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The Winter at Valley Forge
The particularly severe winter of 1777-1778 proved to be a great trial for the American army, and of the 11,000 soldiers stationed at Valley Forge, hundreds died from disease. However, the suffering troops were held together by loyalty to the Patriot cause and to General Washington, who stayed with his men. -
The Battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy, and Cambridge. -
Benedict Arnold turns traitor
Yet Arnold felt that he never received the recognition he deserved. In 1779, he entered into secret negotiations with the British, agreeing to turn over the U.S. post at West Point in return for money and a command in the British army. His name has since become synonymous with the word “traito -
The Battle of Cowpens
The Battle of Cowpens was an engagement during the American Revolutionary War fought on January 17, 1781 near the town of Cowpens, South Carolina, between U.S. forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan and British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, as part of the campaign in the Carolinas -
The USS Constitution defeats the HMS Guerriere
USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere was a battle between an American and British ship during the War of 1812, about 400 miles southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia. It took place on the 19th of August 1812, one month after the war's first engagement between British and American forces. -
The Battle of Baltimore
The Battle of Baltimore was a sea/land battle fought between British invaders and American defenders in the War of 1812. American forces repulsed sea and land invasions off the busy port city of Baltimore, Maryland, and killed the commander of the invading British forces -
The Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815 between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles southeast of the French Quarter of New Orleans, in the current suburb of Chalmette, Louisiana. -
The Battle of the Alamo
The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event and military engagement in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar, killing most of the occupants -
The Election of Andrew Jackson
Jackson dominated in the South and the West, aided in part by the passage of the Tariff of 1828. With the ongoing expansion of the right to vote to most white men, the election marked a dramatic expansion of the electorate, with 9.5% of Americans casting a vote for president, compared with 3.4% in 1824. -
Abraham Lincoln Elected President
incoln was the candidate of the newly created Republican Party, which officially wanted to limit the expansion of slavery. The rival Democrats had split into two factions, with Stephen Douglas and John Breckinridge running against Lincoln, and another new party, the Constitutional Union Party, also fielding a candidate. -
South Carolina secedes from the United States
Charleston Mercury on November 3, 1860. South Carolina became the first state to secede from the federal Union on December 20, 1860. The victory of Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election triggered cries for disunion across the slaveholding South. -
The First Battle of Bull Run
The first land battle of the Civil War was fought on July 21, 1861, just 30 miles from Washington—close enough for U.S. senators to witness the battle in person. Southerners called it the Battle of Manassas, after the closest town. Northerners called it Bull Run, after a stream running through the battlefield. -
The Treaty at Appomattox Courthouse
Appomattox County, VA | Apr 9, 1865. Trapped by the Federals near Appomattox Court House, Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union general Ulysses S. Grant, precipitating the capitulation of other Confederate forces and leading to the end of the bloodiest conflict in American history. -
The Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. The battle involved the largest number of casualties of the entire war and is often described as the war's turning point. -
The sinking of the USS Maine
At 9:40pm on February 15, 1898, the battleship U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana Harbor, killing 268 men and shocking the American populace. Of the two-thirds of the crew who perished, only 200 bodies were recovered and 76 identified. -
The Adoption of the Star Spangled Banner as the National Anthem
The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet. -
Battle of the Philippines
The Philippines campaign, also known as the Battle of the Philippines or the Fall of the Philippines, was from December 8, 1941, to May 8, 1942, the invasion of the Philippines by the Empire of Japan and the defense of the islands by United States and the Philippine Armies during World War II