TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
3 March
◆1575 Battle of Tukaroi: The Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats the Bengalis.
◆1637 Battle of the Rheinfeld: Weimarans defeat the Imperialists.
◆1746 The '45: Bonnie Prince Charlie's forces occupy Inverness Castle.
◆1776 First amphibious landing operation. Continental naval squadron under Commodore Esek Hopkins lands Sailors and Marines, commanded by Captain Samuel Nicholas, on New Providence Island in the Bahamas, capturing urgently-needed ordnance and gunpowder.
◆1791 Congress established the U.S. Mint.
◆1791 The 1st Internal Revenue Act taxed distilled spirits and carriages.
◆1805 Louisiana-Missouri Territory formed.
◆1809 Five-year enlistments in the Marine Corps replaced the previous three-year terms.
◆1812 US Congress passed its 1st foreign aid bill providing aid to Venezuela earthquake victims.
◆1813 Office of Surgeon General of the US army was established.
◆1815 Second Barbary War: US declares war on Algiers for piratical acts, three years after the Algerians declared war on the US.◆1817 Mississippi Territory was divided into Alabama Territory and Mississippi.
◆1817 The first commercial steamboat route from Louisville to New Orleans was opened.
◆1819 Congress authorized the revenue cutters to protect merchant vessels of United States against piracy and to seize vessels engaged in slave trade. The cutters Louisiana and Alabama were built shortly thereafter to assist in the government’s efforts against piracy.
◆1820 After months of bitter debate, Congress passes the Missouri Compromise, a bill that temporarily resolves the first serious political clash between slavery and antislavery interests in U.S. history.
◆1837 US President Andrew Jackson and Congress recognized the Republic of Texas.
◆1839 Congress directed that Revenue Captain Ezekial Jones, commanding the revenue cutter Washington in the Seminole War, be allowed the same pay as a lieutenant in the Navy would receive for like services.
◆1843 US Congress appropriated $30,000 “to test the practicability of establishing a system of electro-magnetic telegraphs.”
◆1845 Congress authorized ocean mail contracts for foreign mail delivery.
◆1845 Florida became the 27th state.
◆1849 Congress created the Minnesota Territory.
◆1852 Battle of Caseros: Argentine Dictator-President Juan de Rosas (c. 23,000) is defeated by Justo de Urquiza's Argentine-Uraguayan-Brazilian forces (c. 25,000) --the largest battle in the Americas until the U.S. Civil War.
◆1855 Congress approved $30,000 to test camels for military use. Sec. of War Jefferson Davis sent agents to northern Africa to purchase a small herd of camels and sent them to New Mexico to transport goods to California.
◆1862 The Siege of New Madrid, Missouri begins.★
◆1863 During the Civil War, the U.S. Congress passes a conscription act that produces the first wartime draft of U.S. citizens in American history.★
◆1863 Abraham Lincoln approved a charter for National Academy of Sciences.
◆1863 Union ironclads duel with Fort McAllister at Savannah for 6 hours.★
◆1863 Idaho Territory formed.
◆1865 General Sherman’s large army, marching parallel to the coast from Columbia in order to keep sea support near at hand, steadily approached Fayetteville, N.C. The Navy continued to clear Cape Fear River of torpedoes and obstructions so as to provide him with a base at Wilmington for sea supply comparable to Savannah. As the river was cleared light draft gunboats bumped up the river to be ready to open communications.
◆1871 Congress passed the Indian Appropriation Act, which revoked the sovereignty of Indian nations and made Native Americans wards of the American government. The act eliminated the necessity of treaty negotiating and established the policy that tribal affairs could be managed by the U.S. government without tribal consent.
◆1871 Congress established the civil service system.
◆1871 Navy Medical Corps established.
◆1873 Signal Corps of Army established a storm signal service for benefit of seafaring men, at several life-saving stations and constructed telegraph lines as a means of communication between the stations.
◆1879 Congress establishes the United States Geological Survey, an organization that played a pivotal role in the exploration and development of the West.★
◆1883 Congress authorizes 4 modern ships of steel, “A, B, C, D Ships”; three cruisers, Atlanta, Boston and Chicago, and dispatch boat Dolphin.
◆1891 Congress created the Office of Superintendent of Immigration (Treasury Department).
◆1895 Matthew Ridgway was born in Virginia.★
◆1905 Congress authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to acquire a suitable site in the state of Maryland upon which to establish a depot for the Revenue Cutter Service; this station eventually became the Coast Guard Yard.
◆1911 The 1st US federal cemetery with Union and Rebel graves opened at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri.
◆1915 National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, a NASA forerunner, was created.
◆1915 Congress creates Federal Naval Reserve.
◆1915 The post of Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) was established by Act of Congress and Admiral William S. Benson was appointed as the first CNO.
◆1923 US Senate rejected membership in International Court of Justice, The Hague.
◆1931 President Herbert Hoover signs a congressional act making “The Star-Spangled Banner” the official national anthem of the United States.★
◆1936 Standard Oil of California struck oil at Damman No 7. Aramco made the first commercial oil find in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The English Arabist, H. St. John Philby, orchestrated the Aramco concession in Saudi Arabia.1942 Broome, Australia: heavy damage from a Japanese air raid.1943 Battle of the Bismarck Sea: Japanese transports hit by Allied aircraft and ships.
◆1943 The Japanese convoy carrying the troops of the 51st Division, is heavily attacked by Allied aircraft from the 5th Air Force.
◆1944 On the Anzio beachhead, German forces attack the line held by the US 3rd Division, near Ponte Ricco, but fail to penetrate. The German 14th Army goes over to the defensive after this failure.
◆1944 A night banzai attack by the Japanese garrison on Los Negros is defeated by American forces.
◆1945 Japanese resistance in Manila comes to an end after a month-long battle. Most of the 20,000 Japanese defenders have been killed and the town has been devastated. Troops from the Americal Division are landed on Ticao and Burias Islands to the west of the San Bernadino Strait.
◆1945 On Iwo Jima, an area of the island which has become known as “the Mincer” is cleared by the marines of US 5th Amphibious Corps. The third airfield is completely occupied by the American.1945 Troops of Canadian 1st and US 9th Armies link up near Geldern. Farther south, units of the US 12th Corps from US 3rd Army capture a crossing over the KyllRiver. Meanwhile, elements of the US 7th Army take Forbach.
◆1949 Sec. of Defense Forrestal resigned. He was worn out by his futile efforts to bring about the unification of the armed services. He was succeeded by Louis A. Johnson. Johnson proceeded to slash defense expenses. He retired all but 5 aircraft carriers and dismantled the first supercarrier.
◆1951 A new shipment of Tarzan bombs arrived in the Far East, allowing Far East Air Forces to resume raids, suspended since January 17, with the large guided weapons.
◆1952 Operation SATURATE was launched with the objective of destroying selected segments of the enemy’s rail lines with sustained round-the-clock bombing.
◆1959 Pioneer 4, the 1st US probe to enter solar orbit, was launched.
◆1960 The French cargo ship “La Coubre,” laden with Belgian weapons, exploded in Havana Harbor and killed 136 people. The blast was blamed on US agents.
◆1960 USS Sargo return to Hawaii from arctic cruise of 11,000 miles, 6,003 miles under the polar ice. On February 9 she had arrived under the North Pole. Making her first pass under the pole at 0934, the submarine began a clover leaf search for thin ice and at 1049 she surfaced, according to her log, 25 feet from the pole, through 36 inches of ice. Later the same day, the Hawaiian flag was raised at the pole; and on the morning of the 10th, USS SARGO submerged and departed the pole.
◆1965 US performed a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
◆1965 More than 30 U.S. Air Force jets strike targets along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos.
◆1967 US performed a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
◆1969 The Apollo 9 mission was the first manned flight of all Apollo lunar hardware in Earth orbit and first manned flight of the lunar module. Lunar module pilot Russel L. Schweickart performed a 37 minute EVA. Human reactions to space and weightlessness were tested in 152 orbits over 10 days.
◆1971 The U.S. Army’s 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) departs South Vietnam.★
◆1972 Sculpted figures of Jefferson Davis, Robert E Lee, and Stonewall Jackson were completed at Stone Mountain, GA.
◆1979 MARS Special Operations Group established.★
◆1988 The U.S. House of Representatives rejected a package of $30 million in non-lethal aid for the Nicaraguan Contras.
◆1989 Robert McFarlane got a $20,000 fine and 2 years probation for Iran-Contra.
◆1991 American General H. Norman Schwarzkopf and Saudi Lt. Gen. Prince Khalid discussed cease-fire terms with Iraqi commanders Lt. Gen. Mohammed Abdez Rahman al-Dagitistani and Lt. Gen. Sabin Abdel-Aziz al Douri. The Iraqis’ astonishment at the disparity involved in the prisoner exchange demonstrated how ignorant they still were of the magnitude of their own defeat. Iraq accepts the terms of ceasefire.