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Sherman Burns Atlanta, 1864

Week of November 14
Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman fought side by side for two years—Shiloh, The Vicksburg Campaign and Chattanooga. President Lincoln decided to turn command...

The Battle of Tippecanoe, 1811

Week of November 7
Out of 45 United States Presidents, 29 experienced military service, 17 saw combat, several of them in more than one war. Twelve American Presidents served as generals. Although he fought...

Mount Rushmore Completed, 1941

Week of October 31
For centuries men have sculpted busts and images of heroes, gods, soldiers, politicians, literary giants, family members and others, in order to remember their lives and deeds. A certain amount of...

The Erie Canal Completed, 1825

Week of October 24
The Appalachian Mountain range extends more than 1,500 miles north and south, and up to four hundred miles inland from the Atlantic coast. The only cut-across, north of Alabama...

The British Surrender at Saratoga, 1777

Week of October 18
Historians look back into history to find an event that tipped a war in the favor of one side or the other, and when they believe they’ve identified that moment, they tend to call it the “turning point of...

The Battle of Lepanto, 1571

Week of October 4
The 16th century is often called The Age of Reformation by Protestants or the Age of Spanish Conquest by others. In the midst of all the conflicts that plagued both of those powerful movements...

The Death of Daniel Boone, 1820

Week of September 26
Explorer, frontiersman, professional hunter, Indian fighter, surveyor, merchant, land speculator, hero, and legend, Daniel Boone strode the stage of American history with few peers, numerous...

Hurricane Katrina, 2005

Week of August 29
God spoke to Job out of the whirlwind. He also referred to controlling the seas and all that is in them. Jesus himself commanded the weather and the seas as we find in the Gospels—He created...

Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier Born, 1743

Week of August 22
Great men and women of history come in all sizes and shapes, social classes, and countries. France has produced Charlemagne, Joan of Arc, Napoleon, and many others. However, you would be hard...

Chief Metacom Killed, 1676

Week of August 8
In recent mythologizing of the American past, some historians have succumbed to various strains of leftist propaganda and ideological rhetoric regarding the Pilgrims and their relationship with the native...

Birth of Francis Scott Key, 1779

Week of August 1
The life of Francis Scott Key followed the trajectory of a well-educated, plantation-born son of a Maryland Revolutionary War veteran, lawyer, and judge. Born on the first day of August in 1779...

Franco-Prussian War Declared, 1870

Week of July 18
The legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) comes readily to mind regarding military innovations and the redrawing of the boundaries of Europe in the 19th Century. Add to those residual effects...

Birth of John Everett Clough, 1836

Week of July 11
John Clough was born in southwestern New York, not far from Lake Chautauqua. His family joined in the general migration westward, settling in Iowa Territory prior to the Civil War. John attended...

Cyrus McCormick Patents Reaper, 1834

Week of June 20
Technological advances sometimes effect changes that improve the lives of millions. The invention of moveable type, mass-produced interchangeable parts, the cotton gin, the mechanical reaper, jet...

Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494

Week of June 6
In the year of 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue, or so I learned at an early age. In fact he came to the Americas four times, never setting foot on the North American continent. The Caribbean...

Captain Kidd Executed for Piracy, 1701

Week of May 23
In the golden age of piracy, no pirate left a bolder trail, more details of his career, or more loot unaccounted for after his capture than William Kidd. His case involved or implicated Lords of the...

Geronimo Leaves the Reservation, 1886

Week of May 16
Of the native Indian leaders that made their mark on American history and are recognized today for their accomplishments, few have as high a reputation or whose name is as well-known as the Mescalero...

Jefferson Davis Captured, 1865

Week of May 9
The noble and persevering President of the Confederate States, Jefferson Davis, had no intention of submitting to the overwhelming hordes of blue-coated soldiers from the United States...

The Birth of Machiavelli, 1469

Week of May 2
Some historical figures are known by one name, and everyone understands to whom you refer. In our times such a person is usually an entertainer and the first name is sufficient: Elvis, Cher, Prince...

Sultana Disaster, 1865

Week of April 25
According to Professor Benjamin Cloyd in his book Haunted by Atrocity: Civil War Prisons in American Memory, about 410,000 Confederate and Union soldiers were captured during the War Between...

Streight’s Raid Begins, 1863

Week of April 18
He knew the risks. Union Colonel Abel Streight, “a capable and resourceful officer,” believed he could take 1,700 troopers and raid across north Alabama, destroy the Western and Atlantic...

Napoleon Calls It Quits, 1814

Week of April 11
He was the most exalted, most feared, most beloved, most hated, most successful, and most famous man of the 19th Century. His military prowess defined combat doctrine...

The Inauguration of John Tyler, 1841

Week of April 4
President Truman said of him, “he is one of the Presidents we could do without.” Theodore Roosevelt suggested that “he has been called a mediocre man; but this is unwarranted flattery.”...

The Birth of Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685

Week of March 21
If ever a boy was born to be a great musician, Johann Sebastian Bach was that boy. Born the eighth and final child of Johann and Maria Bach in Eisenach, Germany, Johann became part of a...

The Birth of Andrew Jackson, 1767

Week of March 14
Historian David Hackett Fischer said of the Scots-Irish who settled the southern regions of the American colonies that “they carried themselves with a fierce and stubborn pride that warned...

The Deliverance of John Newton, 1748

Week of March 7
In the year 1748, twenty-three-year-old English seaman John Newton recorded that “on March 10th, the Lord came from on high and delivered me out of deep waters.” Preacher John Wesley was...

Texas Independence Declared, 1836

Week of February 28
He is known as the “Father of his Country.” He was from Virginia, a slaveholder and a defender of the institution of slavery, a man of ambition and wealth who sought to fulfill a vision of the future given to...

The French and Indian War Ends, 1763

Week of February 7
It was a war that started in America when “a volley fired by a young Virginian in the backwoods of America set the world on fire.” The quote was by Horace Walpole, famous writer and son of the...

Texas Secedes from the Union, 1861

Week of January 31
Since 1865, secession of states from the United States has been a forbidden subject, discussed only by “Neo-Confederates” and “revanchist cranks”. In recent times, the discussion of breaking from the...

Gold Discovered at Sutter’s Mill, 1848

Week of January 24
The disease began in California and spread eastward. It struck people in every state of the Union in 1848 and continued, gaining virulence, for several years. The population most susceptible...

The Death of General Hugh Mercer, 1777

Week of January 10
Hugh Mercer was born fighting. His military service ranged over two continents and three different armies, which reflect his devotion to his calling as a doctor and a soldier, and a temporary change of...