A Delaware Military History Chronology
Nineteenth Century
1800
Feb. 22, The Society of Cincinnati held a memorial parade in Wilmington for George Washington, recently
deceased.
1804
Feb. 16, Lt. Stephen Decatur led a party into Tripoli harbor and boarded the captured 38 gun frigate US
Philadelphia thus depriving the pirates of the American prize.. Reuben James, a Delawarean, saved the life of
Decatur by throwing his body between Decatur and a menacing pirate.
May 1, Eleuthere Irenee du Pont sold the first DuPont Company powder from the banks of the Brandywine
River.
Oct. 26, Lorenzo Thomas, later US Army Chief of Staff and participant in President Andrew Johnson's
impeachment trial, was born in New Castle.
1809
Jan 18 The General Assembly asked Congress to fortify the Delaware coastline in anticipation of war with
Great Britain.
1811
Jan 26, With the possibility of a second war with Great Britain, Delaware's General Assembly passed a law
exempting manufacturers and their employees from military duty.
1812
Jan 7, Governor Haslet sent a message to the legislature proclaiming a crisis for a 2nd time with Great Britain.
While the legislature authorized the purchase of arms and equipment, a fort was built at Rocks to defend
Wilmington.
Jun 18, Congress declared war on Great Britain. Delaware Congressman Henry M. Ridgely of Dover voted
"no".
19 Aug. The USS Constitution defeated the British Guerriere 750 miles off the coast of Massachusetts.
Wilmington's Lieutenant William S. Bush was killed leading a charge. He was the nephew of Major Lewis
Bush who was also killed at the Battle of Princeton in the Revolution.
Dec 26, The British Navy blockaded the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays.
1813
Mar. 16, The Delaware Bay and River were completely blockaded by the British as Commodore J. P. Beresford
of the British Poictiers demanded supplies from the town of Lewes.
Mar 23, Demands of British Commodore Beresford for provisions were refused at Lewes.
Apr. 6, Governor Haslet called the General Assembly into special session after the British bombarded Lewes
for 22 hours seeking water and supplies.
Apr. 12, Gov. Haslet organized the state militia against a British invasion in Lewes.
Apr. 21, British sailors came ashore at Little Creek seeking food and supplies for the warship HMS Poictiers
blocking the Delaware Bay.
May 13, Former Delaware US Senator James A. Bayard, Sr. and Albert Gallatin of Pennsylvania left New
Castle aboard the Neptune for St. Petersburg, Russia to help broker peace with the British and end the War of
1812.
May 27, Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River was ceded to the US government by the Delaware General
Assembly for the erection of fortifications and protection of the Delaware River.
June 16 The sloop Rebecca, loaded with corn for Wilmington, was attacked by 100 British soldiers near
Milford. They took the corn and burned the ship.
Jul 29, A flotilla of Delaware galleys attacked two British warships in the Delaware River.
1814
Feb. 4, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, hero of Lake Erie the previous September, visited Wilmington on
his way from Philadelphia to Baltimore. A dinner was given in his honor at the Indian King Tavern on the
SE corner of 4th and Market Streets.
Jul 25, The brother of Captain Thomas Stockton (later Delaware governor) of New Castle was killed in the
Battle of Lundy's Lane near Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
Sept. 12, Commodore Thomas Macdonough, born near Odessa, defeated a British squadron on Lake
Champlain. This victory was an important factor in bringing about the Treaty of Paris three months later.
Sep. 18, Colonel James Gibson, born in Milford and one of the first Delawareans to be graduated from West
Point, died from wounds received near Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada after an attack on British positions.
Oct. 17, Capt. Jacob Jones of Delaware, commanding the Wasp, captured the British sloop Frolic 600 miles east
of Norfolk, Virginia. Lt. James Biddle from Delaware headed the boarding party and personally hauled down
the flag of the Frolic.
Oct. 19, The Philadelphia Defense Committee approved a plan to fortify Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River.
Dec 24, Delaware US Senator James A. Bayard Sr. co-signed the Treaty of Ghent ending the War of 1812.
1818
Mar. 19, In the worst catastrophe at the Du Pont Powder Works near Wilmington, 85,000 lbs. of black
powder exploded in 4 minutes killing 34 people and wounding 7. For the first time, pensions were given to
widows and provisions were made for the education of their children.
Jun 20, The British frigate Nieman landed 60 men in barges into the Indian River to steal provisions and burn
ships.
Jul 7, Captain Patrick O'Flinn, innkeeper in Wilmington and soldier of the Revolution, died.
1822
Oct 9, George Sykes, grandson of Acting Governor James Sykes (1801) and later V Corps commander at the
Battle of Gettysburg, was born in the Sykes House on Dover Green.
1823
Feb. 1, Twelve workers were killed in an explosion at the Garesche Powder Works in Eden Park, Wilmington.
1824
Jun 9, Joseph Harper, Dover Revolutionary War veteran who lived at King and North Streets, died at 68 years.
Oct 6, The Marquis de la Fayette was feted in Wilmington and escorted Dorcas Van Dyke in her wedding
ceremony with Charles I. du Pont in New Castle.
1825
Sep 7, The Marquis de la Fayette sailed for France for the last time on the ship Brandywine, a new US frigate
commanded by the Delawarean Jacob Jones.
1829
May 22, Allen McLane, Delaware's Revolutionary War hero died in Wilmington.
1831
Feb. 9, With a river full of ice, Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island was raked by a $100,000 fire. The 150 officers
and men were quartered in New Castle's Arsenal.
1834
Sep 13, Major Peter Jaquett, distinguished Revolutionary War officer, died at his Wilmington home.
Sep 15, Major Peter Jaquett, 80, one of the last Revolutionary War heroes, was laid to rest at Old Swedes
Church in Wilmington.
1836
Sep 27, Presidential candidate General William Henry Harrison came to Wilmington to extol the virtues of
Delaware's Revolutionary War hero Robert Kirkwood.
1837
Jan. 5, Defender of Lewes during the War of 1812 Colonel Samuel B. Davis, 71, married Sally Janet Jones, 21.
Three of their children would bear the name Newcastle, Delaware, Sussex, and Kent.
1841
Oct 9, Hance Naff, Sr., an old Revolutionary War soldier who lived in a log cabin near Cool Spring, died. His
son, Hance Naff, Jr., lived to be over 100.
1842
Aug. 10, Griffin Seward, later recipient of the Medal of Honor in the Indian wars in Arizona October 20, 1869,
was born in Hazlettsville (Hazelville), six miles west of Dover.
Dec 17,John Maberry, future recipient of the Medal of Honor at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, was born in
Smyrna.
1844
Dec 10, A Federal court declared ownership of Pea Patch Island in favor of the US rather than J. T. Hudson of
New Jersey who brought suit 11 years before.
1845
Feb. 11, Dr. Allen McLane, youngest son of Revolutionary War hero from Smyrna Col. Allen McLane, died
and was buried in the Methodist Church Yard on 3rd Street in Wilmington.
Oct 10, The US Naval Academy opened in Annapolis with one of its founders, Delaware's Henry Hayes
Lockwood, as a staff instructor.
1846
May 9, Lieutenant R. E. Cochran, born in NC Co. and reared in Delaware City and a graduate of West Point,
was killed in the Battle of Matamoras as the Mexican War raged.
May 10, 1846 The state's quota of soldiers for the Mexican War was 390, but few came forth.
1848
22 Aug., A banquet was held in Wilmington's City Hall for the returning Delawareans who served with the
11th Regiment, US Infantry in the Mexican War.
1849
June 8, A dinner was given for returning soldiers from Mexico at John Springer's Hotel at 9th and Shipley
Streets in Wilmington. The state voted $100 for a sword for Lt. Robert C. Rogers who had been a prisoner
during the siege of Vera Cruz.
Sep 12, Lt. Colonel James D. Graham of the US Army Engineers met with commissioners to determine the
disputed boundary between Delaware and Maryland northwest of Newark.
1850
Mar 20, Midshipman Charles Bayard, son of Richard H. Bayard, died in Naples, Italy after suffering an
explosion and amputation of his arm while exploring the crater on Mt. Vesuvius.
1854
Sep 6, Colonel Samuel Boyer Davis, defender of Lewes in 1812, died at Delamore Place in Wilmington and was
buried in the Wilmington Brandywine Cemetery.
1858
Jun 28, Miss Louisa Gibble arrived at Fort Delaware to become the island's first schoolteacher.
1861
Apr. 16, After the news of Fort Sumter 4 days earlier, a large Union gathering took place in Wilmington's City
Hall where $8,000 was raised for the defense of the city.
Apr 18, Isaac R. Trimble, the engineer who helped build Delaware's railroads, led a party of Confederate
sympathizers to destroy railroad bridges over Maryland's Bush River.
Apr. 19, Anticipating war, troops from Philadelphia garrisoned Fort Delaware which later became a prison
camp.
Apr. 25, Governor William Burton called for volunteers for the Civil War effort as militia units began forming
up and down state, some whose allegiances were suspect.
Jul 13, Maj. Gen. Nathan P. Banks, Commanding General at Annapolis, suggested Fort Delaware could be a
good place to keep Maryland political prisoners.
Aug. 31, In the early days of the Civil War the DuPont Company received an order from the Federal
Government for 600,000 lbs. of gunpowder.
Sep 5, Despite housing prisoners of war, excursion steamers continued to bring picnicking parties of men and
women to Pea Patch Island.
Sep 17, Caleb Ross, son of former Delaware Governor William Ross, died of typhoid fever in Confederate
service as an enlisted man in the 9th Virginia Cavalry in Big Spring, Virginia near Luray.
Oct 13, A US Army Signal Corps observation balloon belonging to Thaddeus Lowe of the Union Army
landed near Laurel. It had broken loose from its moorings earlier in the day near Georgetown, D. C.
Oct 14, The USS Delaware, an iron sidewheeler built by Harlan and Hollingsworth in Wilmington, was
purchased by the US Government to help enforce the blockade of the South.
Oct. 20, The 1st Delaware Regiment left Hare's Corner near New Castle for Fort Monroe, Va.
Nov. 19, Privates Samuel C. Bracey and Gottlieb Griessinger of Company G, 2nd Delaware Infantry, were
poisoned by Southern sympathizing townspeople while on duty in Cambridge, Maryland.
Nov. 21, Sgt. William Saulsbury, nephew of Delaware's US Senator Willard Saulsbury, died presumably of
disease, as a member of Co F, 4th Kentucky Mounted Infantry, CSA, in Nashville, Tennessee.
1862
Feb. 22, Episcopal Bishop John Johns, son of Delaware Chancellor Kensey Johns and grandson of Governor
Nicholas Van Dyke, administered the oath of office to Jefferson Davis, CSA.
Apr. 1, Confederate prisoners numbering 258 captured in the Battle of Kernstown, Va. arrived at Fort
Delaware. Among the group was Lt. George Junkin, brother-in-law of Stonewall Jackson.
Apr. 3, Flags captured at Port Royal, SC by Commodore Samuel F. du Pont were hung on the walls of City
Hall, Wilmington.
May 26, The 3rd Delaware Infantry, raised from Kent and Sussex Counties and based at Camp Fisher in
Camden, was ordered by water and rail to Harpers Ferry, WVA.
Jul 10, US Army Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas, born in New Castle, inspected Fort Delaware on Pea
Patch Island accommodations housing prisoners.
Sep. 17, Charles B. Tanner, 2nd Lieutenant, Co. H, Ist Delaware Infantry from Wilmington, retrieved his
regimental flag at the Battle of Antietam and earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. Captains Evan S.
Watson, James Rickards and James Leonard were killed as one third of the 1st Delaware Infantry was
wounded or killed at the Battle of Antietam.
Sep 19, Rebel prisoners captured at the Battles of South Mountain and Crampton's Gap in Maryland, 1,800 in
number, arrived at Fort Delaware.
Sep 25, President Lincoln called for 300,000 men, 3,440 of whom were Delaware's quota with time for a draft
extended to allow securing volunteers.
Sep 29, Bodies of Captains Evan Watson and James Rickards, 1st Del. killed at Antietam, lay in state in Old
Town Hall then were buried in Wilmington Brandywine Cemetery.
Oct 2, The 2nd Delaware Infantry came up the Nanticoke River and arrested future Congressman Edward L.
Martin (1879-1883) in Seaford on suspicion of being a traitor by aiding young men to go south to the
Confederacy.
Nov. 3, General John E. Wool arrived in Seaford from Baltimore with 750 troops of the 1st Maryland Eastern
Shore Infantry from Salisbury to superintend elections the next day.
Nov. 4, William Cannon of Bridgeville was elected governor while Federal troops from Maryland and New
York stood at the polls during the election.
Nov. 25, P. Bauduy Garesche, formerly of Wilmington, was commended for the high quality of gunpowder
put out by his Confederate Naval Powder Mills in Columbia, S. C.
Dec 12, The 1st and 2nd Delaware Regiments suffered great losses in the attack on Marye's Heights. 1st
Delaware Regiment suffered 10 men killed, 74 wounded and 9 missing in the slaughter in the Battle of
Fredericksburg. The 2nd Delaware lost 57 men killed, wounded and missing in the attack on Marye's Heights.
1863
Mar. 6, The Tilton Army Hospital opened at 9th and Tatnall Streets in Wilmington, having been built in 25
days. By 1870 all traces of the hospital had vanished.
Mar. 9, John W. Dunning of Dover was a member of Mosby's Raiders, CSA, that captured a Union General in
Fairfax, Virginia. Pulling the covers back and slapping the sleeping general on his bottom, they marched him
off to Richmond's Libby Prison.
Apr. 2, Col. Robert Buchanan, who had once forced Ulysses Grant to resign from the US Army because of
drunkenness, assumed command at Fort Delaware.
Apr. 7, Rear Admiral Samuel F. du Pont hesitated in attacking Charleston, SC because of not being supported
simultaneously by the army.
May 1, The 1st and 2nd Delaware Regiments fought in the Battle of Chancellorsville, Va. and suffered
considerable casualties.
28 June, At the Battle of Gettysburg, the US Army 5th Corps was commanded by Maj. Gen. George Sykes,
grandson of Acting Delaware Governor James Sykes (1801-02).
29 June, Captain Charles Corbit of near Delaware City led a wild charge of Union cavalry against that of
General Jeb Stuart's Confederates near Westminster, Maryland. Corbit's casualties were 67 men killed,
wounded or captured.(70% of unit's strength).
Jul 3, Privates John B. Maberry of Smyrna and Bernard McCarren of Wilmington, 1st Delaware Infantry, were
awarded Congressional Medals of Honor after they had captured regimental flags of the 7th North Carolina in
the defense of Cemetery Ridge during Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg.
Jul 9, Rear Admiral Samuel du Pont arrived home in Wilmington after having been relieved for his failure to
take Charleston, SC in April.
Jul 15, The body of Lieutenant William Smith, 1st Delaware Infantry, killed in Pickett's charge, arrived in
Wilmington.
Jul 31, Rebel prisoners from the Battle of Gettysburg, began arriving at Fort Delaware and soon brought
inmates there to a peak of 12,595, the most ever.
Aug 11, First military draft held in Smyrna exceeded expectations with 2,454 of 1,636 being needed ($300.
would exempt a draftee).
Aug 18, Governor Cannon's son, Captain William L. Cannon, 1st Battalion Delaware Cavalry, died in the US
Army of exposure at Bel Air, Md.
Aug. 26, Governor Cannon and Commandant Brig. Gen. Albin F. Schoepf made an inspection tour of Fort
Delaware on Pea Patch Island.
Aug. 30 Another Confederate prisoner was shot and killed at Fort Delaware when the guard felt he was
trying to escape.
Sep 11, Twelve coffins on the wharf at Fort Delaware, the first of many Confederate dead prisoners, were
readied for burial on the New Jersey side at Finn's Point.
Oct. 1, While Fort Delaware teemed with Confederate prisoners, an epidemic of smallpox broke out on Pea
Patch Island with an average of 2 deaths a day.
Oct 10, A company of the 8th US Colored Troops was raised in Kent and Sussex Counties.
Oct 26, The US War Department promoted Negro enlistments in Delaware.
Nov. 2, Pvt. James Burton, 5th Alabama Regiment, CSA, captured 3 times and a POW 3 times at Fort
Delaware, succumbed to disease.
Nov. 15, Three Confederate prisoners captured at Gettysburg drowned while trying to escape from Fort
Delaware.
Dec. 25, John Barber of Wilmington died at the age of 71. He had been a member of the 33rd Regiment under
the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo
Dec 29, The first Delaware Infantry became the first volunteer regiment to reenlist for three more years.
1864
Feb. 17, Commandant of Fort Delaware Gen. Albin F. Schoepf prepared to exchange Confederate prisoners. In
his report he indicated there were 82 civilian or political prisoners, 1,260 officers, 778 non-commissioned
officers and 5,642 privates at the fort.
Mar. 11, The General Assembly began an investigation into why Federal troops were brought into the state
during the previous elections.
May 11, Captain John Evans of New Castle and Lt. Col. David L. Stricker of Dover died of wounds during
the Battle of Spottsylvania, Va.
Jun 2, Purnell Pettijohn, 3rd Delaware, was killed in the Battle of Cold Harbor while Lt. Richard H. Webb, 4th
Delaware, fell at Bethesda Church, both regiments losing heavily in the fight.
June 5, The 1st Delaware Regiment was a part of General Ulysses Grant's siege of Petersburg, Va.
June 19, Lt. Col. William B. Dorrell, 3rd Del. Infantry and Captain Thomas M. Reynolds of the 4th Del.
Infantry were killed leading an attack near Petersburg, Va.
Jun 19, Russell Baker Hobbs of Georgetown was aboard the Confederate cruiser Alabama when it was sunk by
the USS Kearsarge.
Jul 11, The 7th Delaware Infantry, called up for 30 days, was ordered to Baltimore to bolster defenses after the
Battle of Monocacy near Frederick, Maryland.
Jul 18, With Civil War casualties climbing higher, Delaware was called on by President Lincoln for 2,445 more
soldiers.
July 28, Sixty men of the 114th Ohio Regiment broke up a fund raiser at McCrone's Woods (Hare's Corner).
Monies were to go for food for prisoners at Fort Delaware.
Aug. 20 Pvt. Hugh Donohoe, Co D, 2nd Del. Inf. died of scurvy in Andersonville prison.
Aug 21, 1st Sgt. John Shilling of Felton, 3rd Delaware Infantry, was awarded the Congressional Medal of
Honor for the capture of a South Carolina regimental flag at the Weldon Railroad outside Petersburg, Virginia.
Sept. 15, Pvt. William Aikin, Co. G, 7th Del. Reg. died of scurvy in Andersonville prison in Georgia.
Sep 16, Pvt. George W. Maxworthy, Co. D, 2 Del. Inf., died of diarrhea in Andersonville Prison in Georgia.
Sep 17 ,Pvt. Henry Canning, drummer boy of Co. F, 2nd Del. Reg., died of scurvy in Andersonville Prison in
Georgia.
Sep 27, Sgt. George Hodgson, Co. D, 1st Del. Reg., died of scurvy in Andersonville Prison in Georgia.
Oct 13, Three more soldiers from Delaware regiments died of disease and were buried at the Andersonville,
GA. Confederate prison camp.
Oct 19, Captain Henry A. du Pont, 5th US Art., was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor at Cedar
Creek near Strasburg, Virginia.
Nov. 11, Major William F. Smith, 26, 1st Delaware Infantry, and son of John W. and Sarah Smith of Dover
died of wounds on the Boydton Plank Road near Petersburg, Va.
Dec 12, Because prisoners throwing urine out second floor windows on guards had been a problem, guard
Pvt. John Deakyne of the 9th Delaware Inf. Fort Delaware, shot Pvt. John H. Bibb, Charlottesville Artillery,
Cutshaw's Battalion, CSA.
1865
Jan 15, William J. Palmer, born in Leipsic, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor as Colonel of 15th
Pa. Cavalry for valor at Red Hill, AL.
Feb. 27, Lt. Samuel Boyer Davis, grandson of his namesake who defended Lewes during the British attack in
1813 and who was reprieved from a death sentence as a Confederate spy, was imprisoned in Fort Delaware.
Mar. 13, More Rebel prisoners, 2,000 who were captured in Gen. Jubal Early's defeat at Waynesboro, Virginia,
arrived at Fort Delaware.
Apr. 9, Brigadier General Thomas A. Smyth of Wilmington became one of the last Union officers killed in the
Civil War when he was shot by a Confederate sniper near Farmville, Va.
Apr. 19 Wilmington Mayor Joshua Maris declared a day of mourning in the city for the assassinated President
Lincoln. Businesses were to close from noon to 3 P.M. and city bells were to ring from 2-3 P.M.
Apr. 20, Near Rockville, MD Lt. Zachariah Gemmill of the 1st Delaware Cavalry helped nab George A.
Atzerodt of the Lincoln conspirators.
Apr. 22, Hundreds of Delawareans went to view President Lincoln's body as it lay in state at Philadelphia's
Independence Hall.
May 10, Future Wilmingtonian, General James H. Wilson's cavalry captured escaping Confederate States of
America President Jefferson Davis at Irwinville near Macon, Georgia.
May 22, Burton Harrison, private secretary to President Jefferson Davis, was received with other Confederate
prisoners at Fort Delaware.
June 23, Rear Admiral Samuel F. du Pont died of a throat ailment in Philadelphia. His funeral in Wilmington
was attended 2 days later by General George G. Meade, commander of Union forces at Gettysburg.
Jul 7, Charles Bird of Wilmington headed a detachment of troops at the execution of Lincoln assassins in
Washington, D. C.
Sep 25, The iron sidewheeler USS Delaware built by Harlan and Hollingsworth in Wilmington and used by
the US Government to help enforce the blockade against the South, was sold.
1866
Jan. 3, Generals Ulysses Grant and Philip Sheridan attended the wedding of Henry B. Thompson and Mary
Wilson in Wilmington.
Jan 17, General George Meade, hero of Gettysburg, attended the wedding of cavalry General A.T.A. (Alfred
Thomas Archimedes) Torbert in Milford's Christ Church.
Feb. 11, The General Thomas A. Smyth Post No. 1, Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), was organized in
Wilmington. Smyth was one of the last Union generals killed in the Civil War.
1867
Apr. 7, Brooke T. Turner, a soldier in the English Army under the Duke of Welllington at Waterloo, died at
his residence on Orange Street in Wilmington.
1868
Feb. 21, President Andrew Johnson futilely appointed New Castle's General Lorenzo Thomas as interim
Secretary of War, a move that led to the President's impeachment.
Dec. 3, Tests were conducted at Fort Delaware to find whether it could withstand future bombardment. After
a steel cannon ball weighing 483 lbs. with a charge of 84 lbs. of powder was fired from a 15 inch Rodman gun
that tore gaping holes in the masonry, it was determined forts such as this were outmoded.
Dec. 20, Lt. Samuel Boyer Davis of Wilmington and Confederate grandson of his namesake from the War of
1812, was released as a prisoner from Boston's Fort Warren.
1869
Oct. 29, Griffin Seward of near Dover, Co. G, 8th US Cavalry, was awarded the Congressional Medal of
Honor for gallantry in action in a fight with Apache Indians in the Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona Territory.
1871
May 30, General O. O. Howard dedicated the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument at Delaware Avenue and 14th
and Broom Streets in Wilmington.
1872
Feb. 1, A military fair opened in Wilmington's new Grand Opera House with General George Meade as a
drawing card.
1873
Apr. 22, Flags of the Delaware Civil War regiments 2, 3, 4, 5 were presented to the Delaware Historical Society.
1875
Mar 2, Former US Army Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas from New Castle and participant in President
Andrew Johnson impeachment trial died in Washington, D. C. and was buried there in Oak Hill Cemetery.
1876
Jun 25, Corporal Eugene L. Cooper, US 7th Cavalry, alias George C. Morris of Wilmington, was the only
Delawarean to die with Custer on the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory.
1884
Jan 29, The colors of the 1st Delaware Regiment from the Civil War were deposited with the Historical Society
of Delaware.
Dec. 20 The Statue of Admiral Samuel F. du Pont was removed from Washington D. C's du Pont Circle and
placed at Park Drive in Wilmington's Rockford Park.
1888
Jul 3, The steamer USS Swarta arrived off Cape Henlopen carrying 57 year old General Philip H. Sheridan from
Hampton Roads to his summer home on Martha's Vineyard. He died a month later from chronic heart disease.
1893
Oct. 30, John Philip Sousa's band performed at Wilmington's Grand Opera House.
1897
June 21, Chief of US Engineers Brig. Gen. John M. Watson visited Pea Patch Island and was intrigued by a
lone mule that had the run of the island. Used in the construction of the Breakwater at Lewes in the 1870s, the
mule had also seen service at Fort Mifflin, NJ, then "put out to pasture" on Pea Patch in 1883.
1898
May 1, Tom Mix, later a Hollywood western star, but then a member of the US Artillery, helped guard the
DuPont Powder Works, then pulled duty at Forts Delaware and DuPont in Delaware City.
May 11, Leonard Chadwick of Middletown, Apprentice 1st Class, US Navy aboard the USS Marblehead, was
awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery under fire near Cienfuegos, Cuba.
Jul 2, Lt. Clarke Churchman, 24, of Claymont became the only Delawarean and American officer to be killed
in the Spanish-American War in the charge up San Juan Hill in Cuba.
July 12, After the threat of war with Spain was ended, the minefields in the Delaware River were dismantled
by the government.
1899
Apr. 24, John Philip Sousa brought his band to Wilmington's Grand Opera House.
Oct. 19, Private Charles H. Pierce of near Middletown, Co. I, 22nd US Infantry, was awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor near San Isidro, Luzon, Philippine Islands for bravery in action while
wounded.
Nineteenth Century
1800
Feb. 22, The Society of Cincinnati held a memorial parade in Wilmington for George Washington, recently
deceased.
1804
Feb. 16, Lt. Stephen Decatur led a party into Tripoli harbor and boarded the captured 38 gun frigate US
Philadelphia thus depriving the pirates of the American prize.. Reuben James, a Delawarean, saved the life of
Decatur by throwing his body between Decatur and a menacing pirate.
May 1, Eleuthere Irenee du Pont sold the first DuPont Company powder from the banks of the Brandywine
River.
Oct. 26, Lorenzo Thomas, later US Army Chief of Staff and participant in President Andrew Johnson's
impeachment trial, was born in New Castle.
1809
Jan 18 The General Assembly asked Congress to fortify the Delaware coastline in anticipation of war with
Great Britain.
1811
Jan 26, With the possibility of a second war with Great Britain, Delaware's General Assembly passed a law
exempting manufacturers and their employees from military duty.
1812
Jan 7, Governor Haslet sent a message to the legislature proclaiming a crisis for a 2nd time with Great Britain.
While the legislature authorized the purchase of arms and equipment, a fort was built at Rocks to defend
Wilmington.
Jun 18, Congress declared war on Great Britain. Delaware Congressman Henry M. Ridgely of Dover voted
"no".
19 Aug. The USS Constitution defeated the British Guerriere 750 miles off the coast of Massachusetts.
Wilmington's Lieutenant William S. Bush was killed leading a charge. He was the nephew of Major Lewis
Bush who was also killed at the Battle of Princeton in the Revolution.
Dec 26, The British Navy blockaded the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays.
1813
Mar. 16, The Delaware Bay and River were completely blockaded by the British as Commodore J. P. Beresford
of the British Poictiers demanded supplies from the town of Lewes.
Mar 23, Demands of British Commodore Beresford for provisions were refused at Lewes.
Apr. 6, Governor Haslet called the General Assembly into special session after the British bombarded Lewes
for 22 hours seeking water and supplies.
Apr. 12, Gov. Haslet organized the state militia against a British invasion in Lewes.
Apr. 21, British sailors came ashore at Little Creek seeking food and supplies for the warship HMS Poictiers
blocking the Delaware Bay.
May 13, Former Delaware US Senator James A. Bayard, Sr. and Albert Gallatin of Pennsylvania left New
Castle aboard the Neptune for St. Petersburg, Russia to help broker peace with the British and end the War of
1812.
May 27, Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River was ceded to the US government by the Delaware General
Assembly for the erection of fortifications and protection of the Delaware River.
June 16 The sloop Rebecca, loaded with corn for Wilmington, was attacked by 100 British soldiers near
Milford. They took the corn and burned the ship.
Jul 29, A flotilla of Delaware galleys attacked two British warships in the Delaware River.
1814
Feb. 4, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, hero of Lake Erie the previous September, visited Wilmington on
his way from Philadelphia to Baltimore. A dinner was given in his honor at the Indian King Tavern on the
SE corner of 4th and Market Streets.
Jul 25, The brother of Captain Thomas Stockton (later Delaware governor) of New Castle was killed in the
Battle of Lundy's Lane near Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
Sept. 12, Commodore Thomas Macdonough, born near Odessa, defeated a British squadron on Lake
Champlain. This victory was an important factor in bringing about the Treaty of Paris three months later.
Sep. 18, Colonel James Gibson, born in Milford and one of the first Delawareans to be graduated from West
Point, died from wounds received near Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada after an attack on British positions.
Oct. 17, Capt. Jacob Jones of Delaware, commanding the Wasp, captured the British sloop Frolic 600 miles east
of Norfolk, Virginia. Lt. James Biddle from Delaware headed the boarding party and personally hauled down
the flag of the Frolic.
Oct. 19, The Philadelphia Defense Committee approved a plan to fortify Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River.
Dec 24, Delaware US Senator James A. Bayard Sr. co-signed the Treaty of Ghent ending the War of 1812.
1818
Mar. 19, In the worst catastrophe at the Du Pont Powder Works near Wilmington, 85,000 lbs. of black
powder exploded in 4 minutes killing 34 people and wounding 7. For the first time, pensions were given to
widows and provisions were made for the education of their children.
Jun 20, The British frigate Nieman landed 60 men in barges into the Indian River to steal provisions and burn
ships.
Jul 7, Captain Patrick O'Flinn, innkeeper in Wilmington and soldier of the Revolution, died.
1822
Oct 9, George Sykes, grandson of Acting Governor James Sykes (1801) and later V Corps commander at the
Battle of Gettysburg, was born in the Sykes House on Dover Green.
1823
Feb. 1, Twelve workers were killed in an explosion at the Garesche Powder Works in Eden Park, Wilmington.
1824
Jun 9, Joseph Harper, Dover Revolutionary War veteran who lived at King and North Streets, died at 68 years.
Oct 6, The Marquis de la Fayette was feted in Wilmington and escorted Dorcas Van Dyke in her wedding
ceremony with Charles I. du Pont in New Castle.
1825
Sep 7, The Marquis de la Fayette sailed for France for the last time on the ship Brandywine, a new US frigate
commanded by the Delawarean Jacob Jones.
1829
May 22, Allen McLane, Delaware's Revolutionary War hero died in Wilmington.
1831
Feb. 9, With a river full of ice, Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island was raked by a $100,000 fire. The 150 officers
and men were quartered in New Castle's Arsenal.
1834
Sep 13, Major Peter Jaquett, distinguished Revolutionary War officer, died at his Wilmington home.
Sep 15, Major Peter Jaquett, 80, one of the last Revolutionary War heroes, was laid to rest at Old Swedes
Church in Wilmington.
1836
Sep 27, Presidential candidate General William Henry Harrison came to Wilmington to extol the virtues of
Delaware's Revolutionary War hero Robert Kirkwood.
1837
Jan. 5, Defender of Lewes during the War of 1812 Colonel Samuel B. Davis, 71, married Sally Janet Jones, 21.
Three of their children would bear the name Newcastle, Delaware, Sussex, and Kent.
1841
Oct 9, Hance Naff, Sr., an old Revolutionary War soldier who lived in a log cabin near Cool Spring, died. His
son, Hance Naff, Jr., lived to be over 100.
1842
Aug. 10, Griffin Seward, later recipient of the Medal of Honor in the Indian wars in Arizona October 20, 1869,
was born in Hazlettsville (Hazelville), six miles west of Dover.
Dec 17,John Maberry, future recipient of the Medal of Honor at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, was born in
Smyrna.
1844
Dec 10, A Federal court declared ownership of Pea Patch Island in favor of the US rather than J. T. Hudson of
New Jersey who brought suit 11 years before.
1845
Feb. 11, Dr. Allen McLane, youngest son of Revolutionary War hero from Smyrna Col. Allen McLane, died
and was buried in the Methodist Church Yard on 3rd Street in Wilmington.
Oct 10, The US Naval Academy opened in Annapolis with one of its founders, Delaware's Henry Hayes
Lockwood, as a staff instructor.
1846
May 9, Lieutenant R. E. Cochran, born in NC Co. and reared in Delaware City and a graduate of West Point,
was killed in the Battle of Matamoras as the Mexican War raged.
May 10, 1846 The state's quota of soldiers for the Mexican War was 390, but few came forth.
1848
22 Aug., A banquet was held in Wilmington's City Hall for the returning Delawareans who served with the
11th Regiment, US Infantry in the Mexican War.
1849
June 8, A dinner was given for returning soldiers from Mexico at John Springer's Hotel at 9th and Shipley
Streets in Wilmington. The state voted $100 for a sword for Lt. Robert C. Rogers who had been a prisoner
during the siege of Vera Cruz.
Sep 12, Lt. Colonel James D. Graham of the US Army Engineers met with commissioners to determine the
disputed boundary between Delaware and Maryland northwest of Newark.
1850
Mar 20, Midshipman Charles Bayard, son of Richard H. Bayard, died in Naples, Italy after suffering an
explosion and amputation of his arm while exploring the crater on Mt. Vesuvius.
1854
Sep 6, Colonel Samuel Boyer Davis, defender of Lewes in 1812, died at Delamore Place in Wilmington and was
buried in the Wilmington Brandywine Cemetery.
1858
Jun 28, Miss Louisa Gibble arrived at Fort Delaware to become the island's first schoolteacher.
1861
Apr. 16, After the news of Fort Sumter 4 days earlier, a large Union gathering took place in Wilmington's City
Hall where $8,000 was raised for the defense of the city.
Apr 18, Isaac R. Trimble, the engineer who helped build Delaware's railroads, led a party of Confederate
sympathizers to destroy railroad bridges over Maryland's Bush River.
Apr. 19, Anticipating war, troops from Philadelphia garrisoned Fort Delaware which later became a prison
camp.
Apr. 25, Governor William Burton called for volunteers for the Civil War effort as militia units began forming
up and down state, some whose allegiances were suspect.
Jul 13, Maj. Gen. Nathan P. Banks, Commanding General at Annapolis, suggested Fort Delaware could be a
good place to keep Maryland political prisoners.
Aug. 31, In the early days of the Civil War the DuPont Company received an order from the Federal
Government for 600,000 lbs. of gunpowder.
Sep 5, Despite housing prisoners of war, excursion steamers continued to bring picnicking parties of men and
women to Pea Patch Island.
Sep 17, Caleb Ross, son of former Delaware Governor William Ross, died of typhoid fever in Confederate
service as an enlisted man in the 9th Virginia Cavalry in Big Spring, Virginia near Luray.
Oct 13, A US Army Signal Corps observation balloon belonging to Thaddeus Lowe of the Union Army
landed near Laurel. It had broken loose from its moorings earlier in the day near Georgetown, D. C.
Oct 14, The USS Delaware, an iron sidewheeler built by Harlan and Hollingsworth in Wilmington, was
purchased by the US Government to help enforce the blockade of the South.
Oct. 20, The 1st Delaware Regiment left Hare's Corner near New Castle for Fort Monroe, Va.
Nov. 19, Privates Samuel C. Bracey and Gottlieb Griessinger of Company G, 2nd Delaware Infantry, were
poisoned by Southern sympathizing townspeople while on duty in Cambridge, Maryland.
Nov. 21, Sgt. William Saulsbury, nephew of Delaware's US Senator Willard Saulsbury, died presumably of
disease, as a member of Co F, 4th Kentucky Mounted Infantry, CSA, in Nashville, Tennessee.
1862
Feb. 22, Episcopal Bishop John Johns, son of Delaware Chancellor Kensey Johns and grandson of Governor
Nicholas Van Dyke, administered the oath of office to Jefferson Davis, CSA.
Apr. 1, Confederate prisoners numbering 258 captured in the Battle of Kernstown, Va. arrived at Fort
Delaware. Among the group was Lt. George Junkin, brother-in-law of Stonewall Jackson.
Apr. 3, Flags captured at Port Royal, SC by Commodore Samuel F. du Pont were hung on the walls of City
Hall, Wilmington.
May 26, The 3rd Delaware Infantry, raised from Kent and Sussex Counties and based at Camp Fisher in
Camden, was ordered by water and rail to Harpers Ferry, WVA.
Jul 10, US Army Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas, born in New Castle, inspected Fort Delaware on Pea
Patch Island accommodations housing prisoners.
Sep. 17, Charles B. Tanner, 2nd Lieutenant, Co. H, Ist Delaware Infantry from Wilmington, retrieved his
regimental flag at the Battle of Antietam and earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. Captains Evan S.
Watson, James Rickards and James Leonard were killed as one third of the 1st Delaware Infantry was
wounded or killed at the Battle of Antietam.
Sep 19, Rebel prisoners captured at the Battles of South Mountain and Crampton's Gap in Maryland, 1,800 in
number, arrived at Fort Delaware.
Sep 25, President Lincoln called for 300,000 men, 3,440 of whom were Delaware's quota with time for a draft
extended to allow securing volunteers.
Sep 29, Bodies of Captains Evan Watson and James Rickards, 1st Del. killed at Antietam, lay in state in Old
Town Hall then were buried in Wilmington Brandywine Cemetery.
Oct 2, The 2nd Delaware Infantry came up the Nanticoke River and arrested future Congressman Edward L.
Martin (1879-1883) in Seaford on suspicion of being a traitor by aiding young men to go south to the
Confederacy.
Nov. 3, General John E. Wool arrived in Seaford from Baltimore with 750 troops of the 1st Maryland Eastern
Shore Infantry from Salisbury to superintend elections the next day.
Nov. 4, William Cannon of Bridgeville was elected governor while Federal troops from Maryland and New
York stood at the polls during the election.
Nov. 25, P. Bauduy Garesche, formerly of Wilmington, was commended for the high quality of gunpowder
put out by his Confederate Naval Powder Mills in Columbia, S. C.
Dec 12, The 1st and 2nd Delaware Regiments suffered great losses in the attack on Marye's Heights. 1st
Delaware Regiment suffered 10 men killed, 74 wounded and 9 missing in the slaughter in the Battle of
Fredericksburg. The 2nd Delaware lost 57 men killed, wounded and missing in the attack on Marye's Heights.
1863
Mar. 6, The Tilton Army Hospital opened at 9th and Tatnall Streets in Wilmington, having been built in 25
days. By 1870 all traces of the hospital had vanished.
Mar. 9, John W. Dunning of Dover was a member of Mosby's Raiders, CSA, that captured a Union General in
Fairfax, Virginia. Pulling the covers back and slapping the sleeping general on his bottom, they marched him
off to Richmond's Libby Prison.
Apr. 2, Col. Robert Buchanan, who had once forced Ulysses Grant to resign from the US Army because of
drunkenness, assumed command at Fort Delaware.
Apr. 7, Rear Admiral Samuel F. du Pont hesitated in attacking Charleston, SC because of not being supported
simultaneously by the army.
May 1, The 1st and 2nd Delaware Regiments fought in the Battle of Chancellorsville, Va. and suffered
considerable casualties.
28 June, At the Battle of Gettysburg, the US Army 5th Corps was commanded by Maj. Gen. George Sykes,
grandson of Acting Delaware Governor James Sykes (1801-02).
29 June, Captain Charles Corbit of near Delaware City led a wild charge of Union cavalry against that of
General Jeb Stuart's Confederates near Westminster, Maryland. Corbit's casualties were 67 men killed,
wounded or captured.(70% of unit's strength).
Jul 3, Privates John B. Maberry of Smyrna and Bernard McCarren of Wilmington, 1st Delaware Infantry, were
awarded Congressional Medals of Honor after they had captured regimental flags of the 7th North Carolina in
the defense of Cemetery Ridge during Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg.
Jul 9, Rear Admiral Samuel du Pont arrived home in Wilmington after having been relieved for his failure to
take Charleston, SC in April.
Jul 15, The body of Lieutenant William Smith, 1st Delaware Infantry, killed in Pickett's charge, arrived in
Wilmington.
Jul 31, Rebel prisoners from the Battle of Gettysburg, began arriving at Fort Delaware and soon brought
inmates there to a peak of 12,595, the most ever.
Aug 11, First military draft held in Smyrna exceeded expectations with 2,454 of 1,636 being needed ($300.
would exempt a draftee).
Aug 18, Governor Cannon's son, Captain William L. Cannon, 1st Battalion Delaware Cavalry, died in the US
Army of exposure at Bel Air, Md.
Aug. 26, Governor Cannon and Commandant Brig. Gen. Albin F. Schoepf made an inspection tour of Fort
Delaware on Pea Patch Island.
Aug. 30 Another Confederate prisoner was shot and killed at Fort Delaware when the guard felt he was
trying to escape.
Sep 11, Twelve coffins on the wharf at Fort Delaware, the first of many Confederate dead prisoners, were
readied for burial on the New Jersey side at Finn's Point.
Oct. 1, While Fort Delaware teemed with Confederate prisoners, an epidemic of smallpox broke out on Pea
Patch Island with an average of 2 deaths a day.
Oct 10, A company of the 8th US Colored Troops was raised in Kent and Sussex Counties.
Oct 26, The US War Department promoted Negro enlistments in Delaware.
Nov. 2, Pvt. James Burton, 5th Alabama Regiment, CSA, captured 3 times and a POW 3 times at Fort
Delaware, succumbed to disease.
Nov. 15, Three Confederate prisoners captured at Gettysburg drowned while trying to escape from Fort
Delaware.
Dec. 25, John Barber of Wilmington died at the age of 71. He had been a member of the 33rd Regiment under
the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo
Dec 29, The first Delaware Infantry became the first volunteer regiment to reenlist for three more years.
1864
Feb. 17, Commandant of Fort Delaware Gen. Albin F. Schoepf prepared to exchange Confederate prisoners. In
his report he indicated there were 82 civilian or political prisoners, 1,260 officers, 778 non-commissioned
officers and 5,642 privates at the fort.
Mar. 11, The General Assembly began an investigation into why Federal troops were brought into the state
during the previous elections.
May 11, Captain John Evans of New Castle and Lt. Col. David L. Stricker of Dover died of wounds during
the Battle of Spottsylvania, Va.
Jun 2, Purnell Pettijohn, 3rd Delaware, was killed in the Battle of Cold Harbor while Lt. Richard H. Webb, 4th
Delaware, fell at Bethesda Church, both regiments losing heavily in the fight.
June 5, The 1st Delaware Regiment was a part of General Ulysses Grant's siege of Petersburg, Va.
June 19, Lt. Col. William B. Dorrell, 3rd Del. Infantry and Captain Thomas M. Reynolds of the 4th Del.
Infantry were killed leading an attack near Petersburg, Va.
Jun 19, Russell Baker Hobbs of Georgetown was aboard the Confederate cruiser Alabama when it was sunk by
the USS Kearsarge.
Jul 11, The 7th Delaware Infantry, called up for 30 days, was ordered to Baltimore to bolster defenses after the
Battle of Monocacy near Frederick, Maryland.
Jul 18, With Civil War casualties climbing higher, Delaware was called on by President Lincoln for 2,445 more
soldiers.
July 28, Sixty men of the 114th Ohio Regiment broke up a fund raiser at McCrone's Woods (Hare's Corner).
Monies were to go for food for prisoners at Fort Delaware.
Aug. 20 Pvt. Hugh Donohoe, Co D, 2nd Del. Inf. died of scurvy in Andersonville prison.
Aug 21, 1st Sgt. John Shilling of Felton, 3rd Delaware Infantry, was awarded the Congressional Medal of
Honor for the capture of a South Carolina regimental flag at the Weldon Railroad outside Petersburg, Virginia.
Sept. 15, Pvt. William Aikin, Co. G, 7th Del. Reg. died of scurvy in Andersonville prison in Georgia.
Sep 16, Pvt. George W. Maxworthy, Co. D, 2 Del. Inf., died of diarrhea in Andersonville Prison in Georgia.
Sep 17 ,Pvt. Henry Canning, drummer boy of Co. F, 2nd Del. Reg., died of scurvy in Andersonville Prison in
Georgia.
Sep 27, Sgt. George Hodgson, Co. D, 1st Del. Reg., died of scurvy in Andersonville Prison in Georgia.
Oct 13, Three more soldiers from Delaware regiments died of disease and were buried at the Andersonville,
GA. Confederate prison camp.
Oct 19, Captain Henry A. du Pont, 5th US Art., was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor at Cedar
Creek near Strasburg, Virginia.
Nov. 11, Major William F. Smith, 26, 1st Delaware Infantry, and son of John W. and Sarah Smith of Dover
died of wounds on the Boydton Plank Road near Petersburg, Va.
Dec 12, Because prisoners throwing urine out second floor windows on guards had been a problem, guard
Pvt. John Deakyne of the 9th Delaware Inf. Fort Delaware, shot Pvt. John H. Bibb, Charlottesville Artillery,
Cutshaw's Battalion, CSA.
1865
Jan 15, William J. Palmer, born in Leipsic, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor as Colonel of 15th
Pa. Cavalry for valor at Red Hill, AL.
Feb. 27, Lt. Samuel Boyer Davis, grandson of his namesake who defended Lewes during the British attack in
1813 and who was reprieved from a death sentence as a Confederate spy, was imprisoned in Fort Delaware.
Mar. 13, More Rebel prisoners, 2,000 who were captured in Gen. Jubal Early's defeat at Waynesboro, Virginia,
arrived at Fort Delaware.
Apr. 9, Brigadier General Thomas A. Smyth of Wilmington became one of the last Union officers killed in the
Civil War when he was shot by a Confederate sniper near Farmville, Va.
Apr. 19 Wilmington Mayor Joshua Maris declared a day of mourning in the city for the assassinated President
Lincoln. Businesses were to close from noon to 3 P.M. and city bells were to ring from 2-3 P.M.
Apr. 20, Near Rockville, MD Lt. Zachariah Gemmill of the 1st Delaware Cavalry helped nab George A.
Atzerodt of the Lincoln conspirators.
Apr. 22, Hundreds of Delawareans went to view President Lincoln's body as it lay in state at Philadelphia's
Independence Hall.
May 10, Future Wilmingtonian, General James H. Wilson's cavalry captured escaping Confederate States of
America President Jefferson Davis at Irwinville near Macon, Georgia.
May 22, Burton Harrison, private secretary to President Jefferson Davis, was received with other Confederate
prisoners at Fort Delaware.
June 23, Rear Admiral Samuel F. du Pont died of a throat ailment in Philadelphia. His funeral in Wilmington
was attended 2 days later by General George G. Meade, commander of Union forces at Gettysburg.
Jul 7, Charles Bird of Wilmington headed a detachment of troops at the execution of Lincoln assassins in
Washington, D. C.
Sep 25, The iron sidewheeler USS Delaware built by Harlan and Hollingsworth in Wilmington and used by
the US Government to help enforce the blockade against the South, was sold.
1866
Jan. 3, Generals Ulysses Grant and Philip Sheridan attended the wedding of Henry B. Thompson and Mary
Wilson in Wilmington.
Jan 17, General George Meade, hero of Gettysburg, attended the wedding of cavalry General A.T.A. (Alfred
Thomas Archimedes) Torbert in Milford's Christ Church.
Feb. 11, The General Thomas A. Smyth Post No. 1, Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), was organized in
Wilmington. Smyth was one of the last Union generals killed in the Civil War.
1867
Apr. 7, Brooke T. Turner, a soldier in the English Army under the Duke of Welllington at Waterloo, died at
his residence on Orange Street in Wilmington.
1868
Feb. 21, President Andrew Johnson futilely appointed New Castle's General Lorenzo Thomas as interim
Secretary of War, a move that led to the President's impeachment.
Dec. 3, Tests were conducted at Fort Delaware to find whether it could withstand future bombardment. After
a steel cannon ball weighing 483 lbs. with a charge of 84 lbs. of powder was fired from a 15 inch Rodman gun
that tore gaping holes in the masonry, it was determined forts such as this were outmoded.
Dec. 20, Lt. Samuel Boyer Davis of Wilmington and Confederate grandson of his namesake from the War of
1812, was released as a prisoner from Boston's Fort Warren.
1869
Oct. 29, Griffin Seward of near Dover, Co. G, 8th US Cavalry, was awarded the Congressional Medal of
Honor for gallantry in action in a fight with Apache Indians in the Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona Territory.
1871
May 30, General O. O. Howard dedicated the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument at Delaware Avenue and 14th
and Broom Streets in Wilmington.
1872
Feb. 1, A military fair opened in Wilmington's new Grand Opera House with General George Meade as a
drawing card.
1873
Apr. 22, Flags of the Delaware Civil War regiments 2, 3, 4, 5 were presented to the Delaware Historical Society.
1875
Mar 2, Former US Army Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas from New Castle and participant in President
Andrew Johnson impeachment trial died in Washington, D. C. and was buried there in Oak Hill Cemetery.
1876
Jun 25, Corporal Eugene L. Cooper, US 7th Cavalry, alias George C. Morris of Wilmington, was the only
Delawarean to die with Custer on the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory.
1884
Jan 29, The colors of the 1st Delaware Regiment from the Civil War were deposited with the Historical Society
of Delaware.
Dec. 20 The Statue of Admiral Samuel F. du Pont was removed from Washington D. C's du Pont Circle and
placed at Park Drive in Wilmington's Rockford Park.
1888
Jul 3, The steamer USS Swarta arrived off Cape Henlopen carrying 57 year old General Philip H. Sheridan from
Hampton Roads to his summer home on Martha's Vineyard. He died a month later from chronic heart disease.
1893
Oct. 30, John Philip Sousa's band performed at Wilmington's Grand Opera House.
1897
June 21, Chief of US Engineers Brig. Gen. John M. Watson visited Pea Patch Island and was intrigued by a
lone mule that had the run of the island. Used in the construction of the Breakwater at Lewes in the 1870s, the
mule had also seen service at Fort Mifflin, NJ, then "put out to pasture" on Pea Patch in 1883.
1898
May 1, Tom Mix, later a Hollywood western star, but then a member of the US Artillery, helped guard the
DuPont Powder Works, then pulled duty at Forts Delaware and DuPont in Delaware City.
May 11, Leonard Chadwick of Middletown, Apprentice 1st Class, US Navy aboard the USS Marblehead, was
awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery under fire near Cienfuegos, Cuba.
Jul 2, Lt. Clarke Churchman, 24, of Claymont became the only Delawarean and American officer to be killed
in the Spanish-American War in the charge up San Juan Hill in Cuba.
July 12, After the threat of war with Spain was ended, the minefields in the Delaware River were dismantled
by the government.
1899
Apr. 24, John Philip Sousa brought his band to Wilmington's Grand Opera House.
Oct. 19, Private Charles H. Pierce of near Middletown, Co. I, 22nd US Infantry, was awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor near San Isidro, Luzon, Philippine Islands for bravery in action while
wounded.
| Delaware Military History |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |