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Civil War

Edward P. McCabe argued that Black people could not only belong in the new American territorities, but actually be in charge.

Untold Stories of American History

This Visionary African American Politician Dreamed of Creating an All-Black State in Oklahoma Territory

Edward P. McCabe petitioned Benjamin Harrison for an opportunity to show him that Black people “are men and women capable of self‑government.” When the president was unmoved, McCabe and his followers went west anyway

Wade in the Water, Stephen Towns, 2020

Women Who Shaped History

See the Artworks That Explore the Forgotten History of Harriet Tubman’s Civil War Triumphs

Tubman’s 1863 raid, which destroyed seven plantations along the Combahee River in South Carolina and freed 756 enslaved laborers, is now the subject of an exhibition in Charleston

The CSS Shenandoah surrendered to the British government in November 1865, after traveling 17,000 miles in just three months in hopes of evading capture by Union warships.

Untold Stories of American History

A Confederate Raider Fired the Final Shots of the Civil War in the Arctic, Two and a Half Months After Robert E. Lee Surrendered

The CSS “Shenandoah” only learned of the Confederacy’s defeat in the summer of 1865. That June, the cruiser’s crew sank 24 American merchant vessels, unaware that the conflict had already ended

Perched on the southern edge of the picturesque Monterey Bay, Pacific Grove, California, is home to the Monarch Grove Sanctuary, one of the largest overwintering sites of monarch butterflies in the region.

The 15 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2025

From a barbecue capital in Texas to the site of the first offensive victory for American forces in the Revolutionary War in New York, these spots are worthy of a visit this year

John Tyler was 63 when his 13th child was born in 1853. That child, Lyon Gardiner Tyler Sr., was 75 when Harrison Ruffin Tyler was born in 1928.

Last Surviving Grandson of President John Tyler, Who Took Office in 1841, Dies at 96

When Harrison Ruffin Tyler’s grandfather was born 235 years ago in 1790, George Washington had just become the nation’s first president

Campaign memorabilia from Lincoln's first run for the White House in 1860

Abraham Lincoln’s Blood-Stained Gloves, Early Scribblings and Dozens of Other Belongings Are Going Up for Sale

Nearly 150 pieces of Lincolniana from throughout the 16th president’s life will be hitting the auction block in Chicago on May 21

Rebecca Lee Crumpler's gravestone was only installed in 2020, 125 years after her death in 1895.

Women Who Shaped History

The Nation’s First Black Female Doctor Blazed a Path for Women in Medicine. But She Was Left Out of the Story for Decades

After earning a medical degree in 1864, Rebecca Lee Crumpler died in obscurity and was buried without a headstone

In the film, Lincoln agonizes over signing an execution warrant for a deserter.

Cool Finds

Intern Finds Only Known Surviving Copy of ‘The Heart of Lincoln,’ a Silent Film Thought to Be Lost to History

Released in 1915, the film was directed by Francis Ford, the brother of famed filmmaker John Ford. It had been listed in a record of 7,200 silent films classified as “lost”

A Harper's Weekly illustration of Confederate soldiers driving Black Americans south in 1862

Untold Stories of American History

After Confederate Forces Captured Their Children, These Black Mothers Fought to Reunite Their Families

During the Civil War, Confederates targeted free Black people in the North, kidnapping them to sell into slavery. After the conflict ended, two women sought help from high places to track down their lost loved ones

Engraving of General Sherman's "March to the Sea"

On This Day in History

General Sherman Offered Savannah as a ‘Christmas Gift’ to President Lincoln. The Victory Signaled the End of His Brutal March to the Sea

Unlike much of Georgia, the historic port city was preserved from Sherman’s wrath, but suffered psychological terror nonetheless

The Hermitage in Nashville is the former plantation of Andrew Jackson.

Archaeologists Discover Lost Burial Site of Enslaved People on President Andrew Jackson’s Tennessee Plantation

An estimated 28 probable graves were identified at the seventh American president’s former property, called the Hermitage

An 1864 photo of General Ulysses S. Grant

On This Day in History

Why Union General Ulysses S. Grant Issued an Order to Expel Jews From Certain Confederate States During the Civil War

An attempt to cut down on the illegal cotton trade, Grant’s decision, announced on this day in 1862, was immensely controversial and hounded him for years

Estimates of the number of Pacific Islanders captured by blackbirders and forced to work on cotton and sugar plantations in Fiji and Australia range from 61,610 to more than 100,000.

How ‘Blackbirders’ Forced Tens of Thousands of Pacific Islanders Into Slavery After the Civil War

The decline of the American South’s cotton and sugar industries paved the way for plantations in British-controlled Fiji and Australia, where victims of “blackbirding” endured horrific working conditions

Broadway, New York City at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. Union soldiers can be seen walking outside a recruiting station in the image's bottom right corner. 

On This Day in History

The Shocking Moment When a Group of Confederate Spies Plotted—and Failed—to Burn Down New York City

Southern operatives tried to light New York businesses on fire and bring the Northern city to its knees on this date in 1864

One of just two confirmed photographs of Abraham Lincoln (seated in center, facing the camera) at Gettysburg on the day of his address

On This Day in History

Abraham Lincoln’s Legendary Gettysburg Address Promised ‘Government of the People, by the People, for the People’

The president’s humble speech, delivered on this day in 1863, was filled with profound reverence for the Union’s ideals—and the men who died fighting for them

A white mob poses outside of the razed office of the Daily Record, a Black-owned newspaper in Wilmington, North Carolina, on November 10, 1898.

When White Supremacists Staged the Only Successful Coup in U.S. History

The 1898 Wilmington massacre left dozens of Black North Carolinians dead. Conspirators also forced the city’s multiracial government to resign at gunpoint

Relatives of James Chaney, a Black man killed for his voting rights activism, at his funeral in 1964

These Black Americans Were Killed for Exercising Their Political Right to Vote

In the Jim Crow South, activists became martyrs at the hands of white racists, all for the just cause of using the vote to fight for equality and freedom

If a reader stared at one of Spectropia’s illustrations under a strong light source for about 20 seconds and then gazed at a blank wall in a darkened room, a version of that image in inverted colors appeared.

This 19th-Century ‘Toy Book’ Used Science to Prove That Ghosts Were Simply an Illusion

“Spectropia” demystified the techniques used by mediums who claimed they could speak to the dead, revealing the “absurd follies of Spiritualism”

Robert Smalls made headlines when he commandeered a Confederate ship during the Civil War.

Untold Stories of American History

He Escaped Slavery and Became a Civil War Hero. Now, Robert Smalls Is Getting a Statue in South Carolina

A special committee has until January 15 to finalize the design, location and funding for a monument that will be erected on the lawn of the South Carolina State House

U.S. Army Pfc. Chyna Williams (left) helps Staff Sgt. Janeen Butler at a voter assistance drive on a base in Qatar, 2008

What the Long History of Mail-In Voting in the U.S. Reveals About the Election Process

A recent exhibition shows how soldiers sent in votes during the Civil War and World War II, as many Americans would in 2020 following the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic

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