TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
6 February
◆1778 During the American War for Independence, representatives from the United States and France sign the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance in Paris.
◆1778 England declared war on France.
◆1778 Continental Marines helped defend Charleston from the British.
◆1802 Congress empowers President Jefferson to arm United States ships in order that they may protect themselves against Tripolitan pirates.
◆1832 Battle of Quallah Batto, Sumatra. ★
◆1833 James Ewell Brown "JEB" Stuart was born, Maj. Gen., C.S.A., KIA, 1864. ★
◆1838 Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrated his telegraph, in Morristown, N.J.
◆1861 The 1st meeting of Provisional Congress of Confederate States of America.
◆1862 General Ulysses S. Grant provides the first major Union victory of the war when he captures Fort Henry on the Tennessee River. Ten days later, he captured Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River, which gave the Yankees control of northern Tennessee and paved the way for the occupation of Nashville.
◆1863 Union General S.F. Heintzelman is put in charge of the Federal Department of Washington.
◆1865 Confederate General John Pegram is killed at the Battle of Dabney's Mill, Virginia. ★
◆1869 Harper's Weekly published the 1st picture of Uncle Sam with chin whiskers.★
◆1899 The Spanish-American War ends.
◆1900 President McKinley appointed W.H. Taft commissioner to report on the Philippines.1908 Bids for the Army's first airplane considered by the Board of Ordnance and Fortification. Of 24 presented two were approved on Feb 8th by the Secretary of War. Army aviation will be born as a part of the Signal Corps.
◆1911 Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois. Reagan went on to become a film actor, governor of California (1967-1975) and the 40th president of the United States (1981-1989) and was credited with ending the Cold War. ★★
◆1916 Germany admitted full liability for Lusitania incident and recognized the United State's right to claim indemnity.
◆1929 Germany accepted Kellogg-Briand pact.
◆1941 British troops capture Bengazi, Libya.
◆1942 Japanese reinforcements land on Luzon. In the Bataan peninsula there is a lessening of the fighting.
◆1942 The first meeting of the Combined Chiefs of Staff, as defined by the Arcadia Conference, takes place. (Note: In military usage, the term “joint” refers to operations by multiple services of one nation and “combined” refers to operations by multiple nations.)
◆1943 The American command in Europe and North Africa is restructured. General Andrews is appointed to the new European Theater Command and General Eisenhower remains in command in North Africa.
◆1944 Forces of US 5th Army continue fighting in the hills north of Cassino.
◆1944 Kwajalein Island in the Central Pacific fell to U.S. Army troops.
◆1945 Units of US 4th Corps from US 5th Army take Gallicano in a brief offensive designed to improve the Allied positions on either side of the Serchio Valley.
◆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).
◆1952 The carrier USS Philippine Sea returned to Korean waters for its second tour of duty.
◆1959 The United States successfully test-fired for the first time a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile from Cape Canaveral.
◆1963 The United States reported that all Soviet offensive arms are out of Cuba.
◆1968 Two reduced Marine battalions, the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines with two companies, and 2d Battalion, 5th Marines with three, recaptured Hue's hospital, jail, and provincial headquarters. It would take three more weeks of intense house to house fighting, and nearly a thousand Marines killed and wounded, before the imperial city was secured.
◆1974 US House of Reps began determining grounds for the impeachment of Pres. Nixon.
◆1975 President Gerald Ford asked Congress for $497 million in aid to Cambodia.
◆1985 In his State of the Union address, President Ronald Reagan defines some of the key concepts of his foreign policy, establishing what comes to be known as the "Reagan Doctrine."★★
◆2003 Turkey's parliament voted to allow U.S. troops to renovate Turkish bases for use in a possible war with Iraq.
◆2003 The US military says it has activated nearly 17,000 more reserve troops, bringing the total number of reservists on active duty to more than 111,000.
◆2007 Operation Enduring Freedom - Trans Sahara (OEF-TS) begins.