2 February 1944
KWAJALEIN ATOLL: The 4th Marine
Division, as part of the first assault on
islands controlled by the Japanese
before the start of WWII, captured
Namur and eight other islands in the
Kwajalein Atoll. Almost all of the 3700
Japanese defenders on these islands
have been killed. American casualties
number 740 killed and wounded.
Japanese forces on Kwajalein continued
to resist.
2 February 2013
In Remembrance!
Official Chris Kyle Day
in Texas!
2 February 1803
Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston
is born in Washington, Kentucky. Johnston was considered one
of the best Confederate commanders until he was killed at
Shiloh, the first major engagement in the west. Johnston grew
up in Kentucky and received an appointment to the U.S. Military
Academy in 1822. While there, he became acquainted with
Robert E. Lee and future Confederate President Jefferson Davis,
two men who shaped Johnston's career.
After graduation, Johnston served in the Black Hawk War of 1832
and resigned from the service in 1834 to care for his invalid wife.
After her death, he moved to the new Republic of Texas and
enlisted in the army as a private. Within three years he rose to
general of the army, then Secretary of War for his adopted
country. After Texas was annexed by the United States, Johnston
served in the Mexican War and was commended for bravery at
the Battle of Monterrey. Johnston retired to his Texas plantation
after the war, but he struggled financially.
He returned to the service as paymaster for the forts in Texas, and in 1857 was appointed to lead an expedition against members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (otherwise known as the Mormons) in Utah Territory. The Mormons disagreed with the government on issues of the territory's governance, and some officials thought a rebellion was in the making. Johnston arrived and found no opposition, and he spent the next three years occupying the territory. When the Civil War erupted, Davis appointed Johnston commander of the Confederate department that stretched from the Appalachians to Texas.
On April 6, 1862, Johnston attacked General Ulysses S. Grant's army at Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee (Shiloh). The Confederates enjoyed great success initially. Grant's army was surprised and nearly destroyed until the afternoon, when Johnston rode forward to supervise the battle. He was mortally wounded, and the tide turned against the Confederates. The armies struggled into the next day but the Union held the field. Johnston and Union General James McPherson were the only two army commanders killed in action during the Civil War. Johnston's death left a void in the leadership of the western armies that was never effectively filled.
2 February 1964
Happy Birthday G.I. Joe
2 February 1812
FORT ROSS ESTABLISHED: Staking a tenuous claim to the riches of the Far West, Russians establish Fort Ross on the coast north of San Francisco. As a growing empire with a long Pacific coastline, Russia was in many ways well positioned to play a leading role in the settlement and development of the West. The Russians had begun their expansion into the North American continent in 1741 with a massive scientific expedition to Alaska. Returning with news of abundant sea otters, the explorers inspired Russian investment in the Alaskan fur trade and some permanent settlement.
By the early 19th century, the semi-governmental Russian-American Company was actively competing with British and American fur-trading interests as far south as the shores of Spanish-controlled California. Russia's Alaskan colonists found it difficult to produce their own food because of the short growing season of the far north. Officials of the Russian-American Company reasoned that a permanent settlement along the more temperate shores of California could serve both as a source of food and a base for exploiting the abundant sea otters in the region.
To that end, a large party of Russians and Aleuts sailed for California where they established Fort Ross (short for Russia) on the coast north of San Francisco. Fort Ross, though, proved unable to fulfill either of its expected functions for very long. By the 1820s, the once plentiful sea otters in the region had been hunted almost to extinction. Likewise, the colonists' attempts at farming proved disappointing, because the cool foggy summers along the coast made it difficult to grow the desired fruits and grains. Potatoes thrived, but they could be grown just as easily in Alaska.
At the same time, the Russians were increasingly coming into conflict with the Mexicans and the growing numbers of Americans settling in the region. Disappointed with the commercial potential of the Fort Ross settlement and realizing they had no realistic chance of making a political claim for the region, the Russians decided to sell out. After making unsuccessful attempts to interest both the British and Mexicans in the fort, the Russians finally found a buyer in John Sutter. An American emigrant to California, Sutter bought Fort Ross in 1841 with an unsecured note for $30,000 that he never paid. He cannibalized the fort to provide supplies for his colony in the Sacramento Valley where, seven years later, a chance discovery ignited the California Gold Rush.
TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
2 February
◆1141 Battle of Lincoln: Earls Ranulf of Chester & Robert of Gloucester defeat King Stephen of England & capture him for the Empress Matilda.
◆1160 Crema in Lombardy, falls to Fredrick Barbarossa amid great slaughter.
◆1437 Angevins surrender Gaeta (besieged from Dec 24) to the Aragonese.
◆1461 Battle of Mortimer Cross: Yorkists defeat the Lancastrians.
◆1571 All eight members of a Jesuit mission in Virginia were murdered by Indians who pretended to be their friends.
◆1645 Battle of Inverlochy: Montrose defeats the Campbells.
◆1653 New Amsterdam, later New York City, was incorporated.
◆1709 Alexander Selkirk is rescued from Juan Fernandez I. after five years in isolation, inspiring "Robinson Crusoe."
◆1797 Mantua surrenders to the French after an 8 month siege.
◆1800 USS Constellation (CAPT Thomas Truxtun) defeats la Vengeance
◆1803 Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston is born in Washington, Kentucky.★
◆1812 Staking a tenuous claim to the riches of the Far West, Russians establish Fort Ross on the coast north of San Francisco.★
◆1827 In the case Martin v. Mott, the Supreme Court finds that constitutionally, the President alone has the final power to determine whether the state militia should be mobilized in the national interest.
◆1848 US and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Mexico ceded one-third of its territory to the US including California, agreed to the Rio Grande as the boundary between Texas and Mexico and was awarded $15 million. 25,000 Mexicans and 12,000 Americans lost their lives in the 17-month old conflict.
◆1861 U.S. Revenue Schooner Henry Dodge, First Lieutenant William F. Rogers, USRM, was seized at Galveston, as Texas joined the Confederacy.
◆1862 USS Hartford, Capt David G. Farragut, departs Hampton Roads for Mississippi River campaign
◆1864 Confederate raider William Quantrill and his bushwackers robbed citizens, burned a railroad depot and stole horses from Midway, Kentucky.
◆1887 People began gathering at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., to witness the groundhog's search for its shadow.
◆1901 The US Army Dental Corps is established.
◆1916 U.S. Senate voted independence for Philippines, effective in 1921.
◆1921 Airmail service opened between New York and San Francisco.
◆1943 On Guadalcanal the American coastal advance crosses the Bonegi River.
◆1944 Allied attacks around Anzio end. They have suffered high losses without significant success. Defending German forces, however, have had to postpone counterattacks planned to begin today because of their own losses.
◆1944 The 4th Marine Division, as part of the first assault on islands controlled by the Japanese before the start of World War II, captured Namur and eight other islands in the Kwajalein Atoll.Almost all of the 3700 Japanese defenders on these islands have been killed. American casualties number 740 killed and wounded. Japanese forces on Kwajalein continue to resist.
◆1945 President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill departed Malta for the Yalta summit with Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
◆1945 US 1st Army units are attacking near Remscheid. British forces mount attacks over the Maas, north of Breda and near Nijmegen to put pressure on the Germans.
◆1945 American USAAF B-24 and B-29 bombers raid Iwo Jima in preparation for the landings later in the month. They drop a daily average of 450 tons of bombs over the course of 15 days (6800 tons).
◆1951 The French Battalion, attached to the 2nd Infantry Division's 23rd Infantry Regimental Combat Team, met the communist counterattack and stabilized the U.N. position north of Yoju.
◆1951 The minesweeper USS Partridge hit a mine off Sokcho, just north of the 38th parallel, and sank within 10 minutes with a loss of 10 killed or missing and six severely wounded.
◆1954 President Eisenhower reported the 1952 detonation of 1st Hydrogen bomb.
◆1962 The first U.S. Air Force plane is lost in South Vietnam.
◆1964 G.I. Joe debuted as a popular American toy.★
◆1971 The Apollo XIV astronauts confirmed that they would attempt a lunar landing.
◆1977 Radio Shack officially began creating the TRS-80 computer.
◆1999 In Iraq US pilots operated under broader rules of attack and targeted a newly assembled missile site.
◆2013 Chris Kyle. American Sniper, was killed.