September 21 in Military History

Jacobite forces under Bonnie Prince Charlie routed a government army under Sir John Cope at Prestonpans near Edinburgh in just ten minutes. The stunning victory, achieved by a Highland charge at dawn, gave the Jacobites control of Scotland and encouraged Charles to invade England, an adventure that would end in catastrophe at Culloden six months later.

American General Benedict Arnold met secretly with British Major John André aboard the HMS Vulture on the Hudson River and handed over the plans to West Point, the critical fortress guarding the Hudson Valley. Arnold's treason, the most infamous act of betrayal in American history, was discovered two days later when André was captured with the plans hidden in his stockings.

French revolutionary forces under Generals Francois Kellermann and Charles Dumouriez halted the Prussian and Austrian advance on Paris in an artillery duel near the village of Valmy. The defensive victory saved the Revolution and introduced the mass citizen army that would reshape European warfare over the next twenty years.

Indian cavalry of the Jodhpur and Mysore Lancers charged through the streets of Haifa, Palestine, in one of the last successful cavalry charges in military history. The lancers galloped directly into machine gun and artillery fire, overrunning the Ottoman and German defenders in a display of extraordinary courage that captured the vital port city.

The most powerful hurricane to strike New England in the twentieth century made landfall on Long Island and swept across southern New England, killing over 680 people. The Coast Guard and Navy mobilized massive rescue operations. The storm destroyed military installations along the coast and prompted improvements in the military's weather forecasting capabilities.

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress made its maiden flight from Boeing Field in Seattle. The most advanced bomber of WWII, it would drop the atomic bombs that ended the war.

The Boeing XB-29 prototype made its first flight from Boeing Field in Seattle with test pilot Eddie Allen at the controls. The four-engined, pressurized, remote-control turret bomber would become the most expensive weapons program of World War II and the delivery platform for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference opened its preparatory session in Beijing, setting the stage for Mao Zedong's proclamation of the People's Republic of China on October 1. The communist victory in the Chinese Civil War stunned American policymakers and dramatically altered the Cold War balance of power in Asia.

The Federal Republic of Germany was established from the three Western occupation zones, setting the institutional foundation for West German rearmament. Within six years the Bundeswehr would be formed and West Germany would join NATO, anchoring the alliance's central front and absorbing the main weight of Soviet ground forces in Central Europe.

Former Chilean foreign minister and ambassador to the United States Orlando Letelier was killed when a car bomb detonated at Sheridan Circle in Washington, D.C. The attack, ordered by the Chilean military junta's intelligence service DINA, represented one of the most brazen foreign-directed assassinations in U.S. history and prompted significant counterintelligence reforms.