Execution of Major John André
Near the Hudson River, the Revolutionary War’s most famous betrayal came fully into view when British Major John André, captured behind American lines, was executed as a spy.
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Executive Order 9066 signed
On February 19th, 1942, a little more than two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. The order authorized military commanders to establish exclusion zones and remove people from them, a power soon applied mainly along the West Coast. In practice, this meant that more than one hundred thousand people of Japanese ancestry, the majority of them American citize
Fall of Bataan
On the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines, exhausted American and Filipino troops laid down their arms after months of siege, disease, and dwindling supplies. Cut off from reinforcement and resupply, the defenders had fought a stubborn delaying action, buying time for the wider Pacific war effort even as their own situation deteriorated. When surrender became unavoidable, many soldiers were already weakened by malnu
Fall of Taejon
In the early weeks of the Korean War, United States forces rushed to slow a North Korean advance that threatened to overrun the entire peninsula. Around the city of Taejon, elements of the 24th Infantry Division fought a desperate delaying action, outnumbered and facing tanks and artillery in unfamiliar terrain. Over several days of close combat and street fighting, American troops inflicted significant losses but gr
Fall of the Alamo
On March 6th, 1836, after nearly two weeks of siege, Mexican forces under Antonio López de Santa Anna stormed the old mission compound at the Alamo in San Antonio. The defenders, a mixed group of Texian settlers and volunteers from the United States, had chosen to stand in place despite orders to withdraw, hoping to delay the Mexican advance. In the final assault, the garrison was overwhelmed and killed almost to the
Farragut Runs Forts Jackson and St. Philip
In the American Civil War, control of the Mississippi River and its great port cities was central to Union strategy. On the night of April 24th, 1862, Flag Officer David Glasgow Farragut led a Union fleet past the Confederate strongholds of Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip, which guarded the river approach to New Orleans. Under heavy fire, Union ships dodged chains, obstructions, and burning rafts while trading blows
Final American flight leaves Kabul
On August 30th, 2021, the last American military transport lifted off from Kabul’s runway, ending nearly twenty years of continuous American combat operations in Afghanistan.
Fire aboard aircraft carrier USS Forrestal
Off the coast of Vietnam, the supercarrier USS Forrestal was preparing to launch another round of strikes when disaster struck. A malfunction caused a rocket on a parked fighter to fire across the crowded flight deck, smashing into another jet loaded with fuel and bombs. The resulting fires, explosions, and shrapnel tore through aircraft, equipment, and the sailors struggling to fight the blaze.
Fire aboard USS Enterprise
In the closing years of the Vietnam War, the nuclear–powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise operated as a key platform for strikes into Southeast Asia. On January 14th, 1969, during flight operations near Hawaii, a rocket accidentally detonated on the flight deck, triggering a chain of explosions among fueled and armed aircraft.
Fire and survival aboard USS Franklin
As the naval war closed in on Japan, United States fast carrier task forces struck airfields, shipyards, and industrial targets across the home islands. On March 19th, 1945, the carrier USS Franklin was operating relatively close to the enemy coast, her flight deck crowded with fueled and armed aircraft being readied for another strike. A lone Japanese dive bomber slipped through the defenses and dropped bombs that p
First American troops arrive in Northern Ireland
Barely seven weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the first major contingent of American ground troops landed in Northern Ireland. Soldiers from the 34th Infantry Division disembarked in cold, damp weather to the sound of bands and the sight of cheering crowds who knew the war in Europe had entered a new phase. Until then, the British had fought on in the west with limited direct American military presence.
First assault on Vicksburg
Farther west, control of the Mississippi River became a central Union objective. After a bold overland campaign that saw victories at Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hill, and the Big Black River, General Ulysses S. Grant brought his army up to the defenses of Vicksburg, Mississippi. On May 19th, 1863, he ordered an immediate assault, hoping to capitalize on Confederate disarray and seize the fortress city by
First B-29 raid on Japan from China
The same date that Marines were struggling ashore on Saipan also saw the debut of a new weapon in the air war over Asia. On June 15th, 1944, Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers of the United States Army Air Forces flew from forward bases in China to strike industrial targets in Japan in the first mission of its kind.
First Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia
On this day delegates from twelve colonies gathered in Philadelphia to respond to what they called the Coercive or Intolerable Acts, punitive measures imposed after the Boston Tea Party.
First Eighth Air Force heavy bomber raid over Europe
Four days after the creation of that new engineering district, another milestone unfolded in the skies over occupied Europe on August 17th, 1942. That day, B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of the Eighth Air Force launched the first American heavy bomber raid against a target in occupied France, striking railyards and industrial facilities around Rouen.
First landing of an aircraft on a ship
Just eight years after the Wright brothers’ first powered flight, naval officers were already asking what airplanes might do for fleets at sea. On January 18th, 1911, civilian pilot Eugene Ely approached the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Bay, aiming at a temporary wooden deck built over the ship’s stern.
First Medals of Honor presented
The American Civil War produced acts of courage on both sides, but the Union government sought a formal way to recognize extraordinary valor in its ranks. On March 25th, 1863, in a ceremony at the War Department in Washington, the first Medals of Honor were presented to a group of Union soldiers known as Andrews’ Raiders.
First national Decoration Day
Three years after major Confederate armies surrendered, the scars of the Civil War still marked towns and families across the reunited country. On May 30th, 1868, mourners gathered at Arlington National Cemetery and other burial grounds to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers, flags, and wreaths. The observances followed a general order from a veterans’ organization calling for a national “Decoration Day”