Army history in June

Beyond its role in defense of the nation, the Army and its Soldiers have contributed to medicine, technology, exploration, engineering and science. The milestones listed in this monthly chronology offer only a small glimpse of that proud story of selfless service. It is also your story.

1700s

1745 -- The French fortress of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, surrenders to American colonial troops, easing the danger of French raids on New England coastal towns.

1775 -- Birthday of the Army. On June 14 the Second Continental Congress votes to raise 10 companies of riflemen from Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. In addition, it assumes responsibility for thousands of American militia besieging the British in Boston.

1775 -- On June 16 Congress appoints George Washington general and commander in chief of the Continental Army. Congress also authorizes an engineer, adjutant general, paymaster, commissary general and quartermaster, giving birth to those branches.

1775 -- Battle of Bunker Hill. The new Continental Army fights its first battle on June 17 when British troops attack Colonial positions on Breeds Hill (misidentified as Bunker Hill) in Massachusetts. After three bloody assaults, the Americans are driven out.

1776 -- Congress creates the Board of War and Ordnance to oversee the conduct of the war. It is a forerunner of the departments of Army and Defense.

1778 -- Battle of Monmouth, N.J. On June 28 a mismanaged attack by MG Charles Lee almost turns into an American defeat until Washington rallies the troops. During the battle, Mary Hayes (Molly Pitcher) steps in to help when her husband, an artilleryman, is wounded.

1783 -- Congress orders demobilization of the Continental Army. On June 2 Washington begins sending men home, pending formal discharge. He is unable to provide long overdue pay, and hundreds of Soldiers protest outside Congress.

1792 -- MG Anthony Wayne, Army commander in chief, arrives at Fort Fayette in Pittsburgh, Pa., in mid-June to take command of the reorganized Legion of the United States.

1800s

1804 -- Corps of Discovery. The Soldiers under CPT Meriwether Lewis and LT William Clark pole their boats up the Missouri River past La Charette, the last American settlement, on June 25.

1806 -- Red River Expedition. Soldiers of the 2nd Infantry and their guides begin their ascent of the Red River on June 2. Escorting civilian scientists on a mission similar to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the explorers are stalked by Spanish patrols sent to interdict the Americans.

1813 -- On June 27 MAJ George Armistead of the 3rd Artillery takes command of Fort McHenry at Baltimore Harbor. One of his first actions is to order an unusually large American flag to fly over the fort.

1850 -- Army explorers CPT Howard Stansbury and LT John W. Gunnison, both topographic engineers, complete the first survey of the Great Salt Lake basin, identifying routes for future roads and rail lines.

1860 -- Signal Corps birthday. On June 21 Congress approves appointment of one signal officer.

1863 -- Battle of Brandy Station. Union cavalry from the Army of the Potomac surprises MG J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalry on its northern advance through the Shenandoah Valley. In one of the purely cavalry battles of the Civil War, the two units fight to a draw on June 9.

1870 -- SGT Emanuel Stance of the 9th Cavalry receives the first Medal of Honor awarded to a black Regular soldier. Issued on June 20, the posthumous award cites Stance's heroic actions during a skirmish with Indians on the Texas frontier.

1898 -- Spanish-American War. On June 22 troops of V Corps, under MG William Shafter, land at Daiquoiri, Cuba, and march to capture Santiago.

1900s

1903 -- The Army adopts the Model 1903 Springfield rifle to replace the Krag rifle. The Springfield remains in Army service for more than 50 years.

1911 -- The School of Fire is established at Fort Sill, Okla., on June 11. It is redesignated the Field Artillery School in 1919.

1917 -- Birthday of the Chemical Corps. Congress establishes the Army Chemical Warfare Service on June 28. It is redesignated the Army Chemical Corps in 1945.

1942 -- In the first foreign attack on the U.S. coast since 1812, Fort Stevens, Wash., is shelled by a Japanese submarine on June 22.

1947 -- On June 18 COL Florence A. Blanchfield of the Army Nurse Corps receives the first Regular Army commission given to a woman.

1951 -- Operation Piledriver is launched against communist forces in the Iron Triangle. It is the last large United Nations offensive of the Korean War.

1956 -- On June 12 the Army adopts its official flag in a ceremony at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pa.

1999 -- On June 13 CPT Marshall Miles leads Company C, 1st Battalion, 35th Armored Regiment, into Kosovo. It is the first ground combat unit of Task Force Falcon to arrive.

2000s

2000 -- President Bill Clinton presents 22 Medals of Honor to veterans of World War II. Twenty of the men served in the 442nd Infantry Regiment.

2002 -- On June 10 and 11 Soldiers of the 3rd Bn., 187th Inf., 101st Abn. Div., take part in Operation Apache Snow II in Afghanistan's Suleiman Khel Valley. The air assault sets a distance record of 192 mikes.

2003 -- Night positions of the 3rd Sqdn., 7th Cav., 3rd Inf. Div., near Bolad, Iraq, are attacked by pro-Saddam fighters on June 13. An American counterattack kills 20 enemy fighters.

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