This Week In American Military History

From Human Events--Guns & Patriots:

From Independence Day to Scott at Chippewa


by W. Thomas Smith Jr.



07/06/2010





This Week in American Military History:



July 4, 1776: The American colonies – already at war with Great Britain – declare their independence.



July 4, 1802: The U.S. Military Academy at West Point opens its doors.



July 4, 1863: The Confederate city of Vicksburg, Mississippi falls to Union Army forces under Maj. Gen. (future U.S. pres.) Ulysses S. Grant. It will be decades before the city celebrates July 4th again.



July 5, 1814: Brig. Gen. Winfield Scott – a 28-year-old master of Napoleonic infantry tactics destined to become both general-in-chief of the U.S. Army and affectionately known as “the Grand Old Man of the Army” – leads his gray-clad infantry brigade forward against British Army forces under the command of Maj. Gen. Phineas Riall in the Battle of Chippewa (Canada along the Niagara River).



Scott’s men, though regulars, are dressed in militia-gray because of a shortage of blue material. As a result, Riall incorrectly identifies Scott’s advancing force as militia, and deploys his own forces haphazardly, mistakenly believing the Americans will break after the proverbial “whiff of grapeshot” from the Royal Artillery.



But as the Americans begin to close the distance in near-perfect parade formation, Riall realizes he has disastrously erred, exclaiming, "Those aren’t militia! Those are regulars by God!"



The Americans win the battle. And according to tradition, the famous cadet-gray uniforms of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point are worn in commemoration of Scott’s victory at Chippewa.



July 5, 1912: The first military aviator certificates are presented to Capt. Charles deForest Chandler, Lt. Thomas DeWitt Milling, and Lt. Henry Harley “Hap” Arnold.



Capt. Chandler is destined to become a colonel and the chief of the Aeronautical Division of the U.S. Army’s Signal Corps. Milling will become a brigadier general in the Army Air Corps. Arnold will become the first and only five-star “General of the Air Force.”



July 8, 1950: “Pursuant to the [United Nations] Security Council resolution,” Pres. Harry Truman names U.S. Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur commander-in-chief of all United Nations forces in Korea.



July 9, 1776: Following a reading of the newly published Declaration of Independence to Continental Army soldiers in New York, a group of Manhattanites and members of the Sons of Liberty, topple King George III’s statue in the city. The lead from the statue will be melted down to make musket balls



In a letter to Continental Army Gen. Horatio Gates, future postmaster general Ebenezer Hazard, writes: “The King of England's arms have been burned in Philadelphia and his statue here [in New York] has been pulled down to make musket balls … so that his troops will probably have melted Majesty fired at them.”



July 9, 1798: Its treaties with France rescinded, the U.S. Congress authorizes “U.S. Naval vessels to capture armed French vessels anywhere on the high seas.” The Quasi War with France has begun.



Let's increase awareness of American military tradition and honor America’s greatest heroes by supporting the Medal of Honor Society's 2010 Convention to be held in Charleston, S.C., Sept. 29 – Oct. 3, 2010 (for more information, click here).







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Mr. Smith is a contributor to Human Events. A former U.S. Marine rifle-squad leader and counterterrorism instructor, he writes about military/defense issues and has covered conflict in the Balkans, on the West Bank, in Iraq and Lebanon. He is the author of six books, and his articles appear in a variety of publications. E-mail him at marine1@uswriter.com.



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