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History

Union generals lost a week long siege of Lexington, Missouri, shown here, but took control of Ship Island, off Mississippi's coast.

September 1861: Settling in for a Long War

During this month, the civil war expands to Kentucky and West Virginia, and President Lincoln rejects an attempt at emancipation

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Coming to Terms

In the United States and Finland

Historypin is a website that allows users to "pin" old photographs, video or audio clips to Google Maps at the very locations they were snapped and recorded. Shown here is the Wisconsin State Capitol from 1939.

Q & A with Nick Stanhope, Creator of Historypin

By merging old photographs with new mapping technology, this site fuses new connections between the generations

Ty Cobb

The Knife in Ty Cobb’s Back

Did the baseball great really confess to murder on his deathbed?

Mrs. Grace Humiston, a.k.a. "Mrs. Sherlock Holmes"

“Mrs. Sherlock Holmes” Takes on the NYPD

When an 18-year-old girl went missing, the police let the case grow cold. But Grace Humiston, a soft-spoken private investigator, wouldn’t let it lie

"People who knew Dr. King personally, all of them look at it [the memorial] and say, 'That's him,'" says Lisa Anders, senior project manager.

Building the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial

For those working behind the scenes on the King memorial, its meaning runs deep

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One Man Against Tyranny

Charles Steinmetz, circa 1915

Charles Proteus Steinmetz, the Wizard of Schenectady

His contributions to mathematics and electrical engineering made him one of the most beloved and instantly recognizable men of his time.

Aaron Ogden, Aaron Burr and Jonathan Dayton, three men from Elizabethtown, New Jersey, were hell-bent on winning power and wealth.

Burr, Ogden and Dayton: The Original Jersey Boys

Known as much for their troubles as their successes, these childhood friends left their mark on early American history

Anne Bonny (left) and Mary Read, as rendered in A General History of the Pyrates

If There’s a Man Among Ye: The Tale of Pirate Queens Anne Bonny and Mary Read

Renowned for their ruthlessness, these two female pirates challenged the sailors’ adage that a woman’s presence on shipboard invites bad luck

Elis the pedlar, a Welsh packman working the villages around Llanfair in about 1885.

The Last of the Cornish Packmen

An encounter on a lonely road in the furthest reaches of the English West Country sheds light on the dying days of a once-ubiquitous profession

According to author Christine Sismondo, taverns, such as the one shown here in New York City, produced a particular type of public sphere in colonial America.

The Spirited History of the American Bar

A new book details how the neighborhood pub, tavern, bar or saloon plays a pivotal role in United States history

Left: Lisa and Minter Dial, on their way to the 1939-40 New York World's Fair. Right: Minter's ring

Minter’s Ring: The Story of One World War II POW

When excavators in Inchon, Korea discovered a U.S. naval officer’s ring, they had no knowledge of the pain associated with its former owner, Minter Dial

Scores of high-spirited civilians carried picnic baskets and champagne to the battlefield to watch what would turn out to be the first major land engagement of the Civil War. Shown here is the battlefield as it appears today.

The Civil War

The Battle of Bull Run: The End of Illusions

Both North and South expected victory to be glorious and quick, but the first major battle signaled the long and deadly war to come

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This Month in History

Momentous or Merely Memorable

In her new book, Founding Gardeners, London-based historian Andrea Wulf argues that the founders' love of gardening and farming shaped their vision of America.

Founding Fathers, Great Gardeners

In her new book, Andrea Wulf argues that the founding fathers’ love of gardening shaped their vision of America

Ruins in front of the Capitol in Richmond showing some of the destruction caused by a Confederate attempt to burn Richmond.

Battlefields

Casualties mounting on two fronts

Ancient cultures used an array of ingredients to make their alcoholic beverages, including emmer wheat, wild yeast, chamomile, thyme and oregano.

The Beer Archaeologist

By analyzing ancient pottery, Patrick McGovern is resurrecting the libations that fueled civilization

"I will not live in silence," said Thomas A. Drake, in Washington, D.C. in May. He was charged with retaining national defense information.

Leaks and the Law: The Story of Thomas Drake

The former NSA official reached a plea deal with the government, but the case still raises questions about the public’s right to know

One of the larger pieces of Yapese stone money. Quarried in Palau, these giant coins were transported to Yap on flimsy outrigger canoes at considerable human cost – until O'Keefe took over their manufacturing.

David O’Keefe: The King of Hard Currency

The Irish American immigrant made a fortune by supplying the giant stone coins prized by Yap islanders

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