11-12 OCTOBER 1776 250th ANNIVERSARY VALCOUR ISLAND (cont.) Arnold boldly hoisted sail on his flagship row galley CONGRESS and in company with three other row galleys and the 12-gun schooner ROYAL SAVAGE, charged at the enemy. His goading had the Read More
11-12 OCTOBER 1776 250th ANNIVERSARY VALCOUR ISLAND Upstate New York’s Lake George drains northward into Lake Champlain, and from there via the Richelieu River north again to the St. Lawrence. In the opposite direction, the headwaters of the south-flowing Hudson Read More
12 AUGUST 1814 BRITISH NIGHT RAID As Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry built his Lake Erie squadron at Presque Isle during the Summer of 1814, we and the British had but a few brigs and schooners for patrols. Even so, American Read More
5 AUGUST 1864 METACOMET vs. SELMA As RADM David Farragut forced Mobile Bay, the channel coursed only several hundred yards from the heavy Confederate guns of Fort Morgan. To protect his wooden warships, Farragut ordered smaller gunboats lashed to the starboard Read More
11 MARCH-25 MAY 1885 COLOMBIAN INTERVENTION As Prestan’s fires left 8,000 homeless in Colon, the rebellious Azipuru was stirring again on the Pacific side. Having initially been chased into the hills, Azipuru regained Panama City when Colombian troops crossed the isthmus Read More
16-31 MARCH 1885 PRESTAN’S UPRISING In the nineteenth century Panama was a province of Colombia. And in 1885, the Colombian populace became divided over the election of a conservative, Rafael Nunez, to the Presidency in Bogota. Localized political insurrections broke out, Read More
25-28 FEBRUARY 1814 ESCAPE OF ENTERPRISE Part of our Navy’s upsizing for the War of 1812 was the strengthening of several schooners then in service. Extra guns and extra crewmen were added, but at the cost of making the spritely schooners Read More
TODAY IN NAVAL HISTORY 25 SEPTEMBER 1899 THE CAPTURE OF URDANETA The autumn of 1898 saw the end of the Spanish-American war and the ceding of the Philippine Islands from Spain to the United States. Militant Filipinos who had been Read More
22 AUGUST 1863 NOT ABOVE MAKING A BUCK! Blockade running during our Civil War was a profitable enterprise for those who were successful. The running of war materials brought a handsome price, but even higher profit margins accompanied “luxury” items, such Read More
22 MAY 1966 “CHARLIE’s AROUND HERE SOMEWHERE” The Rung Sat is a 400-square mile mangrove swamp between Saigon and the Vietnamese coastline. Four major rivers course through the otherwise impassable area, including the Long Tau shipping channel leading to Saigon. The Read More