May 12th ~ 1689 – King William’s War, the North American theater of The War of the Grand Alliance, begins. William III of England joins the League of Augsburg starting a war with France. It was the first of six colonial wars (see the four French and Indian Wars, Father Rale’s War and Father Le Loutre’s War) fought between New France and New England along with their respective Native allies before France ceded all of its remaining mainland territories in North America in 1763. For King William’s War, neither England nor France thought of weakening their position in Europe to support the war effort in North America. New France and the Wabanaki Confederacy were able to thwart New England expansion into Acadia, whose border New France defined as the Kennebec River in southern Maine. According to the terms of the Treaty of Ryswick, the boundaries and outposts of New France, New England, and New York remained substantially unchanged. 1700 – The Royal Governor, Earl of Bellomont, presides over the annual muster of New York City’s militia. Following English law, each spring all of the American colonies held a muster of the men enrolled in a city or county’s militia. This gathering allowed for an accounting, inspection and some form of training. For those men living in the cities, this usually was a one day affair as they often had meetings during the course of the year to train at a squad or company level. However, for those men living in the country-side or in small villages, the muster days were perhaps the only chance to gather the men of a said unit together in one place at one time, so their muster sometimes lasted several days before being dismissed. At this time most men were still expected to furnish their own arms and equipment, though some colonies started to acquire old arms from Europe to supply the poorer members unable to afford weapons. There were few men in any uniform unless their commander (usually the wealthiest man in the region) furnished some article of clothing to give uniformity to “his” men. At about this time, again following the English pattern, the individual companies would start to carry their own flags, known as “colors” to give their men some form of unity and esprit. These also served a practical value in combat, as they were quite large and easy to see through gunpowder smoke, serving as a rally point on the battlefield. While some men found their muster either an annoyance, taking them away from the farms or shops, others saw it as a ‘lark’, a time to get with buddies and party, as became the custom all too often. However, some men took their military obligation seriously and began organizing themselves into what soon became the first uniformed volunteer militia, for the most part the forerunners of the modern National Guard. Units such as Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston, chartered in 1638, held drills on at least a monthly basis. This allowed its men to train and prepare for war much more thoroughly than just a day to two once a year could enable them. Soon these units began adopting uniform dress and customs, all of which helped to form a rabble into an army.
May 12th ~ {continued...} 1780 – Charleston, SC, fell to the British in the US Revolutionary War. The Battle of Charleston was one of the major battles which took place towards the end of the American Revolutionary War, after the British began to shift their strategic focus towards the American Southern Colonies. After about six weeks of siege, Continental Army Major General Benjamin Lincoln surrendered forces numbering about 5,000 to the British. Three Continental Navy frigates (Boston, Providence, and Ranger) were captured; and one American frigate (Queen of France) was sunk to prevent capture. In late 1779, following strategic failures earlier in the war, the British were stymied by the waiting strategy adopted by General George Washington leading the Continental Army. Under political pressure to deliver victory, British leaders turned to launching their “southern strategy” for winning the war, that built on the idea that there was strong Loyalist sentiment supporting the southern colonies. Their opening move was the Capture of Savannah, Georgia in December 1778. After repulsing a siege and assault on Savannah by a combined Franco-American force in October 1779, the British planned an attack on Charleston, South Carolina which they intended to use as a base for further operations in the north. The British government instructed Sir Henry Clinton to head a combined military and naval expedition southward. He evacuated Newport, Rhode Island, on October 25, 1779, and left New York City in command of Hessian General Wilhelm von Knyphausen. In December, he sailed with 8,500 troops to join Colonel Mark Prevost at Savannah. Charles Cornwallis accompanied him, and later Lord Rawdon joined him with an additional force, raising the size of the expedition to around 14,000 troops and 90 ships. Marching upon Charleston via James Island, Clinton cut off the city from relief, and began a siege on April 1st. Skirmishes at Monck’s Corner and Lenud’s Ferry in April and early May scattered troops on the outskirts of the siege area. Benjamin Lincoln held a council of war, and was advised by de Laumoy to surrender given the inadequate fortifications. Clinton compelled Lincoln to surrender on May 12. The loss of the city and its 5,000 troops was a serious blow to the American cause. It was the largest surrender of an American armed force until the 1862 surrender of Union forces at Harper’s Ferry during the Antietam Campaign. The last remaining Continental Army troops were driven from South Carolina consequent to the May 29th Battle of Waxhaws. General Clinton returned to New York City in June, leaving Cornwallis in command with instructions to also reduce North Carolina. 1789 – The Society of St. Tammany was formed by Revolutionary War soldiers. It later became an infamous group of NYC political bosses. 1797 – George Washington addressed the Delaware chiefs and stated: “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and to humbly implore his protection and favor.” 1814 – Robert Treat Paine (83), US judge ( signed Declaration of Independence ), died. 1820 – Florence Nightingale, Crimean War nurse known as “Lady with the Lamp,” was born in Florence, Italy. She is also known as the founder of modern nursing. 1851 – A treaty was signed on the south bank of the Kaweah River, the site of John Wood’s grave. Woods was killed by Yokut Indians. The California Tule River War ended.
May 12th ~ {continued...} 1862 – Federal troops occupied Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 1863 – With a victory at the Battle of Raymond, Mississippi, Grant closed in on Vicksburg. Two divisions of James B. McPherson’s XVII Corps (ACW) turn the left wing of Confederate General John C. Pemberton’s defensive line on Fourteen Mile Creek, opening up the interior of Mississippi to the Union Army during the Vicksburg Campaign. 1864 – Close-range firing and hand-to-hand combat at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, result in one of the most brutal battles of the Civil War. After the Battle of the Wilderness (May 5-6), Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee raced respective Union and Confederate forces southward. Grant aimed his army a dozen miles southeast of the Wilderness, toward the critical crossroads of Spotsylvania Court House. Sensing Grant’s plan, Lee sent part of his army on a furious night march to secure the road junction before the Union soldiers got there. The Confederates soon constructed a five-mile long system of entrenchments in the shape of an inverted U. On May 10th, Grant began to attack Lee’s position at Spotsylvania. After achieving a temporary breakthrough at the Rebel center, Grant was convinced that a weakness existed there, as the bend of the Confederate line dispersed their fire. At dawn on May 12th, Union General Winfield Scott Hancock’s troops emerged from the fog and overran the Rebel trenches, taking nearly 3,000 prisoners and more than a dozen cannons. While the Yankees erupted in celebration, the Confederates counterattacked and began to drive the Federals back. The battle raged for over 20 hours along the center of the Confederate line—the top of the inverted U—which became known as the “Bloody Angle.” Lee’s men eventually constructed a second line of defense behind the original Rebel trenches, and fighting ceased just before dawn on May 13th. Around the Bloody Angle, the dead lay five deep, and bodies had to be moved from the trenches to make room for the living. The action around Spotsylvania shocked even the grizzled veterans of the two great armies. Said one officer, “I never expect to be fully believed when I tell what I saw of the horrors of Spotsylvania.” And yet the battle was not done; the armies slugged it out for another week. In spite of his losses, Grant persisted, writing to General Henry Halleck in Washington, “I will fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.” 1864 – Battle of Todd’s Tavern, VA (Sheridan’s Raid). 1864 – Union General Benjamin Butler attacked Drewry’s Bluff on the James River. 1864 – Boat expedition under Acting Lieutenant William Budd, U.S.S. Somerset, transported a detachment of troops to Apalachicola, Florida, to disperse a Confederate force thought to be in the vicinity. After disembarking the troops, Budd and his launches discovered a body of Confederate sailors embarking on a boat expedition, and after a brief exchange succeeded in driving them into the town and capturing their boats and supplies. The Confederates, led by Lieutenant Gift, CSN, had planned to capture U.S.S. Adela.
May 12th ~ {continued...} 1865 – The last land action of the Civil War was fought at Palmito Ranch in Texas. The Battle of Palmito Ranch is generally reckoned as the final battle of the American Civil War, being the last engagement of any significance, involving casualties. The battle was fought on the banks of the Rio Grande, east of Brownsville, Texas, and a few miles from the seaport of Los Brazos de Santiago (now known as Matamoros). Union and Confederate forces in Southern Texas had been observing an unofficial truce, when Union Colonel Theodore H. Barrett ordered an attack on an enemy camp near Fort Brown, for reasons unknown. (Some claimed that Barrett was eager for his first chance of action before the war ended.) Although they took some prisoners, the attack was repulsed the next day by Confederate Col. John Salmon Ford near Palmito Ranch, and the battle is claimed as a Confederate victory. Estimates of casualties are not dependable, but Union Private John J. Williams of the 34th Indiana is believed to have been the last combat death of the war. The engagement is also known as the Battle of Palmito Hill or the Battle of Palmetto Ranch. 1902 – By the dawn of the twentieth century, trouble was clearly brewing in the nation’s coal mines. Indeed, miners had long toiled in foul conditions for paltry pay; moreover, managers often forced workers to rent space in company houses and to purchase items at company-owned stores. Duly fed up with these conditions, miners across the country held a number of strikes during the later years of the nineteenth century. The mine companies, now largely run by America’s imperious rail barons, steadfastly ignored their workers’ pleas. The situation came to something of a boil on this day in 1902, as union chief John Mitchell raised the call for a nationwide strike; 140,000 members of the United Mine Workers heeded his charge. The ensuing strike dragged on for five months, as mine owners, firmly anticipating that the Federal government would rush to their side, smugly refused to acknowledge the coal union, or to enter negotiations. Meanwhile, coal prices skyrocketed, fraying the public’s collective nerves and inciting calls for the government to negotiate a settlement. Though the Constitution didn’t sanction intervention by the White House, President Teddy Roosevelt grew impatient and stepped in to speed up the negotiations. The mine owners rebuffed these efforts, prompting the president to threaten to hand control of the mines to the Army. Roosevelt’s gambit proved effective and the mine owners finally sat down for a serious round of negotiations. By October of 1902, the strikers had returned to work and a newly formed Commission of Arbitration had kicked off a probe into the conditions at the nation’s mines. That following spring, the Commission handed down its findings, which included recommendations of pay hikes and reduced hours for workers, and that mine owners recognize the coal union. 1917 – General John Pershing is appointed commander of the American Expeditionary Force, which is being formed to fight on the Western Front. It will take time to increase the strength of the US Army, but Pershing expects the number to reach one million by May 1918 and is planning a force of three million if the war continues. Pershing also intends to make sure his units will fight as a separate force and not be split into small units and placed under French or British command. 1938 – Lieutenant C. B. Olsen became the first Coast Guardsman to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He earned the award for “heroism in removing Lieutenant Colonel Gullion, U.S. Army, who was stricken with acute appendicitis, from the Army transport ‘Republic.'”
May 12th ~ {continued...} 1939 – Boatswain’s Mate First Class Clarence Samuels was appointed as a Chief Photographer’s Mate (Acting). Thus becoming the first African-American chief petty officer, the first African-American photographer in the Coast Guard and only the second Coast Guardsman to serve in that rating up to that point. 1942 – The U.S. tanker Virginia is torpedoed in the mouth of the Mississippi River by the German U-Boat U-507. 1943 – Admiral Ainsworth leads 4 cruisers and 7 destroyers in two groups to shell Vila and Munda. American ships lay more mines near New Georgia Island. 1943 – The Trident Conference. Roosevelt and Churchill meet to discuss strategy. The Americans seek a commitment to an invasion of western Europe. The British seek a commitment to an invasion of Italy and possibly the Balkans. 1944 – About 800 bombers of the US 8th Air Force, with a substantial fighter escort, attack synthetic oil plants at Leuna-Merseburg, Bohlen, Zeitz, Lutzkendorf and Brux (northwest of Prague). The Americans claim to shoot down 150 German fighters and report losses of 46 bombers and 10 fighters. 1944 – Allied attacks by forces of the US 5th Army make some progress against the German-held defenses. The French Expeditionary Corps (General Juin) encounters only the German 71st Division along its line and captures Monte Faito. The Polish 2nd Corps is held with heavy losses, north of Cassino. The British 13th Corps establishes two small bridgeheads over the Rapido River, opposite Cassino. The US 2nd Corps, on the western coast of the advance, experiences difficulty advancing. 1945 – On Okinawa, Japanese forces repulse an attack by elements of US 3rd Amphibious Corps at Sugar Loaf Hill, southeast of Amike. The position is an important point in the Japanese held Shuri Line. The US 1st Marine Division suffers heavy losses but captures most of Dakeshi Ridge. The US 77th Division advances slowly toward Shuri. The Japanese held Conical Hill position is fought over by US 96th Division. At sea, a Kamikaze plane strikes the USS New Mexico, causing considerable damage. 1945 – On Luzon, elements of the US 43rd Division, part of US 11th Corps, converge on Ipo, capturing several hill occupied by the Japanese. On Mindanao, Del Monte airfield is reached by elements of the US 40th Division. Other elements advance southwest of Tankulan. The US 123th Infantry Regiment eliminates the Japanese strongpoint in the Colgan woods after a lengthy air and artillery bombardment. American aircraft and artillery strike at suspected Japanese gun emplacements on Samar Island. 1945 – Elements of US 7th Army capture the Japanese ambassador to Germany, General Oshima, and 130 members of his staff. 1945 – The government orders a suspension of Lend-Lease shipments to the USSR. 1949 – An early crisis of the Cold War comes to an end when the Soviet Union lifts its 11-month blockade against West Berlin. The blockade had been broken by a massive U.S.-British airlift of vital supplies to West Berlin’s two million citizens. At the end of World War II, Germany was divided into four sectors administered by the four major Allied powers: the USSR, the United States, Britain, and France. Berlin, the German capital, was likewise divided into four sectors, even though it was located deep within the Soviet sector of eastern Germany. The future of Germany and Berlin was a major sticking point in postwar treaty talks, especially after the United States, Britain, and France sought to unite their occupation zones into a single economic zone. In March 1948, the Soviet Union quit the Allied Control Council governing occupied Germany over this issue. In May, the three Western powers agreed to the imminent formation of West Germany, a nation that would exist entirely independent of Soviet-occupied eastern Germany. The three western sectors of Berlin were united as West Berlin, which was to be under the administration of West Germany.
May 12th ~ {continued...} 1951 – The 1st Hydrogen Bomb test was on Eniwetok Atoll. 1952 – General Mark W. Clark succeeded General Matthew Ridgway as commander of U.N. forces. Ridgway replaced the retiring General Eisenhower as supreme commander of Allied Powers in Europe. 1957 – The CGC Wachusett, on Ocean Station NOVEMBER, halfway between Honolulu and San Francisco, rescued the two-man crew who had bailed out of a U.S. Air Force B-57 because of a fuel shortage. 1958 – A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada. 1961 – Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in Saigon during his tour of Asian countries. Calling Diem the “Churchill of Asia,” he encouraged the South Vietnamese president to view himself as indispensable to the United States and promised additional military aid to assist his government in fighting the communists. On his return home, Johnson echoed domino theorists, saying that the loss of Vietnam would compel the United States to fight “on the beaches of Waikiki” and eventually on “our own shores.” With the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, Johnson became president and inherited a deteriorating situation in South Vietnam. Over time, he escalated the war, ultimately committing more than 500,000 U.S. troops to Vietnam. 1964 – Defense Secretary McNamara and General Maxwell Taylor visit Vietnam on their fifth fact-finding mission. While McNamara reiterates US support for South Vietnam, he also tells Khanh privately that, although the US does not rule out bombing the North, ‘we do not intend to provide military support nor undertake the military objective of rolling back Communist control in North Vietnam.’ 1965 – The US Ambassador in Moscow, Foy Kholer, tries without success to get the North Vietnamese Embassy there to consider his message from Washington: the United States will suspend bombing of North Vietnam for several days in hope of reciprocal ‘constructive’ gestures–meant as a call for peace talks. This is known as Operation Mayflower. (All subsequent diplomatic moves will be codenamed for flowers.) 1968 – A second large-scale Communist offensive, that began on 5 may, reaches its climax. It began with the simultaneous shelling of 119 cities, towns and barracks. The principle target is Saigon, where the fighting quickly spread to Cholon, Tansonnhut airbase, and the Phutho racetrack. US jets drop napalm and high-explosive bombs to pound a Vietcong stronghold in a slum district around the Y bridge, preparing the way for an assault by US infantry. 1969 – Communist forces shell 159 cities, towns and military bases throughout South Vietnam, including Saigon and hue in the largest number of attacks since the 1968 Tet Offensive. 1969 – Viet Cong sappers tried unsuccessfully to overrun Landing Zone Snoopy in Vietnam.
May 12th ~ {continued...} 1971 – The first major battle of Operation Lam Son 720 takes place as North Vietnamese forces hit the same South Vietnamese 500-man marine battalion twice in one day. Each time, the communists were pushed back after heavy fighting. Earlier, the South Vietnamese reportedly destroyed a North Vietnamese base camp and arms production facility in the A Shau Valley. On May 19, in a six-hour battle, South Vietnamese troops engaged the communists. Three Allied helicopters and a reconnaissance plane were downed by enemy ground fire. The fighting, air strikes, and artillery fire continued in the A Shau Valley through May 23; the South Vietnamese claimed the capture of more communist bunker networks and the destruction of large amounts of supplies and ammunition. 1975 – The American freighter Mayaguez is captured by communist government forces in Cambodia, setting off an international incident. The U.S. response to the affair indicated that the wounds of the Vietnam War still ran deep. On May 12, 1975, the U.S. freighter Mayaguez and its 39-man crew was captured by gunboats of the Cambodian navy. Cambodia had fallen to communist insurgents, the Khmer Rouge, in April 1973. The Cambodian authorities imprisoned the American crew, pending an investigation of the ship and why it had sailed into waters claimed by Cambodia. The response of the United States government was quick. President Gerald Ford called the Cambodian seizure of the Mayaguez an “act of piracy” and promised swift action to rescue the captured Americans. In part, Ford’s aggressive attitude to the incident was a by-product of the American failure in Vietnam. In January 1973, U.S. forces had withdrawn from South Vietnam, ending years of a bloody and inconclusive attempt to forestall communist rule of that nation. In the time since the U.S. withdrawal, a number of conservative politicians and intellectuals in the United States had begun to question America’s “credibility” in the international field, suggesting that the country’s loss of will in Vietnam now encouraged enemies around the world to challenge America with seeming impunity. The Cambodian seizure of the Mayaguez appeared to be just such a challenge. On May 14th, President Ford ordered the bombing of the Cambodian port where the gunboats had come from and sent Marines to attack the island of Koh Tang, where the prisoners were being held. Unfortunately, the military action was probably unnecessary. The Cambodian government was already in the process of releasing the crew of the Mayaguez and the ship. Forty-one Americans died, most of them in an accidental explosion during the attack. Most Americans, however, cheered the action as evidence that the United States was once again willing to use military might to slap down potential enemies. 1986 – Destroyer USS David R. Ray deters an Iranian Navy attempt to board a U.S. merchant ship. 1998 – The UAE announced that it would buy 80 F-16s from the US for about $7 billion. 1999 – NATO continued airstrikes for the 50th day of its campaign against Yugoslavia. 327 strike missions were flown. Pres. Milosevic acknowledged that his military had suffered casualties. 1999 – Iraqi armed forces said that US and British warplanes had killed 12 civilians in the Nineveh province.
May 12th ~ {continued...} 2002 – US forces in Afghanistan killed 5 enemy fighters and captured 32 during a raid at Deh Rawod, north of Kandahar. US air strikes at Char Chine, killed 5 civilians. 2002 – Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming the first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro’s 1959 revolution. 2003 – L. Paul Bremer, the new American civilian administrator, took over the task of piecing Iraq together. He replaced retired Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner. 2003 – US officials said Rihab Rashid Taha, called “Dr. Germ” for her work with germ warfare agents, was reported to be in coalition custody. Ibrahim Ahmad Abd al Sattar Muhammad, No. 11 on the most-wanted list, was also reported in custody. 2003 – North Korea declared that the 1992 agreement with South Korea to keep the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons was nullified, citing a “sinister” U.S. agenda. 2003 – In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, multiple, simultaneous car bombings at 3 foreign compounds killed 30 people, including 8 Americans and 9 suicide bombers. The next day Saudi authorities linked Khaled Jehani (29) head of a 19-member al-Qaida team to the carnage. Ali Abd al-Rahman al-Faqasi al-Ghamdi, a senior al Qaeda figure, surrendered Jun 26. On Jan 8, 2004, 8 accomplices were arrested in Switzerland. 2003 – Homeland Security Department launches TopOff II, a week-long national training exercise for emergency preparedness and response. 2004 – In Iraq US soldiers backed by tanks and helicopters battled fighters loyal to a radical cleric near a mosque in Karbala, hours after Iraqi leaders agreed on a proposal that would end his standoff. As many as 25 insurgents were killed. 2005 – A United States Senate probe releases evidence showing two prominent British and French politicians received vouchers for millions of barrels of Iraqi oil in exchange for their support of Saddam Hussein’s regime. George Galloway is accused of using the Mariam Appeal, the children’s leukemia charity he founded, to conceal the transfer of 3 million barrels of oil, although he denies any wrongdoing. 2006 – The U.S. FBI raids the home of Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, outgoing number three man at the CIA, in an investigation into political corruption, including the use of prostitutes and bribery in connection with lobbyist Brent Wilkes, revealed to be the “no. 1 unindicted co-conspirator” in the Randy “Duke” Cunningham scandal. Foggo was convicted of honest services fraud in the awarding of a government contract and sentenced to 37 months in the federal prison at Pine Knot, Kentucky. 2007 – U.S. and International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) killed Mullah Dadullah, a notorious Taliban commander in charge of leading operations in the south of the country; eleven other Taliban fighters were killed in the same firefight. 2008 – Basra “residents overwhelmingly reported a substantial improvement in their everyday lives” according to the New York Times. “Government forces have now taken over Islamic militants’ headquarters and halted the death squads and ‘vice enforcers’ who attacked women, Christians, musicians, alcohol sellers and anyone suspected of collaborating with Westerners”, according to the report; however, when asked how long it would take for lawlessness to resume if the Iraqi army left, one resident replied, “one day”.
May 13th ~ 1607 – Some 100 English colonists settle along the west bank of the James River in Virginia to found Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. Dispatched from England by the London Company, the colonists had sailed across the Atlantic aboard the Sarah Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery. Upon landing at Jamestown, the first colonial council was held by seven settlers whose names had been chosen and placed in a sealed box by King James I. The council, which included Captain John Smith, an English adventurer, chose Edward Wingfield as its first president. After only two weeks, Jamestown came under attack from warriors from the local Algonquian Native American confederacy, but the Indians were repulsed by the armed settlers. In December of the same year, John Smith and two other colonists were captured by Algonquians while searching for provisions in the Virginia wilderness. His companions were killed, but he was spared, according to a later account by Smith, because of the intercession of Pocahontas, Chief Powhatan’s daughter. During the next two years, disease, starvation, and more Native American attacks wiped out most of the colony, but the London Company continually sent more settlers and supplies. The severe winter of 1609 to 1610, which the colonists referred to as the “starving time,” killed most of the Jamestown colonists, leading the survivors to plan a return to England in the spring. However, on June 10th, Thomas West De La Warr, the newly appointed governor of Virginia, arrived with supplies and convinced the settlers to remain at Jamestown. In 1612, John Rolfe cultivated the first tobacco at Jamestown, introducing a successful source of livelihood. On April 5, 1614, Rolfe married Pocahontas, thus assuring a temporary peace with Chief Powhatan. The death of Powhatan in 1618 brought about a resumption of conflict with the Algonquians, including an attack led by Chief Opechancanough in 1622 that nearly wiped out the settlement. The English engaged in violent reprisals against the Algonquians, but there was no further large-scale fighting until 1644, when Opechancanough led his last uprising and was captured and executed at Jamestown. In 1646, the Algonquian Confederacy agreed to give up much of its territory to the rapidly expanding colony, and, beginning in 1665, its chiefs were appointed by the governor of Virginia. 1787 – Arthur Phillip set sail with 11 ships of criminals to Botany Bay, Australia. By year’s end some 50,000 British convict servants were transported to the American colonies in commutation of death sentences. After the American Revolution, Britain continued dumping convicts in the U.S. illegally into 1787. Australia eventually replaced America for this purpose. 1801 – Tripoli and it's Barbary Pirates declares war against the United States. 1804 – Forces sent by Yusuf Karamanli of Tripoli to retake Derna from the Americans attack the city. They attacked the city and drove the Arabs back, almost capturing the governor’s palace. The Argus and Eaton’s captured batteries pounded the attackers, who fled under continued bombardment. By nightfall, both sides were back to their original positions. Skirmishes and several other minor attempts were made on the city in the following weeks, but the city remained in American control. 1828 – The US government passed the Tariff of Abominations. 1836 – U.S. Exploring Expedition authorized to conduct exploration of Pacific Ocean and South Seas, first major scientific expedition overseas. LT Charles Wilkes USN, would lead the expedition in surveying South America, Antarctica, Far East, and North Pacific. 1846 – The US under Pres. Polk declared that a state of war already existed against Mexico, 2 months after fighting began. This was in response to an incident where the Mexican cavalry surrounded a scouting party of American dragoons. $10 million was appropriated for war expenses by Congress. 50, 000 volunteers responded to the war effort and Gen. Taylor used his forces to capture the Mexican town of Monterey [in California] and then moved south to defeat Santa Anna’s armies at the Battle of Buena Vista.
May 13th ~ {continued...} 1861 – Queen Victoria proclaimed British neutrality and forbade British subjects to endeavor to break a blockade “lawfully and effectually established.” This “proclamation of neutrality” recognized the breakaway states as having belligerent rights. 1861 – Union troops occupy Baltimore 1862 – Confederate steamer Planter, with her captain ashore in Charleston, was taken out of the harbor by an entirely Negro crew under Robert Smalls and turned over to U.S.S. Onward, Acting Lieutenant Nickels, of the blockading Union squadron. “At 4 in the morning,” Flag Officer Du Pont reported,”. . . she left her wharf close to the Government office and headquarters, with palmetto and Confederate flag flying, passed the successive forts, saluting as usual by blowing her steam whistle. After getting beyond the range of the last gun she quickly hauled down the rebel flags and hoisted a white one . . . The steamer is quite a valuable acquisition to the squadron. 1862 – U.S.S. Iroquois, Commander Palmer, and U.S.S. Oneida, Commander S. P. Lee, occupied Natchez, Mississippi, as Flag Officer Farragut’s fleet moved steadily toward Vicksburg. 1863 – The persistent Army-Navy siege and assault on Vicksburg compelled Confederate strategists to withdraw much needed troops from the eastern front in an effort to bring relief to their beleaguered forces in the west. General Beauregard and others warned repeatedly of the possible disasters such loss of strength in the Charleston area and elsewhere might bring. This date, Confederate Secretary of War James A. Seddon wrote to those objecting to the transfer of troops from Charles-ton to Vicksburg: I beg you to reflect on the vital importance of the Mississippi to our cause, to South Carolina, and to Charleston itself. Scarce any point in the Confederacy can be deemed more essential, for the ’cause of each is the cause of all,’ and the sundering of the Confederacy [along the line of the Mississippi] would be felt as almost a mortal blow to the most remote parts.” 1863 – Union General Ulysses S. Grant advances toward the Mississippi capital of Jackson during his bold and daring drive to take Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. In April, Grant had moved his troops down the Mississippi River and around the Vicksburg defenses, landing south of the city before moving east into the interior of Mississippi. He intended to approach Vicksburg from the east to avoid the strong Confederate defenses on the riverfront. Grant, however, had to contend with two Rebel forces. John C. Pemberton had an army defending Vicksburg, and Joseph Johnston was mustering troops in Jackson, 40 miles east of Vicksburg. Grant’s advance placed him between the two Southern commands. He planned to strike Johnston in Jackson, defeat him, and then focus on Vicksburg when the threat to his rear was eliminated. On May 12th, Grant’s troops encountered a Rebel force at Raymond, Mississippi, which they easily defeated. The following day, he divided his force at Raymond, just 15 miles from Jackson, and sent two corps under William T. Sherman and James McPherson to drive the Confederates under Johnston out of Jackson, which they did by May 14th. Grant also sent John McClernand’s corps west to close in on Pemberton in Vicksburg. A few days later, on May 16th, Grant defeated Pemberton at Champion’s Hill and drove the Rebels back into Vicksburg. With the threat from the east neutralized, Grant sealed Vicksburg shut and laid siege to the city. Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, and the Confederacy was severed in two. 1864 – Battle of Resaca commenced as Union General Sherman fought towards Atlanta. The Battle of Resaca was part of the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War. The battle was waged in both Gordon and Whitfield counties, Georgia, May 13–15th, 1864. It ended inconclusively with the Confederate Army retreating. The engagement was fought between the Military Division of the Mississippi (led by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman) on the side of the Union and the Army of Tennessee (Gen. Joseph E. Johnston) for the Confederates. 1864 – Climaxing two weeks of unceasing effort to save the gunboats and bring to a close the unsuccessful Red River campaign, U.S.S. Louisville, Chillicothe, and Ozark, the last ships of Rear Admiral Porter’s stranded fleet, succeeded in passing over the rapids above Alexandria, Louisiana. By mid-afternoon the gunboats steamed down the river, convoying Army transports; thus ended one of the most dramatic exploits of the war, as Lieutenant Colonel Bailey’s ingenuity and the inexhaustible energy of the men working on the obstructions raised the level of the river enough to save the Mississippi Squadron.
May 13th ~ {continued...} 1864 – Small sidewheel steamer U.S.S. Ceres, Acting Master Henry H. Foster, with Army steamer Rockland and 100 embarked soldiers in company, conducted a raiding expedition on the Alligator River, North Carolina. They captured Confederate schooner Ann S. Davenport and disabled a mill supplying ground corn for the Southern armies. 1865 – The last battle of the Civil War, fought near the Rio Grande River, ends in a Confederate victory. Soon after, word arrives of the surrender of the Confederate armies in the east and these men give themselves up to Union forces on June 2nd. The Civil War is officially over at the cost of more than 600,000 dead. 1905 – An Executive Order extended the jurisdiction of the Lighthouse Service to the noncontiguous territory of Guam Island. 1928 – Marines participated in the Battle of Coco River in Nicaragua. A Marine-Guardia patrol under Captain Robert S. Hunter collided with an aggressive band of rebels. Apparently neither side was expecting an encounter. While pushing through a ravine, Captain Hunter’s point met a part of the enemy advance guard. Once this small group had been driven off, the Marines again pushed forward; but the rebels had gained time to deploy along the trail. The enemy opened fire with everything he had. Captain Hunter was seriously wounded, and command devolved upon 2d Lieutenant Earl S. Piper. The attackers pulled back before sunset, which enabled the young lieutenant to establish a perimeter defense. After dawn of May 14th, Lieutenant Piper sent a patrol to reconnoiter the positions which the enemy had abandoned. When it encountered no resistance, he concluded correctly that the rebels had divided their force to block the trail in either direction from his defensive perimeter. Concern for his wounded left him no alternative but to try to break through to the south toward La Flor and Quilali. Piper’s route of withdrawal carried him between two hills, Cinco and Ocho; and here the enemy lay in wait. Forty-five minutes of bitter fighting followed. The patrol reached La Flor coffee plantation on May 15th, and established a strong defensive position. All in all, Piper’s men had come through their ordeal in excellent condition. As soon as reinforcements arrived, they would be able to move northward once more; but help was slow in coming. Not until May 22nd did a column commanded by Major K. M. Rockey arrive at the plantation. 1939 – The first commercial FM radio station in the United States is launched in Bloomfield, Connecticut. The station later becomes WDRC-FM. 1942 – A helicopter made its 1st cross-country flight. 1943 – US forces now outnumber the Japanese defenders on Attu Island by 4 to 1. However, the Americans are unable to extend their front beyond the landing areas. Bad weather and the terrain hinder progress. 1944 – Forces of the US 5th Army continue to attack. The Polish 2nd Corps suffers heavy losses in unsuccessful attacks against the German 1st Parachute Division holding Cassino. The French Expeditionary Corps, however, captures Castelforte as well as Monte Maio and advance to the Liri River at Sant’Appollinaire. The US 2nd Corps and British 13th Corps make limited advances during the day. 1944 – An American escort destroyer sinks the Japanese submarine I-501 (formerly U-1224) off the Azores. The submarine had been presented to the Japanese by the German Kriegsmarine. 1945 – On Okinawa, fierce fighting continues along the Shuri Line. The US 6th Marine Division suffers heavy losses but completes the capture of Dakeshi Ridge. On the east coast, elements of the US 96th Division penetrate the strip east of the Shuri line and take part of Conical Hill. 1945 – In Czechoslovakia, German forces continue to attempt to evade capture by Soviet forces and seek to surrender to American forces instead. Active resistance ends.
May 13th ~ {continued...} 1945 – After more heavy fighting on Mindanao, the Del Monte airfield is captured by units of the US 40th Division. The US 24th Division advances northwards along the Talomo track in the river valley. On Luzon, the force of the US 1st Corps complete the occupation of the Balete Pass, clearing the way into the Cagayan valley. The US 43rd Division, part of US 11th Corps, comes within sight of the Ipoh dam. 1946 – US condemned 58 camp guards of Mauthausen concentration camp to death. 1952 – The Coast Guard announced the establishment of an Organized Reserve Training Program, the first in U.S. Coast Guard history. Morton G. Lessans was sworn in as the first member of the Organized Air Reserve on 12 December 1951. 1952 – Naval Task Force 77 began Operation INSOMNIA – a series of abbreviated night attacks. 1953 – General Clark authorized the mobilization of four more ROK divisions. 1953 – The Air Force’s 58th Fighter-Bomber Wing attacked Toksan Dam in North Korea and destroyed this major irrigation system. 1958 – The trademark Velcro is registered. 1960 – The 1st US launch of the Delta satellite launching vehicle failed. 1965 – President Johnson in a nationally televised address, accuses Communist China of opposing a political solution that could be in the best interests of North Vietnam, because China’s goal is to dominate ‘all of Asia.’ 1965 – The US begins a five day suspension of air raids on North Vietnam, claiming, at first, operational reasons, but it is soon clear that the US hopes to give North Vietnam a chance to call for peace negotiations. North Vietnam and China will charge that the United States did not, in fact, stop the raids. 1968 – Peace talks between the U.S. and North Vietnam began in Paris. 1968 – Three additional Air Guard units are mobilized to join the 11 called up in January in response to the growing tensions in Korea and increased operational tempo in Vietnam. None of these three units deployed overseas. However, also mobilized on this date were 34 Army Guard units, including two infantry brigades; the 29th in HI and the 69th in KS/IA. This was the only involuntary call up of Army Guard personnel during the Vietnam War. Eight Army Guard units, composed of about 2,700 Guardsmen, saw combat in Vietnam; they were: 107th Signal Co. (RI), 116th Engineer BN (ID), 126th Service & Supply Co. (IL), 131st Engineer Co. (VT), 2nd Battalion, 138th Artillery (KY), Company D, 151st Infantry, Rangers (IN), 3rd Battalion, 197th Artillery (NH) and the 650th Medical Detachment (AL). In addition, over 4,300 Army Guardsmen mobilized in units which did not deploy, were levied and saw service in Vietnam as individual replacements. The first Army Guard unit to deploy to Vietnam, the 650th Medical Detachment (Dental Service), arrived just three months after being mobilized on this date. Shown is Captain Sidney T. Kellon, DDS, being observed working on a patient by the unit’s commander, Colonel Daniel T. Meadows, DDS. Of the eight Army Guard units deployed to Vietnam, at least six had African American Guard members in their ranks.
May 13th ~ {continued...} 1971 – Still deadlocked, the Vietnam peace talks in Paris enter their fourth year. The talks had begun with much fanfare in May 1968, but almost immediately were plagued by procedural questions that impeded any meaningful progress. Even the seating arrangement was disputed: South Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Cao Ky refused to consent to any permanent seating plan that would appear to place the National Liberation Front (NLF) on an equal footing with Saigon. North Vietnam and the NLF likewise balked at any arrangement that would effectively recognize the Saigon as the legitimate government of South Vietnam. After much argument and debate, chief U.S. negotiator W. Averell Harriman proposed an arrangement whereby NLF representatives could join the North Vietnamese team but without having to be acknowledged by Saigon’s delegates; similarly, South Vietnamese negotiators could sit with their American allies without having to be acknowledged by the North Vietnamese and the NLF representatives. Such seemingly insignificant matters became fodder for many arguments between the delegations at the negotiations and nothing meaningful came from this particular round of the ongoing peace negotiations. 1972 – There was a burglary at the Chilean Embassy in Washington DC. Two members of Pres. Nixon’s secret White House team, known as the plumbers, were involved. Nixon later blamed the robbery on White House counsel John Dean. 1972 – Seventeen U.S. helicopters land 1,000 South Vietnamese marines and their six U.S. advisors behind North Vietnamese lines southeast of Quang Tri City in the first South Vietnamese counterattack since the beginning of the communist Nguyen Hue Offensive. The marines reportedly killed more than 300 North Vietnamese before returning to South Vietnamese-controlled territory the next day. Farther to the south, North Vietnamese tanks and troops continued their attacks in the Kontum area. On May 1st, North Vietnamese troops had captured Quang Tri City, the first provincial capital taken during their ongoing offensive. The fall of the city effectively gave the North Vietnamese control of the entire province of Quang Tri. Farther south along the coast, three districts of Binh Dinh Province also fell, leaving about one-third of that province under communist control. These attacks were part of the North Vietnamese Nguyen Hue Offensive (later called the “Easter Offensive”), a massive invasion by North Vietnamese forces on March 30th to strike the blow that would win them the war. The attacking force included 14 infantry divisions and 26 separate regiments, with more than 120,000 troops and approximately 1,200 tanks and other armored vehicles. The main North Vietnamese objectives, in addition to Quang Tri in the north and Kontum in the Central Highlands, included An Loc farther to the south. The situation at Quang Tri would not be rectified until President Nguyen Van Thieu relieved the I Corps commander and replaced him with Maj. Gen. Ngo Quang Truong, whom Gen. Bruce Palmer, Jr., later described as “probably the best field commander in South Vietnam.” Truong effectively stopped the ongoing rout of South Vietnamese forces, established a stubborn defense, and eventually launched a successful counterattack against the North Vietnamese, retaking Quang Tri in September. 1979 – Shah and his family was sentenced to death in Teheran. 1986 – CGC Manitou stopped the 125-foot Sun Bird in 7th District waters and her boarding team discovered 40,000 pounds of marijuana hidden aboard. The boarding team then located the vessel’s builder’s plate and learned that the Sun Bird was the decommissioned “buck-and-a-quarter” cutter Crawford. The former cutter and her 14-man crew were taken into custody. A newspaper article describing the incident noted: “If Crawford was a person, Miami would have probably seen it blush . . . The ex-Coast Guard cutter received more publicity for smuggling the drugs than for its 20-year Coast Guard career.” 1987 – President Reagan said his personal diary confirmed that he’d talked with Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd about Saudi help for the Nicaraguan Contras at a time when Congress banned military aid, but Reagan said he did not solicit secret contributions. 1988 – The U.S. Senate voted 83-6 to order the U.S. military to enter the war against illegal drug trafficking, approving a plan to give the Navy the power to stop drug boats on the high seas and make arrests.
May 13th ~ {continued...} 1989 – In unusually strong language, President Bush called on the people of Panama and the country’s defense forces to overthrow their military leader, Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega. 1992 – A trio of astronauts from the space shuttle Endeavour captured a wayward Intelsat-6 communications satellite during the first-ever three-person spacewalk. 1996 – Britain’s last Polaris submarine, the HMS Repulse, came home for good. The Polaris subs have been replaced by the US Trident nuclear subs. 2002 – President Bush announced that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin would sign a treaty to shrink their countries’ nuclear arsenals by two-thirds to 1,700-2,200 active warheads at the end of 10 years. 2003 – L. Paul Bremer, the new US administrator in Iraq, reportedly authorized troops to shoot looters on sight. Rumsfeld said muscle would be used to stop looting. 2003 – Algerian army commandos freed 17 European tourists kidnapped in the Sahara Desert by an al-Qaida-linked terror group. 9 captors were killed and 15 hostages remained. 2004 – The Space Ship One rocket climbed to 211,400 feet, becoming the 1st privately funded vehicle to reach the edge of space. 2008 – The United States Department of Defense drops charges against Mohammed al Qahtani, who was suspected of being the “20th hijacker” in the September 11, 2001 attacks. New charges will be filed in November.
May 13th ~ 1607 – Some 100 English colonists settle along the west bank of the James River in Virginia to found Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. Dispatched from England by the London Company, the colonists had sailed across the Atlantic aboard the Sarah Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery. Upon landing at Jamestown, the first colonial council was held by seven settlers whose names had been chosen and placed in a sealed box by King James I. The council, which included Captain John Smith, an English adventurer, chose Edward Wingfield as its first president. After only two weeks, Jamestown came under attack from warriors from the local Algonquian Native American confederacy, but the Indians were repulsed by the armed settlers. In December of the same year, John Smith and two other colonists were captured by Algonquians while searching for provisions in the Virginia wilderness. His companions were killed, but he was spared, according to a later account by Smith, because of the intercession of Pocahontas, Chief Powhatan’s daughter. During the next two years, disease, starvation, and more Native American attacks wiped out most of the colony, but the London Company continually sent more settlers and supplies. The severe winter of 1609 to 1610, which the colonists referred to as the “starving time,” killed most of the Jamestown colonists, leading the survivors to plan a return to England in the spring. However, on June 10th, Thomas West De La Warr, the newly appointed governor of Virginia, arrived with supplies and convinced the settlers to remain at Jamestown. In 1612, John Rolfe cultivated the first tobacco at Jamestown, introducing a successful source of livelihood. On April 5, 1614, Rolfe married Pocahontas, thus assuring a temporary peace with Chief Powhatan. The death of Powhatan in 1618 brought about a resumption of conflict with the Algonquians, including an attack led by Chief Opechancanough in 1622 that nearly wiped out the settlement. The English engaged in violent reprisals against the Algonquians, but there was no further large-scale fighting until 1644, when Opechancanough led his last uprising and was captured and executed at Jamestown. In 1646, the Algonquian Confederacy agreed to give up much of its territory to the rapidly expanding colony, and, beginning in 1665, its chiefs were appointed by the governor of Virginia. 1787 – Arthur Phillip set sail with 11 ships of criminals to Botany Bay, Australia. By year’s end some 50,000 British convict servants were transported to the American colonies in commutation of death sentences. After the American Revolution, Britain continued dumping convicts in the U.S. illegally into 1787. Australia eventually replaced America for this purpose. 1801 – Tripoli and it's Barbary Pirates declares war against the United States. 1804 – Forces sent by Yusuf Karamanli of Tripoli to retake Derna from the Americans attack the city. They attacked the city and drove the Arabs back, almost capturing the governor’s palace. The Argus and Eaton’s captured batteries pounded the attackers, who fled under continued bombardment. By nightfall, both sides were back to their original positions. Skirmishes and several other minor attempts were made on the city in the following weeks, but the city remained in American control. 1828 – US passed the Tariff of Abominations. 1836 – U.S. Exploring Expedition authorized to conduct exploration of Pacific Ocean and South Seas, first major scientific expedition overseas. LT Charles Wilkes USN, would lead the expedition in surveying South America, Antarctica, Far East, and North Pacific. 1846 – The US under Pres. Polk declared that a state of war already existed against Mexico, 2 months after fighting began. This was in response to an incident where the Mexican cavalry surrounded a scouting party of American dragoons. $10 million was appropriated for war expenses by Congress. 50, 000 volunteers responded to the war effort and Gen. Taylor used his forces to capture the Mexican town of Monterey [in California] and then moved south to defeat Santa Anna’s armies at the Battle of Buena Vista.
May 13th ~ {continued...} 1861 – Queen Victoria proclaimed British neutrality and forbade British subjects to endeavor to break a blockade “lawfully and effectually established.” This “proclamation of neutrality” recognized the breakaway states as having belligerent rights. 1861 – Union troops occupy Baltimore 1862 – Confederate steamer Planter, with her captain ashore in Charleston, was taken out of the harbor by an entirely Negro crew under Robert Smalls and turned over to U.S.S. Onward, Acting Lieutenant Nickels, of the blockading Union squadron. “At 4 in the morning,” Flag Officer Du Pont reported,”. . . she left her wharf close to the Government office and headquarters, with palmetto and Confederate flag flying, passed the successive forts, saluting as usual by blowing her steam whistle. After getting beyond the range of the last gun she quickly hauled down the rebel flags and hoisted a white one . . . The steamer is quite a valuable acquisition to the squadron. 1862 – U.S.S. Iroquois, Commander Palmer, and U.S.S. Oneida, Commander S. P. Lee, occupied Natchez, Mississippi, as Flag Officer Farragut’s fleet moved steadily toward Vicksburg. 1863 – The persistent Army-Navy siege and assault on Vicksburg compelled Confederate strategists to withdraw much needed troops from the eastern front in an effort to bring relief to their beleaguered forces in the west. General Beauregard and others warned repeatedly of the possible disasters such loss of strength in the Charleston area and elsewhere might bring. This date, Confederate Secretary of War James A. Seddon wrote to those objecting to the transfer of troops from Charles-ton to Vicksburg: I beg you to reflect on the vital importance of the Mississippi to our cause, to South Carolina, and to Charleston itself. Scarce any point in the Confederacy can be deemed more essential, for the ’cause of each is the cause of all,’ and the sundering of the Confederacy [along the line of the Mississippi] would be felt as almost a mortal blow to the most remote parts.” 1863 – Union General Ulysses S. Grant advances toward the Mississippi capital of Jackson during his bold and daring drive to take Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. In April, Grant had moved his troops down the Mississippi River and around the Vicksburg defenses, landing south of the city before moving east into the interior of Mississippi. He intended to approach Vicksburg from the east to avoid the strong Confederate defenses on the riverfront. Grant, however, had to contend with two Rebel forces. John C. Pemberton had an army defending Vicksburg, and Joseph Johnston was mustering troops in Jackson, 40 miles east of Vicksburg. Grant’s advance placed him between the two Southern commands. He planned to strike Johnston in Jackson, defeat him, and then focus on Vicksburg when the threat to his rear was eliminated. On May 12th, Grant’s troops encountered a Rebel force at Raymond, Mississippi, which they easily defeated. The following day, he divided his force at Raymond, just 15 miles from Jackson, and sent two corps under William T. Sherman and James McPherson to drive the Confederates under Johnston out of Jackson, which they did by May 14th. Grant also sent John McClernand’s corps west to close in on Pemberton in Vicksburg. A few days later, on May 16th, Grant defeated Pemberton at Champion’s Hill and drove the Rebels back into Vicksburg. With the threat from the east neutralized, Grant sealed Vicksburg shut and laid siege to the city. Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, and the Confederacy was severed in two. 1864 – Battle of Resaca commenced as Union General Sherman fought towards Atlanta. The Battle of Resaca was part of the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War. The battle was waged in both Gordon and Whitfield counties, Georgia, May 13–15th, 1864. It ended inconclusively with the Confederate Army retreating. The engagement was fought between the Military Division of the Mississippi (led by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman) on the side of the Union and the Army of Tennessee (Gen. Joseph E. Johnston) for the Confederates. 1864 – Climaxing two weeks of unceasing effort to save the gunboats and bring to a close the unsuccessful Red River campaign, U.S.S. Louisville, Chillicothe, and Ozark, the last ships of Rear Admiral Porter’s stranded fleet, succeeded in passing over the rapids above Alexandria, Louisiana. By mid-afternoon the gunboats steamed down the river, convoying Army transports; thus ended one of the most dramatic exploits of the war, as Lieutenant Colonel Bailey’s ingenuity and the inexhaustible energy of the men working on the obstructions raised the level of the river enough to save the Mississippi Squadron.
May 13th ~ {continued...} 1864 – Small sidewheel steamer U.S.S. Ceres, Acting Master Henry H. Foster, with Army steamer Rockland and 100 embarked soldiers in company, conducted a raiding expedition on the Alligator River, North Carolina. They captured Confederate schooner Ann S. Davenport and disabled a mill supplying ground corn for the Southern armies. 1865 – The last battle of the Civil War, fought near the Rio Grande River, ends in a Confederate victory. Soon after, word arrives of the surrender of the Confederate armies in the east and these men give themselves up to Union forces on June 2nd. The Civil War is officially over at the cost of more than 600,000 dead. 1905 – An Executive Order extended the jurisdiction of the Lighthouse Service to the noncontiguous territory of Guam Island. 1928 – Marines participated in the Battle of Coco River in Nicaragua. A Marine-Guardia patrol under Captain Robert S. Hunter collided with an aggressive band of rebels. Apparently neither side was expecting an encounter. While pushing through a ravine, Captain Hunter’s point met a part of the enemy advance guard. Once this small group had been driven off, the Marines again pushed forward; but the rebels had gained time to deploy along the trail. The enemy opened fire with everything he had. Captain Hunter was seriously wounded, and command devolved upon 2d Lieutenant Earl S. Piper. The attackers pulled back before sunset, which enabled the young lieutenant to establish a perimeter defense. After dawn of May 14th, Lieutenant Piper sent a patrol to reconnoiter the positions which the enemy had abandoned. When it encountered no resistance, he concluded correctly that the rebels had divided their force to block the trail in either direction from his defensive perimeter. Concern for his wounded left him no alternative but to try to break through to the south toward La Flor and Quilali. Piper’s route of withdrawal carried him between two hills, Cinco and Ocho; and here the enemy lay in wait. Forty-five minutes of bitter fighting followed. The patrol reached La Flor coffee plantation on May 15th, and established a strong defensive position. All in all, Piper’s men had come through their ordeal in excellent condition. As soon as reinforcements arrived, they would be able to move northward once more; but help was slow in coming. Not until May 22nd did a column commanded by Major K. M. Rockey arrive at the plantation. 1939 – The first commercial FM radio station in the United States is launched in Bloomfield, Connecticut. The station later becomes WDRC-FM. 1942 – A helicopter made its 1st cross-country flight. 1943 – US forces now outnumber the Japanese defenders on Attu Island by 4 to 1. However, the Americans are unable to extend their front beyond the landing areas. Bad weather and the terrain hinder progress. 1944 – Forces of the US 5th Army continue to attack. The Polish 2nd Corps suffers heavy losses in unsuccessful attacks against the German 1st Parachute Division holding Cassino. The French Expeditionary Corps, however, captures Castelforte as well as Monte Maio and advance to the Liri River at Sant’Appollinaire. The US 2nd Corps and British 13th Corps make limited advances during the day. 1944 – An American escort destroyer sinks the Japanese submarine I-501 (formerly U-1224) off the Azores. The submarine had been presented to the Japanese by the German Kriegsmarine. 1945 – On Okinawa, fierce fighting continues along the Shuri Line. The US 6th Marine Division suffers heavy losses but completes the capture of Dakeshi Ridge. On the east coast, elements of the US 96th Division penetrate the strip east of the Shuri line and take part of Conical Hill. 1945 – In Czechoslovakia, German forces continue to attempt to evade capture by Soviet forces and seek to surrender to American forces instead. Active resistance ends.
May 13th ~ {continued...} 1945 – After more heavy fighting on Mindanao, the Del Monte airfield is captured by units of the US 40th Division. The US 24th Division advances northwards along the Talomo track in the river valley. On Luzon, the force of the US 1st Corps complete the occupation of the Balete Pass, clearing the way into the Cagayan valley. The US 43rd Division, part of US 11th Corps, comes within sight of the Ipoh dam. 1946 – US condemned 58 camp guards of Mauthausen concentration camp to death. 1952 – The Coast Guard announced the establishment of an Organized Reserve Training Program, the first in U.S. Coast Guard history. Morton G. Lessans was sworn in as the first member of the Organized Air Reserve on 12 December 1951. 1952 – Naval Task Force 77 began Operation INSOMNIA – a series of abbreviated night attacks. 1953 – General Clark authorized the mobilization of four more ROK divisions. 1953 – The Air Force’s 58th Fighter-Bomber Wing attacked Toksan Dam in North Korea and destroyed this major irrigation system. 1958 – The trademark Velcro is registered. 1960 – The 1st US launch of the Delta satellite launching vehicle failed. 1965 – President Johnson in a nationally televised address, accuses Communist China of opposing a political solution that could be in the best interests of North Vietnam, because China’s goal is to dominate ‘all of Asia.’ 1965 – The US begins a five day suspension of air raids on North Vietnam, claiming, at first, operational reasons, but it is soon clear that the US hopes to give North Vietnam a chance to call for peace negotiations. North Vietnam and China will charge that the United States did not, in fact, stop the raids. 1968 – Peace talks between the U.S. and North Vietnam began in Paris. 1968 – Three additional Air Guard units are mobilized to join the 11 called up in January in response to the growing tensions in Korea and increased operational tempo in Vietnam. None of these three units deployed overseas. However, also mobilized on this date were 34 Army Guard units, including two infantry brigades; the 29th in HI and the 69th in KS/IA. This was the only involuntary call up of Army Guard personnel during the Vietnam War. Eight Army Guard units, composed of about 2,700 Guardsmen, saw combat in Vietnam; they were: 107th Signal Co. (RI), 116th Engineer BN (ID), 126th Service & Supply Co. (IL), 131st Engineer Co. (VT), 2nd Battalion, 138th Artillery (KY), Company D, 151st Infantry, Rangers (IN), 3rd Battalion, 197th Artillery (NH) and the 650th Medical Detachment (AL). In addition, over 4,300 Army Guardsmen mobilized in units which did not deploy, were levied and saw service in Vietnam as individual replacements. The first Army Guard unit to deploy to Vietnam, the 650th Medical Detachment (Dental Service), arrived just three months after being mobilized on this date. Shown is Captain Sidney T. Kellon, DDS, being observed working on a patient by the unit’s commander, Colonel Daniel T. Meadows, DDS. Of the eight Army Guard units deployed to Vietnam, at least six had African American Guard members in their ranks.
May 13th ~ {continued...} 1971 – Still deadlocked, the Vietnam peace talks in Paris enter their fourth year. The talks had begun with much fanfare in May 1968, but almost immediately were plagued by procedural questions that impeded any meaningful progress. Even the seating arrangement was disputed: South Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Cao Ky refused to consent to any permanent seating plan that would appear to place the National Liberation Front (NLF) on an equal footing with Saigon. North Vietnam and the NLF likewise balked at any arrangement that would effectively recognize the Saigon as the legitimate government of South Vietnam. After much argument and debate, chief U.S. negotiator W. Averell Harriman proposed an arrangement whereby NLF representatives could join the North Vietnamese team but without having to be acknowledged by Saigon’s delegates; similarly, South Vietnamese negotiators could sit with their American allies without having to be acknowledged by the North Vietnamese and the NLF representatives. Such seemingly insignificant matters became fodder for many arguments between the delegations at the negotiations and nothing meaningful came from this particular round of the ongoing peace negotiations. 1972 – There was a burglary at the Chilean Embassy in Washington DC. Two members of Pres. Nixon’s secret White House team, known as the plumbers, were involved. Nixon later blamed the robbery on White House counsel John Dean. 1972 – Seventeen U.S. helicopters land 1,000 South Vietnamese marines and their six U.S. advisors behind North Vietnamese lines southeast of Quang Tri City in the first South Vietnamese counterattack since the beginning of the communist Nguyen Hue Offensive. The marines reportedly killed more than 300 North Vietnamese before returning to South Vietnamese-controlled territory the next day. Farther to the south, North Vietnamese tanks and troops continued their attacks in the Kontum area. On May 1st, North Vietnamese troops had captured Quang Tri City, the first provincial capital taken during their ongoing offensive. The fall of the city effectively gave the North Vietnamese control of the entire province of Quang Tri. Farther south along the coast, three districts of Binh Dinh Province also fell, leaving about one-third of that province under communist control. These attacks were part of the North Vietnamese Nguyen Hue Offensive (later called the “Easter Offensive”), a massive invasion by North Vietnamese forces on March 30th to strike the blow that would win them the war. The attacking force included 14 infantry divisions and 26 separate regiments, with more than 120,000 troops and approximately 1,200 tanks and other armored vehicles. The main North Vietnamese objectives, in addition to Quang Tri in the north and Kontum in the Central Highlands, included An Loc farther to the south. The situation at Quang Tri would not be rectified until President Nguyen Van Thieu relieved the I Corps commander and replaced him with Maj. Gen. Ngo Quang Truong, whom Gen. Bruce Palmer, Jr., later described as “probably the best field commander in South Vietnam.” Truong effectively stopped the ongoing rout of South Vietnamese forces, established a stubborn defense, and eventually launched a successful counterattack against the North Vietnamese, retaking Quang Tri in September. 1979 – Shah and his family was sentenced to death in Teheran. 1986 – CGC Manitou stopped the 125-foot Sun Bird in 7th District waters and her boarding team discovered 40,000 pounds of marijuana hidden aboard. The boarding team then located the vessel’s builder’s plate and learned that the Sun Bird was the decommissioned “buck-and-a-quarter” cutter Crawford. The former cutter and her 14-man crew were taken into custody. A newspaper article describing the incident noted: “If Crawford was a person, Miami would have probably seen it blush . . . The ex-Coast Guard cutter received more publicity for smuggling the drugs than for its 20-year Coast Guard career.” 1987 – President Reagan said his personal diary confirmed that he’d talked with Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd about Saudi help for the Nicaraguan Contras at a time when Congress banned military aid, but Reagan said he did not solicit secret contributions. 1988 – The U.S. Senate voted 83-6 to order the U.S. military to enter the war against illegal drug trafficking, approving a plan to give the Navy the power to stop drug boats on the high seas and make arrests.
May 13th ~ {continued...} 1989 – In unusually strong language, President Bush called on the people of Panama and the country’s defense forces to overthrow their military leader, Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega. 1992 – A trio of astronauts from the space shuttle Endeavour captured a wayward Intelsat-6 communications satellite during the first-ever three-person spacewalk. 1996 – Britain’s last Polaris submarine, the HMS Repulse, came home for good. The Polaris subs have been replaced by the US Trident nuclear subs. 2002 – President Bush announced that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin would sign a treaty to shrink their countries’ nuclear arsenals by two-thirds to 1,700-2,200 active warheads at the end of 10 years. 2003 – L. Paul Bremer, the new US administrator in Iraq, reportedly authorized troops to shoot looters on sight. Rumsfeld said muscle would be used to stop looting. 2003 – Algerian army commandos freed 17 European tourists kidnapped in the Sahara Desert by an al-Qaida-linked terror group. 9 captors were killed and 15 hostages remained. 2004 – The Space Ship One rocket climbed to 211,400 feet, becoming the 1st privately funded vehicle to reach the edge of space. 2008 – The United States Department of Defense drops charges against Mohammed al Qahtani, who was suspected of being the “20th hijacker” in the September 11, 2001 attacks. New charges will be filed in November.
