Wednesday, July 29, 2009

JAG

On this day in 1775,

Congress creates the Chaplains and Judge Advocate General Corps. Col. William Tudor is appointed as the first JAG.
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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

The Battle of Monmouth, NJ

On this day in 1778,

Mary Lugwig Hays McCauly, the wife of an artillery officer, is generally believed to be Molly Pitcher. She is remembered for bringing water to the patriots, not for drinking, but for swabbing cannon, during the Battle of Monmouth, NJ.
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Monday, July 27, 2009

Dr. Benjamin Church

On this day in 1775,

Congress creates the Army Medical Corps. Dr. Benjamin Church is appointed the first Director General and Chief Physician (today's Surgeon General).

Church was later discovered as a British spy. Congress resolved to jail him in Connecticut until 1777. He was then permitted to leave the country never to be heard from again presumed lost in the West Indies.
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Sunday, July 26, 2009

United States Post Office

No major battles occurred on this date.

But in 1775, Congress establishes the United States Post Office and names Benjamin Franklin the first United States postmaster general.
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Saturday, July 25, 2009

The Battle of Mars Bluff, SC

On this day in 1780,

British flatboats carrying sick soldiers are heading towards Charlestown on the Pee Dee River. Having learned of the movement, Maj. Tristram Thomas gathers troops to make an attack. Not having real cannon, they fashion fake "Quaker cannons". When the British approach the "battery," the Patriots rush out and pretend to load the cannons. The Loyalist militia quickly mutiny and surrender to Thomas at The Battle of Mars Bluff, SC.
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Friday, July 24, 2009

Congressional President John Hancock

No major battles occurred on this date.

But in 1776, Congressional President John Hancock accuses Maj. Gen. Phillip Schuyler of tolerating discord among soldiers from different states under his command. Disappointed, Hancock told Schuyler that Congress was "concerned to find there should be a necessity of recommending harmony to the officers and troops of different States under his command.
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Thursday, July 23, 2009

Roger Sherman

No major battles occurred on this date.

But in 1793, Roger Sherman, a Connecticut Patriot and member of the Committee of Five selected to draft the Declaration of Independence, dies of typhoid in New Haven, Connecticut, at age 72.
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