This day in U.S. military history, July 30th: 1863: Shoshone Chief Pocatello signs the Treaty of Box Elder, ending hostilities between his band of the Shoshones, and Mormon settlers and a company of U.S. troops. 1864: Union troops, who have been digging a tunnel under Confederate lines at Petersburg, Virginia, packed the area they dug out with four tons of explosives and detonated them. The explosion blew a 170 foot gap in the Confederate defenses, and killed 278 soldiers. The Union troops, however, were unprepared to exploit the advantage, and many of them rushed into the crater instead of around the periphery of it. In the meantime, the Confederates had recovered and rushed troops to the spot. The Battle of The Crater was a bloody debacle for the Union forces, and Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside was relieved of his command because of it. 1916: In an attempt to hamper the supply of munitions to Britain from the still-neutral United States, German saboteurs set a series of fires at the ammunition depot on Black Tom Island, New Jersey. The fires eventually reached the munitions and set off an explosion that was equivalent to an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter Scale. It was heard or felt as far away as Connecticut, Maryland, and Philadelphia. The depot was destroyed, 7 people were killed, windows were blown out in Manhattan, and the Statue of Liberty was hit by shrapnel. 1919: The Illinois Militia (National Guard) was finally called up and sent to Chicago in response to a race riot that had started on July 27th. The riot was completely over by August 3rd. There were 38 people killed. 1967: The Wisconsin National Guard was called to duty in response to a race riot in Milwaukee. The riot resulted in four deaths, including a police officer.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 17:36:44 +0000
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