This day in Military history …
some odd parallels ie civil war loss of a city.
This is the day the soldiers put to rest in the tomb of the unknown soldier.
This is the day Columbus departed for America.
This is the day Soto landed in Orlando Florida
opps Tmpa Bay
1848 – Mexico ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo giving US: New Mexico, California and parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona & Colorado in return for $15 million.
1861 – Members of the 7th New York Volunteer Infantry continue to train at “Camp Cameron” as part of the garrison of the Union capital. The regiment arrived soon after war began on April 12. This is the same unit, then designated as the 2nd Battalion, 11th New York Artillery, which adopted the nickname “National Guard” in honor of the visit to New York in 1825 of the Marquis de Lafayette. Lafayette, who had served as one of General George Washington’s ablest commanders during the American Revolution, commanded the “Garde Nationale de Paris” during the French Revolution. After he left the unit was redesignated to the 7th New York and maintained the ‘National Guard’ designation. The scriptic letters “NG” often appeared embossed on member’s cross-belt plates, buttons, cartridge box plates and other accoutrements, as well as on camp furniture. By the end of the 19th century many uniformed volunteer companies used the phrase ‘National Guard’ in their official designations and several states had adopted the term in reference to their entire state militia organization. By 1916 the term “National Guard” was mandated as the official designation for all organized militia coming under federal authority and receiving federal funds.
1862 – Confederates abandon the city of Corinth. After the epic struggle at Shiloh in April 1862, the Confederate army, under the command of P.T. Beauregard, concentrated at Corinth, while the Union army, under Henry Halleck, began a slow advance from the Shiloh battlefield toward the rail center at Corinth. Halleck had no intention of taking on Beauregard’s army directly; he was more concerned with controlling the railroad junction. Beauregard was in a difficult position. Halleck, the commander of Union forces in the West, had at his disposal Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Tennessee, Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio, and John Pope’s Army of the Mississippi. With these forces, he had a more than two-to-one advantage over Beauregard. Nearly a week before the evacuation, Beauregard assessed his situation with his lieutenants. Although he considered the city to be vital to the Confederacy, he also worried that his entire command could be captured or cut to pieces if a retreat was delayed. So he crafted a clever withdrawal from Corinth: His troops deployed a number of logs painted black (“Quaker guns”) along his front lines to fool the Yankees into thinking they were facing substantial artillery. Meanwhile, he had his troops cook extra rations and cheer the arrival of empty boxcars to lead the Union troops to believe the Confederates were preparing for battle and receiving reinforcements. On the night of May 29, Beauregard began slipping his forces out of Corinth. On May 30, the remainder of the army left the city and burned any remaining supplies. Halleck’s men entered a deserted Corinth later that day. Although an important city had been forfeited to the Union army, Beauregard’s army remained intact and, with it, Confederate hopes
1868 – By proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, the first major Memorial Day observance is held to honor those who died “in defense of their country during the late rebellion.” Known to some as “Decoration Day,” mourners honored the Civil War dead by decorating their graves with flowers. On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery. The 1868 celebration was inspired by local observances that had taken place in various locations in the three years since the end of the Civil War. In fact, several cities claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day, including Columbus, Mississippi; Macon, Georgia; Richmond, Virginia; Boalsburg, Pennsylvania; and Carbondale, Illinois. In 1966, the federal government, under the direction of President Lyndon B. Johnson, declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day. They chose Waterloo–which had first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866–because the town had made Memorial Day an annual, community-wide event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags. By the late 19th century, many communities across the country had begun to celebrate Memorial Day, and after World War I, observers began to honor the dead of all of America’s wars. In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday to be celebrated the last Monday in May. Today, Memorial Day is celebrated at Arlington National Cemetery with a ceremony in which a small American flag is placed on each grave. It is customary for the president or vice president to give a speech honoring the contributions of the dead and to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. More than 5,000 people attend the ceremony annually. Several Southern states continue to set aside a special day for honoring the Confederate dead, which is usually called Confederate Memorial Day.
1922 – The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., by Chief Justice William Howard Taft. The Memorial has 48 sculptured festoons above the columns representing the number of states at the time of dedication. The 36 Doric columns in the Lincoln Memorial represent the number of states in the Union at the time of Lincoln’s death in 1865. The limestone and marble edifice, which is situated at the western end of the Mall, was designed by Henry Bacon in the style of a Greek temple.
1945 – The Iranian government formally requests the withdrawal of American, British and Soviet troops from Iran.
1958 – Memorial Day: the remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in action during World War II and the Korean War respectively, are buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.
1965 – Viet Cong offensive began against US base at Da Nang.
1966 – Launch of Surveyor 1, the first US spacecraft to land on an extraterrestrial body.
1971 – The North Vietnamese conclude a series of 48 attacks inside South Vietnam during a 24-hour period. Included in the assaults are five allied DMZ bases, and the US air base at Danang. The following day a Saigon bomb blast levels a government building.
1971 – The U.S. unmanned space probe Mariner 9 is launched on a mission to gather scientific information on Mars, the fourth planet from the sun. The 1,116-pound spacecraft entered the planet’s orbit on November 13, 1971, and circled Mars twice each day for almost a year, photographing the surface and analyzing the atmosphere with infrared and ultraviolet instruments. It gathered data on the atmospheric composition, density, pressure, and temperature of Mars, and also information about the surface composition, temperature, and topography of the planet. When Mariner 9 first arrived, Mars was almost totally obscured by dust storms, which persisted for a month. However, after the dust cleared, Mariner 9 proceeded to reveal a very different planet–one that boasted enormous volcanoes and a gigantic canyon stretching 3,000 miles across its surface. The spacecraft’s cameras also recorded what appeared to be dried riverbeds, suggesting the ancient presence of water and perhaps life on the planet. The first spacecraft to orbit a planet other than earth, Mariner 9 sent back more than 7,000 pictures of the “Red Planet” and succeeded in photographing the entire planet. Mariner 9 also sent back the first close-up images of the Martian moon. Its transmission ended on October 27, 1972.
Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
SAXTON, RUFUS
Rank and organization: Brigadier General, U.S. Volunteers. P/ace and date: At Harpers Ferry, W. Va., 26 to 30 May 1862. Entered service at: Deerfield, Mass. Birth: Greenfield, Mass. Date of issue: 25 April 1893. Citation: Distinguished gallantry and good conduct in the defense.
ASTON, EDGAR R.
Rank and organization: Private, Company L, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At San Carlos, Ariz., 30 May 1868. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Clermont County, Ohio. Date of issue: 28 July 1868. Citation: With 2 other men he volunteered to search for a wagon passage out of a 4,000-foot valley wherein an infantry column was immobile. This small group passed 6 miles among hostile Apache terrain finding the sought passage. On their return trip down the canyon they were attacked by Apaches who were successfully held at bay.
CUBBERLY, WILLIAM G.
Rank and organization: Private, Company L, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At San Carlos, Ariz., 30 May 1868. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Butler County, Ohio. Date of issue: 28 July 1868. Citation: With 2 other men he volunteered to search for a wagon passage out of a 4,000-foot valley wherein an infantry column was immobile. This small group passed 6 miles among hostile Apache terrain finding the sought passage. On their return trip down the canyon they were attacked by Apache who were successfully held at bay.
I notice Melinda not with him.
hmm Barron and FLOTUS went on AF2 or where?