September 19 in U.S. military history
1777: The Battle of Freeman’s Farm — the first engagement in the Battle of Saratoga — opens between Continental forces under the command of Gen. Horatio Gates and British forces under Gen. John “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne. The Brits carry the day, but suffer heavy losses.
1863: (Featured image) On the border of Georgia and Tennessee, fighting begins in earnest between forces commanded by Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans and Gen. Braxton Bragg. After two days of fighting, the Confederate Army of Tennessee inflicts 18,000 casualties on the Army of the Cumberland, driving Rosecrans from the battlefield, but Union soldiers kill, wound, and capture 16,000 Confederates. After Gettysburg, the Battle of Chickamauga marks the second-highest casualty totals of the Civil War.
1864: Lt. Gen. Jubal Early’s Army of Shenandoah and Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan’s Army of the Valley meet in Winchester, Va. – the third time Confederate and Union forces square off at that site. Sheridan manages to turn Early’s left flank, leading to a Confederate retreat in what is considered perhaps the most crucial battle of the Shenandoah Valley Campaign. Casualties are heavy for both sides, and among the many fallen senior officers is Confederate brigade commander Col. George S. Patton, Sr. — grandfather of the legendary Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.
1881: President James A. Garfield, who served as Rosecrans’ chief of staff during the Battle of Chickamauga, finally succumbs to wounds suffered during an assassination attempt in July. Vice President Chester A. Arthur, formerly quartermaster general in the New York state militia, is sworn is as the 21st President of the United States.
1940: Two days after postponing Operation SEA LION – Hitler’s planned invasion of the United Kingdom – British bombers target German invasion barges staged along the French coast. Germany has not been able to achieve its preconditions of air or naval superiority, and with over 200 of the 1900 barges now sunk, Hitler orders the remaining vessels dispersed and turns his sights on invading the Soviet Union.
1944: As the Allied drive across Europe slows due to the stretched supply lines, Gen. Courtney Hodges’ First Army runs into Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model’s forces at the border between Belgium and Germany. The Germans manage to scratch out a defensive victory, inflicting some 33,000 casualties in the three-month Battle of Hürtgen Forest – marking the longest battle in U.S. Army history.
Today’s post is in honor of Sgt. Richard W. Perry, who was one of four “E” Company Marines killed on this date in 1966 during Operation PRAIRIE in the Republic of Vietnam’s Quang Tri province. Perry, 24-years-old from Marion, Ark., had recently re-enlisted and was assigned to 2d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division and was posthumously awarded the Silver Star.