Tag: war

Stories in Stone: William Westmoreland

Post author By Michael Kleen
Post date February 25, 2021
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Monument to General William Childs Westmoreland (March 26, 1914 – July 18, 2005) in West Point Cemetery, 329 Washington Road, United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

Monument to General William Childs Westmoreland (1914-2005) in West Point Cemetery, 329 Washington Road, United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. William Westmoreland served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1968 to 1972, during the height of the Vietnam War. He was born in South Carolina and graduated from West Point in 1936, then fought in World War 2. As overall commander in Vietnam, he pursued a strategy of defeating the enemy through attrition. Among other medals, he was awarded the Legion of Merit and Army Distinguished Service Medal.

Tags cemetery, New York, U.S. Route 9, war

Historic America

National Museum of the United States Air Force

Post author By Michael Kleen
Post date July 10, 2019
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Aircraft fanatics and lovers of all military history will enjoy this collection of historic aircraft. See the airplanes that made history, including one that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki in 1945.

It’s no secret I prefer my feet firmly planted on the ground. I love military history, but air warfare holds no particular appeal for me. Still, it was hard to pass up an opportunity to see the National Museum of the United States Air Force on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in western Ohio. I was thoroughly impressed by its collection of historic aircraft, particularly from the Second World War. The WW2 bomber “Memphis Belle” was finally on display.

The museum spans several large interconnected Air Force hangers and features examples from all periods of militarized flight. You could spend hours getting lost among the displays. The Early Years Gallery includes a World War 1 era British observation balloon, and a dog fighting German Fokker Dr. I and U.S. Thomas-Morse S4C Scout.

The World War II Gallery is the most interesting and expansive. The museum has examples of a wide variety of fighters and bombers, including experimental German jet aircraft like the Messerschmitt Me 163B Komet and the intimidating Me 262A Schwalbe, the world’s first operational turbojet aircraft. Fewer than 300 saw combat. Pieces of the “Lady Be Good,” a Consolidated B-24D Liberator bomber that went down in the Libyan desert, are on display.

Tags museum, Ohio, war

Historic America

Great Swamp Battle Monument

Post author By Michael Kleen
Post date June 19, 2019
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A stone monument deep in the Rhode Island wilderness marks the site of the bloodiest battle of King Philip’s War.

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The Great Swamp Fight (or Great Swamp Massacre) was fought on December 19, 1675 between New England forces and their native allies commanded by Governor Josiah Winslow, Major Samuel Appleton, Governor Robert Treat, Major William Bradford, and Chief Uncas, and the Narragansett Tribe commanded by Chief Canonchet in the Great Swamp in present-day Washington County, Rhode Island during King Philip’s War. The battle was a major colonial victory, resulting in the near-destruction of the Narragansetts.

In the summer of 1675, after a breakdown in relations with New England colonists, Metacom (King Philip), sachem of the Pokanoket Indians (the same tribe that helped the Pilgrims survive their first winter), began to raid English settlements. The New England Confederation raised an army in defense, and after several raids and counter-raids, decided to strike the neutral Narragansett tribe in Rhode Island before they could join forces with Metacom.

On the chilly day of December 19th, an Indian guide led approximately 1,000 New England militia and 150 Pequot Indians through the frozen Great Swamp to a wooden palisade, which the Narragansetts had fortified for the winter. Their initial attack was poorly coordinated and beaten back, but after a long struggle, they overwhelmed the defenders and burned the fort. The Narragansetts attempted to escape, but hundreds including women, children, and the elderly, were killed. The colonists lost 70 killed and 150 wounded.

Tags battlefield, Rhode Island, war

Historic America

West Point Cemetery in West Point, New York

Post author By Michael Kleen
Post date May 30, 2019
1 Comment on West Point Cemetery in West Point, New York

The United States Military Academy cemetery at West Point is filled with storied figures and heroes who fought in all America’s wars. West Point, on the Hudson River in Upstate New York, served as a fort during the Revolutionary War and is the oldest continuously operating Army post in the United States. Captain Thompson, an officer in the Revolutionary War, may have been the first internment at the cemetery here in 1809.

Winfield Scott (1786-1866) is a giant in American military history. He was the longest serving U.S. general, and second to hold the rank of lieutenant general. He led troops in four wars, and conceived the “Anaconda Plan” that ultimately defeated the Confederacy during the American Civil War. He was Commanding General of the United States Army (equivalent to the modern position of Chief of Staff of the Army) for 20 years.

George Armstrong Custer (1839-1876) – his name is synonymous with the American West, and he gained infamy for leading his troops to slaughter against the Plains Indians in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. But before that, he cut a dashing figure as a cavalry officer during the American Civil War, where he rose to the rank of Major General of U.S. Volunteers and fought in numerous battles.

Tags cemetery, New York, U.S. Route 9, war

Historic America

Fort Dummer in Brattleboro, Vermont

Post author By Michael Kleen
Post date May 22, 2019
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A roadside marker is all that remains of this colonial-era fort that played a role in an obscure New England war.

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The Battle of Fort Dummer was fought on October 11, 1724 between Abenaki Indians and Massachusetts colonial militia and their Mohawk allies during Dummer’s War. Both the fort and the war were named after Lieutenant Governor William Dummer, acting governor of Massachusetts at that time. Though the attackers managed to kill a few of the fort’s defenders, the fort held and remained a local stronghold.

The Abenaki were members of the Wabanaki Confederacy, an alliance of Algonquin-speaking Indians including the Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Abenaki, and Penobscot. After war broke out in 1722, Lieutenant Governor William Dummer ordered the creation of several forts on the frontier along the Connecticut River. Fort Dummer, a 180-foot wooden stockade, was built in 1724. It was the first permanent English Settlement in what would become Vermont.

Lieutenant Timothy Dwight took command of 12 cannon, 43 English soldiers, and 12 Mohawk warriors at the outpost. Shortly after completion, a group of approximately 70 Abenaki warriors attacked. The band was affiliated with Chief Grey Lock, who was waging his own fight against the British sometimes called “Grey Lock’s War”. They killed or wounded five of the defenders, but could not penetrate the thick wooden walls.

Tags fort, Vermont, war

Historic America

Stillman’s Run Battle Site

Post author By Michael Kleen
Post date February 6, 2019
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A majestic monument marks the scene of the opening salvo in the Black Hawk War.

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The Battle of Stillman’s Run (or Battle of Old Man’s Creek) was fought on May 14, 1832 between 275 Illinois militia and Sauk leader Black Hawk and approximately 40-50 warriors from his mixed-nation group of American Indians called the “British Band”. The engagement was a humiliating loss for the militia. It was the first battle in the Black Hawk War, which would ultimately end in Black Hawk’s defeat.

In April 1832, Black Hawk moved his British Band to Illinois, believing he would find friendly tribal allies. The Illinois militia was organized to confront him, and 275 militia under the command of Majors Isaiah Stillman and David Bailey camped near Old Man’s Creek, about three miles east of the Rock River. Black Hawk’s pleas for assistance were rebuked at every turn, so he sent emissaries and scouts to negotiate a truce.

Seeing the Indian scouts, Stillman and his militia thought they were under attack and opened fire (there are allegations some of his men were drunk). They pursued the retreating scouts back to Black Hawk’s camp, where they were ambushed and fled in terror. A dozen militiamen under Captain John Giles Adams fought a nighttime rearguard action on a hill south of their camp, while the others escaped to Dixon’s Ferry. All twelve were killed. Black Hawk estimated he lost three to five men.

Tags battlefield, Illinois, National Register of Historic Places, war

Historic America

Battle of the Windmill National Historic Site

Post author By Michael Kleen
Post date January 9, 2019
2 Comments on Battle of the Windmill National Historic Site

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Rebels holed up in a stone gristmill held off the British Army for several days before being forced to surrender in this odd chapter in Canadian military history.

The Battle of the Windmill was a strange episode in North American history, when British and U.S. forces cooperated to put down a rebellion in Upper Canada, known as the “Patriot War”. The battle was fought from November 12 to November 16, 1838, between Nils von Schoultz and 250 rebels against 1,133 Canadian militia, 500 British regulars, and the British and U.S. Navy two miles east of Prescott, Ontario. The entire rebel force was killed, wounded, or captured.

On November 12, approximately 250 armed members of a “Hunters’ Lodge” attempted to land in Prescott, Ontario to touch off a war against the British ruling class. A show of force by the Prescott militia gave them second thoughts, so they occupied the nearby hamlet of Newport and Windmill Point, where they awaited reinforcements from the United States.

The next day, British infantry from the 83rd Regiment and around 600 Canadian militiamen attacked the rebels, who had holed up in and around an old gristmill. The short battle left 13 British killed and 70 wounded. The rebels lost approximately 18 killed and an unknown number wounded.

Tags battlefield, Canada, Saint Lawrence Seaway, war