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History / U.S. History

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

"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

The opposing voices in America's first great debate about global warming was between Thomas Jefferson and Noah Webster in 1799.

America’s First Great Global Warming Debate

Thomas Jefferson and Noah Webster argue over conventional wisdom that lasted thousands of years

During the Civil War, Fort Monroe served as the key staging ground for Northern campaigns against Norfolk, the Outer Banks of North Carolina and the Southern capital of Richmond.

Fort Monroe’s Lasting Place in History

Famous for accepting escaped slaves during the Civil War, the Virginia base also has a history that heralds back to Jamestown

This past June, racers, ages 8 to 17, took part in the 70th running of the Greater Washington Soap Box Derby.

The History of Soap Box Derby

For nearly 80 years, kids have steered their gravity-powered racers toward a coveted national championship

"We expect a fight every moment," a Confederate private reported from Virginia, where New York's 8th militia, pictured, camped.

June 1861: Anticipating the Onslaught of the Civil War

The “Races at Philippi” and Virginia is split in two and more from what happened in the Civil War in June 1861

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Risky Businesses

On track to take off

A new Folkways album is one of many offerings for the war sesquicentennial.

Civil Discourse

The winner of the 1911 Indianapolis 500 averaged about 75 mph, less than half the winning speed in today's race.

One Hundred Years of the Indy 500

A century ago, the first Indianapolis 500 race started in high excitement and ended in a muddle

Rose O'Neal Greenhow, Confederate spy

The Civil War

Women Spies of the Civil War

Hundreds of women served as spies during the Civil War. Here’s a look at six who risked their lives in daring and unexpected ways

On April 27, 1865—12 days after he shot Lincoln at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.—Booth was shot in a Virginia barn. He died from his wound that day.

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Documenting the Death of an Assassin

In 1865, a single photograph was taken during the autopsy of John Wilkes Booth. Where is it now?

One of the most effective Union spies was Elizabeth Van Lew. Over a course of four years she quietly sent valuable intelligence to Union officers and even ran her own network of spies.

The Civil War

Elizabeth Van Lew: An Unlikely Union Spy

A member of the Richmond elite, one woman defied convention and the Confederacy and fed secrets to the Union during the Civil War

In 1966, Henry Carfagna, the Suffolk Downs track photographer, prepared to take his standard picture of the horses driving toward the wire when he saw a man run onto the track.

At Suffolk Downs, an Unintended Spectator

Photographer Henry Carfagna was in the perfect position to catch the moment when a horse race took a bizarre turn

Pyramid at El Mirador

Extraordinary Discoveries

In archaeology and medicine

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Ask Smithsonian 2017

Who Had the Best Civil War Facial Hair?

Browse these portraits of officers with great facial hair courtesy of the Library of Congress and then vote for your favorite

A group of officers in Culpeper, Virginia reading letters from home.

The Civil War

The Essentials: Six Books on the Civil War

These six histories of the Civil War that are must-reads if you want to better understand the conflict

To mark the 50th anniversary of the Civil War a group of men reenacted "Pickett's Charge" at Gettysburg.

The Civil War

How We’ve Commemorated the Civil War

Take a look back at how Americans have remembered the civil war during significant anniversaries of the past

One of the best-documented female soldiers is Sarah Edmonds. She was a Union soldier and worked during the Civil War as a nurse.

Women Who Shaped History

The Women Who Fought in the Civil War

Hundreds of women concealed their identities so they could battle alongside their Union and Confederate counterparts

After Union troops refused to evacuate Fort Sumter, today a National Monument, Confederates opened fire.

The Civil War

Fort Sumter: The Civil War Begins

Nearly a century of discord between North and South finally exploded in April 1861 with the bombardment of Fort Sumter

When President Abraham Lincoln learned that Union Army Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth had been killed, the president exclaimed, "My boy! My boy! Was it necessary this sacrifice should be made?"

The Death of Colonel Ellsworth

The first Union officer killed in the Civil War was a friend of President Lincoln’s

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