On December 16, 1944, the Germans launch the last major
offensive of the war, Operation Autumn Mist, also known
as the Ardennes Offensive and the Battle of the Bulge, an
attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern
France to northwestern Belgium. The Battle of the Bulge,
so-called because the Germans created a “bulge” around
the area of the Ardennes forest in pushing through the
American defensive line, was the largest fought on the
Western front.

On December 13, 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army
of Northern Virginia repulsed a series of attacks by General
Ambrose Burnside’s Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg,
Virginia.

The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, a multi-day battle that would
see more than 1,700 Americans killed, began on this day in
history, Nov. 12, 1942.

Guadalcanal is the largest island in the Solomon Islands, a
country located in the Pacific Ocean northeast of Australia
and east of Papua New Guinea. 

The Siege of Yorktown, Virginia, the decisive battle in
America’s shocking triumph over the mighty British
Empire in its War of Independence, began on this day
in history, Sept. 28, 1781.

The siege ended three weeks later, on Oct. 19, with the
surrender of the British garrison led by Lord Charles
Cornwallis. 

Painting depicts the surrender of the British at Yorktown.

ED DONAHUE

James Abram Garfield
(November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881)

President James A. Garfield, who had been in
office just under four months, succumbed to
wounds inflicted by an assassin 80 days
earlier, on July 2.