On this day in 1777, the first battle of Saratoga is fought at Freeman’s Farm. Technically, it was a British victory, but one British officer expressed his fear that the “real advantages resulting from this hard-fought battle will rest on that of the Americans, our army being so much weakened by this engagement….”
At this point in the war, British Lt. General John Burgoyne was working his way down from Canada toward Albany. Except now American Major General Horatio Gates was in his way.
Gates had stationed his forces on Bemis Heights, an area overlooking the Hudson River. The position was a strong one, allowing Gates to aim his cannons at either the river or the road next to it. He further strengthened the position by adding a network of fortifications. He had 22 cannon and about 9,000 men. He was doing well, and the cautious general was content to wait for Burgoyne to come to him.
Unfortunately, the feeling was not shared by Benedict Arnold, who was Gates’s second-in-command. The story continues here: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-first-battle-saratoga
On this day in 1947, the United States Air Force is established. Did you know that the aviation arm of our military was part of the Army during World Wars I and II? It did not become a separate and independent branch of the military until 1947.
The Army obtained its first airplane—a Wright Flyer—in 1909. That aircraft was called, quite simply, “Army Aeroplane No. 1” or “Signal Corps No. 1.”
“There is much work ahead if the military authorities carry out their present program with reference to aeronautics,” newspapers soon reported. “The instruction of the two premier army aeronauts—Lieutenant Lahm and Lieutenant Humphries—by Wilbur Wright was but a beginning. These two officers in turn are to teach their brother officers of the [Army] Signal Corps how to manage aeroplanes aloft.”
The story contiues here: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-us-air-force
On this day in 1787, delegates to the Constitutional Convention sign the Constitution. Perhaps you’ve heard what Benjamin Franklin did immediately afterwards?
He’d been spotted by a Philadelphia matron as he emerged from that meeting. She was curious. What had delegates been doing behind closed doors? “Doctor,” she reportedly called out, “what have we got, a Republic or a Monarchy?” Franklin’s response was brief: “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
The tale is simple, yet Franklin is often misquoted. Some think Franklin responded: “A democracy, if you can keep it.”
Modern Americans easily believe this misquote because the foundations of our Constitution are not taught—and thus are not understood. But Franklin and other Founders knew better.
The story continues here: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-constitution-day
On this day in 1944, a hero begins a multi-day action that would earn him the Medal of Honor. Oscar Godfrey Johnson, Jr. singlehandedly held off the enemy for two days and two nights—and he lived to tell the story.
His heroism came during the Allied effort to break through the Gothic Line, a chain of defense fortifications in Italy.
“With the defensive positions etched directly into the mountains,” a National WWII Museum publication explains, “the Allies had no choice but to maneuver their way through a virtual labyrinth of German strongpoints. . . . The fighting was slow, grinding, and bloody throughout.”
The story continues here: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-oscar-johnson-moh