"Weird or Interesting or Humorous Names of Battles" Topic

Hi,

As I'm currently involved in researching The Battle of Watling Street, I suppose it was inevitable that this question would occur to me . . .

What are some of the weird, interesting, or humorous names of battles that you've run across in your experience, reading, or have actually set up on your table?

Thanks for reading and weighing in.

Chris

The Glorious First of June. A naval battle between Revolutionary France and Britain in 179..8?

the october uprising

7 November 1917

yes I know
it's because of the mismatched calanders
but I still find it funny

The Battle of the Kegs, Jan. 6, 1778.

The Bladensburg Races, Aug. 24, 1814.

Not a battle, but it needs inevitably to be mentioned on this thread: the War of Jenkins Ear.

Rick

The Whiskey Rebellion

The Battle of the Bulge sounds weird when first encountered.

Would the Defenestration(s) of Prague count?

Battle of the Cheeses, supposedly won with cheese shot from cannon. I read about it in a book called 'Strangely Enough' when I was a kid. I think it was debunked recently.

Battle of the Barges in Chesapeake Bay, 1782. Maryland and Va State Navies with Colonel John Cropper's Accomack militia serving as marines, versus a fleet of British privateers. A bloodbath and would be a fun small boat action to game.

A historic marker buried in the grass proclaimed that this was Tangier Sound, site of the "bloodiest battle of the American Revolution." The Battle of Kedges Strait (also known as the Battle of the Barges) was actually fought more than a year after the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781. Most of us were taught that the war ended with that surrender, but in fact the fighting continued until 1783 in various places, and this was one of them. Commodore Zedekiah Whaley sought the help of a local militia commander when he realized the gang of loyalist pirates (known as "picaroons") he was chasing was too big to handle with the few small vessels at his disposal. Colonel John Cropper brought in 25 men and two more boats, but it wasn't enough. One of Whaley's boats was too slow to keep up and had to be sent back. Another one had its main gun explode when it fired its first shot. Whaley's ship, the Protector, got too close to the pirates and suddenly had all seven pirate vessels firing on him at once. Spilled gunpowder ignited on deck and caused major chaos and the pirate vessels closed in and boarded. The other patriot vessels retreated and their commanders were all branded cowards, though a later inquiry cleared them of all charges. Whaley was killed in the fighting, along with 24 other men. 29 men were wounded which left only 11 men unhurt. Obviously this wasn't the biggest battle of the war, but in terms of percentages, an 83% casualty rate is pretty high.

Also The Grass Fight: 1835, Texans thought they were attacking a convoy of gold to pay the Mexican army but when they won it turned out to be fodder for the Mexican horses.

Battle of the Fishes, English under Sir John Fastolf (Shakespere's Fallstaff) vs the French in the 100 Year's War.

Fastolf commanded the English army's supply train, loaded with the supply of salt cod for Lent, when it was attacked by the French. Another unsung English victory, the English formed a lager and let the French beat themselves into submission against the defences (and pointy arrows).

The Pig War: link

A 13-year armed conflict between the USA and Great Britain, of which the only casualty was a pig.

"Battle of the North Inch" might sound strange to someone not knowing Perth. Serious to the men who took part but a staged spectacle to those out side the clans which fought.

x42

Bsrlee, you beat me to it. I'm actually glad you did because I was remembering it as the Battle of the Herrings and so would have embarrassed myself. Definetly a sharp little victory for the English, and one that is often forgotten.

Battle of Pilot Knob.
link
Might only be funny in the UK, and only then if you're of a schoolboy frame of mind.

Battle of Concord always struck me as nicely ironic in that 'concord' means an agreement or harmony between people or groups.

I've always known it as the battle of the Herrings too – despite the fact that the barrels contained mainly salted cod & other types of white fish.

Must say that 'Battle of the fishes' hasn't quite the same ring to it somehow. Probably some revisionist historian wanting to make his mark !!!

"The Battle of the Bulge" always sounded a bit silly to me.

Also, the Battle of Killiekrankie sounds like someone trying to murder the Krankies :

Wasn't Boomplatz a battle in South Africa? Maybe I'm misspelling it.

And I've always known it as the 'Battle of the Herrings' as well. No idea where I read it first. Oman probably.

"The Battle of Wallop" between Ambrosius and Vitolinus in either 437 or 467 (depending on how you interpret the referecne), always struck me as an amusing name.

Greasy grass ?

How about the War of Jenkins' Ear?
The War of Jenkins' Ear (known as Guerra del Asiento in Spain), was a conflict between Great Britain and Spain that lasted from 1739 to 1748, with major operations largely ended by 1742. Its unusual name, coined by Thomas Carlyle in 1858,[5] refers to an ear severed from Robert Jenkins, captain of a British merchant ship. The severed ear was subsequently exhibited before Parliament. The tale of the ear's separation from Jenkins, following the boarding of his vessel by Spanish coast guards in 1731, provided the impetus to war against the Spanish Empire, ostensibly to encourage the Spanish not to renege on the lucrative asiento contract (permission to sell slaves in Spanish America).[6]

Whew, I'm glad the memory hasn't entirely given out. Historical innaccuracy aside, Battle of the Herrings does have more zing to it.

Leadpusher: thanks for the concise info on the War of Jenkins' Ear. I've always been intrigued by the name (how can one not be?) but have never got around to looking it up!

ShaunB wrote:

…and only then if you're of a schoolboy frame of mind.

In like fashion, may I lower the tone by mentioning The War of the Golden Stool.

All the best,

John.

On Battle of the Herrings, possibly because that is what it was called…

link link link

The Battle at the Chinese Farm which was actually fought between the Egyptians and the Israelis in Oct 1973. link Of course the farm wasn't Chinese but had japanese machinery whose Japanese characters were mistaken by the Israelis as Chinese.

Jim

Of course the farm wasn't Chinese but had japanese machinery whose Japanese characters were mistaken by the Israelis as Chinese.

And they're sorta right about the characters — the Japanese stole kanji from the Chinese and still use the same characters for the same words (even though they're spoken differently). The two ways to tell the language are word order and the presence of hiragana and katakana.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji

The Battle of Pinkie

link

Its also the major last battle between Scotland and England.

Battle of Tanga, aka 'The Battle of the Bees'.

The War of Bavarian Succession is often referred to as the Kartoffelkrieg or Potato War, due to the lack of fighting so that the troops main concern became feeding themselves in winter.

I will add a local one where I grew up. The Battle of Crooked Billet which occured outside of the small borough of Hatboro, PA during the American War of Independence. It was a skirmish not much of a battle, but most were during that time. From Wikipedia for a quick reference:
"The Battle of Crooked Billet was a battle in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War fought on May 1, 1778 near the Crooked Billet Tavern (present-day Hatboro, Pennsylvania). In the skirmish action, British forces under the command of Major John Graves Simcoe launched a surprise attack against Brigadier General John Lacey and three regiments of Pennsylvania militia, who were literally caught sleeping. The British inflicted significant damage, and Lacey and his forces were forced to retreat into neighboring Bucks County."

The Great Emu War

The Cod Wars

The Battle of Ball's Bluff, was fought on October 21, 1861, as part of Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's operations in Northern Virginia during the American Civil War.

The Battle of the Sexes, a decades-long clash during the Sexual Revolution, about which I've always wondered: who was 'first against the wall'?