NewsInHistory Blog

Many newspapers—both in the North and South—editorialized when they learned that the Provisional Confederate Congress meeting in Montgomery, Alabama, voted on May 21, 1861, to choose Richmond, Virginia, as the capital of the recently-formed Confederate States of America. There was quite a range of reactions and opinions, as demonstrated by the following six editorials. read more...

When delegates from six seceded states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina) convened in Montgomery, Alabama, on Feb. 4, 1861, they had an enormous task ahead of them: form a new country, the Confederate States of America. (Delegates from the seventh seceded state, Texas, joined them on March 2.) These delegates of the Provisional Confederate Congress went immediately to work: adopting a new constitution, choosing an interim president, and setting up a new government. read more...

The “Roaring ’20s” was a fast-paced, dizzying time of excitement and possibilities. Peace and prosperity had returned after the devastation of WWI, and new inventions and machinery were pushing frontiers and expanding former boundaries. A bold young pilot named Charles Lindbergh epitomized the spirit of the times, and he dazzled the world when he landed his plane in Paris after completing history’s first solo trans-Atlantic flight. read more...

A historic first was achieved on May 15, 1970, when President Richard M. Nixon nominated two female colonels to become the first women generals in the history of the U.S. military: Col. Anna Mae Hays and Col. Elizabeth Paschel Hoisington. Since nomination by the president routinely leads to actual promotion (requiring only the formality of Senate approval), it surprised no one when the two women received their one-star rank as brigadier generals on June 11, 1970. They were the first women generals in the (at the time) 196-year history of the U.S. Army. read more...

Hiram Cronk achieved two distinctions by the time his life ended on May 13, 1905. For one thing, he had reached the astonishing age of 105. For another, he was the last survivor of the War of 1812, a war the young U.S. had fought with Great Britain nearly a century before. With his death came a third distinction: the city of New York made his funeral a grand occasion, paying all expenses, laying his body in state in City Hall, then burying him in Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn with full military honors. read more...

It was a proud moment for residents of the eastern half of Minnesota Territory when Minnesota was admitted into the Union as the 32nd state on May 11, 1858. However, the country they entered was in the midst of being torn apart by political turmoil and public discord, primarily over the issue of slavery, and the debate over Minnesota’s statehood reflected those tensions. read more...

The Kent State Shootings, when the Ohio National Guard shot 13 unarmed students on the campus of Kent State University on May 4, 1970, killing 4, was the culmination of rising tension on both the national and local fronts over American involvement in the Vietnam War. The shooting of college students on an American campus shocked the nation, and in the newspaper reports and vivid photographs of frightened, bewildered students it seemed to many that the violence of the war had come home to America. read more...

During the first week of May 1863, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia achieved what its leader, Gen. Robert E. Lee, called “a great victory” at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia. Although twice as large as its opponents, the Union Army of the Potomac was defeated primarily because its leader, Gen. Joseph Hooker, was timid while Lee—and his trusty associate, Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson—were bold. The jubilation that lit up the Confederacy as news of the victory spread was tempered by a serious announcement: Stonewall Jackson had been severely wounded. read more...