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Letter from Wild West – April 2009

David Lauterborn — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 20:26:47 +0000

Following the 1864 Elm Creek Raid, Britt Johnson went in search of his family, taken captive by Kiowa and Comanche Raiders. His story would later inspire the book and movie The Searchers.

Nicholas Biddle:The Civil War’s First Blood

kholland — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:18:41 +0000

Just days after Fort Sumter, a pro-Confederate mob in Maryland turned ex-slave Nicholas Biddle into the war's first casualty.

Boston Combusts: The Fugitive Slave Case of Anthony Burns

HistoryNet Staff — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 16:20:30 +0000

An eruption in the nation's abolitionist capital nearly seven years before Fort Sumter foreshadowed the irreconcilable divide between North and South and the fracture to come.

By Chuck Leddy

William H. Carney: 54th Massachusetts Soldier and First Black U.S. Medal of Honor Recipient

HistoryNet Staff — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 11:56:01 +0000

William H. Carney's grit with the 54th Massachusetts at Fort Wagner earned him the distinction of being the first black soldier to receive the Medal of Honor.

Union Officer Julian Bryant: A Voice for Black Soldiers

HistoryNet Staff — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 20:16:57 +0000

Union officer Julian Bryant used every tool at his disposal -- including influential family connections -- to win equal rights and fair treatment for black Union troops.

Willie Kennard: Yankee Hill’s Black Marshal

HistoryNet Staff — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 20:16:06 +0000

The unlikely tamer of Colorado's wild Yankee Hill was 42-year-old black marshal Willie Kennard.

Dred Scott Decision: The Lawsuit That Started The Civil War

HistoryNet Staff — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 20:15:43 +0000

Slavery, threats of seccesion and other factors made America a tinderbox in 1857 -- all it needed was a match.

Battle of New Market Heights: USCT Soldiers Proved Their Heroism

HistoryNet Staff — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 20:15:36 +0000

On a gunfire-swept slope near Richmond on September 29, 1864, USCT soldiers stood to the test and proved black men made good professional troops. Fourteen of them received the Medal of Honor for their bravery.

Silas Soule: Massachusetts Abolitionist

HistoryNet Staff — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 20:15:00 +0000

Dedicated Massachusetts abolitionist Silas Soule ironically gave his life for the red man, not the black.

George Washington: His Troubles with Slavery

HistoryNet Staff — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 20:08:33 +0000

After wending his way through the economic, political and moral quagmire of slavery, in his will -- his final and most symbolic message to the nation -- George Washington presented a blueprint for ending the 'Peculiar Institution.'