TIME MACHINE: THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

July 1-3 marked the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, which was fought over three days in Gettysburg, from the entire war. Fought between the Army of the Potomoc, under the command of Major General George G. Meade; and the Army of Northern Virgina under General Robert E. Lee, the Battle of Gettysburg marked the latter's second attempt to invade the North and is regarded as the turning point of the Civil War.

Following the Army of Northern Virgina's major victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville, General Lee hoped to follow up his success with...

TIME MACHINE: COMPROMISE OF 1850

One hundred and seventy years ago marked the passage of the controversial document, the Compromise of 1850. The document was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850. These bills were used to defuse a political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired after the Mexican–American War.

A new debate over slavery in the territories had erupted during the Mexican–American War. Many Southerners sought to expand slavery to the newly-acquired lands and many Northerners, wary of...

TIME MACHINE: THE OBERLIN-WELLINGTON RESCUE

For once I decided to write about a historical event that is not celebrating any particular anniversary. Actually, it would have celebrated its 150th anniversary back in September 2008. But I did not think of it until recently. The event I speak of is the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue.

Anyone familiar with Antebellum or Civil War history would know about it. The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue was a key event in the history of the American abolitionist movement before the Civil War. It centered around the arrest of an escaped slave named John Price in Oberlin,...

TIME MACHINE: JOHN BROWN'S RAID ON HARPER'S FERRY

Abolitionist John Brown's raid on the town of Harper's Ferry was an event lasted over a period of three to four days. And it is now considered one of the catalysts of the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865).

After a period of recruiting followers and raising money, John Brown rented a farmhouse just four miles north of Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). He had planned to hold Harpers Ferry for a short time, expecting that many volunteers - white and black - would join him in a wild plan to free the slaves in the Southern states. Brown hope to...

TIME MACHINE: JOHN BROWN'S CHRISTMAS RAID INTO MISSOURI

When people think of 19th century abolitionist John Brown, they would usually bring up his activities against pro-slavery factions in the Kansas Territory in the mid 1850s, especially the lethal attack he had led against five pro-slavery settlers near Pottawatomie Creek in May 1856. Or they would especially bring up the famous raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (West Virginia), with the intent to start a slave liberation movement. However, toward the end of the 1850s, Brown became known for another raid that led him from...

TIME MACHINE: THE NEW YORK CITY DRAFT RIOTS

The infamous New York City Draft Riots occurred between July 13-16, 1863. This series of violent disturbances, which occurred during the third year of the U.S. Civil War, not only formed the largest civil insurrection, but also the largest race riot in United States history.

New York City's economy had been tied to the Southern states for decades. In fact, nearly half of its exports were cotton shipments by the 1820s and the State of New York possessed many textiles mills that process cotton. New York City not only possessed many Southern sympathizers,...

TIME MACHINE: THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN

As every American knows, July 4 marks the birthdate of the United States. However, this particular Fourth of July of 2013 marks the 150th anniversary of the Confederate Army's surrender of Vickburg, Mississippi to the Union's Army of the Tennessee, commanded by Major General Ulysses S. Grant and the end of the Vicksburg Campaign.

The Vicksburg Campaign proved to be a series of maneuvers and battles in the U.S. Civil War's Western Theater, which was directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi and Port Hudson, Louisiana. Vicksburg was a fortress city that overlooked...

TIME MACHINE: THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War conflict, The Battle of Antietam. Also known as The Battle of Sharpsburg in the Southern states, the battle was the first major conflict of the war that took place on Union soil, near Sharpsburg, Maryland.

The road to the Battle of Antietam began in the aftermath of a Confederate victory at Second Battle of Bull Run two months earlier. Embolden by success, General Robert E. Lee and the Jefferson Davis Administration in Richmond decided to take the war to Union soil by invading Maryland. Lee's invasion of...

TIME MACHINE: BATTLE OF SHILOH


The Battle of Shiloh was fought between April 6-7, 1862; around Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. It was one of the first major battles in the Western Theater of the U.S. Civil War.

In southwestern Tennessee, the Union Army under Major-General Ulysses S. Grant had found his command camped at Pittsburg Landing, on the west bank of the Tennessee River. Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston wanted to launch surprise attack on Grant's forces and destroy it. Johnston's second-in-command, Pierre G. T. Beauregard advised against such an attack, fearing that the sounds...