1787: Former Continental Army captain Daniel Shays leads a group of 2,000 American rebels on a raid against the Springfield (Mass.) armory, hoping to obtain rifles. 1,200 militia meet Shays’ force, turning the attackers away by firing grapeshot into their ranks and killing four. Shays is tried and sentenced to be hanged, but the veteran of the Boston, Bunker Hill, Lexington, and Saratoga battles – who was wounded during the war and served five years without pay – is pardoned and given a pension instead.
1856: Marines and seamen from the sloop-of-war USS Decatur land at Seattle to protect settlers from an Indian attack. The Battle of Seattle lasted seven hours and the Indians suffered severe casualties, while only two settlers died.
1939: In a basement of New York City’s Columbia University, scientists split the uranium atom for the first time. This newly discovered fission reaction will be harnessed and turned into atomic weapons in six years.
1960: A MIM-23 “Hawk” missile shoots down a MGR-1 “Honest John” nuclear-capable missile during tests, the first time a missile “kills” a ballistic missile. The Hawk is the predecessor to the modern-day “Patriot” missile system.
MIM-23 “Hawk” missile battery
An MIM-23 Hawk missile is fired during a training exercise. Camp Lejeune, NC, USA
MGR-1 “Honest John”
1995: (Featured Image) Although the Cold War is over, Russia and the United States are the closest the two nations will come to all-out nuclear war when a Norwegian scientific research rocket launch makes Russian missile defense radar officials think that a U.S. submarine may have launched a nuclear “Trident” missile.
Trident II D-5 launch
Trident missile, multiple atomic warheads
The Russian military goes on full alert in preparation for war and an armed nuclear briefcase sits in front of Russian President Boris Yeltsin – just one step away from mutually assured destruction. Fortunately, radar shows the rocket traveling away from Russian airspace after a few minutes and the Russians stand down.
