Military History Anniversaries 16 thru 31 January Events in History over the next 15 day period that had U.S. military involvement or impacted in some way on U.S military operations or American interests JAN 16 1776 – Amrican Revolutionary War: African-American Soldiers » It was an uncomfortable fact for many in the colonies that at the same time they were fighting the British for their liberty and freedom they were depriving slaves of that same opportunity. African-American soldiers, in fact, had participated in major Revolutionary War battles from its very start: around 5% of American forces at the battle of Bunker Hill were black. New England units were completely integrated with soldiers receiving the same pay regardless of color. Still, fears of a rebellion of armed slaves tempered official American recognition of the contribution of blacks. On this date General George Washington allowed for the first time for free blacks with military experience to enlist in the revolutionary army. A year later, as the American need for manpower increased, Washington dropped the military experience requirement, allowing any free black who so wishes to enlist. The Continental Congress tried to recruit more African-Americans by offering to purchase them from the Southern slaveholders. Unsurprisingly, few agreed. But enterprising states like Rhode Island made an end run around the slaveholders, announcing any slave who enlisted would immediately be freed. (Rhode Island compensated the slaveholder for the market value of their slave.) The “1st Rhode Island Regiment” was comprised mostly of those freed slaves, becoming the only Continental Army unit to have segregated units for blacks. JAN 16 1780 – American Revolutionary War: British Demonstrate Naval Supremacy in The Moonlight Battle » British Admiral Sir George Rodney, with 18 ships-of-the-line, engages an inferior Spanish squadron of 11 battleships commanded by Don Juan de Langara off the southwestern coast of Portugal at Cape St. Vincent, in what comes to be known as The Moonlight Battle. (Ships-of- the-line is the 18th century term for ships substantial enough to be used in a battle line, a tactic of war in which two lines of ships faced off against each other.) The Spanish, who were at war with the British because they had chosen to back the American rebels in the War for Independence, saw the British fleet in pursuit and attempted to retreat home to the port of Cadiz. As they fled, Rodney decided to ignore the accepted rules of naval engagement, which involved two lines of ships bombarding one another with cannon much like two lines of infantry confronting one another across a battlefield. Instead, he decided to attempt to overtake of the Spanish ships by giving orders of general chase–having each British ship chase the Spanish fleet to 1 | P a g e the best of its ability. The British hounded the Spanish until 2 a.m., when the Spaniards finally surrendered. Four Spanish battleships and two frigates escaped capture, but the British took De Langara’s flagship and five others before running into shoals and ending the chase. One Spanish ship with its entire crew was lost in battle. Thirty-two Britons died, and 102 were wounded. Credit for the British victory belongs not only to their greater number of ships and Admiral Rodney’s decision to give chase, but also to the British ships’ barnacle-free copper bottoms, which allowed them to outpace the less technologically advanced Spanish fleet. The fact that the two fleets engaged in battle overnight was an anomaly in 18th-century sea warfare, and earned the encounter the title The Moonlight Battle, and a painting by Francis Holman, despite its comparative insignificance in the Revolutionary War. JAN 16 1861 – Civil War: Crittenden Compromise is Killed in Senate » The last chance to keep North and South united, dies in the U.S. Senate. Proposed by Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, the compromise was a series of constitutional amendments. The amendments would continue the old Missouri Compromise provisions of 1820, which divided the West along the latitude of 36 30′. North of this line, slavery was prohibited. The Missouri Compromise was negated by the Compromise of 1850, which allowed a vote by territorial residents (popular sovereignty) to decide the issue of slavery. Other amendments protected slavery in the District of Columbia, forbade federal interference with the interstate slave trade, and compensated owners whose slaves escaped to the free states. Essentially, the Crittenden Compromise sought to alleviate all concerns of the Southern states. Four states had already left the Union when it was proposed, but Crittenden hoped the compromise would lure them back. Crittenden thought he could muster support from both South and North and avert either a split of the nation or a civil war. The major problem with the plan was that it called for a complete compromise by the Republicans with virtually no concessions on the part of the South. The Republican Party formed in 1854 for the main purpose of opposing the expansion of slavery into the Western territories, particularly the areas north of the Missouri Compromise line. Just six years later, the party elected a president, Abraham Lincoln, over the opposition of the slave states. Crittenden was asking the Republicans to abandon their most key issues. 2 | P a g e The vote was 25 against the compromise and 23 in favor of it. All 25 votes against it were cast by Republicans, and six senators from states that were in the process of seceding abstained. One Republican editorial insisted that the party “cannot be made to surrender the fruits of its recent victory.” There would be no compromise; with the secession of states continuing, America marched inexorably towards civil war. JAN 16 1864 – Civil War: Battle of Dandridge (16-17 Jan) » With the onset of cold weather, the Confederates shifted their attention away from fighting and focused instead on building secure winter huts. The decision to suspend offensive operations proved prophetic as the most severe winter in decades roared into the mountains of East Tennessee. Temperatures dropped well below freezing for days on end, with both armies suffering the effects of the numbing cold, Wanting to push the Confederates out of their winter headquarters and having received reports of good forage south of the French Broad River, Union forces under Maj. Gen. John G. Parke advanced on Dandridge, near the East Tennessee & Virginia Railroad, on 14 JAN, with orders to cross the river and occupy the area for the Federals. This movement forced Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, who had been operating around Dandridge, to fall back beyond Kimbrough's Crossroads. Longstreet brought up reinforcements from Morristown on 15 JAN to meet the Federals and threaten the Union base at New Market. On 16 JAN, Brig. Gen. Samuel D. Sturgis, commanding the Cavalry Corps, Army of the Ohio, rode forward from Dandridge along the Morristown Road to occupy Kimbrough's Crossroads. As the Union cavalry neared the crossroads, they discovered and engaged one of Longstreet's infantry brigades with artillery that had arrived the day before. The brigade was composed of Alabama troops as well as others and was under the command of Brigadier General Micah Jenkins, a South Carolinian. At the same time Union cavalry under the command of Col. Frank Wolford engaged Confederate forces south and east of Dandridge on the bend of Chucky Road. The Union cavalry could not dislodge the Confederate troops and were compelled to retire to Dandridge. Around noon on 17 JAN, Sturgis received information that the Confederates were preparing for an attack, so he formed his men into lines of battle. About 4:00 p.m., the Confederates advanced towards Dandridge and the battle quickly turned to general fighting. The battle continued until after dark with the Union forces occupying roughly the same battle line as when the fighting started. Having failed to cross the river to the opposite bank, and fearing that Longstreet's entire force was in front of them, General Parke ordered the Federals to retreat to New Market and Strawberry Plains during the night. The Confederates pursued, but due to the lack of cannons, ammunition, and shoes, broke off and fell back to Dandridge. For the time being, the Union forces left the area. JAN 16 1865 – Civil War: Special Field Order No. 15 » Union General William T. Sherman issued the order which confiscated as Union property a strip of coastline stretching from Charleston, South Carolina, to the St. John's River in Florida, including Georgia's Sea Islands and the mainland thirty miles in from the coast. The order redistributed the roughly 400,000 acres of land to newly freed black families in forty-acre segments. Sherman's order came on the heels of his successful March to the Sea from Atlanta to Savannah and just prior to his march northward into South Carolina. 3 | P a g e The order explicitly called for the settlement of black families on confiscated land, encouraged freedmen to join the Union army to help sustain their newly won liberty, and designated a general officer to act as inspector of settlements. Inspector General Rufus Saxton would police the land and work to ensure legal title of the property for the black settlers. In a later order, Sherman also authorized the army to loan mules to the newly settled farmers. Jan 16 1916 – WWI Era: Montenegro Capitulates to Austro-Hungarian Forces » After an eight- day offensive that marked the beginning of a new, aggressive strategy in the region, Austro- Hungarian troops under commander in chief Franz Conrad von Hotzendorf take control of the Balkan state of Montenegro.