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2021

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...

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...