Army history in April

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

1775--Massachusetts militiamen muster on April 19 to face a British force marching from Boston to seize militia arms stored at Concord. The first shots are fired at Lexington, followed at Concord by exchanges of musket fire, leaving dead and wounded on both sides. The British are driven back to Boston by American fire.

1800s

1806--Red River Expedition. A party of scientists and explorers heads up the Red River in the Orleans Territory, April 19, with an escort of 19 Soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Regiment. They are unaware that the Spanish plan to intercept them.

1808--President Thomas Jefferson orders a company from the Regiment of Artillerists to march north to help civil authorities quell an insurrection in parts of New England. Like the majority of artillerymen of the period, the Soldiers are trained and serving as infantry.

1813--Battle of York, April 27. Army troops under BG Zebulon M. Pike make an amphibious assault across Lake Ontario and successfully attack the fort guarding the Canadian town of York (modern Toronto). Pike is mortally injured when the retreating British blow up the fort's powder magazine.

1832--Black Hawk War, April 26. Army Regulars and Illinois militia begin pursuit of the Sac-Fox Indian band through northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Led by Black Hawk, the Indians had crossed the Mississippi from their western lands and attacked white settlers. Springfield attorney Abraham Lincoln, elected captain of his militia company, takes part in the campaign.

1847--Battle of Cerro Gordo, April 18. Army Engineer CPT Robert E. Lee finds a route for the troops of MG Winfield Scott to outflank and defeat a strong Mexican force holding strong defensive positions.

1860--Defense of Fort Defiance. More than 1,000 Navajo Indians attack the fort in the New Mexico Territory on April 30. The greatly outnumbered garrison of Soldiers from the 3rd Inf. Regt. successfully defends the fort.

1862--Battle of Shiloh. MG U.S. Grant's army is surprised by a major Confederate attack on the morning of April 6 and is forced back to positions around Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. Grant, reinforced during the night, counterattacks the next day and drives the Confederates from the field. For the first time, the Army uses hospitals in the field to treat wounded.

1865--Union troops break through Confederate defenses around Petersburg, Va., on April 2, causing the Confederate lines to collapse. The town is captured, and Lee's army is sent into a desperate retreat westward.

1865--On April 28 the steamboat Sultana explodes on the Mississippi River, killing 1,700 Union Soldiers, many of whom are recently released POWs from the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Ga.

1873--Modoc Indians under Captain Jack murder MG Edward R.S. Canby and other peace commissioners during truce talks, April 11. At the beginning of the Civil War, Canby had commanded Union and volunteer Soldiers credited with stopping the Confederate threat in New Mexico and Colorado.

1898--Congress declares war against Spain, April 25.

1900s

1906--MG Adolphus W. Greely assumes responsibility for disaster-relief operations in San Francisco after the city is heavily damaged by a major earthquake.

1911--On April 11 the first Army pilot school is established at College Park, Md.

1914--Army troops land at Vera Cruz, Mexico, on April 28 to help U.S. Sailors and Marines restore civil order.

1917--Congress declares war on Germany, April 6.

1918--CPT Edward V. Rickenbacker of the Army Signal Corps shoots down his first German plane on April 28. He eventually becomes the top American ace of World War I, with 26 kills.

1934--The Army officially discontinues using the saber as a weapon.

1942--After a long and heroic struggle, the American and Filipino "battling bastards" on Bataan surrender to invading Japanese troops on April 9.

1944--On April 9 the 1st and 2nd Bns., 5307th Composite Unit, known as "Merrill's Marauders," break through to the unit's 3rd Bn., which had been surrounded by Japanese units for 10 days near Nhpum, Burma.

1945--On April 4 Soldiers of the 90th Inf. Div. discover millions of dollars worth of stolen gold and art treasures hidden in a salt mine near Merkers, Germany.

1951--General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, relieved of command in Korea, delivers his famous "Old Soldiers Never Die" speech to Congress, April 19.

1954--The first Army helicopter battalion is activated at Fort Bragg, N.C., April 1.

1968--In Operation Pegasus, April 1-7, Soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Div. break the North Vietnamese siege of the Marine base at Khe Sanh.

1991--As part of Operation Provide Comfort, Army units--including elements of the 3rd Inf. Div.--deploy to Turkey and northern Iraq to protect Kurdish refugees from Iraqi attacks.

2000s

2002--On April 13 the Army accepts the first of the new wheeled Stryker armored vehicles.

COL Raymond K, Bluhm Jr. (Ret.) An officer of the Army History Foundation and co-author of "The Soldier's Guide" and "The Army."

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