March 17 in Military History

British General William Howe ordered the evacuation of approximately 11,000 troops and over 1,000 Loyalist civilians from Boston, ending an 11-month siege, the first major American victory of the Revolutionary War. The evacuation was precipitated by George Washington's daring overnight fortification of Dorchester Heights on March 4-5 using cannons that Colonel Henry Knox had hauled 300 miles overland from Fort Ticonderoga. The British fleet sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia, leaving behind significant quantities of artillery and supplies.

The Kingdom of Italy was formally proclaimed with Victor Emmanuel II as king, completing the military unification campaign that had defeated Austrian armies at Magenta and Solferino. The brutal Battle of Solferino in 1859, where 300,000 soldiers fought and 40,000 fell, had so horrified Swiss observer Henry Dunant that he founded the Red Cross, transforming military medicine forever.

The Army of the Potomac under Major General George B. McClellan began embarking from Alexandria, Virginia, for Fort Monroe on the Virginia Peninsula, the largest amphibious movement of the Civil War. Approximately 400 ships would transport 121,500 troops, 15,000 horses and mules, 1,100 wagons, and 44 batteries of artillery. McClellan's plan was to approach Richmond from the southeast rather than attacking overland from Washington.

Brigadier General William W. Averell's Union cavalry division crossed the Rappahannock River at Kelly's Ford, Virginia, engaging Confederate cavalry under Fitzhugh Lee. During the battle, Major John Pelham, the 24-year-old Confederate artillery prodigy whom Robert E. Lee had dubbed "The Gallant Pelham" at Fredericksburg, joined a cavalry charge as an observer and was struck in the head by a shell fragment. He never regained consciousness and died the following day.

General Douglas MacArthur arrived at Batchelor Field south of Darwin, Australia, completing his escape from the besieged Philippines. He had departed Corregidor on March 11 via PT boat, then flew by B-17 bomber from Mindanao. Upon arriving, MacArthur delivered his famous pledge: "I came through and I shall return." He was subsequently appointed Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area.

The Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen, Germany, collapsed into the Rhine River ten days after its unexpected capture by U.S. forces on March 7, killing 28 American combat engineers and wounding 63 more. The bridge had been weakened by the original German demolition attempt, subsequent bombing raids, V-2 rocket attacks, and heavy military traffic. By this time, American engineers had already built several pontoon bridges, making the original structure strategically redundant.

The U.S. Navy successfully launched the Vanguard 1 satellite, the first solar-powered satellite and the oldest human-made object still in orbit. Though smaller than the Soviet Sputnik, Vanguard 1 proved the military potential of space-based surveillance by revealing that the Earth is slightly pear-shaped, data valuable for ballistic missile trajectory calculations.

President Dwight Eisenhower approved a CIA program to recruit and train Cuban exiles for a paramilitary invasion to overthrow Fidel Castro. The plan, inherited by President Kennedy, was executed as the Bay of Pigs invasion on April 17, 1961, one of the most spectacular military and intelligence failures in American history.

President George W. Bush addressed the nation from the White House, declaring an end to diplomacy and giving Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his sons 48 hours to leave Iraq or face military action. Saddam refused. The invasion of Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom, began on March 20, 2003, launching the longest and most controversial American military engagement since Vietnam.

The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1973, authorizing a no-fly zone over Libya and "all necessary measures" to protect civilians during the Libyan Civil War against Muammar Gaddafi's forces. The resolution passed 10-0 with five abstentions. NATO-led military operations began two days later, ultimately contributing to Gaddafi's overthrow, but the resulting instability became a cautionary tale about intervention without post-conflict planning.