NewsInHistory Blog

It did not take the Native Americans of the northern plains long to realize the value of treaties signed by the white men. The 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie sought to maintain peace by compensating the Plains tribes for allowing pioneers on the Oregon Trail to pass through their lands. However, soldiers from Fort Laramie broke the treaty and murdered a chief over the matter of a single cow. read more...

On Sept. 2, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman marched into Atlanta and triumphantly telegraphed his superiors: “Atlanta is ours and fairly won.” The capture of this strategic Southern city was of great importance to the North, both militarily and politically. For the Confederacy, the loss of Atlanta was the beginning of the end. read more...

When Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Western Allies and Russia on May 7, 1945, it seemed clear the death and destruction of WWII was finally coming to an end. The final task was to force Japan’s surrender, and then hostilities would cease. On June 21, after 82 days of some of the fiercest fighting of the war, the Battle of Okinawa ended, and with that victory the Allies gained a major base from which to launch an invasion of the Japanese homeland. One month later, on July 26, allied leaders including U.S. read more...

When Martha, a passenger pigeon in the Cincinnati Zoo, drew her last breath on Sept. 1, 1914, her death marked the extinction of her species. A bird once so numerous its large flocks blotted out the sun during its migrations was decimated by humans. People shot down the birds by the thousands for sport or target practice, a commercial meat industry killed them by the hundreds of thousands, and deforestation deprived the passenger pigeon of its habitat and food supply. read more...

In a cage in the Cincinnati Zoo on Sept. 1, 1914, Martha, a passenger pigeon, drew her last breath. With her passing something tragic happened: the passenger pigeon became extinct. Martha had been the last of her kind, the sole survivor of a species once so numerous only the buffalo and the locust could rival their staggering numbers. read more...

As the summer of 1864 was drawing to a close, the Confederacy was holding onto a glimmer of hope that it could still “win” the Civil War. The South’s General Robert E. Lee was tying up the Union army under General Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia, and Union General William T. Sherman’s attempt to capture Atlanta was bogged down in a four-month-long siege that seemed to be going nowhere. Without a major Union victory before the fall’s presidential election, it appeared that President Lincoln would lose to his challenger and former general, George Brinton McClellan. read more...

The Civil War began auspiciously for the Confederate States of America, as the South won the war’s opening contest (the Battle of Fort Sumter), the war’s first major land battle (the First Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas), and the first major battle in the West (the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, or Oak Hills), all in 1861. However, in the next year the South’s fortunes changed for the worse. read more...

By the summer of 1862 President Abraham Lincoln and the Union were growing impatient for some progress toward the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia. Lincoln’s hopes had been high the previous summer, but then a 35,000-man Union army under General Irvin McDowell was routed at the Civil War’s first major engagement, the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas), on July 21, 1861. read more...