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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Posted on 01/28/2003 5:18:27 AM PST by SAMWolf
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are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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On June 17, 1775 British regulars faced an assemblage of independently minded colonial militia at the Battle of Bunker Hill. By evening of that day the British held the Charlestown peninsula, and a new respect for the determination and resourcefulness of colonial forces. The colonials, if shaken from what was for many the first taste of war (and what it reveals of men's character), had proven to themselves that in direct confrontation they could thwart the British army, a force superior in training, equipment, and organization.  Following the beginning of the war at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 the citizens of Boston found themselves between two armies. General Artemas Ward's New England volunteers surrounded Boston and blockaded the land approaches. General Thomas Gage and 4,600 British soldiers held the city itself. One Bostonian wrote, "We are besieged this moment with 10 or 15,000 men, from Roxbury to Cambridge... We are every hour expecting an attack by land or water." Critical to the British occupation of Boston was control of the hills on the Charlestown peninsula. An army holding this position overlooked both Boston and her harbor. On June 15 the Americans learned that the British planned to occupy Charlestown. To frustrate them the Americans decided to act first. On the evening of June 16, Colonel William Prescott, leading 1,200 Massachusetts and Connecticut soldiers, left Cambridge to fortify Bunker's Hill, the dominant hill in Charlestown. Prescott, however, bypassed this position and instead dug in on a lower hill closer to Boston called Breed's Hill. The next morning, the British awoke to find Breed's Hill fortified with an earthen redoubt measuring 160 feet by 30 feet. Gage ordered the position captured.  Major General William Howe, Gage's senior officer, was given field command. A shortage of boats, poor navigational maps, and ill-timed tides affected Howe's strategy and delayed the operation. In the end, Howe decided to land his troops at Moulton's (or Charlestown) Point near the mouth of the Mystic River. From her he could press westward across the peninsula, outflank the American redoubt and seize Bunker's Hill and Charlestown neck. While the British waited for the tide to rise, the Americans used the time wisely. Prescott's men extended their fortifications to the north of the redoubt by building a breastwork. As Colonel Stark's new Hampshiremen arrived, they joined Connecticut troops fortifying a rail fence that extended down the slope of Breed's Hill toward the Mystic. Other soldiers constructed three shelters of fence rails, called fleches, in the exposed area between the breastwork and the rail fence. To cover Prescott's right flank, still other men took up snipers' positions in deserted Charlestown. In all, between 2,500 and 4,000 New Englanders manned the lines. By 3:30 p.m. transports had delivered Howe's initial force, and reinforcements were landing on the shore between Moulton's Point and Charlestown. Whenn colonial snipers began firing at the arriving Redcoats, Howe ordered immediate retribution and the town was set afire by cannon. As Charlestown burned and spectators crowded to rooftops of Boston for the best view of the spectacle, Howe launched his first assault.  Howe's primary objective was the rail fence. As a diversion, Brigadier General Robert Pigot was to lead an assault on the redoubt and adjoining breastwork, while an elite group of light infantry would proceed up the Mystic shore to outflank the colonials on their left. Simultaneously, Howe and his principal force would hit defenders of the rail fence hard. The advance of the Redcoats must have been a terrible sight to the Americans. But nervous as they were, they had to wait. It was critical that the first rounds of fire be coordinated, with men alternately firing and loading to keep up a barrage capable of breaking the enemy's charge. Whether or not they were told to hold fire until they saw the "whites of their eyes," the Colonials were told to wait for the order to fire, to aim low, and to pick off British officers.  Interrupting the advance of Howe's and Pigot's soldiers were fences and uneven terrain hidden by tall grass. Unhindered by such obstacles, the light infantry was able to move swiftly along the Mystic shore, only to be met by Colonel Stark's deadly surprise - a stone wall on the beach backed by soldiers who have no ground. On the meadow above, as Howe's men approached their enemy, they were met by premature but increasingly steady musketry. In the struggle to negotiate fences while under fire, momentum and discipline were lost. Pigot's attack on the redoubt, too, was repulsed. Prescott's men had held. No sooner was the first assault turned back than Howe regrouped and marched forward again in a hasty, uncoordinated attack all along the American front. Once again the assault was a costly failure. The colonials were jubilant, but not for long. Confusion, a lack of discipline, inter-colony rivalries, and the resulting lack of reinforcements and supplies were to take their toll. Howe had been frustrated but not defeated. It was true that British troops were no longer fresh or overconfident and had suffered devastating losses of both rank and file and officers. The officers that remained, however, roused their troops and put together for the final charge a group grimly determined.  This time the British drove against the right and center of the American line. They cut through the breastwork and overran the redoubt from three sides. Stark managed to hold on at the rail fence long enough to help cover Prescott's retreat, but the final scene inside the redoubt was carnage. The surviving colonials retreated northward toward Cambridge. The British, bloodied and exhausted, pursued only as far as Bunker Hill and there dug in. By 5:30 p.m. the fighting was over. Both armies had fought courageously and learned much. For the Redcoats, the lesson was painful. Although they had captured the hill, out of 2,200 soldiers engaged, 1,034 were casualties. The British attempted no further actions outside Boston for the next nine months. When Howe replaced Gage as military commander in America, the events of that day would continue to haunt him, and he would time and again fail to follow up a victory over the Americans. The Americans had shown they could stand up to the British in traditional open field combat. But where they had succeeded, it had been through individual gallantry rather than tactical planning or discipline. Some regiments had fought well, other not at all. Of an estimated 2,500 to 4,000 men engaged, 400 to 600 were casualties. Stronger leadership would be critical to success in further battles. This leadership was provided on July 2, 1775 when George Washington arrived in Cambridge to assume his role as Commander-in-Chief of the new Continental Army.
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From 'Telephoning In Mexican Sunlight' by Galway Kinnell
;0)
Yes, and the British were very relunctant to attack a fixed American position again.
Espically since many of the dead at 'Bunker'(Breeds Hill) were British officers!
Today's classic warship, USS Richmond (CL-9)
Omaha class light cruiser
Displacement: 7,050 t.
Length: 555’6”
Beam: 55’4”
Draft: 20’10”
Speed: 34.7 k.
Complement: 512
Armament: 12 6”; 4 3”; 2 3-pdrs.; 6 21” torpedo tubes
The USS RICHMOND (CL-9) was laid down on 16 February 1920 by William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, Pa.; launched 29 September 1921; sponsored by Miss Elizabeth S. Scott; and commissioned on 2 July 1923, Capt. David F. Boyd in command.
On completion of a 3-month shakedown cruise to Europe, Africa, and South America, RICHMOND underwent post-shakedown availability and in December departed Norfolk for New Orleans. There, at the end of 1923, she became flagship of the Scouting Force.
In early January 1924, she got underway to participate in Fleet Problem III which tested Caribbean defenses and transit facilities of the Panama Canal. On the 19th, she arrived off Vera Cruz, rescued survivors of protected cruiser TACOMA (C-18), wrecked on Blanquilla Reef, then proceeded to Tampico to stand by as political tension rose. On the 26th, she headed for Galveston, only to return to Mexico on 3 February to evacuate refugees from Puerto Mexico and transport them to Vera Cruz. On the 17th she headed east and joined in exercises off Puerto Rico.
In May, RICHMOND returned briefly to New Orleans, then steamed for the northeast coast and further exercises. Toward the end of July she departed Newport, R.I., for duty as a station ship along the route of Army planes making a round-the-world flight then, from September through December, she underwent overhaul at the New York Navy Yard.
In January 1925, RICHMOND, flagship of Light Cruiser Divisions, U.S. Scouting Fleet, again participated in Caribbean exercises. In February, she transited the Panama Canal and during March trained off the California coast. In April, she steamed to Hawaii for joint Army-Navy maneuvers, after which she joined the Battle Fleet for a good will cruise to Australia and New Zealand.
Returning to Norfolk on 23 November, RICHMOND operated off the eastern seaboard and in the Caribbean through 1926. On 1 February 1927, she again transited the Panama Canal, conducted exercises in Hawaiian waters, then continued on to China, arriving at Shanghai on 3 April. She remained on the China Station for a year, with only infrequent diversions to the Philippines for repairs and exercises. On 14 April 1928, she sailed eastward and less than 3 months later departed San Pedro, Calif., for Corinto, Nicaragua with a Navy Battalion embarked. On 25 July, she retransited the Panama Canal and for the next 6 years operated off the New England and mid-Atlantic coasts and in the Caribbean with occasional interruptions for fleet problems and exercises in the eastern Pacific.
From September 1934 to December 1937, RICHMOND operated off the west coast as a unit of the Scouting Fleet. After 21 December 1937, she served as flagship of the Submarine Force, U.S. Fleet; and on 10 May 1938 she headed back to the east coast. On 26 August, she returned to San Diego and resumed her previous duty with the Submarine Force. In the winter of 1939 and the fall of 1940, she returned to the Atlantic for fleet and submarine exercises, and, at the end of December 1940, hauled down the flag of the Submarine Force.
With the new year, 1941, RICHMOND shifted to Pearl Harbor; and, from January to June, served as flagship, Scouting Force. Into October, she remained in Hawaiian waters, operating with Cruiser Division 3, then she returned to California and in November began Neutrality Patrols off the west coasts of the Americas. On 7 December she was en route to Valpariso, Chile.
Recalled from her original mission, she took up patrol off Panama and in 1942 commenced escorting reinforcement convoys to the Galapagos and Society Islands. Later, returning to patrols from Panama to Chile, she put into San Francisco for overhaul in December and in January 1943 sailed for the Aleutians.
RICHMOND arrived at Unalaska on 28 January 1943. On 3 February, she became flagship of TG 16.6, a cruiser-destroyer task group assigned to defend the approaches to recently occupied Amchitka. On the 10th, she underwent her first enemy air raid and on the 18th she participated in the initial bombardment of Holtz Bay and Chichagof Harbor, Attu.
The force then resumed patrols to enforce the blockade of enemy installations on Attu and Kiska. In March, the Japanese decided to run the blockade and on the 22d dispatched a force of two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, four destroyers, and three transports from Paramushiro. TG 16.6, one light cruiser, one heavy cruiser, and four destroyers, intercepted the Japanese on the 26th approximately 180 miles west of Attu and 100 miles south of the Komandorski Islands.
The Japanese sent the transports and one destroyer on, then turned to meet RICHMOND's force. At 0840, the Battle of the Komandorski Islands began.
Initially firing on RICHMOND, the Japanese soon concentrated on SALT LAKE CITY (CA-25), the only American ship with the firing range to reach them. In the running, retiring action which ensued and lasted until shortly after noon, SALT LAKE CITY went dead in the water, but continued firing. RICHMOND went to her aid as the American destroyers closed the Japanese for a torpedo attack. The enemy, however, low on fuel and ammunition did not press their advantage. Changing course, they headed west, pursued by the American destroyers. SALT LAKE CITY regained power after 4 minutes and RICHMOND joined the destroyers, but the action was broken off as the Japanese out-distanced TG 16.6.
The transports sent ahead by the Japanese turned back for the Kuriles before reaching Attu. TG 16.6 had succeeded in its mission. In May, a week-long struggle resulted in the reoccupation of Attu by American forces.
In August, Kiska became the target; and RICHMOND joined in the preinvasion bombardment. The landings took place on the 15th and met no resistance. The Japanese had pulled out undetected, before the end of July.
On 24 August, RICHMOND departed the Aleutians, underwent overhaul at Mare Island; then returned to Kiska. Through the remainder of the year, she conducted patrols to the west of the outer Aleutians. On 4 February 1944, she began bombardment missions in the Kuriles which continued, alternated with antishipping sweeps, for the remainder of World War II.
With the end of hostilities, RICHMOND covered the occupation of northern Japan. On 14 September 1945, she departed Ominato for Pearl Harbor, whence she was routed on to Philadelphia for inactivation. Decommissioned on 21 December 1945, RICHMOND was struck from the Navy list on 21 January 1946 and was sold on 18 December 1946 to the Patapsco Scrap Co., Bethlehem, Pa.
RICHMOND (CL-9) earned two battle stars during World War II.
My assessment:
Bidden is an arrogant, sanctimonious jerk. Daschle is a pathetic, pouting baby. Hillary is the ugliest woman I have ever seen in my life. And Senator Kerry looks like Frankenstein to me.
I watched the Democratic response given by the Democrat Governor from Washington. He said this at the end of his pre-written Democratic party line speech. "We support affirmative action and equal opportunity....." I'm sorry, but is that not the funniest dad gum thing you ever heard?
What an idiot.
Hmmmm....very interesting facts there Princess Victoria. Thanks. (((hugs)))
All I have to say is "GIVE ME BACK MY MONEY". I hate it when the Democrats don't applaud when tax cuts are discussed. "HEY!!!! That's my money you creep! Give it back."
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