proudly that she had put her whole fortune into the Girl Scouts. In later years, the Girl Scout uniform was her dress for all occasions. She lies buried in that uniform in Savannah. In her breast-pocket is a note from the head of the Girl Scouts, U.S.A. : “You are not only the first Girl Scout but the best Girl Scout of them all.”

1861 – Citing failing health, General Winfield Scott, commander of the Union forces, retires from service. The hero of the Mexican War recognized early in the Civil War that his health and advancing years were a liability in the daunting task of directing the Federal war effort. Scott was born in Virginia in 1786. He graduated from William and Mary College and joined the military in 1808, where he had become the youngest general in the army by the end of the War of 1812. He was an important figure in the development of the U.S. Army after that war, having designed a system of regulations and tactical manuals that defined the institution for most of the 19th century. Scott borrowed heavily from the French, but his tactics were of little use in the irregular warfare the army waged against the Seminoles and Creek in the southeast. His methods, however, worked brilliantly during the war with Mexico in 1846 and 1847. His campaign against Mexico City, in particular, was well planned and executed. During the crisis of 1861, Scott remained at his post and refused to join his native state in secession. President Lincoln asked Scott to devise a comprehensive plan to defeat the Confederacy. Scott’s strategy called for the blockading of ports to isolate the South economically, then an offensive down the Mississippi River.

In the optimistic early days of the war, this strategy seemed hopelessly sluggish-in fact, critics dubbed it the “Anaconda Plan” after the giant Amazonian snake that slowly strangles its prey. Despite initial criticism, it was the basic strategy that eventually won the war. Scott also drew criticism for ordering the advance of General Irwin McDowell’s army into Virginia, which resulted in the disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861. With the arrival of George McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac shortly after, Scott’s influence waned. He weighed over 300 pounds, suffered from gout and rheumatism, and was unable to mount a horse. His resignation on October 31 did not end his influence on the war, however. Lincoln occasionally sought his counsel, and many of his former officers commanded forces and executed the same maneuvers that he had used in Mexico. Scott retired to West Point to write his memoirs before he died in 1866.

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1864 – Anxious to have support of the Republican-dominated Nevada Territory for President Abraham Lincoln’s reelection, the U.S. Congress quickly admits Nevada as the 36th state in the Union. In 1864, Nevada had only 40,000 inhabitants, considerably short of the 60,000 normally required for statehood. But the 1859 discovery of the incredibly large and rich silver deposits at Virginia City had rapidly made the region one of the most important and wealthy in the West. The inexpert miners who initially developed the placer gold deposits at Virginia City had complained for some time about the blue-gray gunk that kept clogging up their gold sluices. Eventually several of the more experienced miners realized that the gunk the gold miners had been tossing aside was actually rich silver ore, and soon after, they discovered the massive underground silver deposit called the Comstock Lode. Unlike the easily developed placer deposits that had inspired the initial gold rushes to California and Nevada, the Comstock Lode ore demanded a wide array of expensive new technologies for profitable development. For the first time, western mining began to attract investments from large eastern capitalists, and these powerful men began to push for Nevada statehood.

The decisive factor in easing the path to Nevada’s statehood was President Lincoln’s proposed 13th Amendment banning slavery. Throughout his administration Lincoln had appointed territorial officials in Nevada who were strong Republicans, and he knew he could count on the congressmen and citizens of a new state of Nevada to support him in the coming presidential election and to vote for his proposed amendment. Since time was so short, the Nevada constitutional delegation sent the longest telegram on record up to that time to Washington, D.C., containing the entire text of the proposed state constitution and costing the then astronomical sum of $3,416.77. Their speedy actions paid off with quick congressional approval of statehood and the new state of Nevada did indeed provide strong support for Lincoln. On January 31, 1865, Congress approved the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning slavery.

1913 – Dedication of the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile highway across the United States.

1918 – In the worst global epidemic of the century, influenza (an acute, contagious respiratory viral infection) had been spreading around the world since May. Before it ended in 1919 some 20 million people were killed worldwide, about twice as many as World War I, with about 500-600,000 of them in the US. October was the deadliest month and about 195,000 died with 21,000 dead the 1st week. It was estimated that 20-40 million people died worldwide.

1918 – Pershing’s troops break through the third and final German defensive line. The Meuse-Argonne Offensive is to be renewed after a brief period of rest and reinforcement.

1922 – Mussolini was made prime minister of Italy. He centralized all power in himself as leader of the Fascist party and attempted to create an Italian empire, ultimately in alliance with Hitler’s Germany.

1941 – The U.S. Navy destroyer “Reuben James” was torpedoed by a German U-boat off Iceland, killing 115, even though the United States had not yet entered World War II.

1943 – LT Hugh D. O’Neill of VF(N)-75 destroys a Japanese aircraft during night attack off Vella Lavella in first kill by a radar-equipped night fighter of the Pacific Fleet.

1943 – The British 10th Corps (part of the US 5th Army) captures Teano in attacks toward Monte Santa Croce. Meanwhile, the US 6th Corps attacks Monte Massico.

1950 – The Chinese launched a strong attack on Eighth Army at Unsan.

1951 – Eighteen of the 67 Air Guard squadrons mobilized in 1950-1951 during the Korean War are returned to state control on this date. Only one of the 18, the 116th Fighter Squadron from Moses Lake Air Force Base, WA, served overseas during this period. Issued new F-86A Sabre jets the 116th was stationed at the Royal Air Force base at Manston, England as part of the reinforcement of NATO forces put in place to discourage a Soviet attack in Europe. The six squadrons that actually deployed and fought in Korea were released in July 1952. The last flying units of the Air Guard serving on active duty during this period were finally released on December 31, 1952.

1952 – The United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific. The first H-bomb ever ‘Mike’ was exploded at 7.15 am local time on November 1st 1952. The mushroom cloud was 8 miles across and 27 miles high. The canopy was 100 miles wide. Radioactive mud fell out of the sky followed by heavy rain. 80 million tons of earth was vaporised. Mike was the first ever megaton yield explosion.

1954 – The Vietnamese Marine Corps is formally organized wit US marine Colonel Victor Croziat as its senior US advisor. At two-battalion strength by the end of the year, the Vietnamese Marine Corps enjoys the reputation of a well-disciplined unit.

1955 – Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller, who earned five Navy Crosses (and 1 Army Distinguished Service Cross), retired as a Lieutenant General.

1956 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower praised the promise by Moscow made the previous day of major concessions to Hungarians in revolt as “the dawning of a new day” in Eastern Europe. Anti-government demonstrations in Budapest a week earlier had forced a reshuffling of the Hungarian government and demands that the new government denounce the Warsaw Pact and seek liberation from Soviet domination.

1956 – Rear Admiral G.J. Dufek became the first person to land an airplane at the South Pole. Navy men land in R4D Skytrain on the ice at the South Pole. RADM George Dufek, CAPT Douglas Cordiner, CAPT William Hawkes, LCDR Conrad Shinn, LT John Swadener, AD2 J. P. Strider and AD2 William Cumbie are the first men to stand on the South Pole since Captain Robert F. Scott in 1912.

1956 – USS Burdo (APD-133) and USS Harlan R. Dickson (DD-708) evacuate 166 persons from Haifa, Israel due to the fighting between Egypt and Israel.

1959 – A former U.S. Marine from Fort Worth, Texas, Lee Harvey Oswald, announced in Moscow that he would never return to the United States.

1961 – End of Lighter than Air in U.S. Navy with disestablishment of Fleet Airship Wing One and ZP-1 and ZP-3, the last operating units in LTA branch of Naval Aviation, at Lakehurst, New Jersey.

1967 – Nguyen Van Thieu took the oath of office as the first president of South Vietnam’s second republic.

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1968 – President Johnson announces bombing halt. In a televised address to the nation five days before the presidential election, President Lyndon Johnson announces that on the basis of developments in the Paris peace negotiations, he has ordered the complete cessation of “all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam.” Accordingly, effective November 1, the U.S. Air Force called a halt to the air raids on North Vietnam known as Operation Rolling Thunder. The President further disclosed that Hanoi had finally agreed to allow the South Vietnamese government to participate in the peace talks. Johnson said that the United States would consent to a role for the National Liberation Front, though he stated that the latter concession “in no way involves recognition of the National Liberation Front in any form.” The National Liberation Front (or Viet Cong, as it was more popularly known) was the classic Communist front organization that included both Communists and non-Communists who had banded together in opposition against the Saigon regime. Domestically, President Johnson’s action drew widespread acclaim; both major presidential candidates expressed their full support. The reaction in Saigon, however, was much more subdued; President Thieu issued a communiqué declaring that the United States had acted unilaterally in its decision to halt the bombing.

1970 – South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu delivers a speech on the state of the nation before a joint session of the South Vietnamese National Assembly, asserting that 99.1 percent of the country had been “pacified.” The pacification program that he alluded to had been a long-term multi-faceted effort to provide territorial security, destroy the enemy’s underground government, reassert political control, involve the people in their own government, and provide for economic and social reforms. Citing success in this program, Thieu said that a military victory was close at hand and that “we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.” With regard to the ongoing peace talks in Paris, the South Vietnamese president declared that the Communists viewed negotiations merely as a way to gain time and “to achieve victory gradually.” He said he would never accept a coalition government with the Communists, because “countless past experiences” had already shown that such an approach would not bring peace.

1971 – Saigon began the release of 1,938 Hanoi POW’s. 1980 – In Iran Reza Pahlavi, eldest son of the late shah, proclaimed himself the rightful successor to the Peacock Throne.

1984 – The tanker Puerto Rican exploded outside of San Francisco Bay. Coast Guard units responded. Puerto Rican arrived in San Francisco Bay on October 25, 1984, and called at Richmond and Alameda. She loaded a cargo of 91,984 barrels of lubrication oil and additives, took on 8,500 barrels of bunker fuel, and departed for sea shortly after midnight on October 31, bound for New Orleans. At 3:24 a.m., as she was disembarking the pilot outside the San Francisco Bay Entrance Channel, an explosion occurred near the No. 6 center-independent tank, which blew flames several hundred feet into the air, knocked the pilot and two crew members into the water, and folded back an immense section of the deck measuring nearly 100 feet square. The pilot boat San Francisco rescued pilot James S. Nolan and third mate Philip R. Lempiere, but able seaman John Peng was lost. Response by the Coast Guard was immediate, and the burning tanker was towed to sea in order to minimize the chance of a disastrous oil spill on the sensitive areas of San Francisco Bay, the adjacent ocean shoreline, and the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. By the following afternoon, the fires had been extinguished, but on November 3, Puerto Rican, her hull weakened by explosion and fires, broke in two sections, releasing 30,000 barrels of oil into the water. The stern section, containing 8,500 barrels of fuel oil, sank at 37 degrees, 30.6 minutes north latitude and 123 degrees, 007. minutes west longitude, one mile inside the boundaries of the sanctuary. She remains at a depth of 1,476 feet have been thoroughly surveyed by side-scan sonar. Oil still leaks slowly from the vessel.

1989 – President Bush announced he and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev would hold an early December summit aboard ships in the Mediterranean near Malta.

1991 – During an extremely severe winter storm, CGC Tamaroa rescued four of five Air National Guard crewmen from an H-60 that had ditched south of Long Island due to fuel exhaustion. The Tamaroa had been attempting to rescue three persons off the sailing vessel Satori (as had the ANG H-60) the previous day (see 30 October entry above) when she was diverted to assist the Air National Guard para-rescuemen. The fifth para-rescueman was never found. The Tamaroa was awarded the Coast Guard Unit Commendation for these rescue attempts.

1992 – It was announced that five American nuns in Liberia had been shot to death near the capital Monrovia; the killings were blamed on rebels loyal to Charles Taylor.

1997 – The US announced a plan to increase spending over the next decade to $1 billion per year to clear the world of land mines that threaten civilian populations by 2010.

1998 – The US and Israel signed a strategic cooperation agreement to protect the Jewish state from ballistic missiles. The Arrow “antitactical ballistic missile” program is one of the centerpieces of the U.S.-Israel strategic relationship. It is one of the most advanced missile defense systems currently in existence. The Arrow will offer Israel an essential capability against Scud-type ballistic missiles, and provides the U.S. with key research and technology for other “theater missile defense” programs.

1998 – Iraq said that it was suspending all cooperation with int’l. arms inspectors and would close down their long-term monitoring operations in response to a Security Council rejection of demands that a review of its relations with the UN should automatically result in a lifting of sanctions. The move was condemned by the Security Council.

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2000 – American astronaut Bill Shepherd and two Russian cosmonauts rocketed into orbit aboard a Soyuz rocket on a quest to become the first residents of the international space station.

2001 – US bombing in Afghanistan was reported to be the heaviest in the 4-week campaign.

2001 – The Bush administration said the Saudi government has issued an order to freeze assets of people and groups suspected of links to terrorism.

2001 – Attorney Gen. John Ashcroft announced plans to block hostile foreigners from entering the US.

2001 – The US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan, received a letter that was later confirmed to contain anthrax.

2001 – Former Symbionese Liberation Army fugitive Sara Jane Olson pleaded guilty to 2 felony accounts in Los Angeles to the attempted murder of police officers from activities with the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1975. She was later sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.

2001 – Kathy Nguyen (61), a NYC hospital worker, died of anthrax. She was the 4th person to perish in a spreading wave of bioterrorism. The source of infection remained a mystery.

2002 – Authorities charged the two Washington sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo with murder in a Louisiana attack that came just two days after a similar slaying in Alabama.

2003 – Fighting between Afghan soldiers and police in a tense province in southern Afghanistan killed two military commanders and up to eight policemen.

2004 – Iran’s parliament unanimously approved the outline of a bill that would require the government to resume uranium enrichment.

2004 – In Iraq a terrorist rocket attack in Tikrit killed 15 Iraqis and wounded 8.

2004 – Japan condemned the beheading of a Japanese hostage in Iraq as a despicable act of terrorism and vowed to keep its troops in the country on their reconstruction mission.

2008 – Libya pays US$1.5 billion in compensation for past terrorist attacks to the United States, clearing the way for normal diplomatic ties between the two countries.

2010 – A United States military commission sentences Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr to eight more years in prison after pleading guilty to the murder of an American soldier in 2002.

2013 – The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons declares that Syria has destroyed 21 of 23 known chemical weapons facilities, and now must destroy the chemical weapons themselves.

2014 – One person is dead and another injured after Virgin Galactics Space Ship Two explodes and crashes in California’s Mojave Desert during a test flight of the space plane.

2014 – A Mexican judge releases a United States Marine Corps member detained for crossing the border with loaded guns eight months ago.


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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

BRUTSCHE, HENRY
Rank and organization: Landsman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1846, Philadelphia, Pa. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served on board the U.S.S. Tacony during the taking of Plymouth, N.C., 31 October 1864. Carrying out his duties faithfully during the capture of Plymouth, Brutsche distinguished himself by a display of coolness when he participated in landing and spiking a 9-inch gun while under a devastating fire from enemy musketry.

COLBERT, PATRICK
Rank and organization: Coxswain, U.S. Navy. Born: 1840, Ireland. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served on board the U.S.S. Commodore Hull at the capture of Plymouth, 31 October 1864. Painfully wounded by a shell which killed the man at his side, Colbert, as captain of the forward pivot gun, remained at his post until the end of the action, braving the heavy enemy fire and appearing as cool as if at mere target practice.

GRAHAM, ROBERT
Rank and organization: Landsman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1841, England. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.. 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served on board the U.S.S. Tacony during the taking of Plymouth, N.C., 31 October 1864. Carrying out his duties faithfully during the capture of Plymouth, Graham distinguished himself by a display of coolness when he participated in landing and spiking a 9-inch gun while under a devastating fire from enemy musketry.

HOWARD, MARTIN
Rank and organization: Landsman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1843, Ireland. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served on board the U.S.S. Tacony during the taking of Plymouth, N.C., 31 October 1864. Carrying out his duties faithfully during the capture of Plymouth, Howard distinguished himself by a display of coolness when he participated in landing and spiking a 9-inch gun while under a devastating fire from enemy musketry.

*TALLENTlNE, JAMES
Rank and organization: Quarter Gunner, U.S. Navy. Born: 1840, England. Accredited to: Maryland. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served as quarter gunner on board the U.S.S. Tacony during the taking of Plymouth, N.C., 31 October 1864. Carrying out his duties faithfully during the capture of Plymouth, Tallentine distinguished himself by a display of coolness when he participated in landing and spiking a 9_inch gun while under devastating fire from enemy musketry. Tallentine later gave his life while courageously engaged in storming Fort Fisher, 15 January 1865.

MILLMORE, JOHN
Rank and organization: Ordinary Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1860, New York, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 326, 18 October 1884. Citation: Serving on board the U.S.S. Essex, Millmore rescued from drowning John W. Powers, ordinary seaman, serving on the same vessel with him, at Monrovia, Liberia, 31 October 1877.

SIMPSON, HENRY
Rank and organization: First Class Fireman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1859, London, England. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 326, 18 October 1884. Citation: For rescuing from drowning John W. Powers, ordinary seaman on board the U.S.S. Essex, at Monrovia, Liberia, 31 October 1877.

BARGER, CHARLES D.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company L, 354th Infantry, 89th Division. Place and date: Near Bois-deBantheville, France, 31 October 1918. Entered service at: Stotts City, Mo. Birth: Mount Vernon, Mo. G.O. No.: 20, W.D., 1919. Citation: Learning that 2 daylight patrols had been caught out in No Man’s Land and were unable to return, Pfc. Barger and another stretcher bearer upon their own initiative made 2 trips 500 yards beyond our lines, under constant machinegun fire, and rescued 2 wounded officers.

FUNK, JESSE N.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company L, 354th Infantry, 89th Division. Place and date: Near Bois-deBantheville, France, 31 October 1918. Entered service at. Calhan, Colo. Born: 20 August 1888, New Hampton, Mo. G.O. No.: 20, W.D., 1919. Citation: Learning that 2 daylight patrols had been caught out in No Man’s Land and were unable to return, Pfc. Funk and another stretcher bearer, upon their own initiative, made 2 trips 500 yards beyond our lines, under constant machinegun fire, and rescued 2 wounded officers.

BUTTON, WILLIAM ROBERT
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps. Entered service at: St. Louis, Mo. Born: 3 December 1895, St. Louis, Mo. G.O. No.: 536, 10 June 1920. Citation: For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in actual conflict with the enemy near Grande Riviere, Republic of Haiti, on the night of 31 October 1919, resulting in the death of Charlemagne Peralte, the supreme bandit chief in the Republic of Haiti, and the killing, capture and dispersal of about 1,200 of his outlaw followers. Cpl. William R. Button not only distinguished himself by his excellent judgment and leadership but also unhesitatingly exposed himself to great personal danger when the slightest error would have forfeited not only his life but the lives of the detachments of Gendarmerie under his command. The successful termination of his mission will undoubtedly prove of untold value to the Republic of Haiti.

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[SHOOTER13]

HANNEKEN, HERMAN HENRY
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps. Place and date: Near Grande Riviere, Republic of Haiti, 31 October-1 November 1919. Entered service at: St. Louis, Mo. Born: 23 June 1893, St. Louis, Mo. G.O. No.: 536, 10 June 1920. Other Navy awards: Navy Cross with 1 gold star, Silver Star, Legion of Merit. Citation: For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in actual conflict with the enemy near Grande Riviere, Republic of Haiti, on the night of 31 October-1 November 1919, resulting in the death of Charlemagne Peralte, the supreme bandit chief in the Republic of Haiti, and the killing, capture, and dispersal of about 1,200 of his outlaw followers. 2d Lt. Hanneken not only distinguished himself by his excellent judgment and leadership but also unhesitatingly exposed himself to great personal danger when the slightest error would have forfeited not only his life but the lives of the detachments of gendarmerie under his command. The successful termination of his mission will undoubtedly prove of untold value to the Republic of Haiti.

*PITTS, RILEY L.
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Army, Company C, 2d Battalion, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. Place and date: Ap Dong, Republic of Vietnam, 31 October 1967. Entered service at: Wichita, Kans. Born: 15 October 1937, Fallis, Okla. Citation: Distinguishing himself by exceptional heroism while serving as company commander during an airmobile assault. Immediately after his company landed in the area, several Viet Cong opened fire with automatic weapons. Despite the enemy fire, Capt. Pitts forcefully led an assault which overran the enemy positions. Shortly thereafter, Capt. Pitts was ordered to move his unit to the north to reinforce another company heavily engaged against a strong enemy force. As Capt. Pitts’ company moved forward to engage the enemy, intense fire was received from 3 directions, including fire from 4 enemy bunkers, 2 of which were within 15 meters of Capt. Pitts’ position. The severity of the incoming fire prevented Capt. Pitts from maneuvering his company. His rifle fire proving ineffective against the enemy due to the dense jungle foliage, he picked up an M-79 grenade launcher and began pinpointing the targets. Seizing a Chinese Communist grenade which had been taken from a captured Viet Cong’s web gear, Capt. Pitts lobbed the grenade at a bunker to his front, but it hit the dense jungle foliage and rebounded.

Without hesitation, Capt. Pitts threw himself on top of the grenade which, fortunately, failed to explode. Capt. Pitts then directed the repositioning of the company to permit friendly artillery to be fired. Upon completion of the artillery fire mission, Capt. Pitts again led his men toward the enemy positions, personally killing at least 1 more Viet Cong. The jungle growth still prevented effective fire to be placed on the enemy bunkers. Capt. Pitts, displaying complete disregard for his life and personal safety, quickly moved to a position which permitted him to place effective fire on the enemy. He maintained a continuous fire, pinpointing the enemy’s fortified positions, while at the same time directing and urging his men forward, until he was mortally wounded. Capt. Pitts’ conspicuous gallantry, extraordinary heroism, and intrepidity at the cost of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, are in the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the Armed Forces of his country.

THORNTON, MICHAEL EDWIN
Rank and organization: Petty Officer, U.S. Navy, Navy Advisory Group. Place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 31 October 1972. Entered service at: Spartanburg, S.C. Born: 23 March 1949, Greenville, S.C. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while participating in a daring operation against enemy forces. PO Thornton, as Assistant U.S. Navy Advisor, along with a U.S. Navy lieutenant serving as Senior Advisor, accompanied a 3-man Vietnamese Navy SEAL patrol on an intelligence gathering and prisoner capture operation against an enemy-occupied naval river base. Launched from a Vietnamese Navy junk in a rubber boat, the patrol reached land and was continuing on foot toward its objective when it suddenly came under heavy fire from a numerically superior force. The patrol called in naval gunfire support and then engaged the enemy in a fierce firefight, accounting for many enemy casualties before moving back to the waterline to prevent encirclement.

Upon learning that the Senior Advisor had been hit by enemy fire and was believed to be dead, PO Thornton returned through a hail of fire to the lieutenant’s last position; quickly disposed of 2 enemy soldiers about to overrun the position, and succeeded in removing the seriously wounded and unconscious Senior Naval Advisor to the water’s edge. He then inflated the lieutenant’s lifejacket and towed him seaward for approximately 2 hours until picked up by support craft. By his extraordinary courage and perseverance, PO Thornton was directly responsible for saving the life of his superior officer and enabling the safe extraction of all patrol members, thereby upholding the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

WILLIAMS, JAMES E.
Rank and organization: Boatswain’s Mate First Class (PO1c.), U.S. Navy, River Section 531, My Tho, RVN, Place and date: Mekong River, Republic of Vietnam, 31 October 1966. Entered service at: Columbia, S.C. Born: 13 June 1930, Rock Hill, S.C. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. PO1c. Williams was serving as Boat Captain and Patrol Officer aboard River Patrol Boat (PBR) 105 accompanied by another patrol boat when the patrol was suddenly taken under fire by 2 enemy sampans. PO1c. Williams immediately ordered the fire returned, killing the crew of 1 enemy boat and causing the other sampan to take refuge in a nearby river inlet. Pursuing the fleeing sampan, the U.S. patrol encountered a heavy volume of small-arms fire from enemy forces, at close range, occupying well-concealed positions along the river bank. Maneuvering through this fire, the patrol confronted a numerically superior enemy force aboard 2 enemy junks and 8 sampans augmented by heavy automatic weapons fire from ashore.

In the savage battle that ensued, PO1c. Williams, with utter disregard for his safety exposed himself to the withering hail of enemy fire to direct counter-fire and inspire the actions of his patrol. Recognizing the overwhelming strength of the enemy force, PO1c. Williams deployed his patrol to await the arrival of armed helicopters. In the course of his movement his discovered an even larger concentration of enemy boats. Not waiting for the arrival of the armed helicopters, he displayed great initiative and boldly led the patrol through the intense enemy fire and damaged or destroyed 50 enemy sampans and 7 junks. This phase of the action completed, and with the arrival of the armed helicopters, PO1c. Williams directed the attack on the remaining enemy force. Now virtually dark, and although PO1c. Williams was aware that his boats would become even better targets, he ordered the patrol boats’ search lights turned on to better illuminate the area and moved the patrol perilously close to shore to press the attack. Despite a waning supply of ammunition the patrol successfully engaged the enemy ashore and completed the rout of the enemy force.

Under the leadership of PO 1 c. Williams, who demonstrated unusual professional skill and indomitable courage throughout the 3 hour battle, the patrol accounted for the destruction or loss of 65 enemy boats and inflicted numerous casualties on the enemy personnel. His extraordinary heroism and exemplary fighting spirit in the face of grave risks inspired the efforts of his men to defeat a larger enemy force, and are in keeping with the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

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1 November

1620 – 41 Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower, anchored off Massachusetts, signed a compact calling for a “body politick.” 102 Pilgrims stepped ashore. They called themselves Saints and the others Strangers. One passenger died enroute and 2 were born during the passage. Their military commander was Miles Standish.

1765 – The Stamp Act went into effect, prompting stiff resistance from American colonists. In the face of widespread opposition in the American colonies, Parliament enacts the Stamp Act, a taxation measure designed to raise revenue for British military operations in America. Defense of the American colonies in the French and Indian War (1754-63) and Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763-64) were costly affairs for Great Britain, and Prime Minister George Grenville hoped to recover some of these costs by taxing the colonists. In 1764, the Sugar Act was enacted, putting a high duty on refined sugar. Although resented, the Sugar Act tax was hidden in the cost of import duties, and most colonists accepted it. The Stamp Act, however, was a direct tax on the colonists and led to an uproar in America over an issue that was to be a major cause of the Revolution: taxation without representation. Passed without debate by Parliament in March 1765, the Stamp Act was designed to force colonists to use special stamped paper in the printing of newspapers, pamphlets, almanacs, and playing cards, and to have a stamp embossed on all commercial and legal papers. The stamp itself displayed an image of a Tudor rose framed by the word “America” and the Latin phrase Honi soit qui mal y pense–“Shame to him who thinks evil of it.”

Outrage was immediate. Massachusetts politician Samuel Adams organized the secret Sons of Liberty organization to plan protests against the measure, and the Virginia legislature and other colonial assemblies passed resolutions opposing the act. In October, nine colonies sent representatives to New York to attend a Stamp Act Congress, where resolutions of “rights and grievances” were framed and sent to Parliament and King George III. Despite this opposition, the Stamp Act was enacted on November 1, 1765. The colonists greeted the arrival of the stamps with violence and economic retaliation. A general boycott of British goods began, and the Sons of Liberty staged attacks on the customhouses and homes of tax collectors in Boston. After months of protest and economic turmoil, and an appeal by Benjamin Franklin before the British House of Commons, Parliament voted to repeal the Stamp Act in March 1766. However, the same day, Parliament passed the Declaratory Acts, asserting that the British government had free and total legislative power over the colonies. Parliament would again attempt to force unpopular taxation measures on the American colonies in the late 1760s, leading to a steady deterioration in British-American relations that culminated in the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775.

1783 – Continental Army dissolved and George Washington made his “Farewell Address.”

1784 – Maryland granted citizenship to Lafayette and his descendents.

1800 – John and Abigail Adams moved into “the President’s House” in Washington DC. It became known as the White House during the Roosevelt administration.

1835 – Godfrey Weitzel, Union General, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19 March, 1884. He was graduated at the United States military academy in 1855, became 1st lieutenant of engineers in 1860, and was attached to the staff of General Benjamin F. Butler as chief engineer of the Department of the Gulf. After the capture of New Orleans he became assistant military commander and acting mayor of the city. He was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, 29 August, 1862, routed a large force of the enemy at Labadieville, Louisiana, in October of that year, and was brevetted major in the United States army for that service.

He became captain of engineers, 3 March, 1863, commanded the advance in General Nathaniel P. Banks’s operations in western Louisiana in April and May, 1863, a division at the siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana, and a division in the 19th army corps in the Lafourche campaign. On 8 July, 1863, he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, United States army, “for gallant and meritorious services at the siege of Port Hudson.” He joined in the western Louisiana campaign, and from May till September, 1864, was chief engineer of the Army of the James, being engaged at Swift’s Creek, the actions near Drury’s Bluff, and in constructing the defences of Bermuda Hundred, James River, and Deep Bottom.

In August, 1864, he was brevetted major-general of volunteers “for meritorious and distinguished services during the civil war.” He commanded the 18th army corps from September till December, 1864, was brevetted colonel in the United States army “for gallant and meritorious services at the capture of Fort Harrison, 30 September, 1864,” became full major-general of volunteers on 7 November, was second in command of the first expedition to Fort Fisher, and in March and April, 1865, was in charge of all troops north of Potomac river during the final operations against General Robert E. Lee’s army, taking possession of Richmond, 3 April, 1865.

In March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general in the regular army for services in that campaign, and major-general in the same rank “for gallant and meritorious services in the field during the civil war.” He commanded the Rio Grande district, Texas, in 1865-‘6, and was ‘: mustered out of volunteer service on I March of the latter year. He became major of engineers in 1866, and lieutenant-colonel in 1882, and from that date was in charge of various works of improvement in and near Philadelphia, and chairman of the commission advisatory to the board of harbor commissioners of that city.

1841 – “Mosquito Fleet” commanded by LCDR J. T. McLaughlin, USN, carries 750 Sailors and Marines into the Everglades to fight the Seminole Indians.

1843 – Secretary of Treasury Spencer issued new “Rules and Regulations for the governing of the Revenue Cutter Service” centralizing control of cutters under Revenue Marine Bureau, but leaving superintendence and direction with Collectors of Customs.

1861 – Lieutenant General Winfield Scott, 50 year veteran and leader of the U.S. Army at the onset of the Civil War, retired.

1866 – 1st Civil Rights Bill passed.

1869 – Louis Riel seized Fort Garry, Winnipeg, during the Red River Rebellion. Louis Riel, Metis leader, helped stage an uprising against the influx of white settlers in Manitoba that resulted in a provisional government that he led. Manitoba was admitted as Canada’s 5th province and the Metis were allocated 1.4 million acres of land, but Riel fled charged with failing to stop the execution of Thomas Scott, an English Protestant captured during the fighting.

1870 – The U.S. Weather Bureau made its first meteorological observations, using reports gathered by telegraph from 24 locations.

1871 – Steven Crane, poet and novelist, was born. He is best remembered as the author of “The Red Badge of Courage” (1895), a realistic portrayal of one soldier’s Civil War battle experience.


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1915 – Parris Island is officially designated a United States Marine Corps Recruit Depot.

1918 – The third and final phase of the US-led Meuse-Argonne Offensive opens. The US First Army commanded by General Hunter Liggett resumes its northward advance and punches a way through the German defenses at Buzancy, thereby allowing the French Fourth Army to make a major crossing of the Aisne River. German resistance is collapsing and US forces move more rapidly along the valley of the Meuse River in the direction of Sedan.

1918 – 4th Marine Brigade participated in action at Meuse-Argonne. Americans and French advance between Aisne and Meuse in Argonne Forest.

1918 – British, French and Americans reach Gavere, on Scheldt (ten miles south of Ghent).

1924 – The 118th Observation Squadron, an element of the 43rd Division receives federal recognition on this date. Originally issued with obsolete Curtis JN-4 “Jennies” left over from World War I, the unit was later equipped with experimental Curtis OX-12’s with rotary engines and a swept-wing design. While the planes proved an unstable photo-recon platform, the technology continued to improve so by World War II many American aircraft were propelled by rotary engines. When the unit was mobilized in February 1941 for World War II it was flying North American O-47B observation aircraft. Once on active duty it flew antisubmarine patrols off the coasts of South Carolina until it deployed to India in 1943. It ended the war flying reconnaissance missions in China.

1932 – Werner von Braun was named head of German liquid-fuel rocket program.

1936 – In a speech in Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini described the alliance between his country and Nazi Germany as an “axis” running between Rome and Berlin after Count Ciano’s visit to Germany.

1939 – 1st jet plane, a Heinkel He 178, was demonstrated to German Air Ministry.

1940 – 1st US air raid shelter was made in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania.

1941 – Japanese marine staff officers Suzuki and Maejima arrived in Pearl Harbor.

1941 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 8929 transferred the Coast Guard to Navy Department control. President Roosevelt announces that the U.S. Coast Guard will now be under the direction of the U.S. Navy, a transition of authority usually reserved only for wartime. The Coast Guard was established as the Revenue Marine Service by Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, in 1790. In 1915, the U.S. Lifesaving Service, formed in 1878, and the RMS combined to become the Coast Guard. During peacetime, the Guard was under the direction of the Department of Treasury until 1967, when the Department of Transportation took control. But during war, it was under the control of the U.S. Navy. What made FDR’s November 1st announcement significant was that the United States was not yet at war-but more and more American ships were nevertheless becoming casualties of the European war.

The Coast Guard’s mission is to enforce all laws applicable to the waters within U.S. territory, including laws and regulations promoting personal safety and protection of property. It provides support and aid to all vessels within U.S. territorial waters. It is charged with inspecting sailing vessels and their equipment for violations of safety regulations, as well as lighthouses, buoys, navigation equipment, and radio beacons. The Guard operates and maintains a network of lifeboat and search-and-rescue stations, which also employs aircraft. The Guard’s wartime duties include escorting ships, providing port security, and inspecting ships for everything from illegal drugs to munitions. They also have powers of interdiction-the right to stop, board, and inspect any vessel suspected of threatening U.S. security. In fact, Coast Guard ranks are analogous to those of the U.S. Navy; even the uniforms are similar. The Guard is headed by an admiral appointed by the president.

1942 – On Guadalcanal, two Marine regiments begin an attack west across the Matanikau River. American engineers have built bridges to aid supplying the attacks. There is heavy fighting. East of the American positions, American troops advance toward Koli Point to preempt an expected Japanese landing.

1943 – The US 3rd Marine Division (General Turnage) lands on Bougainville, in Empress Augusta Bay at Cape Tarokina. By the end of the day 14,000 American troops are ashore. Task Force 31 (Admiral Wilkinson) provides transport, Task Force 39 (Admiral Merrill) provides support with 4 cruisers and 8 destroyers and Task Force 38 (Admiral Sherman) with the carriers Saratoga and Princeton conduct raids against Buka and the Buna airfields. Coast Guard units also are in support. The local garrison of about 200 Japanese are overcome quickly. However, the island is defended by the Japanese 17th Army (General Hyakutake) with 40,000 troops and 20,000 naval personnel concentrated in the south. After unsuccessful air attacks on the landings the Japanese dispatch Admiral Omori from Rabaul in New Britain with 4 cruisers and 6 destroyers. Nearby a marine battalion occupies Puruata Island after defeating Japanese resistance. Meanwhile, the US 2nd Marine Parachute Battalion on Choiseul continues to engage Japanese forces. This is a diversion from the attack on Bougainville.

1943 – President Roosevelt orders the Solid Fuels Administration, headed by Ickes, to take over the operation of coal mines. There are 530,000 miners on strike at this time. Roosevelt also urges Congress to continue food subsidies to encourage production and prevent inflation.

1943 – In the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, United States Marines, the 3rd Marine Division, land on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.

1943 – The British 10th Corps (part of the US 5th Army) continues attacks on German defenses between Monte Massico and Monte Santa Croce in Italy.

1944 – On Leyte, Japanese forces in the line are reinforced by 2000 men for the base at Ormoc. The defending Japanese forces now consists of forces of the 36th Army (General Suzuki) including the original 16th Division and the new 30th and 102nd Divisions. The attacking US 7th Division (part of US 24th Corps) captures Baybay. Offshore, an American destroyer is sunk, and 5 others are badly damaged by Japanese Kamikaze and bombing attacks.

1944 – The first of some 9000 paper balloons, carrying bombs intended to be dropped over North American land, are released near Tokyo.

1944 – The US B-29 Superfortress “Tokyo Rose” of the 3rd Photo Reconnaissance Squadron makes the first American flight over Tokyo since 1942.

1949 – Authority to reestablish the Women’s Reserve of the Coast Guard Reserves (SPARS), approved by the President on 4 August 1949 became effective.

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1950 – Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate President Harry S. Truman at the Blair House in Washington, D.C. Truman, who had avoided an attempt on his life from the right-wing Israeli Stern Gang a few years earlier, escaped unscathed. In the autumn of 1950, the White House was being renovated and President Truman and his family were living in the nearby Blair House on Pennsylvania Avenue. On the afternoon of November 1, Truman and his wife were upstairs when they heard a commotion on the front steps of the house. Alerted by the sound of gunshots, Bess Truman glanced out the window and exclaimed, “Harry, someone’s shooting our policemen!” Indeed, the pair of would-be assassins had strolled up to the front door of Blair House and opened fire. They never made it past the entry steps, however, due to the quick reaction of police officers and guards. Secret Service Agent Leslie Coffelt was mortally wounded in the ensuing melee, but not before he managed to kill Torresola. Collazo later revealed to police just how poorly planned the assassination attempt was: the assailants were unsure if Truman would even be in the house when they launched their attack at 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

Torresola and Collazo were political activists and members of the extremist Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, a group fighting for full independence from the United States. The “Independistas,” as they were commonly called, targeted Truman despite his support of greater Puerto Rican autonomy. Apparently unfazed by the attempt on his life, Truman kept his scheduled appointments for the day. “A President has to expect these things,” he remarked dryly. Oscar Collazo was sentenced to death, but in an admirable act of forgiveness on July 24, 1952, Truman commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.

1950 – The 24th Infantry Division’s 21st Infantry Regiment achieved the northernmost progress of any U.S. ground unit in Eighth Army as it captured the village of Chonggo-do only 18 miles from Sinuiju on the Yalu River.

1950 – The 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, began movement from the port of Hamung on the east coast to the Chosin (Changjin) Reservoir 56 miles to the northeast.

1950 – MiG-15 jet fighters made their first appearance during the Korean War as they flew along the Yalu River to contest the Fifth Air Force’s then complete dominance of the skies over North Korea.

1950 – The 8th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division became the first U.S. unit to engage the Chinese in major ground combat when its 3rd Battalion was overrun at Unsan and suffered 600 killed or captured out of a strength 800. The entire regiment was reduced to 3/4 strength. After the battle, the attacking 115th and 116th Divisions of the Chinese 39th Army disappeared into the mountains of North Korea.

1951 – Operation Buster–Jangle: Six thousand five hundred American soldiers are exposed to ‘Desert Rock’ atomic explosions for training purposes in Nevada. Participation is not voluntary.

1952 – The United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb, in a test at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. The United States detonates the world’s first thermonuclear weapon, the hydrogen bomb, on Eniwetok atoll in the Pacific. The test gave the United States a short-lived advantage in the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. Following the successful Soviet detonation of an atomic device in September 1949, the United States accelerated its program to develop the next stage in atomic weaponry, a thermonuclear bomb. Popularly known as the hydrogen bomb, this new weapon was approximately 1,000 times more powerful than conventional nuclear devices. Opponents of development of the hydrogen bomb included J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the fathers of the atomic bomb. He and others argued that little would be accomplished except the speeding up of the arms race, since it was assumed that the Soviets would quickly follow suit. The opponents were correct in their assumptions. The Soviet Union exploded a thermonuclear device the following year and by the late 1970s, seven nations had constructed hydrogen bombs.

1954 – The US Senate admonished Joseph McCarthy for his slander campaign.

1955 – A time bomb aboard United DC-6 killed 44 above Longmont, Colorado. Jack Gilbert Graham rigged a time bomb for the Denver to Seattle flight and put it into his mother’s suitcase in order to collect the insurance money. Graham was executed in the gas chamber Jan 11, 1957. Graham had pioneered airliner bombing.

1956 – Walter Brattain, John Bardeen and William Shockley were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for the invention of the transistor. The trio invented the transistor in 1948 at the Bell Laboratories. William Schockley, co-developer of the transistor, founded Schockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Palo Alto. Two of his hires, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, later went on to start Intel Corp.

1956 – The 3d Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment helped evacuate Americans from Alexandria, Egypt.

1961 – Following his one week mission to Vietnam, General Maxwell Taylor writes to President Kennedy from the Philippines, urging the commitment of a ‘US military task force’ to Vietnam and advocates a ‘massive joint effort’ with the South Vietnamese to cope with the flood and the Vietcong. He feels the presence of US ground troops is essential ‘to reverse the present downward trend of events.’ Cabling from japan, Secretary of State Dean Rusk acknowledges the great importance of the security of Southeast Asia, but questions Diem’s abilities as well as the ability of South Vietnam to succeed against the Communists even with US help.

1962 – Cuban missile crisis ended. JFK said USSR was dismantling missile bases.

1963 – Dissidents organized by the key generals of the South Vietnamese Army lay siege to the presidential palace, which is captured by the following morning. Diem and Nhu at first believe the attack to be the opening of a counter-coup engineered by Nhu and General To That Dinh, who controls nearly all forces in and around Saigon, but Dinh has joined with the dissident generals. Diem is unable to summon any support, but he and Nhu manage to escape.

1964 – The Vietcong assaulted the Bien Hoa airport at Saigon.

1967 – Operation Coronado IX began in Mekong Delta.

1968 – Lyndon B. Johnson called a halt to bombing in Vietnam, hoping that this would lead to progress at the Paris peace talks.

1971 – The Eisenhower dollar was put into circulation.

1979 – Beginning of retirement of Polaris A-3 program begins with removal of missiles from USS Abraham Lincoln. Last Polaris missile removed in February 1982.

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1983 – 300 Marines of the 22d Marine Amphibious Unit staged an amphibious and helicopter landing on the island of Carriacou, 15 miles northeast of Grenada, in a search for Cuban military installations or personnel. 17 Grenadian soldiers were captured, and arms, ammunition, and training sites were found. The next day the 22d MAU left the Caribbean area and proceeded to Beirut, Lebanon to replace the 24th MAU.

1984 – The largest marijuana bust to date in West Coast history took place November 1 as the cutter Clover nabbed the 63-foot yacht Arrikis 150 miles southwest of San Diego. The yacht was loaded with 13 tons of marijuana.

1992 – The space shuttle Columbia landed at Cape Canaveral, Fla., ending a 10-day mission that included the deployment of an Italian satellite.

1993 – The space shuttle Columbia landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California, ending a two-week mission.

1994 – The Senate Intelligence Committee released a report saying CIA Director R. James Woolsey’s response to the Aldrich Ames spy case was “seriously inadequate,” but that his predecessors were ultimately to blame for the scandal.

1995 – Bosnia peace talks for the countries of the former Yugoslavia were launched in Dayton, Ohio, with the leaders of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia present.

1997 – Iraq announced that American weapons inspectors working with the UN would not be allowed to resume work on November 3rd.

1998 – The military arm of the radical Islamic group Hamas made an unprecedented threat against Yasser Arafat, demanding the Palestinian leader halt a crackdown against it, or face violent vengeance.

1999 – In Panama the US handed over Howard Air Force Base, Fort Kobbe and the Farfan residential zone.

2001 – US planes made their heaviest assaults to date in northern Afghanistan. 2001 – Anthrax spores were found in 4 mailrooms in Rockville, Md., a postal facility in Kansas City, 3 new locations in a Manhattan processing center and a 6th postal facility in Florida.

2003 – It was reported that over a dozen members of Saddam Hussein’s government have been shot dead in the streets of Basra over the last month.

2004 – Iraqi gunmen in Baghdad seized an American, a Nepalese and 4 Iraqi hostages working for a Saudi supplier to the US military.

2004 – Gunmen killed Hatim Kamil, deputy governor of Baghdad, on his way to work.

2004 – Diaa Najm, an Iraqi freelance television cameraman, was killed while filming clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents in Ramadi.

2009 – Six Uyghurs detained at Guantanamo Bay detention camp are released by the United States and resettled in Palau.

2011 – The President of the United States, Barack Obama, makes Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia, a National Monument.


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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

TAYLOR, BERNARD
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company A, 5th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: Near Sunset Pass, Ariz., 1 November 1874. Entered service at: Washington, D.C. Birth: St. Louis, Mo. Date of issue: 12 April 1875. Citation: Bravery in rescuing Lt. King, 5th U.S. Cavalry, from Indians.

FORREST, ARTHUR J.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company D, 354th Infantry, 89th Division. Place and date: Near Remonville, France, 1 November 1918. Entered service at: Hannibal, Mo . Birth: St. Louis, Mo. G.O. No.: 50, W.D., 1919. Citation: When the advance of his company was stopped by bursts of fire from a nest of 6 enemy machineguns, without being discovered, he worked his way single-handed to a point within 50 yards of the machinegun nest. Charging, single-handed, he drove out the enemy in disorder, thereby protecting the advance platoon from annihilating fire, and permitting the resumption of the advance of his company.

FURLONG, HAROLD A.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 353d Infantry, 89th Division. Place and date: Near Bantheville, France, 1 November 1918. Entered service at: Detroit, Mich. Birth: Pontiac, Mich. G.O. No.: 16, W.D., 1919. Citation: Immediately after the opening of the attack in the Bois-de-Bantheville, when his company was held up by severe machinegun fire from the front, which killed his company commander and several soldiers, 1st. Lt. Furlong moved out in advance of the line with great courage and coolness, crossing an open space several hundred yards wide. Taking up a position behind the line of the machineguns, he closed in on them, one at a time, killing a number of the enemy with his rifle, putting 4 machinegun nests out of action, and driving 20 German prisoners into our lines.

SIEGEL, JOHN OTTO
Rank and organization Boatswain’s Mate Second Class, U.S. Navy. Born: 21 April 1890, Milwaukee, Wis. Accredited to: New Jersey. Citation: For extraordinary heroism while serving on board the Mohawk in performing a rescue mission aboard the schooner Hjeltenaes which was in flames on 1 November 1918. Going aboard the blazing vessel, Siegel rescued 2 men from the crew’s quarters and went back the third time. Immediately after he had entered the crew’s quarters, a steam pipe over the door bursted, making it impossible for him to escape. Siegel was overcome with smoke and fell to the deck, being finally rescued by some of the crew of the Mohawk who carried him out and rendered first aid.

CASAMENTO, ANTHONY
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company D, First Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division. Place and date: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. Entered service at: Brooklyn, New York. Date and place of birth: 16 November 1920, Brooklyn, New York. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Company D, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal, British Solomon Islands, in action against the enemy Japanese forces on 1 November 1942. Serving as a leader of a machine gun section, Corporal Casamento directed his unit to advance along a ridge near the Matanikau River where they engaged the enemy. He positioned his section to provide covering fire for two flanking units and to provide direct support for the main force of his company which was behind him. During the course of this engagement, all members of his section were either killed or severely wounded and he himself suffered multiple, grievous wounds. Nonetheless, Corporal Casamento continued to provide critical supporting fire for the attack and in defense of his position.

Following the loss of all effective personnel, he set up, loaded, and manned his unit’s machine gun. tenaciously holding the enemy forces at bay. Corporal Casamento single-handedly engaged and destroyed one machine gun emplacement to his front and took under fire the other emplacement on the flank. Despite the heat and ferocity of the engagement, he continued to man his weapon and repeatedly repulsed multiple assaults by the enemy forces, thereby protecting the flanks of the adjoining companies and holding his position until the arrival of his main attacking force. Corporal Casamento’s courageous fighting spirit, heroic conduct, and unwavering dedication to duty reflected great credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.


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HANSON, ROBERT MURRAY
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Born: 4 February 1920, Lucknow, India. Accredited to: Massachusetts. Other Navy awards: Navy Cross, Air Medal. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life and above and beyond the call of duty as fighter pilot attached to Marine Fighting Squadron 215 in action against enemy Japanese forces at Bougainville Island, 1 November 1943; and New Britain Island, 24 January 1944. Undeterred by fierce opposition, and fearless in the face of overwhelming odds, 1st Lt. Hanson fought the Japanese boldly and with daring aggressiveness. On 1 November, while flying cover for our landing operations at Empress Augusta Bay, he dauntlessly attacked 6 enemy torpedo bombers, forcing them to jettison their bombs and destroying 1 Japanese plane during the action. Cut off from his division while deep in enemy territory during a high cover flight over Simpson Harbor on 24 January, 1st Lt. Hanson waged a lone and gallant battle against hostile interceptors as they were orbiting to attack our bombers and, striking with devastating fury, brought down 4 Zeroes and probably a fifth. Handling his plane superbly in both pursuit and attack measures, he was a master of individual air combat, accounting for a total of 25 Japanese aircraft in this theater of war. His great personal valor and invincible fighting spirit were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

*OWENS, ROBERT ALLEN
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 13 September 1920, Greenville, S.C. Accredited to: South Carolina. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with a marine division, in action against enemy Japanese forces during extremely hazardous landing operations at Cape Torokina, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, on 1 November 1943. Forced to pass within disastrous range of a strongly protected, well-camouflaged Japanese 75-mm. regimental gun strategically located on the beach, our landing units were suffering heavy losses in casualties and boats while attempting to approach the beach, and the success of the operations was seriously threatened. Observing the ineffectiveness of marine rifle and grenade attacks against the incessant, devastating fire of the enemy weapon and aware of the urgent need for prompt action, Sgt. Owens unhesitatingly determined to charge the gun bunker from the front and, calling on 4 of his comrades to assist him, carefully placed them to cover the fire of the 2 adjacent hostile bunkers. Choosing a moment that provided a fair opportunity for passing these bunkers, he immediately charged into the mouth of the steadily firing cannon and entered the emplacement through the fire port, driving the guncrew out of the rear door and insuring their destruction before he himself was wounded. Indomitable and aggressive in the face of almost certain death, Sgt. Owens silenced a powerful gun which was of inestimable value to the Japanese defense and, by his brilliant initiative and heroic spirit of self-sacrifice, contributed immeasurably to the success of the vital landing operations. His valiant conduct throughout reflects the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service.

*KAPAUN, EMIL JOSEPH
Rank: Captain (Chaplain), Organization: U.S. Army, Company: 3d Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, Division: 1st Cavalry Division, born: April 20, 1916 / Pilsen, Kansas, Departed: Yes (05/23/1951), Entered Service At: Kansas, G.O. Number: , Date of Issue: 04/11/2013, Accredited To: Kansas, Place / Date: Unsan, Korea, November 1-2, 1950. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 3d Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division during combat operations against an armed enemy at Unsan, Korea, from November 1-2, 1950. On November 1, as Chinese Communist Forces viciously attacked friendly elements, Chaplain Kapaun calmly walked through withering enemy fire in order to provide comfort and medical aid to his comrades and rescue friendly wounded from no-man’s land. Though the Americans successfully repelled the assault, they found themselves surrounded by the enemy. Facing annihilation, the able-bodied men were ordered to evacuate. However, Chaplain Kapaun, fully aware of his certain capture, elected to stay behind with the wounded. After the enemy succeeded in breaking through the defense in the early morning hours of November 2, Chaplain Kapaun continually made rounds, as hand-to-hand combat ensued.

As Chinese Communist Forces approached the American position, Chaplain Kapaun noticed an injured Chinese officer amongst the wounded and convinced him to negotiate the safe surrender of the American Forces. Shortly after his capture, Chaplain Kapaun, with complete disregard for his personal safety and unwavering resolve, bravely pushed aside an enemy soldier preparing to execute Sergeant First Class Herbert A. Miller. Not only did Chaplain Kapaun’s gallantry save the life of Sergeant Miller, but also his unparalleled courage and leadership inspired all those present, including those who might have otherwise fled in panic, to remain and fight the enemy until captured. Chaplain Kapaun’s extraordinary heroism and selflessness, above and beyond the call of duty, are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the 3d Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, the 1st Cavalry Division, and the United States Army.

ROGERS, CHARLES CALVIN
Rank and organization: Lieutenant Colonel, U.S . Army, 1st Battalion, 5th Artillery, 1st Infantry Division. Place and date: Fishhook, near Cambodian border, Republic of Vietnam, 1 November 1968. Entered service at: Institute, W Va. Born: 6 September 1929, Claremont, W Va. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Lt. Col. Rogers, Field Artillery, distinguished himself in action while serving as commanding officer, 1st Battalion, during the defense of a forward fire support base. In the early morning hours, the fire support base was subjected to a concentrated bombardment of heavy mortar, rocket and rocket propelled grenade fire. Simultaneously the position was struck by a human wave ground assault, led by sappers who breached the defensive barriers with bangalore torpedoes and penetrated the defensive perimeter. Lt. Col. Rogers with complete disregard for his safety moved through the hail of fragments from bursting enemy rounds to the embattled area. He aggressively rallied the dazed artillery crewmen to man their howitzers and he directed their fire on the assaulting enemy. Although knocked to the ground and wounded by an exploding round, Lt. Col. Rogers sprang to his feet and led a small counterattack force against an enemy element that had penetrated the howitzer positions.

Although painfully wounded a second time during the assault, Lt. Col. Rogers pressed the attack killing several of the enemy and driving the remainder from the positions. Refusing medical treatment, Lt. Col. Rogers reestablished and reinforced the defensive positions. As a second human wave attack was launched against another sector of the perimeter, Lt. Col. Rogers directed artillery fire on the assaulting enemy and led a second counterattack against the charging forces. His valorous example rallied the beleaguered defenders to repulse and defeat the enemy onslaught. Lt. Col. Rogers moved from position to position through the heavy enemy fire, giving encouragement and direction to his men. At dawn the determined enemy launched a third assault against the fire base in an attempt to overrun the position. Lt. Col. Rogers moved to the threatened area and directed lethal fire on the enemy forces. Seeing a howitzer inoperative due to casualties, Lt. Col. Rogers joined the surviving members of the crew to return the howitzer to action.

While directing the position defense, Lt. Col. Rogers was seriously wounded by fragments from a heavy mortar round which exploded on the parapet of the gun position. Although too severely wounded to physically lead the defenders, Lt. Col. Rogers continued to give encouragement and direction to his men in the defeating and repelling of the enemy attack. Lt. Col. Rogers’ dauntless courage and heroism inspired the defenders of the fire support base to the heights of valor to defeat a determined and numerically superior enemy force. His relentless spirit of aggressiveness in action are in the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

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2 November

1675 – Plymouth Colony governor Josiah Winslow leads a colonial militia against the Narragansett during King Philip’s War.

1772 – The first Committees of Correspondence were formed in Massachusetts under Samuel Adams.

1783 – Gen. George Washington issued his “Farewell Address to the Army” near Princeton, New Jersey.

1795 – James Knox Polk, the 11th president of the United States, was born in Mecklenburg County, N.C. The career of the eleventh U.S. President reflected and fulfilled the young nation’s commitment to westward expansion. The son of a North Carolina farmer and surveyor, James Knox Polk was ten years old when his family moved across the Appalachian Mountains. Growing up on the Tennessee frontier, he inherited his neighbors’ work ethic, resourcefulness, and democratic ideals. Although young James was accustomed to the rigors of frontier life, he lacked physical stamina. Shortly before his seventeenth birthday, he needed surgery for stones in his urinary bladder. The successful operation, performed by noted Kentucky surgeon Ephraim McDowell, enabled James to pursue an education with renewed enthusiasm. After only two and a half years of formal schooling in Tennessee, James K. Polk was admitted to the University of North Carolina as a sophomore. His college studies and his membership in a debating society helped nurture his growing interest in law and government. He graduated with top honors in mathematics and the classics, and returned to Tennessee determined to become a lawyer. To receive legal training, he worked in the office of renowned Nashville trial attorney Felix Grundy and served as clerk of the Tennessee Senate.

Diligent and ambitious, James soon established a law practice in Columbia, Tennessee. Encouraged by his early professional success, he turned his attention to politics. At age twenty-seven, he defeated an incumbent for a seat in the Tennessee Legislature. While serving as a State Representative, he courted and eventually married Sarah Childress, the daughter of a prominent Murfreesboro merchant and planter. An educated lady whose intellect and social grace impressed contemporaries, Sarah became James K. Polk’s personal and political confidante. Her active involvement in her husband’s campaigns helped ensure his victories. Fervently supporting the policies of fellow Tennessee Democrat Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk was elected to the U.S. Congress at age twenty-nine. His Congressional career lasted fourteen years and included two terms as Speaker of the House. While working in Washington, he remained keenly interested in state politics. Concerned that the Whig Party was becoming increasingly popular in Tennessee, he returned home and successfully ran for the governorship. After one two-year term, he twice failed to be re-elected.

Although rivals reasonably assumed that his political influence had peaked, James K. Polk stayed active in Democratic politics and shrewdly sought opportunities to revive his career. Despite James K. Polk’s political frustrations in Tennessee in the 1840’s, nationally prominent Democrats had not forgotten his partisan dedication. Delegates to the 1844 Democratic Convention viewed him as a possible Vice President. When the party’s leading Presidential contenders Martin Van Buren and Lewis Cass failed to attract sufficient support to win the nomination, the deadlocked convention needed a compromise candidate. The Democrats’ “dark horse” nominee was James K. Polk. Challenging the well-known Whig candidate Henry Clay in the 1844 Presidential election, Polk promised to actively encourage America’s westward expansion. He favored Texas statehood and the acquisition of the Oregon Territory. Although critics expressed concern that aggressive expansionism might lead to a war with Great Britain or Mexico and might destroy the tenuous balance between free states and slave states, a majority of Americans accepted Polk’s vision of a continental nation.

With political forcefulness and savvy, President Polk tirelessly pursued his ambitious goals. Tense negotiations with Great Britain concluded with American annexation of the Oregon Territory south of the 49th Parallel. Following a controversial two-year war, Mexico ceded New Mexico and California to the United States. During Polk’s term of office, the United States acquired over 800,000 square miles of western territory and extended its boundary to the Pacific Ocean. The Polk Administration also achieved economic objectives by lowering tariffs and establishing an independent Federal Treasury. True to his campaign pledge to serve only one term as President, James K. Polk left office and returned to Tennessee in March, 1849. The nation’s expansionist aims had been realized. When Polk died of cholera three months later, thousands of Americans were rushing west in search of California gold.

1810 – Andrew Atkinson Humphreys (d.1883), Maj. Gen. (Union volunteers), was born. American soldier and engineer, was born at Philadelphia on the 2nd of November 1810. He was the son of Samuel Humphreys (1778-1846), chief constructor U.S.N., and grandson of Joshua Humphreys (1751-1838), the designer of the Constitution and other famous frigates of the war of 1812, sometimes known as the father of the American navy. Graduating from West Point in 1831, he served with the 2nd Artillery in the Florida war in 1835. He resigned soon afterwards and devoted himself to civil engineering. In 1838 he returned to the army for survey duties, and from 1842 to 1849 was assistant in charge of the Coast Survey Office. Later he did similar work in the valley of the Mississippi, and, with Lt. H. L. Abbott, produced in 186i a valuable Report on the Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi River. In connection with this work he visited Europe in 1851.

In the earlier part of the Civil War Humphreys was employed as a topographical engineer with the Army of the Potomac, and rendered conspicuous services in the Seven Days Battles. It is stated that he selected the famous position of Malvern Hill, before which Lees army was defeated. Soon after this he was assigned to command a division of the V. corps, and at the battle of Fredericksburg he distinguished himself greatly in the last attack of Maryes heights. General Burnside recommended him for promotion to the rank of major-general U.S.V., which was not however awarded to Humphreys until after Gettysburg. He took part in the battle of Chancellorsville, and at Gettysburg commanded a division of the III. corps under Sickles. Upon Humphreys division fell the brunt of Lees attack on the second day, by which in the end the III. corps was dislodged from its advanced position. His handling of his division in this struggle excited great attention, and was compared to Sheridans work at Stone river. A few days later he became chief of staff to General Meade, and this position he held throughout the Wilderness campaign.

Towards the end of the war General Humphreys succeeded General Hancock in command of the famous II. corps. The short campaign of 1865, which terminated in Lees surrender, afforded him a greater opportunity of showing his capacity for leadership. His corps played a conspicuous part in the final operations around Petersburg, and the credit of the vigorous and relentless pursuit of Lees army may be claimed hardly less for Humphreys than for Sheridan. After the war, now brevet major-general, he returned to regular engineer duty as chief engineer of the U.S. army, and retired in 1879. He was a member of the American Philosophical Society (1857) and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1863), and received the degree of LL.D. from Harvard University in 1868. He died at Washington on the 27th of December 1883. Amongst his works may be mentioned From Gettysburg to the Rapidan (1882) and The Virginia Campaigns of 1864-1865 (1882).

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[SHOOTER13]

1811 – Battle of Tippecanoe: Gen William Henry Harrison routed Indians. Following the signing of the Treaty of Greenville in summer 1795, relative peace prevailed between the white settlers and the natives of the Old Northwest. The Washington and Adams administrations at least paid lip service to the terms of the treaty, but Jefferson (the great agrarian philosopher) sought additional lands for American farmers through a series of purchases from the tribes. Not all the frontiersmen bothered with the niceties of treaties and simply occupied Indian lands illegally. Not without reason, resentment among the tribes ran high. In 1808, Tecumseh, a Shawnee chieftain, and his brother Tenskwatawa (known to the Americans as The Prophet) launched a reform movement among their people. They attempted to end the sale of additional lands to the whites and to resist alcohol and other troublesome temptations of the competing culture. A new native settlement was built at the confluence of the Wabash and Tippecanoe rivers (north of present-day Lafayette, Indiana) and became known as Prophet’s Town.

The village became the focal point of Tecumseh’s effort to rally the tribes east of the Mississippi River in the hope of halting the spread of white settlements. William Henry Harrison was governor of the Indiana Territory and superintendent of the Northwest Indians. Fearing the growing strength of Tecumseh’s confederacy, Harrison decided to strike quickly. He marched an army of 1,100 men along the Wabash toward Prophet’s Town. Tecumseh was temporarily out of the area on a recruiting venture among the Creeks in the south, but his brother prepared the men for battle with fiery oratory—including promises that they could not be harmed by the white men’s bullets. Shortly before dawn on November 7, 1811, Harrison’s soldiers were attacked. After a two-hour battle, the natives were forced to flee and their village-the gathering spot of the confederacy-was destroyed.

1820 – The Revenue cutter Louisiana captured five pirate vessels during a cruise from Florida to Cuba.

1824 – Popular presidential vote was 1st recorded; Jackson beat J.Q. Adams. Gen. Jackson won the popular vote followed by John Quincy Adams, William Crawford and Henry Clay. Jackson won 99 electoral votes, Adams won 84, Crawford won 41 and Clay won 37. Crawford, Treasury secretary, was accused of malfeasance. Henry Clay was denounced for passing days gambling and nights in a brothel. Clay convinced his supporters in congress to vote for Adams. The House of Representatives chose John Quincy Adams, who chose Clay for vice president. A furious Jackson proceeded to help found the Democratic Party.

1852 – Franklin Pierce was elected US president over Gen’l. Winfield Scott, who ran as a Whig. In 1852, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution giving Scott the pay and rank of a lieutenant general. Scott was the first to hold this rank since George Washington.

1861 – Controversial Union General John C. Fremont is relieved of command in the Western Department and replaced by David Hunter. Fremont was one of the most prominent Union generals at the start of the war. Born in Georgia and raised in South Carolina, he joined the military in 1838 and helped map the upper Mississippi River. He made a significant career move in 1841 when he married Jesse Benton, the daughter of powerful Missouri senator Thomas Hart Benton. At first, the senator objected to the marriage, but he soon became Fremont’s staunchest supporter. With his father-in-law’s help, Fremont secured leadership of two famous expeditions to the West in the 1840s. He became involved in politics in the 1850s and was the fledgling Republican Party’s first presidential candidate in 1856. When the war started in 1861, Fremont became a major general in command of the Western Department based in St. Louis.

In August 1861, the Union suffered a stunning defeat when an army under General Nathaniel Lyon was routed at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek in southwestern Missouri. Many criticized Fremont for failing to provide proper support for Lyon, who was killed in the battle. In response, Fremont took action to demonstrate his control over the region. He declared martial law and proclaimed freedom for all slaves in Missouri. In doing so, he placed the Lincoln administration in a difficult position. Lincoln was trying to keep the Border States (Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri) from seceding from the Union. With the exception of Delaware, these states contained substantial numbers of slaveholders, and opinion over the issue of slavery was evenly divided. Fremont’s freeing of slaves threatened to destroy the balance and send these states into the hands of the Confederacy. Of particular concern was Kentucky, Lincoln’s native state. It was of vital strategic importance and the movement for secession there was very strong. Fremont’s actions in Missouri fueled secessionist spirit and alienated many Northerners who were unwilling to wage a war to end slavery.

Lincoln requested privately that Fremont rescind the order, but he refused. Lincoln had no choice but to negate the order of emancipation and remove Fremont from command in the west. Fremont still had many supporters, so Lincoln placed him in charge of a small army in Virginia. He had little success in the Shenandoah Valley, where he was pitted against the brilliant Confederate General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. Fremont resigned in 1862 after Jackson defeated his force, and Fremont’s army was merged with the command of General John Pope, a longtime rival. Some Republican allies urged Fremont to challenge Lincoln for the 1864 presidential nomination, but Fremont declined. After the war, he served as territorial governor of Arizona and died in New York in 1890.

1865 – Warren Gamaliel Harding, the 29th president of the United States (1921-1923), was born near Corsica, Ohio. After attending Ohio Central College, Harding became interested in journalism and in 1884 bought the Marion (Ohio) Star. In 1891 he married a wealthy widow, Florence Kling De Wolfe. As his paper prospered, he entered Republican politics, serving as state senator (1899–1903) and as lieutenant governor (1904–06). In 1910, he was defeated for governor, but in 1914 was elected to the Senate. His reputation as an orator made him the keynoter at the 1916 Republican convention. When the 1920 convention was deadlocked between Leonard Wood and Frank O. Lowden, Harding became the dark-horse nominee on his solemn affirmation that there was no reason in his past that he should not be.

Straddling the League question, Harding was easily elected over James M. Cox, his Democratic opponent. His cabinet contained some able men, but also some manifestly unfit for public office. Harding’s own intimates were mediocre when they were not corrupt. The impending disclosure of the Teapot Dome scandal in the Interior Department and illegal practices in the Justice Department and Veterans’ Bureau, as well as political setbacks, profoundly worried him. On his return from Alaska in 1923, he died unexpectedly in San Francisco on August 2nd.

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1880 – James A. Garfield was elected 20th president. During the Civil War, Garfield was a commander at the bloody fight at Chickamauga. The election was close, with Republican James Garfield getting 48.27% to Democrat Winfield Hancock‘s 48.25% and a difference of less than 2,000 vote. Garfield was shot by a disgruntled office seeker four months into his presidency.

1889 – North Dakota was made the 39th state. It is located in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north, the states of Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south, and Montana to the west. The state capital is Bismarck, and the largest city is Fargo.

1889 – South Dakota is made the 40th state. South Dakota is bordered by the states of North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana. The state is bisected by the Missouri River, dividing South Dakota into two geographically and socially distinct halves, known to residents as “East River” and “West River”. Eastern South Dakota is home to most of the state’s population, and fertile soil in this area is used to grow a variety of crops. West of the Missouri, ranching is the predominant agricultural activity, and the economy is more dependent on tourism and defense spending. The Black Hills, a group of low pine-covered mountains sacred to the Sioux, are located in the southwest part of the state. Mount Rushmore, a major tourist destination, is located there.

1892 – Lawmen and soldiers surrounded outlaws Ned Christie and Arch Wolf near Tahlequah, Indian Country (present-day Oklahoma). It would take dynamite and a cannon to dislodge the two from their cabin.

1917 – In the Lansing-Ishii Agreement the US recognized Japan’s privileges in China. Relations between the United States and Japan worsened during the early years of World War I. The U.S. regarded itself as a Pacific power, having acquired territory there in the years following the Spanish-American War. Japanese actions in the area were regarded as heavy-handed and threatening to American interests, particularly the following: Shortly after the outbreak of war, Japan had seized German holdings on the Shantung Peninsula in China. In early 1915, Japan issued Twenty-One Demands that imposed heavy burdens on China and posed a threat to the continuance of the Open Door Policy; Wilson’s secretary of state, William Jennings Bryan, sharply protested this Japanese action. In 1915, Japan concluded a secret treaty with the British that established a plan for dividing German holdings in the Pacific between the two powers. Not surprisingly, the Japanese viewed matters differently. They felt that the Far East was their sphere of influence and resented the American presence in the Philippines and elsewhere in the Pacific. They also were sensitive to the blatant racial discrimination their citizens were exposed to in the United States.

In September 1917, Viscount Kikujiro Ishii was sent to Washington to engage Secretary of State Robert Lansing in talks to improve relations. The ensuing agreement provided the following: The United States recognized that Japan had “special interests” in China. Unfortunately, when the Lansing-Ishii Agreement was translated into Chinese, the word special became paramount, which caused future confusion and disagreement. Japan stated its “respect” for the Open Door Policy and Chinese territorial integrity. This ambiguous understanding brought much criticism to Lansing, perhaps unfairly so. He regarded the agreement as the first step in an on-going process and anticipated that more meaningful terms would be negotiated in the future. He also was facing the sobering reality that Japan was being courted by Germany, which hoped to detach Japan from the other Allies; the secretary dared not press Japan too hard. As a result of the Lansing-Ishii talks, Japan believed that their political control of China had been recognized by the U.S. and that their hands were free to take any necessary actions.

The United States, to the contrary, believed that they had recognized only economic rights for Japan in China. Tensions were further heightened at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, when the U.S. refused to include a condemnation of racial discrimination the Covenant of the League of Nations. Adding fuel to the fire was the Allied intervention in Russia (1917-22), in which Japan dispatched a huge military force, prompting fears of Japanese territorial expansion. Efforts would later be made to improve the relationship between the two countries in the postwar Washington Conference (1921-22). The Lansing-Ishii Agreement was formally annulled in April 1923, but Japan and the U.S. continued to disagree on their respective roles in the Pacific.

1918 – Americans capture Buzancy. The 2nd Division marches right through the enemy positions and advances another five miles.

1920 – Warren G. Harding was elected 29th president. He defeated James Cox. The election campaign was primarily a referendum on the Wilson presidency and the League of Nations. Cox supported it fully, while Harding did not make his position clear. Harding supported prohibition and Cox opposed it. Cox ran a vigorous campaign, while Harding ran a mostly a front porch campaign. Cox’s efforts and that of his hard campaigning Vice Presidential candidate had little effect. Ultimately, the weariness of the nation determined the election in favor of Harding, who obtained an overwhelming victory.

1920 – Pittsburgh radio station KDKA broadcast the results of the 1920 presidential race between Warren G. Harding and James M. Cox. This was the first significant public radio news broadcast. The following year, Americans spent $10 million on radios. By 1922, some 500 radio stations were broadcasting programs, and the era of electronic entertainment had begun.

1923 – US Navy aviator, H.J. Brown, set new world speed record of 259 mph in a Curtiss racer.

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1931 – VS-14M on the USS Saratoga and VS-15M on the USS Lexington were the first Marine carrier-based squadrons.1942 – Lt. General Dwight D. Eisenhower arrived in Gibraltar to set up an American command post for the invasion of North Africa, Operation Torch.

1936 – Italian dictator Benito Mussolini proclaims the Rome-Berlin Axis, establishing the alliance of the Axis powers.

1942 – On Guadalcanal, the “Tokyo Express,” the flotilla of Japanese destroyers supplying their forces, begins to be very active. The American advance in the west continues slowly with some successes.

1943 – The Battle of Empress Augusta Bay in Bougainville ended in U.S. Navy victory over Japan. US Task Force 39 detects the approach of the Japanese cruiser squadron led by Admiral Omori (steaming from Rabaul in New Britain Island to Bougainville), shortly after midnight. In the engagement that follows the Japanese lose 1 cruiser and 1 destroyer and most of the other ships are damaged. The Americans suffer damage to 2 cruisers and 2 destroyers. However, the Japanese force abandons its mission. On Bougainville, the US 3rd Marine Division expands its beachhead. During the day, Japanese aircraft attack the ships of US Task Force 39 without success. Aircraft from US Task Force 38 raid Buna and Buka. Meanwhile, the US 2nd Marine Parachute Battalion on Choiseul continues to engage Japanese forces. This is a diversion from the attack on Bougainville.

1943 – The Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain is raided by about 160 land-based aircraft of the US 5th Air Force. About 20 planes on each side. Three ships are sunk in the harbor.

1943 – On the west coast of the Trigno River in Italy, the US 5th Army continues its slow advance. Elements of the British 10th Corps reach Garigliano.

1944 – Realizing the Reich was losing the war, Auschwitz Death Camp began gassing inmates on a massive scale.

1944 – Elements of the US 5th Army take Casseta, south of Bologna.

1944 – During the day, the US 8th Air Force attacks the Leuna synthetic oil plant at Merseburg. The Americans claim 183 German fighters (including 4 jets) destroyed for the loss of 40 bombers and 28 fighters (including losses to antiaircraft defenses). During the night, Bomber Command attacks Dusseldorf with 992 bombers as well as sending smaller forces to strike other targets. A total of 20 planes are reported lost in all operations.

1948 – President Truman was elected 33rd president in an upset for prognosticators. During the presidential election campaign in 1948, almost everyone expected New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey to win and few had faith in a victory for incumbent Harry S. Truman. While Truman went on a “whistle stop” tour across the United States, giving more than 350 speeches, Dewey’s confident campaign was more reserved. The Chicago Daily Tribune had been so sure of Dewey’s victory that they had printed front-page “Dewey Defeats Truman” articles before the final results were in. Truman defeated Dewey by 2.2 million popular votes and 114 electoral votes. Prof. Frank Kofsky later wrote “Harry Truman and the War Scare of 1948.” Henry Wallace was the candidate for the Progressive Party.

1950 – After offering stiff resistance to troops of the 7th Marines south of the Chosin (Changjin) Reservoir, the Chinese 124th Division withdrew into the mountains.

1957 – The Levelland UFO Case in Levelland, Texas, generates national publicity. The Levelland UFO Case occurred in and around the small town of Levelland, Texas. Levelland, which in 1957 had a population of about 10,000, is located west of Lubbock on the flat prairie of the Texas panhandle. The case is considered by ufologists to be one of the most impressive in UFO history, mainly because of the large number of witnesses involved over a relatively short period of time. However, both the US Air Force and UFO skeptics have labeled the incident as being caused by either ball lightning or a severe electrical storm.

1962 – Pres. Kennedy reported that Soviet missile bases in Cuba were being dismantled.

1962 – Lt Col John H. Glenn (first American to orbit the earth and the world’s only septuagenarian astronaut) became first recipient of the Alfred A. Cunningham Trophy for outstanding Marine pilots.

1963 – Following the overthrow of his government by South Vietnamese military forces the day before, President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother are captured and killed by a group of soldiers. While the United States publicly disclaimed any knowledge of or participation in the planning of the coup that overthrew Diem, it was later revealed that American officials met with the generals who organized the plot and gave them encouragement to go through with their plans. Quite simply, Diem was perceived as an impediment to the accomplishment of U.S. goals in Southeast Asia. His increasingly dictatorial rule only succeeded in alienating most of the South Vietnamese people, and his brutal repression of protests led by Buddhist monks during the summer of 1963 convinced many American officials that the time had come for Diem to go. Three weeks later, an assassin shot President Kennedy. By then, the United States was more heavily involved in the South Vietnamese quagmire than ever. Its participation in the overthrow of the Diem regime signaled a growing impatience with South Vietnamese management of the war. From this point on, the United States moved step by step to become more directly and heavily involved in the fight against the communist rebels.

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1967 – President Johnson holds a secret meeting with some of the nation’s most prestigious leaders, who were collectively called “the Wise Men.” This group included former Secretary of State Dean Acheson, General of the Army Omar Bradley, Ambassador-at-Large Averell Harriman, and former Ambassador to South Vietnam Henry Cabot Lodge. Johnson asked them for advice on how to unite the U.S. in the Vietnam War effort. They reached the conclusion that the administration needed to offer “ways of guiding the press to show the light at the end of the tunnel.” In effect, they decided that the American people should be given more optimistic reports. When Johnson agreed, the administration, which included senior U.S. military commander in Saigon Gen. William Westmoreland, began to paint a more positive picture of the situation in South Vietnam. In early 1968, this decision came back to haunt Johnson and Westmoreland when the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese launched a major surprise attack on January 30, the start of the Tet New Year holiday. Stunned by the scope of the Communist attack after the administration had painted such an upbeat picture of Allied progress in the war, many Americans began to question the credibility of the president and antiwar sentiment increased significantly.

1968 – Operation Search Turn began in Mekong Delta. The first of the SEA LORDS barrier campaigns was a five-day US and Vietnamese Navy operation to interdict the waterways and canals in Kien Giang Province along the Cambodian border and to secure the canals running between Ha Tien and Rach Gia.

1976 – Former Georgia Gov. (James Earl) Jimmy Carter defeated Republican incumbent Gerald R. Ford. He became the 39th president and the first from the Deep South since the Civil War. The general election campaign began with Ford trailing by over 30 points. Ford managed cut Carters lead after the first debate by 10 points. In the second debate Ford made a major mistake in the second debate by saying that Eastern Europe was free from Soviet domination. Carter got into problems after giving a Playboy interview in which he talked candidly about lust in his heart. Carter campaigned as an outsider intent on cleaning up Washington. Carter won a very narrow victory over Ford.

1986 – Kidnappers in Lebanon released American hospital administrator David Jacobsen after holding him for 17 months.

1988 – The Morris worm, the first internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, is launched from MIT. According to its creator, the Morris worm was not written to cause damage, but to gauge the size of the Internet. The worm was released from MIT to disguise the fact that the worm originally came from Cornell. It worked by exploiting known vulnerabilities in Unix sendmail, finger, and rsh/rexec, as well as weak passwords. Due to reliance on rsh (normally disabled on untrusted networks); fixes to sendmail, finger, and rsh; and improved awareness of the dangers of weak passwords, it should not succeed on a recent, properly configured system. A supposedly unintended consequence of the code, however, caused it to be more damaging: a computer could be infected multiple times and each additional process would slow the machine down, eventually to the point of being unusable.

1990 – The White House announced that President Bush planned to spend Thanksgiving with American GI’s in Saudi Arabia.

1997 – Iraq barred two American weapons experts from entering the country, the second such refusal in a week. The UN decided to send a 3-man delegation to Iraq remind Sadam of his obligation to comply with council resolutions.

2000 – A US and British air strike in southern Iraq wounded 3 people.

2000 – An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts became the first residents of the international space station, christening it “Alpha” at the start of their four-month mission.

2001 – President George W. Bush, saying the war in Afghanistan was unravelling Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network, chided critics for clamoring for more action, and said the U.S. military campaign would not pause for the Muslim holiday of Ramadan.

2001 – A US helicopter crashed due to weather in northern Afghanistan. 4 crew members were injured and retrieved by another helicopter.

2001 – A 17th case of anthrax was reported in a NY Post employee.

2001 – NYC firefighters and police engaged in a scuffle as firefighters protested a limit to the number of firefighters working to retrieve their dead at the WTC disaster site.

2002 – Pres. Bush called Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein a “dangerous man” with links to terrorist networks, and said that UN inspections for weapons of mass destruction were critical.

2002 – Kuwait closed the office of Al-Jazeera, the Arab world’s most popular satellite TV network, claiming it was “not objective.”

2003 – In Havana, Cuba, 71 American firms from 18 states and Puerto Rico opened trade fair displays under an exception in a 42-year US trade embargo.

2003 – In central Iraq insurgents shot down a US Chinook helicopter as it carried troops headed for R&R, killing 15 soldiers and wounding 21. Attacks on US troops reached 33 a day.

2004 – Afghan fighting killed at least 11 as troops tried to disarm southern militias.

2004 – It was reported that some 3,000 Arab intellectuals had signed a petition calling for an int’l. court to try Muslim clerics who encourage terrorism.

2004 – A car bomb exploded near the Ministry of Education in a busy Baghdad commercial area, killing at least eight people and wounding 29 others. A car bomb in Mosul killed 4 civilians. Insurgents blew up a northern oil export pipeline.


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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

BOLTON, CECIL H.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company E, 413th Infantry, 104th Infantry Division. Place and date: Mark River, Holland, 2 November 1944. Entered service at: Huntsville, Ala. Birth: Crawfordsville, Fla. G.O. No.: 74, 1 September 1945. Citation: As leader of the weapons platoon of Company E, 413th Infantry, on the night of 2 November 1944, he fought gallantly in a pitched battle which followed the crossing of the Mark River in Holland. When 2 machineguns pinned down his company, he tried to eliminate, with mortar fire, their grazing fire which was inflicting serious casualties and preventing the company’s advance from an area rocked by artillery shelling. In the moonlight it was impossible for him to locate accurately the enemy’s camouflaged positions; but he continued to direct fire until wounded severely in the legs and rendered unconscious by a German shell. When he recovered consciousness he instructed his unit and then crawled to the forward rifle platoon positions. Taking a two-man bazooka team on his voluntary mission, he advanced chest deep in chilling water along a canal toward 1 enemy machinegun. While the bazooka team covered him, he approached alone to within 15 yards of the hostile emplacement in a house. He charged the remaining distance and killed the 2 gunners with hand grenades.

Returning to his men he led them through intense fire over open ground to assault the second German machinegun. An enemy sniper who tried to block the way was dispatched, and the trio pressed on. When discovered by the machinegun crew and subjected to direct fire, 1st Lt. Bolton killed 1 of the 3 gunners with carbine fire, and his 2 comrades shot the others. Continuing to disregard his wounds, he led the bazooka team toward an 88-mm. artillery piece which was having telling effect on the American ranks, and approached once more through icy canal water until he could dimly make out the gun’s silhouette. Under his fire direction, the two soldiers knocked out the enemy weapon with rockets. On the way back to his own lines he was again wounded. To prevent his men being longer subjected to deadly fire, he refused aid and ordered them back to safety, painfully crawling after them until he reached his lines, where he collapsed. 1st Lt. Bolton’s heroic assaults in the face of vicious fire, his inspiring leadership, and continued aggressiveness even through suffering from serious wounds, contributed in large measure to overcoming strong enemy resistance and made it possible for his battalion to reach its objective.

*FEMOYER, ROBERT E. (Air Mission)
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, 711th Bombing Squadron, 447th Bomber Group, U.S. Army Air Corps. Place and date: Over Merseburg, Germany, 2 November 1944. Entered service at: Jacksonville, Fla. Born: 31 October 1921, Huntington, W. Va. G.O. No.: 35, 9 May 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty near Merseburg, Germany, on 2 November 1944. While on a mission, the bomber, of which 2d Lt. Femoyer was the navigator, was struck by 3 enemy antiaircraft shells. The plane suffered serious damage and 2d Lt. Femoyer was severely wounded in the side and back by shell fragments which penetrated his body. In spite of extreme pain and great loss of blood he refused an offered injection of morphine. He was determined to keep his mental faculties clear in order that he might direct his plane out of danger and so save his comrades.

Not being able to arise from the floor, he asked to be propped up in order to enable him to see his charts and instruments. He successfully directed the navigation of his lone bomber for 2 1/2 hours so well it avoided enemy flak and returned to the field without further damage. Only when the plane had arrived in the safe area over the English Channel did he feel that he had accomplished his objective; then, and only then, he permitted an injection of a sedative. He died shortly after being removed from the plane. The heroism and self-sacrifice of 2d Lt. Femoyer are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army.

*WILKINS, RAYMOND H. (Air Mission)
Rank and organization: Major, U.S. Army Air Corps. Place and date: Near Rabaul, New Britain, 2 November 1943. Entered service at: Portsmouth, Va. Born: 28 September 1917, Portsmouth, Va. G.O. No.: 23, 24 March 1944. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy near Rabaul, New Britain, on 2 November 1943. Leading his squadron in an attack on shipping in Simpson Harbor, during which intense antiaircraft fire was expected, Maj. Wilkins briefed his squadron so that his airplane would be in the position of greatest risk. His squadron was the last of 3 in the group to enter the target area. Smoke from bombs dropped by preceding aircraft necessitated a last-second revision of tactics on his part, which still enabled his squadron to strike vital shipping targets, but forced it to approach through concentrated fire, and increased the danger of Maj. Wilkins’ left flank position. His airplane was hit almost immediately, the right wing damaged, and control rendered extremely difficult.

Although he could have withdrawn, he held fast and led his squadron into the attack. He strafed a group of small harbor vessels, and then, at low level, attacked an enemy destroyer. His 1,000 pound bomb struck squarely amidships, causing the vessel to explode. Although antiaircraft fire from this vessel had seriously damaged his left vertical stabilizer, he refused to deviate from the course. From below-masthead height he attacked a transport of some 9,000 tons, scoring a hit which engulfed the ship in flames. Bombs expended, he began to withdraw his squadron. A heavy cruiser barred the path. Unhesitatingly, to neutralize the cruiser s guns and attract its fire, he went in for a strafing run. His damaged stabilizer was completely shot off. To avoid swerving into his wing planes he had to turn so as to expose the belly and full wing surfaces of his plane to the enemy fire; it caught and crumpled his left wing. Now past control, the bomber crashed into the sea. In the fierce engagement Maj. Wilkins destroyed 2 enemy vessels, and his heroic self-sacrifice made possible the safe withdrawal of the remaining planes of his squadron.

VAN WINKLE, ARCHIE
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Company B, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Vicinity of Sudong, Korea, 2 November 1950. Entered service at: Arlington, Wash. Born: 17 March 1925, Juneau, Alaska. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a platoon sergeant in Company B, in action against enemy aggressor forces. Immediately rallying the men in his area after a fanatical and numerically superior enemy force penetrated the center of the line under cover of darkness and pinned down the platoon with a devastating barrage of deadly automatic weapons and grenade fire, S/Sgt. Van Winkle boldly spearheaded a determined attack through withering fire against hostile frontal positions and, though he and all the others who charged with him were wounded, succeeded in enabling his platoon to gain the fire superiority and the opportunity to reorganize.

Realizing that the left flank squad was isolated from the rest of the unit, he rushed through 40 yards of fierce enemy fire to reunite his troops despite an elbow wound which rendered 1 of his arms totally useless. Severely wounded a second time when a direct hit in the chest from a hostile hand grenade caused serious and painful wounds, he staunchly refused evacuation and continued to shout orders and words of encouragement to his depleted and battered platoon. Finally carried from his position unconscious from shock and from loss of blood, S/Sgt. Van Winkle served to inspire all who observed him to heroic efforts in successfully repulsing the enemy attack. His superb leadership, valiant fighting spirit, and unfaltering devotion to duty in the face of heavy odds reflect the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service.

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3 November

1741 – The Augusta County Regiment was organized on this date. Men from this regiment would fight under Lieutenant Colonel George Washington during the French and Indian War (1755-1763); again under Washington during the Revolutionary War (1775-1783); and under General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson during the Civil War, where the regiment earned the nickname “Stonewall Brigade” it still carries today. Its descendant unit, the 116th Infantry, became part of the 29th Infantry Division in 1917 and saw heavy fighting with it in both world wars, including leading the assault wave on Omaha Beach on D-Day. In the War on Terror different battalions of the 116th Infantry, still part of the 29th Division, have served on missions ranging from guarding the perimeter (but not the prisoners) of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to teaching soldier skills and combat tactics to the members of the newly organized Afghan army.

1783 – Washington ordered the Continental Army disbanded from its cantonment at New Windsor, NY, where it had remained since defeating Cornwallis in 1781. In a farewell message printed in the Philadelphia papers he thanked the officers and men for their assistance and reminded them that “the singular interpositions of Providence in our feeble condition were such, as could scarcely escape the attention of the most unobserving; while the unparalleled perseverance of the Armies of the United States, through almost every possible suffering and discouragement for the space of eight long years, was little short of a standing miracle.” A small residual force remained at West Point and some frontier outposts until Congress created the United States Army by their resolution of June 3, 1784.

1793 – Stephen Fuller Austin was born. Often referred to as the Father of Texas, for the hundreds of families he brought into this state due to the relatively poor economic conditions in the United States at the time, Stephen F. Austin was very successful in recruiting families to move to Texas. On the death (1821) of his father, Moses Austin, he took over a grant to bring U.S. settlers into Spanish Texas. Under the terms of a special act in 1824 and additional contracts in 1825, 1827, and 1828–all granted by the newly independent Mexican government–the colonizer was responsible for the settlement of more than 1,200 American families in Mexican Texas. In 1835, following a period of imprisonment in Mexico City, Austin urged Texans to join federalists in Mexico in revolt against the centralist dictatorship of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. During the Texas Revolution (1835-36), Austin briefly commanded Texas volunteers and then went to the United States to gain support for the Texan cause. He served as secretary of state of the republic.

1794 – Thomas Paine was released from a Parisian jail with help from American ambassador James Monroe. He was arrested for having offended the Robespierre faction.

1796 – John Adams was elected president. Adams’s ascension to the presidency was neither automatic nor unanimous. Before achieving that high office, had to emerge victorious from America’s first contested presidential election. Eight years earlier, in September 1787, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention had considered numerous plans for choosing a president. They had rejected direct election by qualified voters because, as Roger Sherman of Connecticut remarked, a scattered population could never “be informed of the characters of the leading candidates.” The delegates also ruled out election by Congress. Such a procedure, Gouverneur Morris stated, would inevitably be “the work of intrigue, cabal and of faction.” Finally, the convention agreed to an electoral college scheme, whereby “Each state shall appoint in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress.”

Presidential selection, therefore, would be decided through a state-by-state, rather than a national, referendum. Each elector chosen by the voters or the legislature of his state would cast votes for two candidates, one of whom had to come from outside his state. The electors’ ballots would be opened in the presence of both houses of Congress. If no one received a majority of the votes, or if two or more individuals tied with a majority of the electoral college votes, the members of the House of Representatives would cast ballots to elect the president.* Once the president had been decided upon, the candidate from among those remaining who had received the second largest number of electoral votes became the vice president. The framers of the Constitution believed that most electors would judiciously cast their two ballots for persons of “real merit,” as Morris put it.

Alexander Hamilton argued in Federalist 68–one of a series of essays penned by Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to encourage ratification of the Constitution in New York State–that it was a “moral certainty” that the electoral college scheme would result in the election of the most qualified man. Someone skilled in the art of intrigue might win a high state office, he wrote, but only a man nationally known for his “ability and virtue” could gain the support of electors from throughout the United States. Indeed, the “electoral college” plan worked well during the first two presidential elections in 1788 and 1792, when every elector had cast one of his ballots for Washington. But by 1796, something unforeseen by the delegates to the Constitutional Convention had occurred; men of different points of view had begun to form themselves into political parties.

1813 – American troops destroy the Indian village of Tallushatchee in the Mississippi Valley. US troops under Gen Coffee destroyed an Indian village at Talladega, Ala. The Creeks having assembled at the town of Tallasehatche, thirteen miles from the camp, the commander-in-chief despatched Coffee, now promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, with one thousand men, with one-half of whom he was directed to attack the enemy, and with the other half to scour the country near the Ten Islands, for the purpose of covering his operations. Richard Brown, with a company of Creeks and Cherokees, wearing on their heads distinguishing badges of white feathers and deer’s tails, accompanied the expedition.

Fording the Coosa at the Fish Dam, four miles above the islands, Coffee advanced to Tallasehatche, surrounded it at the rising of the sun, and was fiercely met by the savages with whoops and the sounding of drums–the prophets being in advance. Attacking the decoy companies they were soon surrounded by the troops, who charged them with great slaughter. After a short but terrible action, eighty-four women and children were made prisoners, while the bodies of one hundred and eighty-six warriors were counted upon the field, where some women also perished.

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1816 – Jubal Anderson Early (d.1891), Lt. General (Confederate Army), was born. Confederate General Jubal Early is born in Franklin City, Virginia. Early had a distinguished career in the Confederate army, and in 1864 he waged a campaign in the Shenandoah Valley that kept Confederate hopes alive by relieving the pressure on General Robert E. Lee’s army around Richmond. Early graduated from West Point in 1837, eleventh in his class of 50. He fought in Florida’s Seminole War in 1838 and was promoted to first lieutenant but resigned later that year. He studied in Virginia and was elected to the State House of Delegates in 1841. When war with Mexico broke out in 1846, Early rejoined the military as a colonel in the Virginia volunteers. He served in General Zachary Taylor’s army but saw no combat. Early left the service in 1848 to resume his political career. In 1861, he was elected to the commonwealth’s secession convention as a pro-Union delegate, and he strongly opposed secession.

Despite his opposition, Early offered his service to the Confederacy when Virginia left the Union on April 17th. Commissioned as a colonel in the 24th Virginia Infantry, Early played a key role at the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861, when he led a crucial counterattack against the Union’s right flank. He was promoted to brigadier general and he soon earned a reputation as a highly effective commander. In 1863, his force played important roles in the Battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. By 1864, he was considered one of the best division commanders in the Army of Northern Virginia. In the spring campaigns of 1864, Early took over command of a corps when Richard Ewell was wounded, and he earned high marks from his commander, General Robert E. Lee. When that campaign turned into a siege at Petersburg, Lee tapped Early to lead a force of 14,000 to the Shenandoah Valley. Early’s campaign that summer was initially successful. He drove a Union force from the valley, then turned down the Potomac River to Washington. In early July, he reached the outskirts of the capital, and the Union commander, General Ulysses S. Grant, had to divert two corps from his army at Petersburg to defend Washington. Early did not intend to attack the formidable defenses there, so he withdrew back to the Shenandoah by the end of July. Early’s activities boosted Southern morale and showed Northerners how difficult it would be to defeat the Confederacy.

Grant dispatched General Philip Sheridan and 40,000 troops to neutralize Early’s army. Sheridan dealt two serious defeats to Early in September at Winchester and Fischer’s Hill, but Early struck back at Cedar Creek in October. Early’s men drove the surprised Federals back several miles before Sheridan personally rallied them and routed the Confederates. Early waged a fine campaign, but by the end of October his force was defeated and badly outnumbered. When Sheridan took control of the Shenandoah Valley, an important Confederate resource was lost. Early was relieved of command just before the Confederate surrender, an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise fine career. He fled to Mexico after the war. After a stint in Canada, he returned to the United States in 1867 under a general amnesty granted to former Confederates. After the war he practiced law, ran the Louisiana state lottery, and founded the Southern Historical Society. Early was a major architect of the myth of the “Lost Cause,” and much of his work aimed to protect the reputation of Robert E. Lee. Jubal Early died in 1894, and his death silenced one of the most important voices of Southern history.

1853 – USS Constitution seizes suspected slaver H. N. Gambrill.

1862 – There was a battle between gunboats at Bayou Teche, Louisiana.

1868 – Republican Ulysses S. Grant was elected 18th president. He won the election over Democrat Horatio Seymour. He used the 1867 typewriter phrase “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party” for his campaign. In 1868 the Republican nomination of General Ulysses S. Grant was a foregone conclusion. Stung by a string of defeats in northern state elections in 1867, amid charges of Republicans’ corruption and too cozy regard for black rights, the Republicans turned to the hero of Appomattox and ran on his record of Union victory and personal honesty and modesty. Republicans largely conducted a campaign of image over ideas. They appealed to voters tired of posturing politicians and eager to bring order to the South and good government to the nation by trading on Grant’s war record, Lincoln’s memory, and the promise of efficient and responsible government. Republican platform calls for equal suffrage, justice to blacks, and support for immigration got short shrift as Republicans discovered they could get more votes tarring Democrats as disloyal and despicable and echoing Grant’s plea, “Let us have peace.” Grant won the electoral vote handily, but did less well in the popular vote. Indeed, without black votes in key states, the Republicans would have lost. That fact moved Republicans heretofore reluctant to enfranchise blacks nationally to endorse a 15th Amendment to do just that.

1883 – U.S. Supreme Court declared American Indians to be “dependent aliens.”

1896 – Republican William McKinley was elected 25th president. He defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan for the presidency. McKinley and Garret Hobart supported the gold standard while The Democrats supported the free coinage of silver. Marcus Hanna, an Ohio industrialist, led the fund-raising for McKinley and personally underwrote the cost of winning this 1st modern presidential campaign. In 1929 Thomas Beer authored a biography of Hanna.

1903 – With the support of the U.S. government, Panama issues a declaration of independence from Colombia. The revolution was engineered by a Panamanian faction backed by the Panama Canal Company, a French-U.S. corporation that hoped to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans with a waterway across the Isthmus of Panama. In 1903, the Hay-Herrýn Treaty was signed with Colombia, granting the United States use of the Isthmus of Panama in exchange for financial compensation. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty, but the Colombian Senate, fearing a loss of sovereignty, refused. In response, President Theodore Roosevelt gave tacit approval to a rebellion by Panamanian nationalists, which began on November 3, 1903. To aid the rebels, the U.S.-administered railroad in Panama removed its trains from the northern terminus of Colon, thus stranding Colombian troops sent to crush the insurrection. Other Colombian forces were discouraged from marching on Panama by the arrival of the U.S. warship Nashville.

On November 6, the United States recognized the Republic of Panama, and on November 18 the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty was signed with Panama, granting the United States exclusive and permanent possession of the Panama Canal Zone. In exchange, Panama received $10 million and an annuity of $250,000 beginning nine years later. The treaty was negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State John Hay and the owner of the Panama Canal Company. Almost immediately, the treaty was condemned by many Panamanians as an infringement on their country’s new national sovereignty. On August 15, 1914, the Panama Canal was inaugurated with the passage of the U.S. vessel Ancon, a cargo and passenger ship. After decades of protest and negotiations, the Panama Canal passed to Panamanian control in December 1999.

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1908 – Republican William Howard Taft was elected the 27th president, outpolling William Jennings Bryan. Long before the Republican convention met, Theodore Roosevelt had announced his intention to not seek a third term. He preferred to be succeeded by his secretary of war, William Howard Taft. TR perceived a certain docility in Taft that might induce him to pursue the former’s progressive reforms. Taft easily won his party’s nomination, but felt slighted when a convention demonstration for Roosevelt was much longer and louder than a later one for himself. The Democrats in 1908 had not forgotten the thumping they received four years previously when they ran a conservative candidate. They resorted to an earlier recipe for failure and nominated William Jennings Bryan for the third time. The campaign revolved around Roosevelt’s record. The reform Republicans boasted of TR’s reform achievements, while the more conservative party members simply kept quiet; for them, anyone was better than Bryan. The Democrats had a hard time portraying themselves as the progressive party. Bryan did the best he could and argued that he was a more logical successor to Roosevelt than Taft. Bryan committed a major blunder during the campaign by calling for government ownership of the railroads. Such a move was regarded as socialism even by those with strong progressive leanings and made Bryan look like a wild-eyed radical. Taft won a convincing victory. Bryan’s support was confined to the Solid South, plus Nebraska, Colorado and Nevada. The Socialists improved their popular vote tally slightly over 1904, while the Prohibition Party remained at almost the same level. The Populists, in their final appearance on the national stage, polled fewer than 30,000 votes; most of their supporters had deserted the cause in favor of Bryan.

1917 – Germans drew first blood from the American Expeditionary Force in the French sector on a Saturday morning. The 1st Division had nearly completed its training with the French, and final training exercises were to take place as one infantry and one artillery battalion from each American regiment went into line with a French regiment for a ten-day period. A raid by a German patrol hit the American sector at Artois on the first morning of their tour and killed three Americans and captured sixteen. After daylight, Capt. George Marshall visited the unit and determined that it had shown a good account of itself. On Monday General Pershing ordered an inspection team to visit the unit and make a report. The team included the chief of the Army schools, a lieutenant colonel from the Operations Section, and Colonel Fiske, then deputy training officer of the AEF.

1918 – There was a mutiny of the German fleet at Kiel. This was the first act leading to German’s capitulation in World War I.

1918 – III Corps on the right forces a crossing of the Meuse south of Dun-sur-Meuse with the 5th Division forcing the bridgehead.

1931 – Dirigible USS Los Angeles makes 10 hour flight out of NAS Lakehurst, NJ, carrying 207 persons, establishing a new record for the number of passengers carried into the air by a single craft.

1936 – President Roosevelt, the 32nd president, was re-elected for second term in a landslide over Republican challenger Alfred M. “Alf” Landon. Landon ran on a “wrong-headed” economic program. Roosevelt received 60.8% of the popular vote and an astounding 98.5% of the Electoral College defeating Republican Alfred Landon, the governor of Kansas. In terms of winning the largest percentage of electoral votes, the presidential election of 1936 was the biggest landslide of the 20th century.

1939 – The US Senate votes to lift the embargo on the export of arms to belligerents.

1941 – The Combined Japanese Fleet receive Top-Secret Order No. 1: In 34 days time, Pearl Harbor is to be bombed, along with Mayala, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines. Relations between the United States and Japan had been deteriorating quickly since Japan’s occupation of Indochina in 1940 and the implicit menacing of the Philippines (an American protectorate), with the occupation of the Cam Ranh naval base only eight miles from Manila. American retaliation included the seizing of all Japanese assets in the States and the closing of the Panama Canal to Japanese shipping. In September 1941, Roosevelt issued a statement, drafted by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, that threatened war between the United States and Japan should the Japanese encroach any further on territory in Southeast Asia or the South Pacific. The Japanese military had long dominated Japanese foreign affairs; although official negotiations between the U.S. secretary of state and his Japanese counterpart to ease tensions were ongoing, Hideki Tojo, the minister of war who would soon be prime minister, had no intention of withdrawing from captured territories. He also construed the American “threat” of war as an ultimatum and prepared to deliver the first blow in a Japanese-American confrontation: the bombing of Pearl Harbor. And so Tokyo delivered the order to all pertinent Fleet commanders, that not only the United States-and its protectorate the Philippines–but British and Dutch colonies in the Pacific were to be attacked. War was going to be declared on the West.

1942 – On Guadalcanal, the expected Japanese landing at Koli Point occurs with a force of 1500 landing to the east of the point. The American forces engage, but soon must pull back. The Americans then halt their advances to the west, to supply reinforcements against the landings.

1943 – Battleship Oklahoma, sunk at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, is refloated.

1943 – Elements of US 5th Army capture Sessa Aurunca, Italy.

1943 – The US 2nd Marine Parachute Battalion withdraws from Choiseul.

1943 – 500 aircraft of the U.S. 8th Air Force devastate Wilhelmshaven harbor in Germany.

1944 – The US 1st Army captures Schmidt, near Aachen.

1950 – The 25th Infantry Division was driven back from the Yalu area. Eighth Army fell back to defend the vital Chongchon Bridgehead.

1954 – On the basis of Diem’s agreement to begin US required reforms, President Eisenhower announces he is sending General J. Lawton Collins, then US representative on the military committee to NATO, to Vietnam to ‘coordinate the operation of all US agencies in that country.’

1956 – USS Chilton (APA-38), USS Thuban (AKA-19), and USS Fort Snelling (LSD-30) evacuate more than 1,500 U.S. and foreign nationals from Egypt and Israel because of the fighting.

1957 – The Soviet Union launches the first animal into space–a dog name Laika–aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft. Laika, part Siberian husky, lived as a stray on the Moscow streets before being enlisted into the Soviet space program. Laika survived for several days as a passenger in the USSR’s second artificial Earth satellite, kept alive by a sophisticated life-support system. Electrodes attached to her body provided scientists on the ground with important information about the biological effects of space travel. She died after the batteries of her life-support system ran down. At least a dozen more Russian dogs were launched into space in preparation for the first manned Soviet space mission, and at least five of these dogs died in flight. On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1. He orbited Earth once before landing safely in the USSR.

1959 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower laid the cornerstone for the CIA headquarters building in Langley, Va.

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1961 – After Hurricane Hattie, helicopters from USS Antietam begin relief operations at British Honduras providing medical personnel, medical supplies, general supplies, and water.

1961 – General Taylor’s final report proposes a hard commitment of US ground forces and introduces the concept of US ‘limited partnership’ in Vietnam, suggesting that the US military mission in Saigon become something nearer to an operational headquarters in a theater of war. The report assumes that the Americans can supply the South Vietnamese with the fervor needed to win, and asserts that if all else fails, the United States can count on the bombing of North Vietnam or even the threat of bombing to hold Hanoi and other Communist nations at bay, avoiding the risk of a major land war. Kennedy eventually rejects this approach, but soon after Taylor’s visit USAF Globemasters begin shuttling US instructors and advisors, and Kennedy authorizes sending SC-47s, B-26s, and T-28 fighter-bomber trainers to Bien Hoa Air Base, just north of Saigon.

1964 – President Johnson soundly defeated Republican challenger Barry Goldwater to win a White House term as the 36th president. Johnson won over 61% of the vote with 486 electoral votes to Goldwater’s 52. In one of the most crushing victories in the history of U.S. presidential elections, incumbent Lyndon Baines Johnson defeats Republican challenger Barry Goldwater, Sr. With over 60 percent of the popular vote, Johnson turned back the conservative senator from Arizona to secure his first full term in office after succeeding to the presidency after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963. During the 1964 campaign, Goldwater was decidedly critical of Johnson’s liberal domestic agenda, railing against welfare programs and defending his own decision to vote against the Civil Rights Act passed by Congress earlier that year. However, some of the most dramatic differences between the two candidates appeared over the issue of Cold War foreign policy.

The Republican angrily charged Johnson and the Democratic Party with having given in to communist aggression, pointedly referring to the existence of Castro’s communist Cuba 90 miles off America’s shore. On more than one occasion, Goldwater seemed to suggest that he would not be above using nuclear weapons on both Cuba and North Vietnam to achieve U.S. objectives. Johnson’s advisers, of course, did all they could to portray Goldwater as a saber-rattling warmonger, who would bring the world to nuclear annihilation if elected. The President countered his opponent’s challenges by portraying himself as a model of statesman-like restraint. Concerning Vietnam, he mollified domestic concerns about a possible war by claiming that he would not send “American boys nine or ten thousand miles from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.” Johnson’s statement satisfied many Americans, but any commitment he may have had about avoiding direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict was already eroding by the time of the 1964 election. Four months after his victory, Johnson committed U.S. combat troops to Vietnam.

1967 – In some of the heaviest fighting seen in the Central Highlands area, heavy casualties are sustained by both sides in bloody battles around Dak To, about 280 miles north of Saigon near the Cambodian border. The 1,000 U.S. troops there were reinforced with 3,500 additional troops from the U.S. 4th Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade. They faced four communist regiments of about 6,000 troops. The climax of the operation came in a savage battle from November 19-22 for Hill 875, 12 miles southwest of Dak To. The 173rd was victorious, forcing the North Vietnamese to abandon their last defensive line on the ridge of Hill 875, but the victory was a costly one because the paratroopers suffered the loss of 135 men, 30 of whom died as a result of an accidental U.S. air strike on U.S. positions. In the 19 days of action, North Vietnam fatalities were estimated at 1,455. Total U.S. casualties included 285 killed, 985 wounded, and 18 missing. During this battle, the North Vietnamese failed to achieve one of their main objectives, which was the destruction of an American unit. They came close, but the Americans, despite heavy losses, had achieved the true victory: they mauled three enemy regiments so badly that they were unavailable for the Tet Offensive that the Communists launched in late January 1968.

1969 – President Richard M. Nixon elaborated his Nixon Doctrine in a televised speech. He stated that the US henceforth expected its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This was the start of the “Vietnamization” of the Vietnam War. The Doctrine argued for the pursuit of peace through a partnership with American allies.

1973 – NASA launches the Mariner 10 toward Mercury. On March 29, 1974, it becomes the first space probe to reach that planet.

1979 – 63 Americans were taken hostage at the US Embassy in Teheran, Iran. The overthrow of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi of Iran by an Islamic revolutionary government earlier in the year had led to a steady deterioration in Iran-U.S. relations. In response to the exiled shah’s admission (Sept., 1979) to the United States for medical treatment, a crowd of about 500 seized the embassy. Of the approximately 90 people inside the embassy, 52 remained in captivity until the end of the crisis. President Carter applied economic pressure by halting oil imports from Iran and freezing Iranian assets in the United States. At the same time, he began several diplomatic initiatives to free the hostages, all of which proved fruitless. On Apr. 24, 1980, the United States attempted a rescue mission that failed. After three of eight helicopters were damaged in a sandstorm, the operation was aborted; eight persons were killed during the evacuation. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who had opposed the action, resigned after the mission’s failure.

In 1980, the death of the shah in Egypt and the invasion of Iran by Iraq made the Iranians more receptive to resolving the hostage crisis. In the United States, failure to resolve the crisis contributed to Ronald Reagan’s defeat of Carter in the presidential election. After the election, with the assistance of Algerian intermediaries, successful negotiations began. On Jan. 20, 1981, the day of President Reagan’s inauguration, the United States released almost $8 billion in Iranian assets and the hostages were freed after 444 days in Iranian detention; the agreement gave Iran immunity from lawsuits arising from the incident. In 2000 former hostages and their survivors sued Iran under the 1996 Antiterrorism Act, which permits U.S. citizens to sue foreign governments in cases of state-sponsored terrorism. The following year they won the lawsuit by default when Iran did not offer a defense. The U.S. State Dept. sought dismissal of the suit, arguing it would hinder its ability to negotiate international agreements, and a federal judge dismissed the plaintiffs’ suit for damages in 2002, ruling that the agreement that resulted in their release barred awarding any damages.

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1986 – The Lebanese magazine Ash Shiraa reports that the United States has been secretly selling arms to Iran in an effort to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon. The revelation, confirmed by U.S. intelligence sources on November 6, came as a shock to officials outside President Ronald Reagan’s inner circle and went against the stated policy of the administration. In addition to violating the U.S. arms embargo against Iran, the arms sales contradicted President Reagan’s vow never to negotiate with terrorists. On November 25, controversy over the administration’s secret dealings with Iran deepened dramatically when Attorney General Edwin Meese revealed that proceeds from the arms sales were diverted to fund Nicaraguan rebels–the Contras–who were fighting a guerrilla war against the elected leftist government of Nicaragua. The Contra connection caused outrage in Congress, which in 1982 had passed the Boland Amendment prohibiting the use of federal money “for the purpose of overthrowing the government of Nicaragua.”

The same day that the Iran-Contra connection was disclosed, President Reagan accepted the resignation of his national security adviser, Vice Admiral John Poindexter, and fired Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, a Poindexter aide. Both men had played key roles in the Iran-Contra operation. Reagan accepted responsibility for the arms-for-hostages deal but denied any knowledge of the diversion of funds to the Contras. In December 1986, Lawrence Walsh was named special prosecutor to investigate the matter, and in the summer of 1987 Congress held televised hearings on the Iran-Contra scandal. Both investigations revealed that North and other administration officials had attempted to illegally cover up their illicit dealings with the Contras and Iran. In the course of Walsh’s investigation, eleven White House, State Department, and intelligence officials were found guilty on charges ranging from perjury to withholding information from Congress to conspiracy to defraud the United States.

In his final report, Walsh concluded that neither Reagan nor Vice President George Bush violated any laws in connection with the affair, but that Reagan had set the stage for the illegal activities of others by ordering continued support of the Contras after Congress prohibited it. The report also found that Reagan and Bush engaged in conduct that contributed to a “concerted effort to deceive Congress and the public” about the Iran-Contra affair. On Christmas Eve, 1992, shortly after being defeated in his reelection bid by Bill Clinton, President George Bush pardoned six major figures in the Iran-Contra affair. Two of the men, former defense secretary Caspar Weinberger and former chief of CIA operations Duane Clarridge, had trials for perjury pending.

1990 – Secretary of State James A. Baker the Third embarked on a fast-paced tour of seven countries to “lay the foundation” for possible military action against Iraq.

1992 – (William Jefferson) Bill Clinton, governor of Arkansas, was elected as the 42nd president of the United States, defeating President Bush who won 38% of the popular vote. As the 1992 presidential election approached, Americans found themselves in a world transformed in ways almost unimaginable four years earlier. The familiar landmarks of the Cold War — from the Berlin Wall to intercontinental ballistic missiles and bombers on constant high alert — were gone. Eastern Europe was independent, the Soviet Union had dissolved, Germany was united, Arabs and Israelis were engaged in direct negotiations, and the threat of nuclear war was greatly diminished. It was as though one great history volume had closed and another had opened. Yet at home, Americans were less sanguine — and faced some deep and familiar problems.

Once the celebrations and parades following the Gulf War ended, the United States found itself in its deepest recession since the early 1980s. Many of the job losses were occurring among white-collar workers in middle management positions, not solely among blue-collar workers in the manufacturing sector who had been hit hardest in earlier years. Even when the economy began recovering in 1992, its growth was virtually imperceptible until late in the year, and many regions of the country remained mired in recession. Moreover, the federal deficit continued to mount, propelled most strikingly by rising expenditures for health care. Many Americans exhibited profound pessimism about their future, believing that their country was headed in the wrong direction.

1994 – The space shuttle Atlantis blasted into orbit on a mission to survey Earth’s ozone layer.

1995 – President Clinton dedicated a memorial at Arlington National Cemetery to the 270 victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

1996 – Paul Tatum, US businessman, was assassinated on the steps of a Moscow subway station in what his relatives suspect was a contract slaying by the Russian Mafia. He was in a long-running fight to regain control of the Radisson-Slavyanskaya hotel, a joint venture between Tatum and the City of Moscow.

1997 – Chinese President Jiang Zemin left the United States after an eight-day visit.2000 – UN officials brokered a deal between the rebels of Afghanistan and the Taliban to begin talks to end the civil war.

2001 – U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met with his Russian counterpart in Moscow to discuss nuclear arsenal cuts, American plans for a missile defense system, and U.S.-Russian cooperation in the campaign against terror. The visit was part of a 4-day tour with stops in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and India.

2001 – US planes staged continuous bombing against Taliban positions in Samangan province and the Northern Alliance pressed toward Mazar-e-Sharif.

2001 – The Al-Jazeera TV network broadcast a videotape from Osama bin Laden. He portrayed that attacks against Afghanistan as a war against Islam and denounced Arab leaders who cooperate with the UN for peace negotiations saying that amounted to a renunciation of Islam.

2002 – In Afghanistan Pres. Karzai fired over 15 provincial officials for abuse of authority, corruption and narcotics trafficking.

2002 – Saudi Arabia said it would not permit bases on its soil in an attack against Iraq and would not grant flyover rights to US military planes even if the UN sanctions an invasion. Prince Saud later said a final decision had not been made.

2002 – In northwest Yemen 6 al-Qaida suspects were killed when the car they were travelling in was struck by a missile from a US Predator drone. Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, a suspected al-Qaida leader, was among the dead along with Kamal Derwish, a member of the Lackawanna, NY, sleeper cell.

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2003 – Afghanistan unveiled a post-Taliban draft constitution. The Constitutional Loya Jirga was called to draft and approve a new constitution for Afghanistan. The Loya Jirga was composed of 502 delegates, 452 elected into the post and 50 appointed by President Karzai. The Loya Jirga began on December 14th, 2003 on the grounds of the Kabul Polytechinic School. Local Security and NATO forces became involved in the assurance of the safety of the assembly throughout the 22 days of the Loya Jirga. The 502 members were split into 10 working groups of approximately 50 people, and each group prepared different articles of the drafted constitution to be presented to the large assembly. Sibghatuallah Mujaddadi, a moderate supporter of President Karzai, was elected the chairperson for the Loya Jirga, and four deputy chairpersons, including one female, Safiq Saddiqi, were selected. Members of the Loya Jirga deliberated at length regarding the content of the constitution, and on January 4th, 2004, the new Constitution was ratified by the Constitutional Loyal Jirga, Grand Assembly, and signed into law by His Excellency President Hamid Karzai.

2004 – President Bush’s campaign declared victory over Democratic Sen. John Kerry and claimed a second term in the White House, but Kerry refused to concede until all ballots were counted in the undecided state of Ohio.

2004 – Former U.S. Army Sgt. Charles Jenkins (64) pleaded guilty to abandoning his unit in 1965 and aiding the enemy by teaching English to North Korean military officer cadets. Jenkins was convicted and sentenced to 30 days in jail for desertion.

2004 – A National Guard F-16 fighter plane mistakenly fired off 25 rounds of ammunition at the Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School in South New Jersey on this night.

2004 – Gunmen abducted a Lebanese-American contractor who worked with the U.S. Army from his Baghdad home. 4 Jordanian truck drivers were seized by assailants in a separate kidnapping. Gunmen also killed an Oil Ministry official, Hussein Ali al-Fattal, in a drive by shooting.

2010 – The United States Border Patrol finds a sophisticated tunnel between Tijuana in Mexico and Otay Mesa, California, used by drug smugglers.

2014 – Islamic State militants have captured the Jahar gas fields in the Syrian province of Homs, the second gas field they have captured in a week.

2014 – One World Trade Center officially opens, replacing its predecessor 13 years after the September 11th attacks.


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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

MARLAND, WILLIAM
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 2d Independent Battery, Massachusetts Light Artillery. Place and date: At Grand Coteau, La., 3 November 1863. Entered service at:——. Born: 11 March 1839, Andover, Mass. Date of issue: 16 February 1897. Citation: After having been surrounded by the enemy’s cavalry, his support having surrendered, he ordered a charge and saved the section of the battery that was under his command.

TOFFEY, JOHN J.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, Company G, 33d New Jersey Infantry. Place and date. At Chattanooga, Tenn., 23 November 1863. Entered service at: Hudson, N.J. Birth: Duchess, N.Y. Date of issue: 10 September 1897. Citation: Although excused from duty on account of sickness, went to the front in command of a storming party and with conspicuous gallantry participated in the assault of Missionary Ridge; was here wounded and permanently disabled.

VEUVE, ERNEST
Rank and organization: Farrier, Company A, 4th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Staked Plains, Tex., 3 November 1874. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Switzerland. Date of issue: 13 October 1875. Citation: Gallant manner in which he faced a desperate Indian.

*CHILES, MARCELLUS H.
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Army, 356th Infantry, 89th Division. Place and date: Near Le Champy Bas, France, 3 November 1918. Entered service at: Denver, Colo. Birth: Eureka Springs, Ark. G.O. No.: 20, W.D., 1919. Citation: When his battalion, of which he had just taken command, was halted by machinegun fire from the front and left flank, he picked up the rifle of a dead soldier and, calling on his men to follow led the advance across a stream, waist deep, in the face of the machinegun fire. Upon reaching the opposite bank this gallant officer was seriously wounded in the abdomen by a sniper, but before permitting himself to be evacuated he made complete arrangements for turning over his command to the next senior officer, and under the inspiration of his fearless leadership his battalion reached its objective. Capt. Chiles died shortly after reaching the hospital.

*MOWER, CHARLES E.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company A, 34th Infantry, 24th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Capoocan, Leyte. Philippine Islands, 3 November 1944. Entered service at: Chippewa Falls, Wis. Birth: Chippewa Falls, Wis. G.O. No.: 17, 11 February 1946. Citation: He was an assistant squad leader in an attack against strongly defended enemy positions on both sides of a stream running through a wooded gulch. As the squad advanced through concentrated fire, the leader was killed and Sgt. Mower assumed command. In order to bring direct fire upon the enemy, he had started to lead his men across the stream, which by this time was churned by machinegun and rifle fire, but he was severely wounded before reaching the opposite bank. After signaling his unit to halt, he realized his own exposed position was the most advantageous point from which to direct the attack, and stood fast.

Half submerged, gravely wounded, but refusing to seek shelter or accept aid of any kind, he continued to shout and signal to his squad as he directed it in the destruction of 2 enemy machineguns and numerous riflemen. Discovering that the intrepid man in the stream was largely responsible for the successful action being taken against them, the remaining Japanese concentrated the full force of their firepower upon him, and he was killed while still urging his men on. Sgt. Mower’s gallant initiative and heroic determination aided materially in the successful completion of his squad’s mission. His magnificent leadership was an inspiration to those with whom he served.

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4 November

1791 – General Arthur St. Clair, governor of Northwest Territory, was badly defeated by a large Indian army near Fort Wayne. Miami Indian Chief Little Turtle led the powerful force of Miami, Wyandot, Iroquois, Shawnee, Delaware, Ojibwa and Potawatomi that inflicted the greatest defeat ever suffered by the U.S. Army at the hands of North American Indians. Some 623 regulars led by General Arthur St. Clair were killed and 258 wounded on the banks of the Wabash River near present day Fort Wayne, Indiana. The staggering defeat moved Congress to authorize a larger army in 1792.

1798 – Congress agreed to pay a yearly tribute to Tripoli, considering it the only way to protect U.S. shipping. The US has no appreciable Navy as yet. This is the most expedient and assured way to protect American shipping in the Mediterranean.

1835 – Lunsford Lindsay Lomax (d.1913), Major General (Confederate Army), was born at Newport, R.I., the son of Mann Page Lomax, of Virginia, a major of ordnance in the United States army. His mother, Elizabeth Lindsay, was a descendant of Captain Lindsay, who commanded a company in the light horse cavalry of Harry Lee during the Revolution, and lost an arm in the war for independence. His father, also, was of an old Virginia family. Young Lomax was educated in the schools of Richmond and Norfolk, and was appointed cadet-at-large, July 1, 1852, to the military academy at West point, where he was graduated July 1, 1856, and promoted to a brevet lieutenancy in the Second cavalry. He served on frontier duty in Kansas, Nebraska and that with promotion to second lieutenant of the First region cavalry, September 30, 1856, and first lieutenant, March 21, 1861, until the secession of his State from the United States. Resigning April 25, 1861, he offered his services to Virginia, and was appointed captain in the State forces April 28th. He was at once assigned to the staff of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, as assistant adjutant-general, and later was transferred to the field of operations beyond the Mississippi, as inspector-general upon the staff of the gallant Texan, Brigadier-General McCulloch, who commanded a division of Van Dorn’s army. After McCulloch fell he was promoted inspector-general on the staff of Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He served in this capacity from July, 1862, until October, when he was made inspector-general of the army of East Tennessee.

While with the western armies he participated in the battles of Pea Ridge, Ark., Farmington and Corinth, Miss., the first defense of Vicksburg from siege, Baton Rouge, La., Spring Hill and Thompson Station, Tenn. On February 8, 1863, he was promoted colonel and called to the eastern campaigns. As colonel of the Eleventh Virginia cavalry, in W. E. Jones’ brigade, he participated in the raid in West Virginia, and the subsequent Pennsylvania campaign, including the battles of Brandy Station, Winchester, Rector’s Cross-roads, Upperville, Gettysburg and Buckland. On July 23, i863, he was promoted brigadier-general and assigned to the command of a brigade of cavalry organized for him of the Fifth, Sixth and Fifteenth Virginia regiments, and the First Maryland cavalry. Under his command this brigade was one of the principal factors in the subsequent operations of Fitz Lee’s division, including the fighting at Culpeper Court House, Morton’s Ford, the second encounter at Brandy Station, Tod’s Tavern, the Wilderness campaign, Cold Harbor, Yellow Tavern, Reams’ Station and Trevilian’s. His gallant and cool leadership in these important engagements led to his promotion, August 10, 1864, to the rank of major-general. He was given command of a division composed of the cavalry brigades of Bradley T. Johnson, W. L. Jackson, Henry B. Davidson, J. D. Imboden and John McCausland, and rendered prominent and distinguished service in the Valley campaign of the army under General Early, at the battles of Winchester, Tom’s Brook and other encounters. At the battle of Woodstock, October 9th, he was made a prisoner by Torbert’s calvary, but made his escape about three hours later by personally overthrowing his captor.

On October 31st he was assigned to the command of the cavalry wing of the army under Early, and on March 29, 1865, was put in entire command of the Valley district of the department of Northern Virginia. After the fall of Richmond he moved his forces to Lynchburg, and when Lee surrendered sent the news to General Echols, with whom he endeavored to form a junction with the remnants of his own, Fitz Lee’s and Rosser’s divisions. He succeeded in joining the army in North Carolina, and surrendered his division with Johnston, at Greensboro. Thence he returned to Caroline county, Va., and engaged in farming, to which he quietly devoted himself during the succeeding years until 1889, when he was called to the presidency of the college at Blacksburg. He resigned this position after five years’ service. For several years he has been engaged in the official compilation of the records of the war, at Washington, D. C.

1846 – Benjamin F. Palmer of Meredith N.H. received a patent on an artificial human leg. James Potts of London had designed a prosthesis in 1800 that consisted of a wooden shank and socket, a steel knee joint and an articulated foot that was controlled by catgut tendons from the knee to the ankle. It was used by the Marquis of Anglesey after he lost his leg in the Battle of Waterloo and become known as the “Angelesey Leg”. Flexion of the knee caused dorsiflexion of the foot and extension of the knee caused plantar flexion of the foot. It has also been referred to as the “Clapper Leg” because of the noise it made with wooden foot stops or the “Cork Leg” since it was widely used in County Cork, Ireland. William Selpho then brought the Anglesey Leg to the U.S. in 1839. In 1846, Dr. Benjamin F. Palmer, a patient of Selpho, obtained a patent for his leg which improved on the Selpho leg by adding an anterior spring, smooth appearance, and concealed tendons. It was honored in 1851 at the London World’s Fair.

1854 – The first lighthouse on the West Coast was built at Alcatraz Island.

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1856 – James Buchanan was elected US president. Stephen A. Douglas coveted the Democratic nomination in 1856, but his reputation had been badly tarnished by ongoing violence in Kansas. In his place the Democrats turned to James Buchanan, who had been the minister to Britain from 1853 to 1856 and was not linked to the Kansas issue. Further, Buchanan was popular in the South because of his part in the Ostend Manifesto. The Republicans ran their first presidential campaign in 1856, choosing noted Western explorer John C. Frémont, “The Pathfinder.” Frémont had no political record (regarded as a plus), but held abolitionist views (a negative in the eyes of many moderates). The American Party (Know-Nothings) nominated former president Millard Fillmore and capitalized on nativist discontent. The Republicans ran a campaign calling for repeal of the hated Kansas-Nebraska Act, opposition to the extension of slavery into the territories and support for internal improvement projects. They also took every opportunity to blame the Democrats for the horrors of “Bleeding Kansas.” Buchanan emerged the victor, but failed to gain a majority of the popular vote. In fact, a shift of a small number of votes in several states would have tipped the electoral tally to the Republicans. Mirroring the sectional feelings of the day, the Democrats were strong in the South, the Republicans in the North. The election in 1856 brought a weak president to leadership in a badly divided nation.

1863 – From the main Confederate Army at Chattanooga, Tenn., Lt. Gen. James Longstreet’s troops were sent northeast to besiege Knoxville.

1864 – There was a Confederate assault on Johnsonville, Tennessee. Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest subjects a Union supply base at Johnsonville, Tennessee, to a devastating artillery barrage that destroys millions of dollars in materiel. This action was part of a continuing effort by the Confederates to disrupt the Federal lines that supplied General William T. Sherman’s army in Georgia. In the summer of 1864, Sherman captured Atlanta, and by November he was planning his march across Georgia. Meanwhile, the defeated Confederates hoped that destroying his line would draw Sherman out of the Deep South. Nobody was better at raiding than Forrest, but Union pursuit had kept him in Mississippi during the Atlanta campaign. In the fall, Forrest mounted an ambitious raid on Union supply routes in western Tennessee and Kentucky. Johnsonville was an important transfer point from boats on the Tennessee River to a rail line that connected with Nashville to the east.

When Sherman sent part of his army back to Nashville to protect his supply lines, Forrest hoped to apply pressure to that force. Forrest began moving part of his force to Johnsonville on October 16, but most of his men were not in place until early November. Incredibly, the Union forces, which numbered about 2,000, seem to have been completely unaware of the Confederates just across the river. Forrest brought up artillery and began a barrage at 2 p.m. on November 5. The attack was devastating. One observer noted, “The wharf for nearly one mile up and down the river presented one solid sheet of flame.” More than $6 million worth of supplies were destroyed, along with four gunboats, 14 transports, and 20 barges. General George Thomas, commander of the Union force at Nashville, had to divert troops to protect Johnsonville. After the raid, Forrest’s reputation grew, but the raid did not deter Sherman from embarking on the March to the Sea, his devastating expedition across Georgia.

1864 – Paddle-wheelers U.S.S. Key West, Acting Lieutenant King, U.S.S. Tawah, Acting Lieutenant Goudy, and small steamer U.S.S. Elfin, Acting Master Augustus F. Thompson, were destroyed after an engagement with Confederate batteries off Johnsonville, Tennessee, along with several transport steamers and a large quantity of supplies. Acting Lieutenant King, in command of the naval group, was patrolling the river and protecting the Union depot and headquarters at Johnsonville as the forces of Confederate General Forrest suddenly struck the city. On 3 November, King discovered a strong Confederate field battery emplaced to command a narrow channel in the Tennessee River between Reynoldsburg Island and the west bank two miles below Johnsonville. Confederate gunboat Undine, lately captured from the Union, twice attempted on the 3rd to lure King and his gunboats downriver in range of the batteries without success.

On the morning of 4 November, Undine again came upriver from the Confederate batteries, and this time King took his three ships down to engage her. At about the same time, Lieutenant Commander Fitch, commanding U.S.S. Moose and five other small steamers, Brilliant, Victory, Curlew, Fairy, and Paw Paw, approached the downstream side of Reynoldsburg Island, to support King. The Confederates burned Undine and opened on the Union gunboats with shore fire. Because of the narrowness of the channel and the commanding position occupied by the batteries Fitch could not bring his ships closer to Johnsonville to aid Key West, Tawah, and Elfin, which had retired to a position off the town to protect the transports and supplies. The Confederates then moved their main batteries along the river to positions opposite Johnsonville, leaving sufficient guns to block Fitch’s passage, and commenced a fierce bombardment of the gunboats, trans-ports, and wharf area. After fighting for nearly an hour against great odds, King at last ordered his three riddled gunboats fired. Army Assistant Quartermaster Henry Howland, a witness to the action from ashore, described it: “. . . for nearly thirty minutes the cannonading was the most terrific I have ever witnessed. The gunboats fought magnificently and continued firing for more than twenty minutes after they were all disabled, when Lieutenant Commander King was compelled to order them abandoned and burned.” King and most of his men escaped to the waterfront, which by this time was itself a roaring inferno as Union officers put the torch to supplies on the wharves to prevent them from falling into Southern hands.

The gunboats and transports were lost, but General Forrest was prevented from capturing them intact, and was thus unable to cross the river in force and capture Johnsonville. Instead, the Confederate commander, anxious to press his advantage, moved his batteries downstream to cut off Fitch and the gun-boats below Reynoldsburg Island. Fitch, nevertheless, succeeded in withdrawing his forces safely. Later reflecting on the action at Johnsonville, he commented: “The Key West, Tawah, and Elfin fought desperately and were handled in magnificent style, but it is impossible for boats of this class, with their batteries, to contend successfully against heavy-rifled field batteries in a narrow river full of bars and shoals, no matter with what skill and desperation they may be fought.” By this time it was clear that the Confederates were moving in force, and that Forrest was threatening to close the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers completely. Decisive events both on the rivers and the hills of Tennessee were imminent.

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1884 – Democrat Grover Cleveland was elected to his first term as president, defeating Republican James G. Blaine. The campaign that ensued was one of the most deplorable in our history. The personalities indulged in have never been exceeded. The private life of each of the leading candidates was assailed, and the general conduct of the campaign in this respect was so indecent that it shocked public sentiment, and has never since been indulged in. While every effort was made to heal the breach, it was not finally closed. The pivotal State was New York, and this was carried for Cleveland by slightly over 1,000 votes, though the Republicans claimed a fraudulent count in New York City of Butler votes for Cleveland, which would have elected Blaine. Butler, in his memoirs, also makes this claim. It took several days to complete the count, and a repetition of the contest of 1876-7 was feared, but Cleveland got the State and the Presidency. Blaine’s managers made a number of tactical mistakes. A few days before the election Mr. Blaine was met by a party of clergymen with an address delivered by Dr. Burchard, who spoke of the Democracy as the party of “Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion.” It is said Blaine did not understand the second term, but supposed it to be “Mormonism.” At any rate he did not correct the statement, which angered many Roman Catholics, and is believed to have cost him the election. Mr. Cleveland had the support of many former Republicans, because they admired his conduct as Mayor and Governor, and for his professed devotion to civil service reform. These Republicans were called “Mugwumps,” and the term was considered one of reproach.

1918 – Art Carney, actor (Ed Norton-Honeymooners), was born in Mount Vernon, NY. Carney was born into an Irish-Catholic family and baptized Arthur William Matthew Carney. His father was a newspaperman and publicist. After appearing in amateur theatricals and imitating radio personalities, Carney won a job in 1937 traveling with Horace Heidt’s dance band, doing impressions and singing novelty songs. “There I was, an 18-year-old mimic rooming with a blind whistler,” he told People magazine in 1974. “He would order gin and grapefruit juice for us in the morning, and it was great. … No responsibilities, no remorse. I was an alcoholic, even then.” Later he won a job at $225 a week imitating Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and other world leaders on a radio show, “Report to the Nation.” He was drafted into the Army in 1944 and took part in the D-Day landing at Normandy. A piece of shrapnel shattered his right leg. He was left with a leg three-quarters of an inch shorter than the other and a lifelong limp.

1918 – Americans advance to Stenay on Meuse.

1924 – Calvin Coolidge was elected 30th president on a platform of pro-business policies.

1939 – A modification of the neutrality legislation passes into law. Although by its terms the ban on American ships and civilians in clearly defined war zones is confirmed, it does provide for supply of arms to belligerents on a “cash and carry” basis. Such arms must be ordered from private companies, paid for up front and transported to the war zone in the in ships provided by the purchaser. British naval strength means that, as is intended, only the Allies will benefit from this. Within a few days both the British and the French establish purchasing missions in Washington.

1942 – On Guadalcanal, American forces land in regimental strength at Aola, 25 miles east of the main American position. They bring engineers to attempt to build a second airstrip on the island. This idea has been dismissed as futile by local commanders because of the difficult terrain. They are correct. Raiders from this landing move out in an attempt to connect with the main position.

1942 – 19 German and 21 Italian submarines begin to patrol around Gibraltar due to the increase of Allied shipping traffic in preparation for Operation Torch. They will achieve some success, but 6 submarines will be sunk and the destination of the transports will not be discovered.

1943 – A new Japanese squadron led by Admiral Kurita arrives in Rabaul, New Britain Island. The Japanese force consists of 10 cruisers and 10 destroyers. American reconnaissance sights the squadron en route and Task Force 38 prepares to attack with its carrier aircraft.

1943 – Advance of the US 5th Army continues. The British 10th Corps holds Monte Massico and Monte Croce and moves against Monte Camino with 78th Division. The US 6th Corps captures Venafro and Rocavirondola as it advances to the German defenses of the Reinhard Line. The British 8th Army has the Germans withdrawing to the Sangro River. The Allied armies now have full lateral communications through Isernia.

1944 – A German counterattack recovers Schmidt, near Aachen, from the US 1st Army.

1944 – On Leyte, American forces advance west of Dagami around “Bloody Ridge”.

1944 – British Gen. John Dill dies in Washington, D.C., and is buried in Arlington Cemetery, the only foreigner to be so honored. Born on Christmas Day, 1881, in County Armagh, Ireland, Dill was a military man from his earliest years, serving in the South African War at age 18, then in World War I. He was promoted to the office of director of military operations and intelligence of the British War Office in 1934 and knighted for service to the empire in 1937. When the Second World War broke out he was already serving as chief of the imperial general staff and renowned for his gifts as a strategist. It was his decision to reinforce the British position in Egypt with 150 tanks in August 1940, despite a shortage of such armaments back home.

And in March 1941, he championed Britain’s defense of Greece against the Axis invasion. But such early strategic successes were followed up by more cautious decision-making, which disturbed Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who favored more aggressive maneuvers against the enemy. Consequently, Churchill removed Dill from his post and transferred him to the United States, to become chief British military representative to Washington. It was there that Dill developed a close personal friendship with George C. Marshall, the U.S. chief of staff, which resulted in a closer U.S.-British alliance. Upon Dill’s death, it was Marshall who intervened to have Dill buried at Arlington National Cemetery, normally reserved only for Americans who had served their nation during wartime. Dill’s plot is also marked by only one of two equestrian statues in the cemetery.

1948 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East was concluded.

1950 – The 7th Marine Regiment, just north of Chinhung-ni near the Chosin (Changjin) Reservoir, destroyed the last four tanks of the North Korean 344th Tank Regiment.

1950 – The first incendiary bombs used in the Korean War are dropped by B-29 Superfortresses of the U.S. Air Force’s 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on the city of Chongjin in northeastern Korea.

1952 – Dwight D. Eisenhower (Ike) was elected president the 34th president, defeating Democrat Adlai Stevenson in presidential elections. The Republicans took over for the first time in 20 years. A Univac computer in Philadelphia predicted the results based on early returns.

1952 – With the election of Eisenhower as US President, the Indochina War ceases to be regarded as a colonial war, and the fighting in Vietnam becomes a war between Communism and the free world. The possibility of direct Chinese intervention becomes a mater of urgent preoccupation for many of Eisenhower’s closest advisers, in particular Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, and Vice President Richard Nixon.

1952 – The United States government establishes the National Security Agency, or NSA.

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