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February 8 | This Day in U.S. Military History

Drone development contract signed in 2003.

2003– Bell Helicopter, a subsidiary of Textron, Inc., announced that its tilt-rotor, Vertical-launch Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), the “Eagle Eye,” received a letter contract to commence concept and preliminary design work for the first phase of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle portion of the Coast Guard’s Integrated Deepwater System (ICGS) Program. The contract calls for Bell to design, develop and build three prototype Eagle Eyes for testing by 2005. LCDR Troy Beshears, the Coast Guard’s UAV Program Manager, confirmed that the fleet plans to buy 69 Eagle Eyes if the aircraft meets the requirements and capabilities determined by the ICGS and the Coast Guard.

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February 9 | This Day in U.S. Military History

George Armstrong Custer marries Libbie in 1864 on this day.

1864 – Union General George Armstrong Custer marries Elizabeth Bacon in Monroe, Michigan, while the young cavalry officer is on leave. “Libbie,” as she was known to her family, was a tireless defender of her husband’s reputation after his death at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876, and her work helped establish him as an American hero. The two met in November 1862 at a party in Monroe. They courted while George was on winter furlough. After he retuned to service in 1863, Custer became, at 23 years old, the youngest general in the Union army. George and Libbie continued their correspondence, and when he returned to Monroe that winter, their relationship intensified. George recognized that Libbie’s good judgment balanced the young general’s brash and impulsive behavior. They were engaged by Christmas. The bride wore a white satin dress for the nuptials, which were held in Monroe’s packed First Presbyterian Church. They honeymooned in New York, where they visited West Point, Custer’s alma mater. After spending time in New York City, they settled in Washington and the attractive couple soon became darlings of the social scene. While her husband was in the field, Libbie worked to advance his career by hobnobbing with prominent Republican politicians. Her influence with some prominent members of Congress was helpful, and possible crucial, for Custer’s promotion to major general on April 15, 1865. After the war, Custer became a lieutenant colonel in the downsized postwar frontier army. On June 25, 1876, he and the 210 men under his command were wiped out by Lakota and Northern Cheyenne Indians at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in Montana. Libbie spent the remainder of her life building Custer’s reputation and defending his actions during his last battle. Not until after her death in 1933 did the first iconoclastic biography of her husband appear. The enduring legend of George Custer was due in large part to the tireless efforts of his widow.

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Japanese sub attacks Midway on February 10, 1942.

1942 – Japanese submarine launches a brutal attack on Midway, a coral atoll used as a U.S. Navy base. It was the fourth bombing of the atoll by Japanese ships since December 7. The capture of Midway was an important part of the broader Japanese strategy of trying to create a defensive line that would stretch from the western Aleutian Islands in the north to the Midway, Wake, Marshall, and Gilbert Islands in the south, then west to the Dutch West Indies. Occupying Midway would also mean depriving the United States of a submarine base and would provide the perfect launching pad for an all-out assault on Hawaii. Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, mastermind of the Pearl Harbor attack and commander in chief of the Japanese combined fleet, knew that only the utter destruction of U.S. naval capacity would ensure Japanese free reign in the Pacific. Japanese bombing of the atoll by ship and submarine failed to break through the extraordinary defense put up by Adm. Chester Nimitz, commander of the U.S. Navy in the Pacific, who used every resource available to protect Midway and, by extension, Hawaii. Yamamoto persevered with an elaborate warship operation, called Mi, launched in June, but the Battle of Midway was a disaster for Japan, and was the turning point for ultimate American victory in the Pacific.

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February 11 | This Day in U.S. Military History

The phrase "Sons of Liberty" used for the first time.

1765 – The term “Sons of Liberty” is used in a letter written by Jared Ingersoll, Sr. The term would soon be adopted by American patriots. In turn, Ingersoll got the phrase from a speech in the House of Commons by Isaac Barré. A vigorous opponent of the taxation of America, Barré displayed his mastery of invective in his championship of the American cause. Another member, Charles Townshend, in a debate on 6 February, spoke scornfully: “And now will these Americans, children planted by our care, nourished up by our indulgence until they are grown to a degree of strength & opulence, and protected by our arms, will they grudge to contribute their mite to relieve us from the heavy weight of that burden which we lie under?” Townshend’s speech prompted Col. Barré, to defend us: “They planted by your care? No! your oppressions planted them in America. They fled from your tyranny to a then uncultivated and unhospitable country . . . . They nourished up by your indulgence? They grew by your neglect of them: as soon as you began to care about them, that care was exercised in sending persons to rule over them . . . men whose behavior on many occasions has caused the blood of those Sons of Liberty to recoil within them . . . .They protected by your arms? They have nobly taken up arms in your defense . . . . The people I believe are as truly loyal as any subjects the King has, but a people jealous of their liberties and who will vindicate them, if ever they should be violated.” Despite the speech, the House of Commons ended up approving the Stamp Act. Barré was soon proven right, however. The Americans were “jealous of their liberties” and would “vindicate them”. Ingersoll, having witnessed this exchange, wrote his letter to Governor Thomas Fitch of Connecticut. He later claimed that he was the only man to report the contents of at least one notable speech back to America. Thus, Ingersoll took credit for introducing the phrase “Sons of Liberty” into the American lexicon.

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Abraham Lincoln born on February 12, 1809.

February 12 | This Day in U.S. Military History



February 13 | This Day in U.S. Military History

St. Augustine, Florida established on February 13, 1566.

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1962 – President John F. Kennedy authorizes U.S. military advisors in Vietnam to return fire if fired upon. At a news conference, he said, “The training missions we have [in South Vietnam] have been instructed that if they are fired upon, they are of course to fire back, but we have not sent combat troops in [the] generally understood sense of the word.” In effect, Kennedy was acknowledging that U.S. forces were involved in the fighting, but he wished to downplay any appearance of increased American involvement in the war. The next day former Vice President Nixon expressed hopes that President Kennedy would “step up the build-up and under no circumstances curtail it because of possible criticism.”

Interesting history on us getting involved in the war in Vietnam.

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February 15 | This Day in U.S. Military History

The USS Maine blew up and sank on February 15, 1898.

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February 16 | This Day in U.S. Military History

Bataan occupied by American troops.

1945 – Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines is occupied by American troops, almost three years after the devastating and infamous Bataan Death March. On April 3, 1942, the Japanese infantry staged a major offensive against Allied troops in Bataan, the peninsula guarding Manila Bay of the Philippine Islands. The invasion of the Japanese 14th Army, led by Gen. Masaharu Homma, had already forced Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s troops from Manila, the Philippine capital, into Bataan. By March, after MacArthur had left for Australia on President Roosevelt’s orders and was replaced by Maj. Gen. Edward P. King Jr., the American Luzon Force and its Filipino allies were half-starved and suffering from malnutrition, malaria, beriberi, dysentery, and hookworm. Homma, helped by reinforcements and an increase in artillery and aircraft activity, took advantage of the U.S. and Filipinos’ weakened condition to launch another major offensive, which resulted in Admiral King’s surrender on April 9. The largest contingent of U.S. soldiers ever to surrender was taken captive by the Japanese. The prisoners, both Filipino and American, were at once led 55 miles from Mariveles, on the southern end of the Bataan Peninsula, to San Fernando. The torturous journey became known as the “Bataan Death March.” At least 600 Americans and 5,000 Filipinos died because of the extreme brutality of their captors, who starved, beat, kicked, and bayoneted those too weak to walk. Survivors were taken by rail from San Fernando to prisoner of war camps, where another 16,000 Filipinos and at least 1,000 Americans died from disease, mistreatment, and starvation. America avenged its defeat in the Philippines generally, and Bataan specifically, with the invasion of Leyte Island in October 1944. General MacArthur, who in 1942 had famously promised to return to the Philippines, made good on his word. With the help of the U.S. Navy, which succeeded in destroying the Japanese fleet and left Japanese garrisons on the Philippine Islands without reinforcements, the Army defeated adamantine Japanese resistance. In January 1945, MacArthur was given control of all American land forces in the Pacific. On January 9, 1945, U.S. forces sealed off the Bataan Peninsula in the north; on February 16, the 8th Army occupied the southern tip of Bataan, as MacArthur drew closer to Manila and the complete recapture of the Philippines.

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February 17 | This Day in U.S. Military History

The Senate passed the Missouri Compromise.

Introduction - Missouri Compromise: Primary Documents in American History - Research Guides at Library of Congress

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February 18, 1944. Start of attack by German tanks on American positions near Anzio.

February 18 | This Day in U.S. Military History

1944 – The Germans commit 26th Panzer and 29th Panzergrenadier Divisions to the attack on Anzio. Strong allied artillery holds off and blunts the attacks. Kesselring and Mackensen realize that the Allied beachhead cannot be wiped out. The Germans launched a more intense assault against the 45th Division at dawn and destroyed one battalion of the 179th Infantry before pushing the remainder of the unit back a half mile farther to Lucas’ final defensive line by midmorning. Fearing that the 179th Infantry was in danger of giving way, Lucas ordered Col. William O. Darby, founder of the WWII era Rangers, to take command of the unit and allow no further retreat. The regiment held, later counting 500 dead Germans in front of its positions. Elsewhere, the 180th and 157th regiments also held their positions in spite of heavy losses during three days of German attacks. By midday, Allied air and artillery superiority had turned the tide. When the Germans launched a final afternoon assault against the 180th and 179th regiments, it was halted by air strikes and massed mortar, machine gun, artillery, and tank fire. Subsequent enemy attacks on 19 and 20 February were noticeably weaker and were broken up by the same combination of Allied arms before ground contact was made The crisis had passed, and while harassing attacks continued until 22 February, VI Corps went over to the offensive locally and succeeded in retaking some lost ground.

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February 19 | This Day in U.S. Military History

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 allowing for internment of Japanese-American citizens and Japanese immigrants. Today's Document from the National Archives

Japanese-Americans | National Archives

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February 20 | This Day in U.S. Military History

William Prescott born in 1726. He was a hero of the Battle of Bunker Hill.

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February 21 | This Day in U.S. Military History


USS Bismarck Sea sunk on this day in 1945.

1945 – The Bismarck Sea was the last U.S. Navy aircraft carrier to be sunk in combat during World War II. The escort carrier Bismarck Sea was supporting the invasion of Iwo Jima, when about 50 kamikazes attacked the U.S. Navy Task Groups 58.2 and 58.3. Fleet carrier Saratoga was struck by three suicide planes and so badly damaged that the war ended before she returned to service. At 6:45 p.m., two Mitsubishi A6M5 Zeros approached Bismarck Sea, which opened fire with her anti-aircraft guns. One Zero was set on fire, but its suicidal pilot pressed home his attack and crashed into the carrier abreast of the aft elevator, which fell into the hangar deck below. Two minutes later, an internal explosion devastated the ship, and at 7:05 p.m., Captain J.L. Pratt ordered Abandon Ship. Ravaged by further explosions over the next three hours, Bismarck Sea sank at 10 p.m., the last U.S. Navy carrier to go down as a result of enemy action during World War II. Of her crew of 943, 218 officers and men lost their lives.

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George Washington | Miller Center

Happy Birthday to someone who is arguably the greatest POTUS.

February 22 | This Day in U.S. Military History

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Iwo Jima: 75 years ago today, US Marines raised the American flag. Here's the inside story - CNN

Clint Eastwood directed a pair of movies about this campaign. One taking the point of view of the Allies and the other from that of the Japanese.

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) - Rotten Tomatoes

Flags of Our Fathers (2006) - Rotten Tomatoes