August 24 1814: The Battle of Bladensburg and the Devasting Defeat in the War of 1812
This year we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which we think of as the “bookend” to the ultimate end of the War in 1783 with the Treaty of...
Remembering Philip Delano: A Leader of the Plymouth Colony
As we head towards the Fall season, and prepare for Thanksgiving celebrations, we honor the memory of the Pilgrim passengers on the Mayflower, who landed at Cape Cod in November 1620, and founded...
August 20: 1794: The Battle of Fallen Timbers Spells the End of the “Native Confederacy” at the Hands of General “Mad” Anthony Wayne
The morning of August 20, 1794 broke humid and gray over the Maumee River, in present-day Indiana and Ohio. A storm had torn through the forest through which the American Legion under the command...
August 1876: Thomas Edison Receives the First Patent for “Automatic Printing,” the Precursor of the Mimeograph, and the Business World is Transformed
This month we commemorate the 150th anniversary of Thomas Edison’s invention of an “automatic pen,” which historians credit as the first step toward the invention of the mimeograph machine....
Remembering Virginia Dare, The First English Born Child in America
Today we commemorate the birth of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in North America, who came into this world on August 18, 1587. Virginia, her parents, and her fellow settlers of the...
Remembering William Strachey, Chronicler of the Virginia Colony
The man many historians credit as being one of the most reliable first-person chroniclers of the early days of the Jamestowne Colony was William Strachey, who was buried at St. Giles’ Church in...
Wingfield’s War Reshapes Nevada Mining Industry, Following Labor Strife at the Goldfield Mines
Founded in 1902, the town of Goldfield, Nevada experienced a meteoric rise over the next five years to become a center of the mining industry In the United States. By the winter of 1907, Goldfield...
Collis P. Huntington: One of the Big Four” Tycoons of the Western Railroad Industry
Collis P. Huntington was an important American businessman and railroad leader during the 1800s – one of the “Big Four” tycoons of the western railroad industry. He was born in 1821 in...
Remembering Albert Gallatin
Albert Gallatin was an important American statesman, diplomat, and financier who helped shape the early United States. He was born in Geneva, Switzerland, on January 29, 1761, and immigrated to...
The Calverts: A Family Who Built a Colony
In the early seventeenth century, when England strained under religious division and political uncertainty, one family quietly set in motion the creation of a new society across the Atlantic. The...
