On this day in 1860, Abraham Lincoln gives a speech that would propel him toward the presidency. He wasn’t yet the well-known figure that we think of today. ...

On this day in 1826, future First Lady Julia Dent Grant is born. Her love story with Ulysses S. Grant is not well known, but “they shared one of the great, r...

On this day in 1862, Abraham Lincoln signs a bill admitting West Virginia into the Union. At the time, some questioned whether West Virginia—formerly a part ...

On this day in 1864, an eagle by the name of “Old Abe” is given to the people of Wisconsin. He would later become the inspiration for the Screaming Eagle on ...

On this day in 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee retreats across the Potomac River after fighting the Battle of Antietam. That Civil War battle has unf...

On this day in 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee retreats across the Potomac River after fighting the Battle of Antietam. That Civil War battle has unf...

On this day in 1862, Confederate forces win the Second Battle of Bull Run. The two-day battle would prove to be one of the bloodier battles

On (maybe) this day in 1831, a sea captain from Massachusetts names his American flag “Old Glory.” The name that Captain William Driver gave to his flag stuc...

On this day in 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg begins. Our nation should have been celebrating its 87th birthday that week! Instead, we were engaged in a brut...

On this day in 1881, the American Association of the Red Cross is founded by Clara Barton. She must have been one determined lady. She founded the Red Cross ...

On this day in 1865, John Wilkes Booth is shot and killed on a farm in Virginia. Did you ever wonder what happened to him in the days after he’d assassinated...

On this day in 1865, Abraham Lincoln is shot by an assassin. Did you know that Lincoln was shot on Good Friday? April 14 also happened to be Good Friday that...

On this day in 1861, the first shot of the Civil War is fired. You may remember from yesterday’s story that Confederate and Union forces had been at a stalem...

On this day in 1861, Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard sends a demand to Union Major Robert Anderson: Surrender Fort Sumter! But how had matters come to ...

On this day in 1865, Union forces capture the City of Richmond. It was the beginning of the end for Robert E. Lee and the Confederate armies. The Union had l...

On this day in 1865, the Battle of Bentonville begins. The three-day battle has been called the Southern Confederacy’s “last hurrah.” However, the conflict u...

On this day in 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln attends church services at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. He’d just escaped a possible ...

On this day in 1864, a Confederate submarine torpedoes and sinks the USS Housatonic. The H.L. Hunley changed naval warfare forever. It was the first submarin...

On this day in 1862, Edwin Stanton is confirmed as Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of War. He’d been nominated only two days earlier. It’s hard to imagine such a...

On this day in 1832, President Andrew Jackson issues the Nullification Proclamation. In it, he claimed that states may not declare federal laws unconstitutio...