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Today in U.S. military history: J.E.B. Stuart and the 7th Infantry Division invades Alaska
Unto the Breach ^ | May 11, 2017 | Chris Carter

Posted on 05/11/2017 7:48:30 AM PDT by fugazi

1846: Three days after Gen. Zachary Taylor’s forces defeat the Mexican Army in the Battle of Palo Alto, Pres. James K. Polk tells Congress: “Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil.”

The Mexican-American War – already underway – is formally declared within two days.

1863: During the Battle of Yellow Tavern, Condederate Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart is shot by a dismounted Union cavalry trooper north of Richmond, Va. “The greatest cavalry officer ever foaled in America” is mortally wounded and will die the next day.

1943: 3,000 soldiers of the 7th Infantry Division land at Attu Island in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands to repel Japanese troops that landed in June of 1942. After a month of fighting under harsh arctic conditions...

(Excerpt) Read more at victoryinstitute.net ...


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: dixie; jebstuart; militaryhistory; virginia
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The Battle of Attu is the only land combat on sovereign U.S. soil of World War II.
1 posted on 05/11/2017 7:48:30 AM PDT by fugazi
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To: fugazi

It took me a moment to sort that title out. At first I thought it must be humor or alternate history - J.E.B. Stuart invaded Alaska?


2 posted on 05/11/2017 7:54:28 AM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: fugazi

My uncle was a participant


3 posted on 05/11/2017 7:56:25 AM PDT by mosesdapoet (L.J.Keslin aka mosesdapoet)
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To: Leaning Right

Good point. Too bad you can’t edit after posting.


4 posted on 05/11/2017 7:56:30 AM PDT by fugazi
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To: fugazi
“The greatest cavalry officer ever foaled in America” is mortally wounded and will die the next day.

I imagine you might get an argument on that from the Nathan Bedford Forrest supporters.

5 posted on 05/11/2017 7:58:06 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: fugazi

The battle of yellow tavern was not in 1863, but in may 1864.


6 posted on 05/11/2017 7:59:00 AM PDT by mrmeyer (You can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him. Robert Heinlein)
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To: fugazi
J.E.B. Stuart and the 7th Infantry Division invades Alaska

I must have missed that episode of The Civil War........................

7 posted on 05/11/2017 7:59:23 AM PDT by Red Badger (Profanity is the sound of an ignorant mind trying to express itself.............)
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To: fugazi

The Mother of all misleading headlines.


8 posted on 05/11/2017 7:59:33 AM PDT by SkyPilot ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6)
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To: fugazi

I believe J.E.B Stuarts mortal wound occurred in 1864.


9 posted on 05/11/2017 8:01:57 AM PDT by buckalfa (Slip sliding away towards senility.)
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To: fugazi
“The greatest cavalry officer ever foaled in America”

That distinction goes to Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.

10 posted on 05/11/2017 8:05:49 AM PDT by Godebert (CRUZ: Born in a foreign land to a foreign father.)
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To: buckalfa

Yeah, he’d have had a hard time at Gettysburg if he’d been killed in May of 1863.


11 posted on 05/11/2017 8:12:48 AM PDT by wbill
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To: Godebert; DoodleDawg

Good argument... but those are the words of Union Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick - who two days prior to Gen. Stuart being mortally wounded, became the highest-ranking officer to die in the Civil War. While Sedgwick and his officers were being targeted by Confederate sharpshooters some 1,000 yards away, Sedgwick ironically told his men “Why are you dodging like this? They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.” Famous last words - Sedgwick is shot in the head moments later.


12 posted on 05/11/2017 8:15:04 AM PDT by fugazi
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To: buckalfa

Which makes his commanding troops in Alaska in WWII all the more remarkable...


13 posted on 05/11/2017 8:30:55 AM PDT by GreenLanternCorps (Hi! I'm the Dread Pirate Roberts! (TM) Ask about franchise opportunities in your area.)
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To: wbill

Gettysburg may not have happen if he was killed in May. Another cavalry commander might have remembered his mission instead of swanning around in Pennsylvania on an ego rebuilding raid.


14 posted on 05/11/2017 8:34:50 AM PDT by bravo whiskey (Never bring a liberal gun law to a gun fight.)
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To: fugazi

I’ve always struggled with the description of Stuart as the greatest cavalry officer ever. My reasoning is I feel his actions at Gettysburg left Lee blind and that decisions would have been significantly different otherwise.

I realize it was only one battle, but the impact is such that I can’t see him as the greatest ever.


15 posted on 05/11/2017 8:37:29 AM PDT by reed13k
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To: bravo whiskey

Confederate cavalry was a victim of their own success. So dominate over their Union counter part for the first 3 years of the war, they did tend to go off and “do their own thing” because they could. OTH Union cavalry was so bad in the beginning they were the butt of jokes on both sides of the war.


16 posted on 05/11/2017 8:40:53 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: mrmeyer

Which explains how Stuart died after Gettysburg and not before.

Thanks


17 posted on 05/11/2017 8:46:16 AM PDT by OKSooner (He who takes an arrogant person shooting is a fool; be discriminating in your choices and live.)
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To: reed13k

I thought John Wayne was in “She Wore A Yellow Ribbon”.


18 posted on 05/11/2017 8:55:16 AM PDT by DocJ69
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To: fugazi
The Battle of Attu is the only land combat on sovereign U.S. soil of World War II.

Alaska was a territory (from 1912) during World War II. Wake Island was a territory in World War II. So was Guam. (The Philippines were a territory as well, but with the legal status of Commonwealth, I'll give you that one.)

19 posted on 05/11/2017 8:58:18 AM PDT by PAR35
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To: reed13k
"I’ve always struggled with the description of Stuart as the greatest cavalry officer ever."

General Sir Harry Paget Flashman wrote in his memoirs that he believed that the Sioux leader Gall was the greatest light cavalry leader in history.

I know ... I know ... Flashman is fictional, but George McDonald Fraser lays out a fair argument for it in "Flashman and the Redskins".

20 posted on 05/11/2017 9:02:13 AM PDT by BlueLancer (Ex Scientia Tridens)
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