Remembering Cotton Mather
A major church leader in early America was Cotton Mather, who died this day on February 13, 1728 at the age of 65. He was one of the most controversial Puritan clerics of his era, known for his...
February 1623: Jamestowne Colony Tallies Up the Grim Statistics of the “Livinge & Dead in Virginia,” Following the Massacre of 1622
(contemporaneous engraving of the Massacre of 1622) Looking back 400 years, we often read about events that were defining moments in the history of our earliest American settlements, be they the...
Remembering John C. Fremont
Born this day in 1813, Major-General John C. Fremont was one of the most popular men in America in the mid-1800’s: a soldier, an explorer, a gold speculator, a territorial Governor, a U.S. senator,...
Remembering John Winthrop
One of the most important political leaders in early New England was John Winthrop, who was born this day on January 12, 1587/1588. Beginning in 1630, Winthrop was the long-time Governor of the...
Remembering Alexander Hamilton
You see his face every day on our $10 bill. A Broadway musical is named after him. And he’s known as the man who was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804. Alexander Hamilton is a truly iconic...
January 1863: President Lincoln Signs the Emancipation Proclamation, Extending Freedom to Enslaved Persons
This month in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, one of the most important Presidential acts in American history. Since the enactment of the...
Remembering Catherine Littlefield Greene
Today we briefly pay tribute to one of the bravest women of the Revolutionary War era, who risked her personal safety to follow her husband into battle, and who spent the war years supporting the...
Remembering Sacagawea
United States $1 commemorative coin honoring Sacajawea, 2000. A watershed event in American history was the Lewis & Clark Expedition of 1804-06. We’ve posted remembrances before about...
Remembering Jane Grey Swisshelm
Born this day on December 6, 1815, Jane Grey Swisshelm was one of America’s best-known anti-slavery advocates of the 19th century. Born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Jane married James Swisshelm at...
Remembering John Brown
Fifteen months before the American Civil War commenced with the shelling of Fort Sumter in April 1861, one of the most memorable events in the history of the abolitionist movement in the United...
