Show when war came G ame to the united states hy by ELMO SCOTT WATSON IT WAS on a sunday morning three years ago that war came again to the united states the story of that day of infamy when japan made her sneak attack on pearl harbor is too fresh in the minds of all americans to need retelling here but how many of us know of those other tragic days when were made the fateful decisions which meant that more american lives were to be sacrificed on the nl al tar of mars this article is a page from the past which tells how war came to america in other years before 1941 the first farst war which we as a nation waged was an undeclared war that Is to say there was never any formal declaration ot of war As a matter of fact we i even a nation when it star started tied the american revolution began as a rebellion the revolt of the english col colonies onles in america against their mother country england it continued as a rebellion and as a civil war patriots against the loyalists and the regularly constituted authorities for nearly a year before we became a nation for the united states of america did not I 1 come into existence until july 4 1770 when the declaration of independence pen dence was adopted I 1 in the meantime there had been fighting and bloodshed at lexington on april ID 19 1775 at concord I 1 where was fired the shot heard round the world on the same day at bunker hill on june 17 and nt at quebec in december for six years this undeclared war dragged on until at last the suz sue render of cornwallis Corn walUs at yorktown on october 10 19 1781 meant that the independence declared five years earlier was an accomplished fact act however this mean the end of the war which was destined to last for nearly two years more it until november 30 1782 that the preliminary articles of peace between great britain and the united states were signed in paris two more months were to elapse before articles proclaiming the cessation of hostilities between the two nations riat ions were signed on january 20 1783 and it until september 3 1783 that the definitive treaty trealy of pence peace was signed in paris par Is thus this undeclared war had lasted tor for eight bears years four months and fifteen days making it the longest in our history during the next 20 years we were involved in two more undeclared wars both of which brought fight ing and bloodshed the first was with our former ally france and nd was the result of the humiliation and insults insults which our envoys in parts paris had suffered at the hands of th the directory and the attempt ot of talle talleyrand y to blackmail us into buying frances friendship although there was no formal declaration 0 of war pres john adams ordered commerce with france stopped in 1708 and our treaties with her abrogated then our infant navy put to sea to prey upon rench french r shipping and for the next 18 months thero there was considerable sid erable naval warfare marked by the victories of the frigate constellation stel lation over french men of war when napoleon Nn bonaparte came to power lie immediately took ook steps to stop the conflict and in n september 1800 a convention was signed in parts paris which ended this war meanwhile american shipping like that of other nations had been suffering from the raids of the barbary pirates in the mediterranean and despite tribute paid to the bey of algiers the pasha of tripoli and the bey of tunis american yes vessels were being seized and american con seamen seamed held prisoners pilson ers until ransomed rans omed when thomas jefferson became president in 1801 he resolved to put an end to this early day racket ab the first two naval expeditions against the pirates failed but in 1803 when commodore edward preble sailed called against the corsairs cor it was a different story ils alfs expedition against tangiers Tang Tan giers jhc thc the daring attack of stephen decatur on onT tripoli ripoll the next year and the combined naval and military expedition the latter led by gen william eaton which captured cap aured derna in 1805 broke the power of the barbary babary states and resulted d in treaties which guaranteed the future safety of american shipping in the mediterranean the reina remainder inder of jeffersons ad ministration was peaceful but by the time james madison entered the white house the second war with england was brewing for the first time in our histo history rythe there re was a formal declaration dfwar of war on june 18 1812 for the first time too our roar of ofle all WN 4 c bima matt jim otis B wet 16 city J wh an I 1 ta ahw rf jy J y UK dj nine MM 1 henad uj 4 I trone JOINT resolution 01 ring if II 11 the G 4 J of if aal ml th alit nw nt and nil th clr r pil 11 of h etilo 1 i arid na huking nuking tu to prote pr ote cho ib u a ifft lial fol frament nr ament il 1 japan has fy gnp OW kl ads ati of r apa lh the grame gramet t nut and the lh 1 I of ito W I 1 81 1 of ai A i 71 tanon fort bt be it R 44 by y me beda nj ad hous of 1 IW ad e 0 4 6 h mad that tbt ui mute of at war ir 1 hamn n the united sad the in imperial Govern mew of f jin aih which he hu thai th t upon the th stat to li brtko f onn m ily lly l aa ml 6 clr pant P ant Is il amby 1 ini I to in the th entire hiir nl naval uil and military form foiw of lb fbi Sule amid the lh ul the government K W orry carry un on wara mr cimpl aern ment of jal ni ad to lo wag tiring the th cinalt to a termination ill all of the h of ou coutry country arv r hemby akl if IN ali f the eted ot f tin thi U 34 3 4 CL LL 41 ak faut A a td t t 1 pm idal ff ha r rsm fa shores were invaded by a hostile force and on august 24 1814 americans suffered the humiliation ot of seeing the capital of their nation in the hands of the enemy and the home of thel theft president in flames despite this disaster which came as the climax of other defeats atson on land offset however by many a brilliant victory at sea america continued the struggle which ended on december 24 of that year when the treaty of peace was signed in ghent belgium by representatives of the two belligerents this war had lasted two years six months and six days the next war with a foreign power was even shorter than the war of 1812 when the united states annexed texas in 1845 mexico from whom texas had won herin her independence nine years earlier regarded this as a hostile act there was a series of incidents down on the rio grande and pres james K X r it I 1 le I 1 APRIL 2 1917 pres woodrow woodro w wilson reads hla war message to congrak coneless con grAs eress polk asked congress for a declaration la ration of war it come came on may 13 1840 and 10 days later mexico declared war anthe on the united states hostilities began soon afterwards our armies under general taylor and general scott scot invaded mexico and within a little more than a year september 14 1847 they had captured the mexican capital the war ended with the signing of a treaty of pence peace on february 2 1848 one year eight months and twenty days after it began the next war in which we engaged was another undeclared war tor for like its predecessor it was a rebellion and a civil war t just when the war between the states began Is a matter of definition the usual view is that it was april 12 1861 when confederate batteries in charleston S C fired on fort sumter and the union troops in that tha t for fortification tiff cat I 1 on fired back at any rate it was this act which prompted president lincoln three days later to call tor for volunteers to suppress the insurrection and which resulted in four years of the hardest and bloodiest fighting the world had ever known up to that time just as this war had no official beginning so it had no official ending but the surrender of lee on april 9 1865 sounded the 1 death knell ot of the confederacy and organized resistance by b y t the he men in n gray ended from sumter to appa mattox it was four years minus minu three days shortest of all our wars with a foreign power was the days war with spain in 1898 1893 it had its THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON APRIL after an all engraving 07 two who ner in nt the battle origin in american sympathy tor for the cuban patriots who for forli several years had been trying to throw oil spanish rule but it is doubtful if there would have been a war had ait it not been for the event which took place in havana harbor on february 15 1808 that event was the explosion and sinking of the U S S maine the excitement over this resulted in diplomatic relations between spain and the united states being broken on april 21 and the decar declaration atlon of a blockade of cuba the next dacher day her national honor thus assailed spain declared war on april 24 and our declaration to followed the next day the overwhelming victories won by our navy bat at manila and at santiago and by our army armain in the land fighting in cuba soon demonstrated what the inevitable outcome of the w war r would be so on august 12 a peace pio protocol tocol wa was s signed and hostilities ceased after days of fighting the war however ever did not end officially until Di december cember 10 when the peace treaty yas was signed in parts paris although the period of actual combat by our fighting men was relatively short abort one year and 15 days world war I 1 was our second longest war with a foreign power here as s the sequence of events to validate that statement on february 1 1917 germany began unrestricted submarine wari war i and a as a a result we broke diplomatic relations with her two days later on Oa april 6 congress declared war on germany and on june 20 26 the first american troops landed in france however it was vas not until october at 1917 that american soldiers fired their first alist shots at the enemy hostilities ended on N november 0 avem vem 11 1818 1918 ond one year and f fifteen days after they had begun on october 27 of the previous year the cessation of hostilities on armistice day did the official end of the war the treaty at versailles was signed on june 28 1919 but when it came up for ratification by the senate on november 19 it was rejected that meant that officially we were estill still at war with germany it was not until july 2 1921 that president harding signed a joint resolution of congress passed by the house on june 30 band and by the senate on july 1 declaring peace with germany on august 25 a peace treaty was signed inderlin in Berlin by representatives of the united states and germany this was ratified by the german national council on september 17 and by the united states senate on october 18 then and not until then was the war between these two countries officially fici ally ended four years six months and twelve days after the american declaration of war back in 1817 As tor for world war 11 II it began officially 16 for r the united states 01 0 december 7 1941 when japan declared clar edwar war against the united states and great britain and before th the declaration reached washington by air or cable made an attack on hawaii the philippines and othet american possessions in the pacific our declaration of war followed next day four fou r days later germany and italy declared war on the united states and on the same day con gress in joint session issued oui declaration of war against those tac nations on that fateful spring morning 91 when the advance guard of british soldiers sent by general gage to destroy tho the stores which the americans had collected at concord reached lexington Lexin lexing gion ton they found near ly armed provincials drawn up op in battle array on the village green disperse ye rebel sl arlet major r yit Vit calru calm but the he embie embattled minute inn bellile men 11 fast fait then a shot was w as fired whether by british soldier or minute man is still en decided decide dand arid the fight which op encill the revolution began |