Month: July 2017

On this day July 31st, in 1777, a 19-year-old French aristocrat, Marie-Joseph Paul Roch Yves Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, accepts a commission as a major-general in the Continental Army—without pay. During his service […]

On this day July, 30th in 1780, Colonel Isaac Shelby and 600 Patriots take Fort Anderson, also known as Fort Thicketty, located 10 miles southeast of Cowpens, South Carolina, and held by a Loyalist garrison, […]

On this day in history, July 20, 1775, patriots destroy Boston Lighthouse. Boston’s lighthouse, also called Boston Light, is a still standing structure that was the first lighthouse ever built in what would become the United […]

The Battle of Bull Run – On This Day, July 21st 1861, In the first major land battle of the Civil War, a large Union force under General Irvin McDowell is routed by a Confederate […]

Armstrong Walks on Moon – On This Day, July 20th, 1969, At 10:56 p.m. EDT, American astronaut Neil Armstrong, 240,000 miles from Earth, speaks these words to more than a billion people listening at home: […]

Penobscot Expedition – On this day, July 19th in 1779, Massachusetts, without consulting either Continental political or military authorities, launches a 4,000-man naval expedition commanded by Commodore Dudley Saltonstall, Adjutant General Peleg Wadsworth, Brigadier General […]

On this day in 1792, the Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones dies in his Paris apartment, where he was still awaiting a commission as the United States consul to Algiers. Commander Jones, remembered […]

On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress learns of General George Washington ’s refusal to accept a dispatch from British General William Howe and his brother, Admiral Richard Viscount Howe, opening peace negotiations, because […]

The New York City riots enter their fourth day in  in response to the Enrollment Act, which was enacted on March 3, 1863. Although avoiding military service became much more difficult, wealthier citizens could still […]

On this day in history, July 15, 1779, the Battle of Stony Point begins. Led by Brigadier General “Mad” Anthony Wayne, this battle takes back a strategic Hudson River vantage point from the British south […]