2022
The Plessy v. Ferguson Case Decided, 1896
Week of May 15
Supreme Court rulings look like the Friday night boxing card between two pugilists, usually destined for future anonymity, but temporarily the main event for entertainment. And so it is with many of those…
Crazy Horse Surrenders, 1877
Week of May 1
Census data, missionary tales, soldiers’ letters and diaries, government documents of all sorts, photographs, and the impressions of enemies have been most often used in the past to tell the…
Edward I Invades Scotland, 1297
Week of April 24
Edward towered over his contemporaries at 6’2”. He thus received the nickname of “Longshanks,” by which history has since known him. He also got the sobriquet, “The Hammer of the Scots,” from later…
The Siege of Derry Begins, 1689
Week of April 17
Nations of the world often have some great battle or last stand or heroic deeds that everyone learns about in popular culture and family lore. Sometimes the event achieves a mythological status, the…
The Edict of Nantes Proclaimed, 1598
Week of April 10
Several of the greatest preachers, evangelists and theologians of the Protestant Reformation were born in France, often writing in French as well as Latin. They pastored churches in France…
General Robert E. Lee’s Surrender at Appomattox, 1865
Week of April 3
April is Confederate History Month in six Southern states. Four states commemorate a “Confederate Memorial Day.” And what a month it was…
Vladimir Putin Elected President of Russia, 2000
Week of March 20
I was born in 1952, about one month before Vladimir Putin, current President of Russia. We both grew up on stories of the Second World War, but...
Julius Caesar’s Assassination, 44 BC
Week of March 13
Cum esset Caesar in citeriore Gallia. . . and so begins De Bello Gallico, The War in Gaul by Julius Caesar. It has often been the first Latin translated by every school-boy and girl for hundreds of years...
The Birth of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., 1841
Week of March 6
The namesake of his famous father, Holmes, Jr. would exceed him in public recognition on a national scale and come to symbolize the…
Mexican Reinforcements Arrive at the Alamo, 1836
Week of February 27
The Siege of the Alamo in San Antonio de Bexar lasted from February 23 to March 6, 1836. Many people know how it ended in the assault and…
Voice of America Begins Broadcasting in Germany, 1942
Week of February 20
In 2022, “Voice of America provides trusted and objective news and information in 47 languages to a measured weekly audience of more than…
The Final Sinking of the CSS Hunley, 1864
Week of February 13
A bumper sticker I observed in Charleston, South Carolina a number of years ago read: “There are only two kinds of ships: submarines and targets.” How appropriate to see that sign in Charleston, for...
The Births of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, 1809
Week of February 6
In an unusual Providence, Abraham Lincoln, who redefined the political philosophy of the Founders to create a unitary state and set the Republic on a...
The End of the Punic Wars, 146 BC
Week of January 31
The conquest of Europe and the Mediterranean world by Rome did not happen overnight. Defeating the tribes and enemies of the Italian peninsula may have come easily, but the challenge of Carthage...
The Death of General Charles George “Chinese” Gordon, 1885
Week of January 23
Born on January 28, 1833, Charles George Gordon gained international fame as a Major General who testified boldly concerning his Christian faith, lived...
The Birth of Robert E. Lee, 1807
Week of January 17
Robert Edward Lee’s father was a great cavalry commander and hero of the Revolutionary War, General Henry, “Light-Horse Harry,” Lee III. Upon the death of George Washington, Henry Lee...
The Secession of Florida, 1861
Week of January 9
The State of Florida is no stranger to controversy. They are in the news today because of the high value the governor places on personal liberty and Constitutional fidelity. It is not the first time...
The Battle of New Orleans, 1815
Week of January 2
If ever there was an international city in America, New Orleans was it. The city was founded by the French Mississippi Company in 1718, ceded to Spain as a result of the French and Indian War...