1775: Militia forces, led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, catch the British troops at Fort Ticonderoga (present-day Ticonderoga, N.Y.) by surprise. The strategic fort, and its large supply of cannon and armaments is captured without a shot fired.
1797: The 55-gun heavy frigate USS United States is launched at Philadelphia, becoming the first commissioned ship of the U.S. Navy. The warship will be seized by Confederate forces in 1861 and rechristened CSS United States.
USS United States / CSS United States
1801: Following Thomas Jefferson’s innauguration, Yusuf Karamanly – the Pasha of Tripoli – demands tribute from the United States to prevent the Barbary pirates from continuing their practice of taking hostages and capturing ships.
Jefferson refuses, and the Pasha declares war.
1865: Union cavalry troopers capture Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America, near Irwinville, Ga. The Confederacy is all but finished. Davis is charged with treason and held at Fort Monroe, Va. but is never tried and he will be released on bond after two years.
Statue of Jefferson Davis – Vicksburg National Military Park
1960: The nuclear-powered radar picket submarine USS Triton (SSRN-586) returns to port after completing the first-ever completely submerged circumnavigation of the Earth. Skippered by Capt. Edward L. Beach Jr. – a Navy Cross recipient and best-selling author of “Run Silent, Run Deep” – Triton has followed a trek closely paralleling that of the first-ever global circumnavigation led by Portugese Capt. Ferdinand Magellan in the 16th century. The submarine covers the 26,723 nautical mile journey in just 60 days and 21 hours, averaging 19 knots.
USS Triton
1969: (Feature Image) Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division move into the A Shau Valley for what would become an intense ten-day battle against North Vietnamese Army on Hill 937 – dubbed “Hamburger Hill.” The Americans charge up the steep slopes 11 times before dislodging the heavily fortified defenders. Although the U.S. forces inflict heavy casualties on the communists and survivors retreat into Laos, the U.S. military abandons the hill, which is retaken by the NVA four weeks later.
Following Hamburger Hill, the White House instructs its military commanders to avoid engagements that result in large American casualties as public support is dwindling for the war.
