Germain's instructions, often weeks if not longer in reaching New York, ranked high among Clinton's vexations. With a diplomacy tinged with irritation, the commander in chief answered Germain's missive on May 14: "It shall be my endeavor to draw Washington forward before he is Reinforced, by indirect Manouvres, and if he gives in to my views no efforts shall be wanting to strike at him whilst he is in motion; but if he persists in keeping his present post I must not flatter myself that it will be easy to gain any advantage over him or to carry into effect, as I certainly should wish to do, the measures which your Lordship appears to recommend."
In looking for a place to land his blow and to maximize the effect of his limited forces, Clinton's gaze turned inevitably up the Hudson River. Thanks to the presence and active cooperation of the Royal Navy, he knew he could move a strike force quickly along the waterway, virtually ensuring himself local superiority wherever he landed.
Twenty miles north of Manhattan the Hudson broadened enough that the locals called it the Tappan Zee. It narrowed quickly after another twenty miles, pinched by a pair of promontories: Verplancks Point on the eastern shore and Stony Point on the western side. Between them ran Kings Ferry, marking the principal crossing point between the New England states and the rest of the colonies. It was also an invaluable staging area for any effort against the principal American fortification along the river -- West Point.
A strike at Verplancks Point and Stony Point, Clinton reasoned, was a move that Washington could not ignore. From past experience, the British commander expected Washington to react by moving some or all of his army north from its encampments in New Jersey. Such an operation thus would have the double benefit of disrupting the rebel supply chain and possibly drawing Washington's army into the open. As an added spur, the Americans had been busy strengthening both posts: There was a finished strongpoint called Fort Lafayette at Verplancks, and working parties were putting the last touches on a log blockhouse atop Stony Point.
REAR VIEW AT STONY POINT
Once he had determined his objectives, Clinton organized an expedition that left little to chance. Numbering perhaps six thousand British, Hessian, and Loyalist soldiers transported on seventy sailing vessels and 150 flat-bottomed boats, Clinton's force departed Kingsbridge on May 30 and landed, virtually unopposed, the next day. Major General John Vaughan and fifteen hundred men came ashore on the Hudson's eastern side at Tellers Point, eight miles south of Verplancks Point. The rest, led personally by Clinton, landed on the west bank near Haverstraw before marching against Stony Point. Only a token American party of forty men garrisoned Stony Point, and as the powerful British column drew near, the Americans set fire to the blockhouse before fleeing north over Dunderberg Mountain. There was a subtlety in the British plan, as Vaughan's men -- on the eastern side -- did not move directly against Fort Lafayette, but instead secured the roads leading from it. During the night, British soldiers and sailors, displaying what one of their officers termed "infinite fatigue and labor," hauled several cannons up Stony Point's rugged slopes to bear on Fort Lafayette. On the morning of June 1, the American garrison of seventy-four men (mostly North Carolina Continentals) was shelled from Stony Point and menaced by the sight of the sloop-of-war Vulture choking off any river escape. An effort made to evacuate toward Peekskill was blocked by Vaughan's men, leaving the isolated soldiers no option but surrender, which they did to Clinton's aide-de-camp, Major John André. Sir Henry had taken both strategic outposts with the loss of just one casualty.
Not knowing whether this move was the extent of the British effort or if it portended an even deeper thrust into New York's interior, Washington put his army in motion, as Clinton had anticipated. Also as Clinton had foreseen, Washington moved defensively, not directly challenging the move but positioning his forces to protect West Point and to prevent any less than full-scale advance the enemy might attempt from its newly won outposts. Washington's own headquarters were first at Smith's Clove and then at New Windsor.
VIEW OF STONY POINT FROM THE SOUTHWEST
A brief waiting game ensued while Clinton maintained his positions on the off chance that Washington would rise to the bait, so the British commander might, as he wrote, "avail myself of any false move he may make." Clinton's soldiers used the time to improve their defenses, especially at Stony Point, where the rebel works had been rudimentary at best. An American officer who observed them toiling at long distance thought that they labored "like a parcel of devils." Clinton had been hoping for reinforcements from England that would make Washington's situation even more difficult. When they did not appear, however, he still decided to continue his program of disrupting the region in the hope of catching Washington out of his defenses.
Accordingly, beginning on June 27, Clinton commenced withdrawing the majority of his troops from the two captured posts to support a raid targeting the Connecticut coast, undertaken by Maj. Gen. William Tryon. Left behind at Stony Point was a garrison of some six hundred men consisting, as Clinton later reported, "of the 17th Regiment of Foot, the Grenadier Company of the 71st Regiment, a Company of the loyal Americans, and a small Detachment of the Royal Artillery, [all] under the command of Lieut. Colonel [Henry] Johnson of the 17th Regiment." Stony Point was a natural fortress and with these trustworthy troops improving their position on a daily basis, Clinton had no fear for the post's safety. He did not, as he later wrote, entertain "the smallest apprehension that any attack the enemy could make against that place…could possibly be attended with mischief before I should be able to afford them assistance."
A month earlier Washington would have seconded this assessment. Soon after the loss of Stony Point and Verplancks Point, he noted that "an attempt to dislodge them, from the natural strength of the positions, would require a greater force and apparatus than we are master of. All we can do is to lament what we cannot remedy." As time passed with no further offensive moves on Clinton's part, Washington began to reconsider. A concentrated intelligence gathering was ordered. Cavalry, under the capable Major Henry Lee, began collecting information along both sides of the river. Some was obtained through direct observation, while other bits came from the interrogation of civilians who supplied the British with provisions. There was even a spy named Allan McLane who took the part of a local farmer and in this guise entered the Stony Point fortifications to observe their location and development.
This map shows the relative position of Verplanck’s and Stony Points, and of the forts in the time of the Revolution. A represents the position and form of the fort on Stony Point; B, General Wayne’s right column, and C his left column, when he stormed the ramparts and fort; and D shows the site of Fort Fayette, on the east side of the river.
This process was well underway when Anthony Wayne arrived in response to Washington's summons. On July 1, Wayne took charge of an elite strike force styled the Light Corps. Patterned after similar units in the European armies, this command had been personally drilled by Washington's chief disciplinarian, Baron Friedrich von Steuben. Consisting of veteran troops taken from the Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia Lines, its first assignment was to shield West Point, probe the enemy dispositions and intentions, and look for an opening to strike back. To this end, the Light Corps was split between the eastern and western sides of the Hudson, and continued to train, especially on Wayne's weapon of choice, the bayonet. There was one more item that Washington saved for Wayne's eyes alone. "It is a matter I have much at heart to make some attempt upon these [enemy-occupied] Posts...if warranted by the probability of success," he informed his aggressive, ambitious subordinate.
It was Stony Point that drew Washington's greatest attention. While the disruption of Kings Ferry is often cited as a prime motivation for this interest, Washington saw its closure more as an inconvenience than a catastrophe. He understood, perhaps better than most, the symbolic gesture that Clinton was making by maintaining such an advanced position and the morale-boosting value for the Colonial cause if it could be retaken. The Virginian also appreciated that Clinton was stretched thin and such a dramatic blow to one of his forward positions could add even more caution to his increasingly conservative strategy. So, well before Wayne arrived, Washington was scrutinizing every scrap of information gathered about the Stony Point defenses, hoping to unlock their mysteries.
What he learned was initially disheartening. Gone were the days when the British military treated the American soldiery with disdain. Colonel Johnson, the Stony Point commander, worked diligently to improve its natural advantages. The promontory was scraped bare of trees, leaving a stark landscape of earth, rocks, stumps, brushwoods, and defensive works. The main position had been established on the 150-foot-high plateaulike summit set against the point's eastern tip, called by the British the Table of the Hill. It encompassed the most powerful cannons and all administrative and command stations. Unconnected strongpoints were at the corners of the Table, the most significant of which was known as the Flagstaff Battery. The principal defensive line for this core citadel was indicated by an abatis (tightly packed felled trees with their interlocked branches pointing toward the enemy), which ran from the southern shore to an especially steep escarpment bordering the north side. There was one artillery position along this line, the Howitzer Battery. Several engineers thought that this main position was the only one worth defending.
A. Howitzer Battery
B. Left Flank Battery
C. Right Flank Battery
D. Flagstaff Battery
E. HMS Vulture
F. 3 Pounder
G. Gunboat
H. New Battery
I. Subalterns Picquet
J. Powder Magazine
K. Advanced Work #1
L. Advanced Work #2
M. Advanced Work #3
1. Captain William Darby
2. Lieutenant John Ross
3. Captain Robert Clayton
4. Captain Wiliam Tiffen
5. Lieutenant William Horndon
6. Captain Lawrence Robert Campbell
7. Lieutenant William Armstrong
8. Lieutenant William Simpson
9. Lieutenant John Roberts
10. Corporal Simon Davies
11. Corporal John Ashe
12. Corporal William West
13. Lieutenant William Marshall
14. Lieutenant Colonel Henry Johnson
15. Sergeant Henry Gillott
When work on the upper fortifications began, a temporary outer line was established along some lower rises overlooking a stream and marshy ground lying west of the promontory. The outer abatis was run here from south to north. The northern end terminated at the shoreline, but the water on the southern side was shallow enough that worried officers extended the abatis some fifty yards into the bay. The rises of higher ground along this broken ridgeline became the sites for three triangular, open-ended artillery positions -- called flèches -- which were numbered consecutively from south to north. The rough ground between the outer and inner abatis provided protected spots for other guns, and one, the Three-Pounder Battery, was established behind the flanches.
The final touch in the defensive scheme came courtesy of the Royal Navy, which provided additional firepower off both flanks of the inner abatis. To the south a small gunboat took station, while to the north Vulture covered the shoreline. To further guard the land side against a surprise attack, picket posts had been established along the west side of the swampy moat. Although the 564 men who garrisoned the position represented less than half of what Washington later decided the fortress required, they were steady, veteran soldiers who would not succumb to panic.
Pursuant to Washington's orders, Wayne completed his first reconnaissance of Stony Point on the evening of July 2. He pronounced the enemy position formidable, and rejected the prospect of a regular siege approach as too time consuming. "Upon the whole I do not think a Storm practicable -- but perhaps a Surprise may be Effected," Wayne noted, and invited Washington to join him in examining the layout of the target. Washington obliged and afterward, on July 10, sent a plan of attack for Wayne's consideration that revealed him to be a solid analyst and a bold planner. Designating the Light Corps for the operation, Washington identified an approach along the promontory's southern shore as offering the best chance for success. He proposed a party of picked men precede the column to silence the sentries and to open gaps in the abatis. The bayonet was to be the principal weapon, and to maintain the stealth of the whole affair the men were to march with muskets unloaded. Once the position had been taken, they were to turn the captured cannons on the enemy shipping and against Verplancks Point, which would then be attacked by another column moving along the Hudson's east bank.
Henry Dawson's "The Storming of Stony Point", originally printed in 1852.
Washington also thought of small but vital elements of the plan. Knowing that defenders normally stand on alert at sunrise, when an attack was considered most likely, he suggested "that the troops should move on the works at midnight rather than at the morning dawn." It speaks to the confidence Washington had in his new Light Corps that he unhesitatingly suggested a plan based on the most difficult military operation -- a night attack.
The battle orders Wayne submitted to Washington on July 14 were essentially those he had received, with two important modifications. Instead of just one assault against the southern side of the position, there would be a second from the northern side. This wing would also provide an important diversion by sending one detachment with loaded weapons to demonstrate against the center of the enemy's position, where the presence of a causeway made it most vulnerable. This small force was to draw attention to itself even as the strong columns closed from the north and south. Washington pronounced the alterations to be an improvement upon his own plan and approved the operation.
Secrecy was the overriding concern; if the British were alert and waiting, the Americans would be slaughtered. The hitherto separated wings of the Light Corps were quietly joined at Sandy Beach, near Fort Montgomery, for the July 15 march. A roundabout line of march was plotted to avoid observation of the strike force, the loose cavalry screen on the land side of Stony Point was tightened, and any inhabitants encountered during the approach march were detained until the action was over. It was a fourteen-mile trek along narrow trails, with the column often moving single file. The time was nearing 8 p.m. when the leading elements reached the staging area -- the clear fields around David Springsteel's farm, a mile and a half west of Stony Point.
"The Fort’s Our Own" de Fleury at Stony Point by Dale Gallon
Only now were the rank and file told what was ahead of them, and volunteers were called for to form the advance parties. These men in turn were divided into a support group and a smaller lead element that would actually open gaps in the abatis. The latter party, carrying axes as well as guns, was aptly named the forlorn hope. To aid in the difficult task of identifying friend from foe at night, the soliders received a square piece of white paper that was affixed to the front of their caps. General Wayne's rousing orders of the day were read, and the men were told that at the special request of General Washington, the first five soldiers or officers to reach the enemy's main work at the summit would be rewarded with tiered payments from five hundred dollars for the first to one hundred dollars for the fifth. Finally, they were instructed that once the enemy works had been taken they were to shout again and again, "The fort's our own!"
In the few hours remaining, the men made ready. Some, like Wayne, wrote final letters and wills. Although Wayne had a powerful premonition that he would fall in the coming fight, he was no less determined to personally command the southern assault force. When preparations were complete, the men were drawn up in columns with bayonets fixed, and the forlorn hope moved to the front. At about 11:30 p.m., the word to advance was given.
What Wayne and Washington never knew was that the high degree of secrecy they had imposed on this operation had been compromised. In testimony at his later court-martial, Colonel Johnson stated: "The Intelligence I received between eight and nine o'clock on the evening of the 15th from the scouts I had sent out the preceding evening…gave me reason to expect an attack." However, those scouts (two, based on other testimony) also indicated that the American plan required artillery that had not yet arrived, so Johnson refrained from issuing a full alert. According to the orders he did circulate, the soldiers at Stony Point were to "lay with all their clothes on at night, [except coats, with which] their arms, ammunition, and accouterments is to be carefully put up in such a manner as they can get them upon the shortest notice."
Despite this advantage, the British defenses at Stony Point suffered from some serious deficiencies on the night of July 15. Unlike Clinton, whose relations with the Royal Navy were generally effective, the cooperation between Colonel Johnson and the two vessels assigned to aid him was almost nonexistent. It was not unusual for the gunboat to be unaccountably absent from her station, as she would be on the night of the 15th, and while Johnson was unhappy with the situation, he did nothing to resolve it. Also this night, again without informing Johnson, the sloop Vulture had repositioned herself in midriver, so that her guns no longer bore on Stony Point's northern flank.
Compounding this serious loss of firepower, Johnson had yet to concentrate all his defenses on the core redoubts located on the Table of the Hill, so that most of his troop strength this night was divided between picket duties and manning the outer abatis. This created the unusual situation where the American attack plan designed to bypass the outer abatis almost perfectly mated with the weaknesses of the British defense, even though some of those components -- such as the absence of both flanking vessels -- could not have been anticipated.
The American attacking force of perhaps 1,150 men had been divided into two unequal wings. The largest, approximately seven hundred soldiers, was to "go below the fort, march up the bank of the river, and attack it from the south side" recorded one officer present. The forlorn hope preceding it was led by Lieutenant George Knox, who would be closely supported by the advance party under Lt. Col. Fransois Louis de Fleury, a French soldier who had fought with distinction at Fort Mifflin and Brandywine. Behind them marched Anthony Wayne and the heavy columns made up of the regiments of Lt. Col. Christian Febiger, Colonel Return Meigs, and Major William Hull.
The left, or northern, wing consisted of 450 men of which 150 would be detached for the diversion in the center. Here the forlorn hope was commanded by Lieutenant James Gibbons, followed by the advance party under Major John Stewart. Colonel Richard Butler was in charge of the column, while Major Hardy Murfree was responsible for the diversion. Attached to both wings were parties of trained artillerymen, whose assignment was to put the captured cannons into action against the vessels in the river and the British posted at Verplancks Point. Spread among the various commands were specially ordered short pikes, called espontoons.
Additional Sources: www.dean.usma.edu
www2.lhric.org
www.allposters.com
www.uppercanadahistory.ca
www.sar.org
freepages.history.rootsweb.com
On this Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on May 16:
1558 Andreas of Austria Bohemia cardinal/Governor of Netherlands (1598-1600)
1609 Ferdinand Austria, cardinal of Spain/Governor of Netherlands
1641 Dudley North financier/economist
1718 Maria G Agnesi Italy mathematician curves= x²y=a²(a-y)
1763 Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin chemist (discovered chromium, beryllium)
1782 John Sell Cotman water color artist
1801 William Henry Seward Secretary of State (1861-69, buys Alaska at 2¢/acre)
1804 Elizabeth Palmer Peabody educator/founder (1st US kindergarten)
1806 George C Cadwalader Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1879
1816 Henry Hopkins Sibley Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1886
1819 Daniel Ammen Captain (Union Navy), died in 1898
1824 Edmund Kirby-Smith Florida, West Point graduate/educator/General (Confederate Army)
1824 Levi Parsons Morton (R) 22nd US Vice President (1889-93)
1827 Petrus J H Cuypers architect (Amsterdam Museum, Central station)
1831 David Edward Hughes inventor (microphone, teleprinter)
1832 Philip Danforth Armour founder (Armour Foods)
1866 Ernest Watson Burgess US sociologist (ecological school)
1878 Taylor Holmes Newark NJ, actor (Tobor the Great, Beware My Lovely)
1889 Joan Collette Dutch (male) painter (New Church, Delft)
1898 August de Schrijver Belgian politician/founder (CVP)
1902 Jan Kiepura Sosnowiec Poland, vocalist/actor (Her Wonderful Lie)
1904 Hugh Plaxton Canada, ice hockey player (Olympics-gold-1928)
1904 Lily Pons opera singer/actress (That Girl From Paris)
1905 Henry Fonda Grand Island NE, actor (Mr Roberts, On Golden Pond)
1906 Arturo Uslar Pietri Venezuela, writer/minister (Lanzas Coloradas)
1906 Nicholas Beriozoff ballet master
1907 Robert Tisdall Ireland, 400 meter hurdles (Olympics-gold-1932)
1911 Margaret Sullavan Norfolk VA, actress (Back Street)
1912 Studs Terkel New York NY, author/host (Stud's Place, Working)
1913 Woody Herman jazz clarinetist/bandleader/composer (Thundering Herds)
1916 Adriana Caselotti cartoon voice
1916 Ephraim Katzir biophysicist/President (Israel)
1916 Irene Elizabeth Beatrice Ighodaro doctor/social reformer
1917 George Gaynes Helsinki Finland, actor (Henry-Punky Brewster)
1918 Edward Thomas historian/intelligence expert
1918 Juan Rulfo Mexican writer (Pedro Páramo)
1919 [Wladziu Valentino] Liberace West Allis WI, pianist (Liberace Show, Evil Chandell-Batman)
1919 Richard Mason author
1921 Harry Carey Jr Saugus CA, actor (She Wore a Yellow Ribbon)
1924 Dawda Kairaba Jawara President (Gambia, 1970-94)
1924 Frank F Mankiewicz New York NY, columnist (Perfectly Clear)
1927 John Walford solicitor
1928 Billy Martin baseball 2nd baseman/manager (New York Yankees, Oakland A's)
1928 Reginald Askew dean (King's College London)
1929 Adrienne Cecile Rich Baltimore MD, feminist writer (Diamond Cutters)
1930 Friedrich Gulda Austrian pianist/composer (Hangman's Songs)
1931 Jack Dodson Pittsburgh PA, actor (Howard Sprage-Andy Griffith Show)
1931 Lowell P Weicker (Senator-R-CT, 1971-88/Governor-D-CT)
1931 Peter Levi poet/writer
1932 Isaac "Redd" Holt US drummer (Young-Holt Unlimited-In Crowd)
1934 Anthony Walker commandant (Royal College of Defense Studies)
1936 Philippe de Montebello Paris France, art exhibitionist (Treasures of Tut)
1937 Yvonne Craig Taylorville IL, actress (Batgirl-Batman, Kissin Cousin)
1940 Bernardo Bertolucci Parma Italy, director (1900, Last Emperor)
1943 Dan Coats (Representative-R-IN, 1981- )
1943 Jon Jost director (All the Vermeers in New York)
1944 Billy Cobham Panamá, jazz artist (Same Ole Love)
1945 Brewster H Shaw Jr Cass City MI, Colonel USAF/astronaut (STS-9, STS 61B, STS-28)
1946 Jessi B Wilson Mississippi, murderer (FBI Most Wanted List)
1946 Roger Earl rocker (Foghat)
1947 Barbara Lee US singer (Chiffons, He's So Fine)
1947 Bill Smitrovich actor (Crime Story, Miami Vice)
1949 William Sputnik Spooner rock guitarist (Grateful Dead, Tubes)
1950 Johannes Bednorz German superconductivity physicist (Nobel 1987)
1952 Pierce Brosnan Navan County Meath Ireland, actor (Remington Steele, James Bond-Golden Eye)
1954 [Dafydd] Rhys Williams Saskatoon Canada, MD/astronaut (STS 90)
1955 Debra Winger Columbus OH, actress (Officer & Gentleman)
1955 Jack Morris St Paul MN, pitcher (Detroit Tigers/Mn. Twins)
1955 Olga Korbut Grodno Belorussia, gymnast (Olympics-2 gold-1972)
1961 Nina Arvesen White Plains NY, actress (Cassandra-Young & Restless)
1963 Jimmy Osmond rocker (Osmond Brothers)
1965 Lori Sippel Stratford Ontario, softball pitcher (Olympics-96)
1966 Janet Jackson Gary IN, singer, Michael's sister (Control)
1966 Thurman Thomas NFL running back (Buffalo Bills)
1970 Gabriela Sabatini Argentina, tennis player (Olympics-silver-1988)
1981 Jessica Ponzo Miss New Jersey Teen USA (1996)
Deaths which occurred on May 16:
0942 Saadiah Gaon head of Talmudic Academy of Sura, dies
1434 Pieter Appelmans Flemish architect/master builder, dies at about 60
1669 Pietro da Cortona [Berrettini], painter/architect, dies
1691 Jacob Leisler becomes 1st American colonist hanged for treason
1768 Cornelis Writer fleet supervisor, dies at about 81
1777 Button Gwinnet US revolutionary leader, dies from wounds
1805 Christian Brunings hydraulic engineer, dies at 68
1863 Lloyd Tilghman Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at 47
1864 Lean Bear Cheyenne chief, murdered
1892 John Banvard painted world's largest painting (3 mile canvas), dies
1904 N I Bobrikov Russian Governor-General in Finland, dies
1932 Ki Imukai premier of Japan (1931-32), murdered
1932 William Pember Reeves politician/poet, dies
1938 Stephen Fairbairn oarsman/coach, dies
1944 Max Brand [Frederick Schiller Faust] western author, dies
1954 Werner Bischof Swiss photographer, dies accidentally at 38
1955 James Agee US critic/writer (Death in Family), dies in New York
1966 Randolph Turpin boxer, shot dead in his home
1975 Michael X [Abdul Malik] hanged in Trinidad, for murder
1979 Asa Philip Randolph labor leader & civil rights pioneer, dies at 90
1984 Andy Kaufman comedian (Latka-Taxi), dies of cancer at 35
1984 Irwin Shaw US writer (Rich Man, Poor Man), dies at 71
1985 Margaret Hamilton actress (Wicked Witch-Wizard of Oz), dies from a heart attack at 82
1988 Kay Baxter Best Bodybuilder in the World (1983-85), dies in car crash at 42
1988 Louise Wood director of Girl Scouts of USA (1961-72), dies at 78
1989 Hassan Khaled sheik of Lebanon, murdered
1990 Jim Henson muppeteer (Sesame Street, Muppet Show), dies of pneumonia at 53
1990 Sammy Davis Jr entertainer (Golden Boy), dies from throat cancer at 64
1994 Barbara Jean Jones fictional character on General Hospital, dies at 7
1994 Phani Majumdar film director, dies at 82
1996 Mike Jeremy Boorda Chief of Naval Operations (US Navy), commits suicide at 57
1996 Pierre Debizet resistance fighter/special agent, dies at 72
2002 David Berg (81), (Mad magazine artist) dies
GWOT Casualties
Iraq
16-May-2003 1 | US: 1 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Master Sergeant William L. Payne Haswah Non-hostile - ordnance accident
16-May-2004 1 | US: 1 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US 2nd Lieutenant Leonard M. Cowherd Jr. Karbala Hostile - hostile fire - sniper
Afghanistan
A Good Day
http://icasualties.org/oif/ Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White
On this day...
0955 Alberich II, illegitimate son of Octavianus elected pope
1527 Florence becomes a republic
1532 Sir Thomas More resigns as English Lord Chancellor
1547 Protestant German monarch surrenders to Karel in Wittenberg
1568 Mary Queen of Scotland flees to England
1571 Johannes Kepler, by his own calculations, is conceived at 4:37 AM
1605 Camillo Borghese elected to succeed Pope Leo XI becomes Paul V
1606 2,000 foreigners murdered in Russia
1648 Battle at Zólty Wody: Bohdan Chmielricki's cosacks defeat John Casimir
1763 Samuel Johnson meets his future biographer James Boswell in London
1770 Marie Antoinette (14) marries future King Louis XVI (15) of France
1792 Denmark abolishes slave trade
1795 Hedges Treaty: Bataafse Republic becomes French vassel state
1803 Peace of Amiens ends
1804 Senate & Tribune declare Napolean leader of France
1811 Peninsular War-Allies defeat French at Albuera
1817 Mississippi River steamboat service begins
1860 Republican convention (Chicago) selects Abraham Lincoln candidate
1861 Confederate Government offers war volunteers $10 premium
1861 Kentucky proclaims its neutrality
1862 Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir builds 1st automobile
1863 Battle of Champion's Hill MS-bloodiest action of Vicksburg Campaign
1864 Atlanta Campaign-battle of Resaca, ends (since May 13)
1864 Battle of Bermuda Hundred VA
1864 Last battles at Drewry's Bluff VA (6,666 casualties)
1866 Charles Elmer Hires invents root beer
1866 Congress authorizes nickel 5¢ piece (replaces silver half-dime)
1868 President Andrew Johnson acquitted during Senate impeachment, by 1 vote (cast by cast by Edmund G. Ross)
1869 Cincinnati Reds play their 1st baseball game, win 41-7
1872 Metropolitan Gas Company lamps lit for 1st time
1874 1st recorded dam disaster in US (Williamsburg MA)
1875 Quake in Venezuela & Colombia kills 16,000
1879 Treaty of Gandamak to set up Afghan state between Russia & English
1881 World's 1st elec tram goes into service in Lichterfelder (near Berlin)
1894 Fire in Boston destroys baseball stadium & 170 other buildings
1896 The US Supreme Court upheld the State of Louisiana Separate Car Act in Plessy vs. Ferguson. (separate but equal)
1901 Start of Sherlock Holmes "The Adventure of the Priory School" (BG)
1902 2 deaf-mutes face each other for 1st time as Dummy Hoy leads off for the Reds against Dummy Taylor of the Giants, Reds win 5-3
1903 1st transcontinental motorcycle trip begins at San Fransisco (George Wymann)
1910 US Bureau of Mines forms
1911 Remains of a neanderthal man found in Jersey UK
1911 Zeppelin "Deutscheland" wrecked at Dusseldorf
1914 American Horseshoe Pitchers Association organizes in Kansas City
1916 41st Preakness: Linus McAtee aboard Damrosch wins in 1:54.8
1920 Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc) canonized a saint in Rome
1920 Spanish bullfighter Joselito is fatally gored fighting his last bull
1922 White Star Line Majestic completes 5½ day maiden voyage
1924 108ºF (42ºC) in Blitzen OR
1925 1st network radiocast (WHAS) of Kentucky Derby
1925 51st Kentucky Derby: Earl Sande aboard Flying Ebony wins in 2:07.6
1927 New York Yankee Bob Meusel steals 2nd, 3rd & home
1927 Supreme Court ruled bootleggers must pay income tax
1929 1st Academy Awards - "Wings", Emil Jennings & Janet Gaynor win
1932 Yankees 4th straight shutout to equal record set by Cleveland & Boston
1933 Cecil Travis becomes 1st player to get 5 hits in his 1st game
1936 1st British air hostess (Daphne Kearley) flight to France
1938 1st animal breeding society forms (New Jersey)
1938 38 die in Terminal Hotel fire (Atlanta GA)
1939 1st American League night game, Philadelphia Shribe Park (Indians 8, Athletics 3 in 10)
1939 Food stamps are 1st issued
1940 Nazis forbid non-professional auto workers
1941 1st US/radio performance of Bennett's "Symphony in D for the Dodgers"
1941 Italian army under Aosta surrenders to Britain at Amba Alagi Ethiopia
1941 Last great German air attack on Great Britain (Birmingham)
1942 1st transport of British/Dutch prisoners to South Burma
1943 German troops destroy synagogue of Warsaw
1943 Jewish resistance in the Warsaw ghetto ends after 30 days of fighting
1943 "Skipping bombs" were used for the first and only time to breach three massive Ruhr Valley dams--the Eder, the Mohne and the Sorpe--that supplied water and hydroelectric power to Germany's vital armament factories.
1944 1st of 180,000+ Hungarian Jews reach Auschwitz
1944 Military police attack gypsies
1946 Musical "Annie Get Your Gun" starring Ethel Merman premieres in NYC
1948 Botvinnik wins 5-player tournament to determine world chess champion
1948 CBS news correspondent George Polk's body is found in Greece
1948 Chaim Weizmann elected 1st President of Israel
1948 Egyptians enter the Gaza
1948 Israel issues its 1st postage stamps
1953 Phillies Curt Simmons gives up a single, then retires next 27 in a row
1954 Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA National Capital Golf Open
1955 Heavyweight Rocky Marciano KOs Don Cockell in 9 (San Fransisco) for heavyweight boxing title
1956 Egypt recognizes People's Republic of China
1956 Great Britain performs nuclear Test at Monte Bello Is Australia
1956 Kraft Theatre presents an act from "Profiles in Courage"
1957 Major Irwin, USAF flies a Lockheed Starfighter to a record 1,404.18 MPH
1957 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Invicti Athletae
1957 US launches its 3rd atomic submarine, USS Skate, at Groton CT
1958 Eli Beeding experiences 83 g deceleration on a rocket sled, New Mexico
1958 Walter Irwin flies 2,259 KPH in F-104A Starfighter
1959 WTOM TV channel 4 in Cheboygan MI (NBC) begins broadcasting
1960 Big 4 summit in Paris collapses as USSR levels spy charges against US
1963 Gordon Cooper completes 22 orbits in Faith 7, ends US Project Mercury
1964 90th Preakness: Bill Hartack aboard Northern Dancer wins in 1:56.8
1964 Verne Gagne beats Mad Dog Vachon in Omaha, to become NWA champion
1965 Baltimore Oriole Jim Palmer's pitching debut, beats Yankees 7-5 & homers
1965 Bomb destroys USAF base Bien Hoa South Vietnam
1965 Spaghetti-O's 1st sold
1966 Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" is released
1966 National Welfare Rights Organization begins
1968 Earthquake kills 47 in Japan
1969 Barbra Streisand appears at a Friars Club Tribute
1969 The Who's Pete Townsend & Roger Daltrey charged with assault
1969 US sub Guitarro sinks at the pier at San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, CA
1969 Venera 5 lands on Venus, returns data on atmosphere
1970 "Grover Henson Feels Forgotten" by Bill Cosby hits #70
1971 1st class postage now costs 8¢ (was 6¢)
1971 Bulgaria adopts it's constitution
1972 Greg Luzinski's 500' homerun hits the Liberty Bell monument in Philadelphia's Veteran Stadium
1974 Helmut Schmidt becomes West German chancellor
1975 India annexes Principality of Sikkim
1975 Japanese Junko Tabei became 1st woman to reach Mount Everest's summit
1975 Muhammad Ali TKOs Ron Lyle in 11 for heavyweight boxing title
1975 Wings release "Listen to What the Man Said" in UK
1976 Stanley Cup: Montréal Canadiens sweep Philadelphia Flyers in 4 games
1977 Muhammad Ali beats Alfredo Evangelist in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1979 National League approves Astros sales from Ford Motors to John J McMullen for $19 million
1980 34th NBA Championship: Los Angeles Lakers beat Philadelphia 76ers, 4 games to 2
1980 Brian May of rock group Queen collapses on stage with hepatitis
1981 "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes hits #1 for next 9 weeks
1981 Houston Astro Craig Reynolds hits 3 triples beating Cubs 6-1
1982 Salvador Jorge Blanco wins presidential election in Dominican Republic
1983 Lebanese parliament accept peace accord with Israel
1984 Guinea-Bissau adopts constitution
1984 Harvey Mackay pays $218,718 for 44,166 tickets to keep Twins in Minnesota; Twins sell 51,863 tickets but only 6,346 fans show up for the game
1984 Phillie pitcher Steve Carlton hits a grand slam homer
1985 Michael Jordan named NBA Rookie of Year
1985 Pope John Paul II arrives in Belgium
1986 "Top Gun" premieres
1986 Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) comes back from dead on Dallas
1987 "Bobro 400", a barge carrying 3,200 tons of garbage, set sail from New York, beginning an unsuccesful 8-week search for a dumping site
1987 Weird Al Yankovic performs live at 72nd National Orange Show
1988 Surgeon General C Everett Koop reports nicotine as addictive as heroin
1988 US Supreme Court rules trash may be searched without a warrant
1989 Soviet President Mikhail S Gorbachev & Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping ended a 30-year rift when they formally met in Beijing
1991 Daily Planet fires cub reporter Jimmy Olson (Superman character)
1991 Queen Elizabeth becomes 1st British monarch to address US congress
1992 Polls show Perot, Bush & Clinton could be in a deadlock
1992 US space shuttle STS-49 lands (maiden voyage of Endeavour)
1993 Farmer Sugeng finds 1.2 million year old Pithecanthropus IX skull
1993 Judd Nelson pleads no contest to kicking Kim Evans in the head
1994 Jacqueline Onassis admitted to the hospital for cancer treatment
1994 Tennis star Jennifer Capriati arrested on possession of marijuana
1995 Japanese police arrest cult leader Shoko Asahara & charged him with Nerve-gas attack on Tokyo's subways two months earlier
1996 Sammy Sosa is 1st Chicago Cub to hit 2 homeruns in 1 inning
1997 Brandi Sherwood, (Idaho) replaces Brook Lee (Miss Universe) as Miss USA
1997 Expos trailing San Fransisco Giants by 9 runs comeback to win 14-13
1997 St Louis Cardinals Gary Gaetti records his 2,000th hits
1997 Croat refugees rampage through at least 4 Serbian villages during the week and forced dozens of Serbs to flee.
2000 Veteran idiot and White House correspondent Helen Thomas resignes from UPI, a day after the wire service was sold to the parent firm of The Washington Times.
2001 Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen was indicted on charges of spying for Moscow.
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Cayman Islands : Commonwealth Day
US : Armed Forces Day (Saturday)
National Police Week (Day 2)
National Transportation Week (Day 2)
Don't Light My Fire Day
International Pickle Week (Day 2)
Iowa Tourism Month
Religious Observances
Unification Church : Day of Love of God
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Ubaldus, bishop/confessor
Religious History
1540 German reformer Martin Luther remarked: 'In the worst temptations nothing can help us but faith that God's Son has put on flesh, is bone, sits at the right hand of the Father, and prays for us. There is no mightier comfort.'
1850 Birth of Arthur H. Mann, English church organist. In addition to being an authority on Handel, Mann also composed a number of sacred hymn tunes, including ANGEL'S STORY, to which we sing today, "O Jesus, I Have Promised."
1866 Missouri Lutheran Synod founder C.F.W. Walther wrote in a letter: 'God carries on His work through men with whom it sometimes seems as if one would go to the right and the other to the left and the third one would hold back, and yet the work progresses.'
1920 Popular Baptist pastor and denominational leader George Washington Truett, 53, preached his famous sermon, "Baptists and Religious Liberty," to 15,000 people from the Capitol steps in Washington, D.C.
1929 The Shaffer Lectureship was established at the Yale Divinity School, in memory of Kent Shaffer, Ph.B., 1907. The lectures are concerned with some phase of the life, character and teachings of Jesus. Lecturers have included C.H. Dodd (1935); Ralph W. Sockman (1936); Martin Dibelius (1937); and James Moffatt (1940).
Thought for the day :
"America did not invent human rights, Human Rights invented America."
Wayne's reputation and professionalism made him a natural to succeed Arthur St.Claire in the then Northwest after Little Turtle of the Miamis "whupped" him. When Little Turtle and his allied tribes met Wayne at Fallen Timbers, Wayne returned the favor.
Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was a lonely and unhappy child, with no siblings or friends. One day he was investigating the backyard of his home and discovered a hole in the fence surrounding the yard. Suddenly a small hand reached out toward him from the other side of the fence. Then just as suddenly the hand was gone. On the ground was a small toy sheep. 
