NewsInHistory Blog

At the beginning of the Civil War, the Confederate States of America was hoping for England’s official recognition and possible aid in defeating the Union blockade of its ports. During the last seven weeks of 1861, the Confederacy came tantalizingly close to having its wildest dreams realized, as the tense diplomatic crisis known as the Trent Affair brought Great Britain and the Union dangerously close to war. read more...

Just two years after the Civil War ended, while the nation was busy rebuilding itself, Secretary of State William Henry Seward surprised many by negotiating with Russia to purchase Alaska for $7.2 million, amounting to the ludicrously low price of about two cents per acre. Even so, critics blasted the purchase as “Seward’s Folly,” wasting money on a barren, remote land of ice and snow. The Alaska Treaty of Cessation was signed on March 30, 1867, and ratified by the U.S. Senate on April 9. read more...

The admission of Texas into the Union as the 28th state on Dec. 29, 1845, came after a great deal of controversy in the country and heated debate in Congress. For one thing, Texas had been an independent country since 1836, when it won independence from Mexico and formed the Republic of Texas: some argued U.S. law permitted annexation of American territories, but not other countries. read more...

December 1890 was a cruel month for the Lakota Indians. On Dec. 15 Sitting Bull, a chief and holy man of the Hunkpapa Lakota, was killed along with eight of his followers by Indian police sent to arrest him. Just two weeks later Sitting Bull’s half-brother Spotted Elk (Big Foot) and his band of Miniconjou and Hunkpapa Lakota were slaughtered at the infamous Wounded Knee massacre on Dec. 29. read more...

The high seas were perilous for merchant vessels in 1807. With the Napoleonic Wars raging in Europe, three combatants—Great Britain, France and Spain—were ignoring the rights of neutrals and seizing merchant ships to disrupt one another’s commerce. Another danger came from the British practice of impressment, whereby sailors were yanked off American ships on the pretext they were British subjects and forced into service in the British Navy. read more...

South Carolina’s secession from the Union on Dec. 20, 1860, dramatized what had been clear for several years: slavery and states’ rights were two irreconcilable differences dividing North and South that would fracture the country. While the Northern press, predictably, condemned South Carolina’s action, many newspapers in the South supported this fellow slave state’s actions. Some, as in the following editorial, predicted other Southern states would soon follow South Carolina’s example. read more...

Things looked grim for the 10,000 American troops trapped in the Belgium town of Bastogne on Dec. 22, 1944. Six days before, the Germans had surprised the Allies by launching the Ardennes Offensive, known to Americans as the Battle of the Bulge because of the sudden bulge the German thrust initially made in the Allies’ lines. It had seemed the end was drawing near for Nazi Germany, especially with the huge Soviet offensive bearing down on the Eastern Front. Allied intelligence reports of German troop movements had been interpreted as purely defensive maneuvers. read more...

At dawn on Dec. 15, 1890, the life of Sitting Bull, a chief and holy man of the Hunkpapa Lakota Indians, came to an end, shot in the chest and head by Indian police who had come to arrest him. Sitting Bull was murdered by Indians sent by white men—who wanted him destroyed because they feared his waning but still powerful influence among the Lakota. read more...