The 170th Anniversary of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854: Prelude to the American Civil War

Civil War Era

Americans almost always view the Civil War of 1861-65 as a war between North and South, and specifically between the anti-slave states of New England and the mid-Atlantic, and the slave states of the...

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Remembering Julia Ward Howe

Civil War Era

The women’s suffrage movement in America culminated in 1920 with passage of the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, giving women the right to vote. The movement began long before that,...

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Remembering Robert E. Lee

Civil War Era

The American Civil War was a watershed moment in American history, a four-year battle that was the culmination of decades of hostilities over the issue of slavery.  In its final years, the War...

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Remembering Ulysses S. Grant

Civil War Era

One of the greatest figures in American history is Ulysses S. Grant, the general who led the Union Army to victory in the Civil War, and who later served as a two-term president of the United States....

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The Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas)

Civil War Era

Background and Prelude to Battle The Battle of Bull Run, the first major land battle of the American Civil War, was fought in Prince William County, Virginia, near the small stream known as Bull Run,...

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Remembering Abraham Lincoln

Civil War Era

It would be an impossible task to write a commemoration of Abraham Lincoln in a few short paragraphs, so we will not even attempt it; it simply can’t be done. Lincoln is a towering figure in...

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April 1865—A Month to Remember

Civil War Era

This month marks the 160th anniversary of two major events in American history: the end of the Civil War following the surrender of the Confederate Army at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, and the...

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January 1863: President Lincoln Signs the Emancipation Proclamation, Extending Freedom to Enslaved Persons

Civil War Era

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...

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