On This Day ... in 1577 & Others
Sir Martin Frobisher received a commission from the Cathay Company to hunt for gold in the Arctic; he returned with tons of worthless pyrites, which were finally dumped as street ballast in London, giving rise to the legend that the streets of London are paved with gold
1776: British forces leave Boston for Halifax after General George Washington seized the Dorchester Heights in a night attack
1858: Major Richard Keatinge of the Bombay Artillery suffered two severe wounds leading an attack through murderous fire on the mutineer-held fortifications at Chundairee. He was awarded the Victoria Cross.
1879: In Afghanistan, a survey team came under attack and was forced to withdraw. Captain Leach of the Royal Engineers led a small force of men from the 45th Sikh Regiment to their aid, attacking overwhelming numbers of tribesmen. Leach was wounded but killed several opponents in close combat and the ferocity of the attack drove the tribesmen away. Leach received the Victoria Cross. His citation reads
For having an action with the Shinwarris near Maidanak, Afghanistan, on 17 March 1879, when covering the retirement if the Survey Escort who were carrying Lieutenant Barclay, 45th Sikhs, mortally wounded, he behaved with utmost gallantry in charging, with some men of the 45th Sikhs, a very much larger number of the enemy. In this encounter Captain Leach killed two or three of the enemy himself, and he recieved a severe wound from an Afghan knife in the left arm. Captain Leach's determination and gallantry in this affair, in attacking and driving back the enemy from the last position, saved the whole party from annihilation.
1890: Prince Bismarck resigned the Chancellorship of Germany
1912: The seriously ill Captain Oates, of the Royal Inniskilling Dragoons, sacrificed himself in the Antarctic. (See separate post)
1941: Bomber Command 's new four-engine heavy bomber, the Stirling, made its debut against a target in Germany, when a single aircraft joined 57 twin-engined bombers in an attack on Bremen.
1942: General Douglas MacArthur arrived in Australia after secretly leaving the Bataan Peninsula, to assume supreme command of Allied forces in the SW Pacific area
SS Claire Lilley, British merchantman, after being loaded with small arms & munitions in New York, foundered on rocks off Portuguese Cove, Nova Scotia while waiting for a pilot in stormy weather. Five of her crewmembers were lost in this incident.
The last of the ammunition was not removed & disposed of until the summer of 1999
1945: The Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen collapses. It is caused by the combined strain of bomb damage and heavy use. The advance continues over other bridges now in place