for Liberty.



“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and provide new Guards for their future security.”

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Perryville Overlook

Perryville Overlook

Despite being the Confederate high-water mark of the Western Theater and one of the most important battles of the American Civil War, most people, including many Civil War buffs, know little about the Battle of Perryville. Consider these 10 facts about this watershed battle in the western theater.

Old Douglas The Camel

Old Douglas The Camel

Among the 5,000 grave markers for Confederate soldiers in the Soldier’s Rest section of Cedar Hill Cemetery in Vicksburg, Mississippi, one pays tribute to Old Douglas, the camel of the…

Battlefield Preservation

Save Tennessee Battlefields

Your help is needed to save two key tracts at Lookout Mountain and Franklin.
The first tract includes 301 acres that played an important role in the “Battle Above the Clouds” at Lookout Mountain. The second tract is a small but crucial parcel at the Franklin Battlefield, which adds a key piece of ground to the land the Trust already worked so hard to reclaim and restore. 

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H.L. Hunley- Confederate Submarine

H.L. Hunley- Confederate Submarine

ByNathan MoteFebruary 18, 2021

On the evening of 17 February 1864, the Hunley made her first mission against an enemy vessel during the American Civil War. Armed with a spar torpedo, mounted to a rod extending out from her bow, the Hunley’s mission was to lift the blockade of Charleston, South Carolina by destroying…

Lewis Addison Armistead

Lewis Addison Armistead

ByNathan MoteFebruary 18, 2021

Early Life Armistead, known to friends as “Lo” (for Lothario), was born in the home of his great-grandfather, John Wright Stanly, in New Bern, North Carolina, son of Walker Keith Armistead and Elizabeth Stanly Armistead. Armistead’s grandfather, John Stanly, was a U.S. Congressman and his uncle Edward Stanly served as…

John Yates Beall

John Yates Beall

ByNathan MoteFebruary 18, 2021

John Yates Beall was born on January 1, 1835, at Walnut Grove, his family’s farm near Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia), the second of four sons and fourth of nine children of George Brook Beall and Janet Yates Beall. He was educated at home and in September 1852 began…

Horace King

Horace King

ByNathan MoteFebruary 13, 2021

Slave Artisan The 500-foot-long Franklin Street Bridge spanning the Chattahoochee River at Columbus, Georgia, was built by Horace King in 1862. Partially destroyed during the Civil War, the bridge was restored by King in 1867. It is shown here being dismantled c. 1904. (Courtesy Columbus College…

Old Douglas The Camel

Old Douglas The Camel

Among the 5,000 grave markers for Confederate soldiers in the Soldier’s Rest section of Cedar Hill Cemetery in Vicksburg, Mississippi, one pays tribute to Old Douglas, the camel of the…

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EXPLORE biographies, battles, and events throughout America’s historical past

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Captain John Smith

Captain John Smith

Smith, JOHN, settler ; born in Willoughby, Lincolnshire, England, in January, 1579. From early youth he was a soldier, and for four years he was in wars in the Netherlands….

La Salle

La Salle

THE first European emigrants to Texas were led by Robert Cavalier, the Sieur de la Salle, who landed on the west side, and near the entrance, of Matagorda bay, on…

Beaver Wars

Beaver Wars

The Beaver Wars, also known as the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars (French: Guerres franco-iroquoises), encompass a series of conflicts fought intermittently during the 17th century in America. They were battles for economic welfare throughout the Saint Lawrence River valley in Canada and the lower Great Lakes region which pitted the Iroquois against the northern Algonquians and the Algonquians’ French allies.…

Antelope Hills Expedition

Antelope Hills Expedition

The Antelope Hills Expedition was a campaign from January 1858 to May 1858 by the Texas Rangers and members of other allied native American tribes against Comanche and Kiowa villages in the Comancheria. It began in western Texas and ending in a series of fights with the Comanche tribe on May 12, 1858 at a…

Comanche Wars

Comanche Wars

The Comanche Wars began in 1706 with raids by Comanche on Spanish colonies in New Mexico and continued until the last bands of Comanche surrendered to the United States in 1875 although a few Comanche warriors continued to fight in conflicts such as the Buffalo Hunters’ War in 1876 and 1877.[1] In the 18th century, the Comanche established…

Arikara War

Arikara War

The Arikara War was an armed conflict between the United States, their allies from the Sioux (or Dakota) tribe and Arikara Native Americans that took place in the summer of 1823, along the Missouri River in present-day South Dakota.[5] It was the first Indian war west of the Missouri fought by the U.S. Army and its only conflict ever with…

Nickajack Expedition

Nickajack Expedition

The last great battle of the Chickamauga wars. It was fought from late summer to fall of 1794 between American frontiersmen and the Chickamauga Cherokee.

Creek War of 1836

Creek War of 1836

The Creek War of 1836 was a conflict fought between the Muscogee Creek people and non-Native land speculators and squatters in Alabama in 1836.

Northwest Indian War

Northwest Indian War

Also known as Little Turtle’s War and by other names, was a war between the United States and a confederation of numerous Native tribes for control of the Northwest Territory.

Database of Battles

From Native Indians, The American Revolution,
and American Civil War

Battle of Boonville

Battle of Boonville

The First Battle of Boonville was a minor skirmish of the American Civil War, occurring on June 17, 1861, near Boonville in Cooper County, Missouri. Although casualties were extremely light, the battle’s strategic…

Battle of Wilson’s Creek

Battle of Wilson’s Creek

Fought on August 10, 1861, near Springfield, Missouri between Union forces and the Missouri State Guard, it is sometimes called the “Bull Run of the West.”

Battle of Pea Ridge

Battle of Pea Ridge

The Battle of Pea Ridge (also known as the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern) was a land battle of the American Civil War, fought on March 6–8, 1862, at Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas, near Garfield.

Battle of White Marsh

Battle of White Marsh

Battle Summary General George Washington spent the weeks after his defeat at Germantown encamped with the Continental Army in various locations throughout Montgomery County, just north of British-occupied Philadelphia. In early November, the Americans established an entrenched position approximately 16 miles north of Philadelphia along the Wissahickon Creek and Sandy Run, primarily situated on several…

The Battle of Yorktown

The Battle of Yorktown

The Siege of Yorktown or Battle of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by General Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by General Lord Cornwallis. It proved to be the last major land battle of…

The Battle of Eutaw Springs

The Battle of Eutaw Springs

Background Seven years of British determination to bring South Carolina to her knees met failure. The spirit that had long resisted royal edict and church canon, the fierce desire and indomitable will to be masters of their own destinies, and the dauntless courage that had carved a new way of…

The Battle of Guilford Courthouse

The Battle of Guilford Courthouse

Overview On the bright, late winter day of March 15, 1781, the Revolutionary War came to a remote county seat in north central North Carolina. Guilford Courthouse, with its population of considerably fewer than 100, was on this day the temporary residence of 4,400 American soldiers and their leader, Maj.…

The Battle of Cowpens

The Battle of Cowpens

The Battle of Cowpens (January 17, 1781) was a decisive victory by American Revolutionary forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It…

The Battle of Monmouth

The Battle of Monmouth

In May of 1778, The British commander, General Clinton in Philadelphia, faced with a war with France decided it was prudent to protect New York City and Florida.

The Battle of Eutaw Springs

The Battle of Eutaw Springs

Background Seven years of British determination to bring South Carolina to her knees met failure. The spirit that had long resisted royal edict and church canon, the fierce desire and…