Military Links Overview
You may be surprised at the number of military links that exist between Liverpool and America, and not just from World War Two.
American Revolutionary War. In fact the links began before the American Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783 ) or as the British establishment like to call it ‘The American War of Independence’.
Liverpool had its own regiment which fought in the conflict known as ‘5th American Regiment (British Legion). Or how about the Liverpool born ‘Mad Anne Bailey’ who served as a scout in the American Militia during the war of 1775.
And not forgetting Robert Morris ( 1734 – 1806 ) who was born in a small street off Dale Street in the centre of Liverpool and who emigrated to America and went in to become Treasurer to George Washingtons new government and a signatory of the American Declaration of Independence
American Civil War. During the American Civil War of 1861 – 1865, Liverpool’s powerful vested interests in the cotton trade ensured that it would side with the Confederate forces and many decisive events happened here – Captain James Dunwoody-Bulloch - naval representative of the Confederate Navy was sent to Liverpool to organise the building of warships. Liverpool became the ‘de facto’ European headquarters of the Confederate government.
World War One. During the First World War (1914-1918), Liverpool was the premier strategic port of Britain’s ‘Western Approaches’.
Hundreds of convoys sailed to and from the port, braving the deadly U-boat threat, in order to keep Britain supplied with food and other essentials for the war effort.
General Pershing landed at Liverpool with his US armies in 1917
Liverpool was the first port of call for the American forces on their way to assist the British Army to achieve victory over Germany .
As well as stores, weapons and equipment which where shipped through the port in huge amounts, hundreds of thousands of US soldiers landed here and were placed in a huge transit camp built at Knotty Ash, on their way to the trenches in France.
World War Two. Liverpool was Britain's most important port during the war. It handled at least one third of the country's imports. It was the main terminus for Atlantic trade convoys.
By early 1941 it had also become a major naval base and the headquarters of Britain's North Atlantic campaign.
An average of four convoys a week arrived in the Mersey during the war.
Between 1939 and 1945 the port of Liverpool handled over 75 million tons of cargo as well as almost 74,000 aeroplanes and gliders which were shipped into the port.
And most importantly the 4.7 million troops passed through en-route to land at Normandy on D-Day,of whom 1.2 million were American.
Liverpool's Historic Connections to America.
Discover the connections between the City of Liverpool and America,
which have existed from the sixteenth century, right up to the present time.
Discover the connections between the City of Liverpool and America,
which have existed from the sixteenth century, right up to the present time.
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