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History / U.S. History

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Sitting Bull’s Legacy

The Lakota Sioux leader’s relics return to his only living descendants

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Letters

Readers respond to the September issue

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From the Castle

Object Lessons

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Outlaw Hunters

The Pinkerton Detective Agency chased down some of America’s most notorious criminals

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War Correspondence

Letters between George Washington and Marquis de Lafayette

Against the British, both Washington and Lafayette (left and right, at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-78) had to learn how to lead citizen-soldiers rather than mercenaries, motivating their men through affection and idealism rather than through fear.

Washington & Lafayette

Almost inseparable in wartime, the two generals split over a vital question: Should revolutionary ideals be imposed on others?

Thurgood Marshall

August Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

"I think most Americans don't realize how close we came to losing the Revolutionary War," says Ferling.

Forget Independence

John Ferling, author of “100 Days that Shook the World,” imagines an alternate history

Earhart was equally at home in the air and on the pages of fashion magazines.Earhart was equally at home in the air and on the pages of fashion magazines.

The Flight Stuff

Amelia Earhart brought her own special style—even to her outerwear

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July Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

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Chat with Jimmy Carter

Discuss “The Ethiopia Campaign” with President Carter

Princess Alexandrina Victoria, 18, ascends to the British throne when her uncle, King William IV, dies June 20, 1837.

June Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

This Honus Wagner baseball card sold for $2.35 million in March.

A Brief History of the Honus Wagner Baseball Card

From cigarette pack insert to multi-million-dollar treasure

A player wearing an old-fashioned catcher's mask

April Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

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What’s Up

Duke Ellington, animated movies and the old ballgame

Capt. John Smith and Chief Powhatan had historic encounters in Werowocomoco.

Lost City of Powhatan

The Algonquian settlement crucial to the survival of Jamestown 400 years ago has been found. Finally

Congress finally passed the suffrage amendment in January 1918, but the Senate and the states took more than two years to approve it. In August 1920, a young Tennessee representative cast the deciding vote—at the urging of his mother—and ratified the amendment, thereby enfranchising half of the U.S. population. After a 72-year struggle, women had finally won the right to vote.

Equal Say

A photographic essay of how women won the vote

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General Resent

In this interview, Ernest “Pat” Furgurson, author of “Catching Up with ‘Old Slow Trot,’” says some people are still fighting the Civil War

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The Stranger and the Statesman

An excerpt from Nina Burleigh’s book, The Stranger and the Statesman: James Smithson, John Quincy Adams, and the Making of America’s Greatest Museum

James Smithson by Hattie Elizabeth Burdette, 1872

Why This Wealthy British Scientist Saw So Much Potential in the United States of America

James Smithson’s biographer offers insight into ideals born of the Age of Enlightenment that gave rise to the founding of the Smithsonian

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