January 17 · This Day in America
On a cold morning in the South Carolina backcountry, Daniel Morgan does something no American general has dared: he turns militia weakness into a weapon. He tells the citizen-soldiers to fire two good volleys, then run — and they do, by design. Banastre Tarleton's feared dragoons charge after them, straight into the Continental regulars Morgan has hidden behind the hill. Then the militia wheel back around. The cavalry closes the door. In under an hour the British line collapses; more than 800 of Tarleton's men are killed, wounded, or captured. The American loss is twelve dead. It is one of the most perfect tactical victories ever fought on this continent, and it sets the long chain of events that drags Cornwallis north — toward Yorktown, and the end. A backwoods rifleman with bad knees just outgeneraled the British Army.
Source: www.battlefields.org
Also on this day · 1961
Three days before leaving office, the old soldier who commanded D-Day sits in the Oval Office and tells America to beware its own arsenal. Guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, he says, by the military-industrial complex. People expected a sentimental farewell. They got a warning, from a man who had every reason to love the machine, and chose instead to caution the country he was handing back.
Source: www.archives.gov
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961