On April 26, 1865, twelve days after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Union cavalrymen cornered and killed his assassin, John Wilkes Booth, bringing a dramatic end to one of the most intense manhunts in American history. The confrontation unfolded in rural Virginia, at a…
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On April 20, 1861, just days after the outbreak of the American Civil War, Colonel Robert E. Lee resigned his commission in the United States Army, ending more than three decades of federal service and setting in motion one of the most consequential personal…
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On April 16, 1862, in the midst of a war that had already begun to transform the political and moral landscape of the United States, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, ending slavery in the nation’s capital.…
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On April 15, 1861, just two days after Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 militia troops. His goal was to put down what he described as an uprising too strong to be handled by the courts. While…
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On the fateful evening of April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln attended a performance of the comedy play “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. Little did he know that this seemingly ordinary night out would turn into one of the most…
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The Battle of Fort Sumter marked the igniting point of the American Civil War, a cataclysmic conflict that tore the nation apart. Situated on an island at the entrance to Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, Fort Sumter held strategic significance as a federal stronghold in…
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On April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House in Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, marking a critical moment in American history and effectively ending the Civil War. Lee’s decision to surrender came after several military setbacks…
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The Battle of Shiloh, sometimes called the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, took place on April 6–7, 1862, near Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. The battle marked a turning point in the war, demonstrating the ferocity and scale of the conflict while foreshadowing the immense casualties that…
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On April 6, 46 BC, Julius Caesar delivered a decisive blow to the last organized resistance of the Roman Republic at the Battle of Thapsus, defeating forces led by Quintus Caecilius Metellus Scipio and supported by allies of Marcus Porcius Cato the Younger. The…
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On April 3, 1882, in the quiet Missouri town of St. Joseph, one of the most famous outlaws of the American West met an unceremonious end. Jesse James—bank robber, Confederate guerrilla, and folk hero to some—was shot in the back of the head by…
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