Sherman’s March to the Sea was a military campaign conducted by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman during the American Civil War. The campaign took place from November 15 to December 21, 1864, and it was a significant and controversial aspect of the Union’s strategy.…
Read MoreOn November 8, 1861, the Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State William Seward found themselves caught in one of the most important diplomatic conflicts during the Civil War. Called the “The Trent Affair,” the incident involved the interception of a British mail steamer, the RMS Trent,…
Read MoreThe Battle of Chickamauga, fought between September 19 and 20, 1863, marked one of the major conflicts of the American Civil War, involving the Union Army of the Cumberland and the Confederate Army of Tennessee. The battle took place in northwestern Georgia, near Chickamauga…
Read MoreOn September 18, 1850, the United States Congress passed and President Millard Fillmore signed into law the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, one of the most divisive and consequential pieces of legislation in American history. As part of the Compromise of 1850—a fragile political…
Read MoreOn September 17, 1862, the rolling fields and cornrows along Antietam Creek bore witness to the single bloodiest day in American military history. George B. McClellan’s Union Army of the Potomac and Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia clashed in a desperate struggle…
Read MoreOn August 21, 1858, in Ottawa, Illinois, two leading figures in American democracy launched a series of debates over a Senate seat, debating what it means to be free, democracy, and the purpose of the United States. The National Parks Service states that the first debate…
Read MoreOn the morning of July 30, 1864, Union forces launched a bold yet catastrophically mishandled attempt to break the Confederate lines outside Petersburg, Virginia—an effort that would become known as the Battle of the Crater. As part of the larger Petersburg Campaign, the battle…
Read MoreOn July 28, 1868, the United States certified the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, a transformative moment in American history that fundamentally redefined the nation’s approach to civil rights and equality. This amendment, which arose during the Reconstruction era following the Civil War, sought…
Read MoreOn July 16, 1861, at the direction of President Abraham Lincoln, thousands of Union soldiers crossed the Potomac River and began a grueling 25-mile march toward Manassas Junction, Virginia. The operation, undertaken with the hopes of swiftly crushing the Confederate rebellion, would culminate just…
Read MoreThe New York Draft Riots of 1863 were among the most violent and destructive events in the history of New York City. They occurred from July 13 to July 16, 1863, during a time of immense social, economic, and political turmoil in the United…
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