Monday, October 16, 1876. The Conhoy Riot.

A Republican, and therefore heavily African American, political meeting was scheduled for the Brick House at Conhoy, South Carolina. Given recent racist violence against them, hundreds of black militiamen were present.  Democratic clubs from Charleston County showed up and demanded equal time to speak, a fight broke out, and shots were fired.  Six whites and one black in attendance were killed.

Gen. Terry once again left Ft. Abraham Lincoln, this time with the 17th U.S. Infantry, bound for the Northern Plains.

The last shots in the Spring Creek battle were fired.

Last edition:

Sunday, October 15, 1876. More action at Spring Creek.

Labels: 1870s, 1876, Army, Great Sioux War, Indian Wars, Montana, Native Americans, Sioux, Sitting Bull (Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake), Spring Creek Raid

Saturday, August 26, 1876. Reinforcements from Texas.

The first reinforcements from the Department of Texas for the Great Sioux War arrived on the Northern Plains.

The units were two companies under Captain Sanderson who assumed command  at the Cheyenne River Agency, Dakota Territory (Fort Bennett).

Sanderson retired retired early on April 2, 1892, and died less than a year later in 1893.  He's not a well known frontier Army officer, but he must have been in ill health.

Last edition:

Friday, August 25, 1876. Beginning of the Horsemeat March. Labels: 1870s, 1876, Army, cavalry, George Crook, Great Sioux War, Horsemeat March, Infantry, Montana, Powder River (the river)

Friday, August 25, 1876. Beginning of the Horsemeat March.

The Horsemeat March began as Gen. Crook left the Powder River for the Little Missouri with only fifteen days rations for his command of  1,500 cavalry, 450 infantry, and 300 Indian and white scouts.

Last edition:

Wednesday, August 23, 1876. Treaty No. 6 signed at Fort Carlton, Saskatchewan

Labels: 1870s, 1876, Canada, First Nations, Native Americans, Saskatchewan

Thursday, June 22, 1876. 7th Cavalry leaves the Yellowstone.

The 7th Cavalry, under George A. Custer, departed the Yellowstone River under orders to ride south the entire length of the Rosebud, then went until they encountered the Sioux.  Gibbon and Terry marched the rest of the command to the South, with there being the thought they would accordingly trap the Sioux in this fashion.

Custer as given written orders, stating:

Headquarters of the Department of Dakota (In the Field)

Camp at Mouth of Rosebud River, Montana Territory June 22nd, 1876

Lieutenant-Colonel Custer,

7th Calvary

Colonel: The Brigadier-General Commanding directs that, as soon as your regiment can be made ready for the march, you will proceed up the Rosebud in pursuit of the Indians whose trail was discovered by Major Reno a few days since. It is, impossible to give you any definite instructions in regard to this movement, and were it not impossible to do so the Department Commander places too much confidence in your zeal, energy, and ability to wish to impose upon you precise orders which might hamper your action when nearly in contact with the enemy. He will, however, indicate to you his own views of what your action should be, and he desires that you should conform to them unless you shall see sufficient reason for departing from them. He thinks that you should proceed up the Rosebud until you ascertain definitely the direction in which the trail above spoken of leads. Should it be found (as it appears almost certain that it will be found) to turn towards the Little Bighorn, he thinks that you should still proceed southward, perhaps as far as the headwaters of the Tongue, and then turn toward the Little Horn, feeling constantly, however, to your left, so as to preclude the escape of the Indians passing around your left flank.

The column of Colonel Gibbon is now in motion for the mouth of the Big Horn. As soon as it reaches that point will cross the Yellowstone and move up at least as far as the forks of the Big and Little Horns. Of course its future movements must be controlled by circumstances as they arise, but it is hoped that the Indians, if upon the Little Horn, may be so nearly inclosed by the two columns that their escape will be impossible. The Department Commander desires that on your way up the Rosebud you should thoroughly examine the upper part of Tullock's Creek, and that you should endeavor to send a scout through to Colonel Gibbon's command.

The supply-steamer will be pushed up the Big Horn as far as the forks of the river is found to be navigable for that distance, and the Department Commander, who will accompany the column of Colonel Gibbon, desires you to report to him there not later than the expiration of the time for which your troops are rationed, unless in the mean time you receive further orders.

Very respectfully, Your obedient servant,

E. W. Smith, Captain, 18th Infantry A. A. J. G.

Much has been made of this order, but it is clear that it gave Terry's wishes, while also giving Custer operational freedom. 

Col. Gibbon was in command of the 7th Infantry of the Montana Column consisting of the F, G, H, and L of the 2nd Cavalry under James S. Brisbin from Fort Ellis.

Reno of the 7th Cavalry, as noted, had seen traces of a Sioux party on the Rosebud, which was likely the band that had earlier hit Crook, a battle which the Montana Column was unaware of.  Crook was drawing off towards the Big Horn Mountains at the time.

Custer's command made ten miles that day.

Last edition:

Wednesday, June 21, 1876. Far West.

Labels: 1870s, 1876, Alfred Terry, Battle of Little Big Horn, Battle of the Rosebud, cavalry, Crook, George A. Custer, Montana (Rosebud Creek), Yellowstone Expedition

Wednesday, May 17, 1876. Gen. Terry's command leaves Ft. Abraham Lincoln.

Gen. Alfred H. Terry left a substantial detachment from Ft. Abraham Lincoln. The large detachment included companies from the 6th and 17th Infantry regiments and the entire 7th Cavalry, the latter under the command of Lt. Col. Custer.

Last edition:

Monday, May 15, 1876. President Grant established the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation

Labels: 1870s, 1876, Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, California, Native Americans, U.S. Grant

Friday, June 15, 1945. Infantry Day.

The longest British Parliament since the Cavalier Parliament of 1661–1679 was dissolved ahead of the July 5 elections.  Parliament had been in session since 1935, as elections during the war had been suspended.

The Battle of Bessang Pass in the Philippines came to an end in an Allied victory.

It was the first flight of the XP-82, the Twin Mustang.

Coming too late for its intended role as an escort for B-29s in World War Two, it would see action during the Korean War before it was retired in 1953.

Today In Wyoming's History: June 15: 1945  Governor Leslie Hunt proclaimed to day Infantry Day.

Conflict, starring Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith and Sydney Greenstreet was released.

Last edition:

Thursday, June 14, 1945. Slogging.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Charles de Gaulle, Chester Nimitz, Chinese Army, Chinese National Army, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower, Japan, Northern Ireland, Okinawa, Ulster, World War Two

Saturday, December 9, 1944

 

"Men of 13th Inf. Regt., 8th Div., U.S. Army, move along a road which winds its way through Hurtgen Forest, Germany. 9 December, 1944. 13th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division."

Last edition:

Friday, December 8, 1944

Labels: 1940s, 1944, B. B. Brooks, British Army, Collaborators, German Army, Germany, Italy, Iwo Jima, Personalities, Philippines, World War Two, Wyoming

Tuesday, October 31, 1944. Rescued.

Pvt. Fred T. Huff, 698 Pulaski St., Athens, Ga., one of the soldiers in an American infantry battalion trapped behind German lines.for six days in the Belmont sector, France, eats while waiting for transportation to the rear area for a rest. 31 October, 1944.

U.S. Infantrymen who were cut off by the Germans for six days in the Belmont sector, France, file down the road after being relieved. 31 October, 1944. 1st Battalion, 141st Infantry, 36th Infantry Division.

Bearded Lt. Martin J. Higgins, 29 Garrison Ave., Jersey City, N.J., left, receives a warm handshake from Lt. Charles O. Barry, 120 West St., Williamstown, P.A., when he rejoins his unit in the Belmont sector after being cut off by the Germans for six days. Lt. Higgins was one of the officers with a battalion cut off by the Germans. France. 31 October, 1944.  Note the M1 Carbine has a grenade launching attachment.  1st Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division.

The Royal Air Force raided Gestapo headquarters at the Aarhus University in Denmark  The goal was to destroy Gestapo records to aid the Danish resistance.  The raid was conducted, as an earlier on in France had been, with Mosquitos.

The Germans evacuated Salonika.  Remaining Aegean German garrisons were trapped.

German Army Group North was trapped on the Courland Peninsula.

T/5 Miles J. Wermager, center, of Magnomen, Minn., a member of a cavalry unit near Monschau, Germany, receives his first piece of chicken since D-Day from T/4 Frank F. Leichtman, left, of Bresho, S.D. 31 October, 1944.

Complete to a flute, turban, and ersatz snake, TeC 5 Hernry Vin Roten, seated, of Brooklyn, N.Y., muses fellow GIs and pretty guests from the nearby French town of Toul at a Halloween party given by members of an air evacuation holding station. 3rd Army Air Evac. Holding Station. 31 October, 1944.

Last edition:

Monday, October 30, 1944. Pvt. Ross.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Battle of Leyte, British Army, Dancing, Finnish Army, France, Greek Civil War, Greek Partisans, Heroes, Italy, Kamikaze, Lapland War, Personalities, Polish Army, World War Two

Sunday, August 30, 1874. The return to The Girl I Left Behind me and the Battle of Red River.

The Black Hills Expedition returned to Ft. Abraham Lincoln after covering nearly 1,200 miles over lasting sixty days.

The Sixth Cavalry and Fifth Infantry under the command of Colonel Nelson A. Miles attacked a large group of Southern Cheyenne near the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River in Texas in what became the day long Battle of Red River..  Though armed with Gatling guns and a 10-pounder Parrott rifle, the Cheyenne were able to hold them the Army long enough to escape up Tule Canyon into the Staked Plains.

Last edition:

Wednesday, August 26, 1874. Lynching black suspects and violating the Second Amendment.

Labels: 1870s, 1874, Crime, Ethnicities, law, National Rifle Association, Racism, Tennessee, Weapons

Friday, August 18, 1944. German retreats.

 SC 192989 - French girls wave to members of an artillery unit as their truck towing an eight inch gun rolls along a highway to take up a position near Brest. The artillery piece is a M1 155 "Long Tom".

The German 7th Army retreated across the Orne River, abandoning 18,000 troops to captivity.  The Allies closed the Falaise Gap.

The Third Army reached Versailles.

The Red Cross entered the Drancy internment camp in France, finding 500 survivors there.

The Vichy French Vichy battleship Strasbourg and cruiser La Galissonnière were sunk at Toulon by the U.S. Army Air Force.

U.S. serviceman shares a glass of something with two French women, August 18, 1944.

Pvt. J.K. Mabry, Memphis, Tenn., and Pvt. Borislav M. Tences, Garfield, N.J., infantrymen of the 3rd Infantry Division, rest alongside the road leading to Brignoles, southern France.  ONe has his shoes off, which would have made my DI yell at me.  The 3d Infantry Division was highly experienced and had been in action since Operation Torch.  It must have been refitted before Dragoon, as photos consistently show its troops wearing M1943 boots, which were new at the time.  Photos of troops from Overlord do not tend to show that.

The U-107 and U-621 were sunk by Allied ships and aircraft. The U-129 was scuttled.

US submarines attacked Japanese convoy Hi-71 in the South China Sea and sank the carrier Taiyō.  In the Philippine Sea a US submarine sank the cruiser Natori.

Last edition:

Thursday, August 17, 1944. And on this day too, 30 years later, the Red Army entered East Prussia.

Wednesday, July 19, 1944. The start of the Democratic Convention.

 

Opening of the Democratic Convention.

A couple of big items are reported by Sarah Sundin:

Today in World War II History—July 19, 1944

Friday, July 19, 2024 by Sarah Sundin

These include the beginning of the 1944 Democratic Convention and the 5th Army taking Livorno, Italy.

President Roosevelt had no real opposition to his nomination. The big question was who would be his vice president.

The Battle of Verrières Ridge in Normandy south of Caen, with two Canadian divisions pitted against three SS divisions.

Troops of the 29th Infantry Division in Saint-Lô.

Saint-Lô was taken by U.S. troops.

The Red Army entered Latvia.

The Ōi was sunk by the USS Flasher.

Last edition:

Tuesday, July 18, 1944. Tojo out.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle of Saint-Lô, British Army, Imperial Japanese Army, Japan, Normandy, Operation Bagration, Operation Goodwood, Operation Overlord, Polish Army, Red Army, World War Two

Friday, July 7, 1944. Banzai.

Soldier demonstrates correct firing position for M1 Garand

The largest "banzai charge" of the Second World War occured on this day, when 3,000 troops made a suicidal attack on U.S. Army positions, overrunning two battalions of the 27th Infantry Division.

The word "banzai" comes from the Japanese battle cry "tennōheika banzai" (天皇陛下万歳) "long live His Majesty the Emperor".

The Polish Home Army commenced Operation Ostra Brama, and armed up rising in Vilnius.  Vilnius had been hotly contested between Poland and Lithuania after World War One and was in pre World War Two Poland. Today, of course, it is the capital of Lithuania.

The Japanese destroyer Tamanani as sunk by the USS Mingo off of Mainila.

Georges Mandel, French resistance leader, was executed by hte Milice.

Last edition:

Thursday, July 6, 1944. Advances on Eastern Front, Halted on Western Front, Tragedy in Connecticut, Racism at Camp Hood.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Battle of Numfoor, Bretton Woods, Charles DeGaulle, Connecticut, Disaster, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Operation Bagration, Personalities, Poland, Racism, Saipan, The Holocaust, World War Two

Saturday, May 27, 1944. Landing at Biak.

 The Battle of Biak in Indonesia (then part of New Guinea, which it is just off of) began with the landing of the U.S. Army's 41st Infantry Division.

If you are like me, and I'm well-informed on World War Two, you've never heard of this battle, which occured just before the Allied capture of Rome and the Allied landings in Normandy.

Today it is a tropical tourist destination.

The U-292 was sunk by a British B-24.

Last prior edition:

Friday, May 26, 1944. Striking out for the airbases.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Advertising, Aircraft, boats and ships, Daily Living, Food, Italy, Operation Ichi-Go, Personalities, The family, The Holocaust, World War Two

Thursday, March 16, 1944. Lucky Legs II

One of the most iconic photographs of World War Two was taken on this day in 1944, that being a rare combat action photograph.  The subject was M4 Sherman supported infantrymen on Bougainville.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—March 16, 1944: US Air Transport Command begins airlift of 5th Indian Division from Arakan in southern Burma to reinforce besieged Imphal and Kohima in India.

The Japanese Indian Ocean Raid ended inconclusively with lackluster results, and Japanese atrocities.

The Tautoq sank the Shirakumo east of Muroran, Hokkaido.

M2HB being fired at Japanese installations on Manus Island, Admiralty Group.

US and British aircraft sank the U-392 in the Strait of Gilbralter.

President Roosevelt addressed Finland:

March 16, 1944

It has always seemed odd to me and to the people of the United States to find Finland a partner of Nazi Germany, fighting side by side with the sworn enemies of our civilization.

The Finnish people now have a chance to withdraw from this hateful partnership. The longer they stay at Germany's side the more sorrow and suffering is bound to come to them. I think I can speak for all Americans when I say that we sincerely hope Finland will now take the opportunity to disassociate herself from Germany.

 

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the predecessor of NASA, proposed a jet-propelled transonic research airplane be developed, which would leads to the "X" series research airplane projects.

Bell X-1, which would first fly in 1946.

Last prior:

Wednesday, March 15, 1944. US Ninth Air Force in England begins pre-invasion tactical missions for Operation Overlord.