Free Republic

As a work of presidential prose, James Buchanan’s inaugural address on March 4, 1857, is widely considered one of the most forgettable ever given by an American leader. As The New York Times put it dryly at the time: “Little if any impression has been made by the inaugural.” Still, it would not take long for Buchanan’s unimpressive inauguration to become one of the most significant in history. For one thing, it was the first to be photographed. It was also the first inaugural given after the creation of the Republican Party, the last before secession and ultimately the last...

THE 78th commemoration of the Battle of Britain celebrates the defence of the United Kingdom by the RAF against the Nazi air force, known as the Lutftwaffe, in World War Two. But what exactly happened in 1940 and how is it being marked. Here's all you need to know. The annual Battle of Britain Day is celebrated on September 15. The day is dedicated to the large-scale aerial battle that took place from July 10 until October 31, 1940. The clash was said to be the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces. Britain's Royal Air Force defended...

On April 22, 1856, the citizens of Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa, cheered as they watched three steam locomotives pull eight passenger cars safely across the newly completed Chicago and Rock Island railroad bridge over the Mississippi River. The first railroad bridge across the Mississippi was open for business. Now the people of eastern Iowa could reach New York City by rail in no more than forty-two hours. The construction and completion of this bridge came to symbolize the larger issues affecting transcontinental commerce and sectional interests. Backers of a railroad across the country were divided between those who...

On this day in 1776, General George Washington wins the Battle of Trenton. 1776 had been a difficult year! The victory provided a much-needed morale boost. As discussed in yesterday’s post, the first weeks in December found Washington and British General William Howe on opposite sides of the Delaware River. As the weather deteriorated, Howe had decided to go into winter quarters. Washington, instead, decided to make a difficult crossing across the Delaware. His plan was to arrive at Trenton at 5 a.m., well before sunrise, so he could launch a surprise attack. Instead, Washington’s men arrived at Trenton at...

On this day in 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivers his famous Gettysburg address. Did you know that no one knows exactly where he gave the speech? And no one knows precisely what he said? Several different transcripts of the speech exist, each with slightly different phrasing. lincoln-11-19-3His speech wasn’t even supposed to be the main feature that day! Instead, a two-hour oration by a former Secretary of State, Edward Everett, was supposed to be the highlight. Lincoln’s two-minute speech would go down in history. Everett’s has been mostly forgotten. Perhaps Everett saw the writing on the wall? He wrote to the...

On or around this day in 1861, Julia Ward Howe is inspired to write the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Did you know that this much-loved patriotic song has its roots in the Civil War years? Julia was the daughter of a Wall Street broker and a poet. She was well-educated and was able to speak fluently in several languages. Like her mother, she loved to write. She also became very interested in the abolitionist and suffragette causes. Samuel Howe was progressive in many ways, but he wasn’t too keen on expanding women’s rights. He thought Julia’s place was in...

The Battle of Allatoona, also known as the Battle of Allatoona Pass, was fought October 5, 1864, in Bartow County, Georgia, as part of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign of the American Civil War. A Confederate division under Maj. Gen. Samuel G. French attacked a Union garrison under Brig. Gen. John M. Corse, but was unable to dislodge it from its fortified position protecting the railroad through Allatoona Pass. After the fall of Atlanta, Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood moved the Confederate Army of Tennessee northward to threaten the Western and Atlantic Railroad, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's supply line... The Federal...

Decorated combat veteran and author Douglas Macgregor, PhD visits the Museum & Library to discuss his newest book, detailing five military battles in the 20th century. Sponsored by U.S. Naval Institute. In Margin of Victory Douglas Macgregor tells the riveting stories of five military battles of the twentieth century, each one a turning point in history. Beginning with the British Expeditionary force holding the line at the Battle of Mons in 1914 and concluding with the Battle of 73 Easting in 1991 during Desert Storm, Margin of Victory teases out a connection between these battles and teaches its readers an...

Awed by an eight-plane flyover that left the sky streaked with plumes of red, white and blue contrails, thousands paused Thursday in the shadow of the nation's official World War I monument in remembrance of the day a century ago that the U.S. entered the fight. Melding equal measures of homage to American sacrifice with patriotism, the commemoration — "In Sacrifice for Liberty and Peace" — amounted to a multimedia time warp to April 6, 1917, when America begrudgingly joined the global conflict that President Woodrow Wilson had sought to avoid through neutrality. With winds fluttering flags amid temperatures in...

In Sacrifice for Liberty and Peace: Centennial Commemoration of the U.S. Entry into World War I April 6, 2017 Kansas City, MO The National World War I Museum and Memorial is honored to host America's national ceremony commemorating the centennial of the United States' entry into the Great War. Produced by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the ceremony, In Sacrifice for Liberty and Peace: Centennial Commemoration of the U.S. Entry into World War I, will be held on April 6, 2017 at the Museum. The national commemorative ceremony will tell the compelling story of the U.S decision to...

Seeking to interdict Federal naval operations in Hampton Roads, the ironclad CSS Virginia (ex-Merrimack) left its berth at Norfolk and steamed out to attack the nearby Union ships. Under the command of Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan, the CSS Virginia headed straight for the USS Cumberland off Newport News. Around 2pm on March 8, 1862, the CSS Virginia struck the Cumberland with its 1,500lb iron ram, smashing a huge hole in its wooden hull. Despite the mortal blow delivered to the Cumberland, the CSS Virginia, which had become entangled within the shredded hull of its opponent, was also at risk of...

On the eve of the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln and a civil war that would claim upwards of half a million American lives, Czar Alexander II of Russia issued an imperial decree abolishing slavery (serfdom) with a stroke of a pen.

General Buckner surrenders Fort Donelson and its Confederate defenders to General Grant.

Clare Hollingworth, the Daily Telegraph correspondent who broke the news of World War Two, has died in Hong Kong aged 105. The British journalist was hailed for her "scoop of the century" after she spotted German tanks on the Polish border in August 1939... The scoop of Hollingworth's career came to her in late August when she was a 27-year-old fledgling reporter for the Daily Telegraph.She had been a reporter at the newspaper for less than a week. As the border was closed to all but diplomatic vehicles, she borrowed a British consulate official's car to drive into German-occupied territory....

We cannot understand the resistance unless we first accept “that German conservatives and nationalists might be moral and religious men who were appalled at the lawlessness, brutality, and inhumanity of the Nazis.” The vital point running through all these questions is the totalitarian claim of the state over the citizen to the exclusion of his religious and moral obligation towards God.— First Lieutenant Graf Yorck von Wartenburg, Valkyrie conspirator One of the most intriguing fields of World War II history deals with the German Resistance—a clandestine network of disillusioned military officers and civil servants who began actively plotting against Hitler’s...

Profiles the seminal events that helped Hitler rise to power and consolidate his position, including the end of World War I, the Beer Hall Putsch, the Burning of the Reichstag, and the Night of the Long Knives "I cannot remember in my entire life such a change in the attitude of a crowd in a few minutes, almost a few seconds ... Hitler had turned them inside out, as one turns a glove inside out, with a few sentences. It had almost something of hocus-pocus, or magic about it." - Dr. Karl Alexander von Mueller It is often claimed that...

The Museum & Library's third annual ON WAR symposium features a full day of programs on military history and affairs, and includes appearances by Pritzker Literature Award winners Gerhard Weinberg, Allan Millett, Antony Beevor, Rick Atkinson, and David Hackett Fischer. Presented in conjunction with the Museum & Library's annual Liberty Gala—to be held Nov. 7 at the Hilton Chicago—ON WAR 2015 includes four distinct programs with discussions by some of the world's preeminent historians and authors on subjects ranging from the infamous Battle of the Bulge to the history and heritage of the United States Marine Corps. Included in the...

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Find links to two special broadcasts in a reply below.