Apr. 21 in US Military History

1777: British Army forces led by Gen. William Tyon attempt to destroy the village of Danbury, Conn. Much of the town is burned before Continental forces can arrive several days later.

1836: Described as “one of the biggest military upsets in the [western] hemisphere,” Texas Army forces under the command of Gen. Sam Houston decisively defeat Mexican forces under Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna in the bloody Battle of San Jacinto. The fighting is grim – much of it hand-to-hand – but it is over in less than 20 minutes. Houston is wounded. Santa Anna, hiding and dressed in a common soldier’s uniform, will be captured the following day.

The Mexican Army is finished. Texas independence is secured.

1898: America declares war on Spain. The following day, U.S. Navy warships begin blockading Cuba, and USS Nashville (one of five so-named American warships, including two Confederate vessels of the same name) fires the first official shots of the war.

1918: German flying ace Manfred von Richtofen, known as the “Red Baron,” is shot down and killed near Vaux-sur-Somme, France. Richtofen’s 80 kills were the most by any pilot during World War I.

1951: Marine pilots from the USS Bataan splash three Yak fighters and damage another in the first aerial clash with the North Korean Air Force.

Adapted (and abridged) in part from “This Week in US Military History” by W. Thomas Smith Jr. at Human Events.