By the summer of 1864, the future of the Confederate States of America was looking dim. During the previous year, the Army of Northern Virginia, under the command of GEN Robert E. Lee, had suffered a decisive defeat at Gettysburg. A day after that battle, Vicksburg, the Confederates’ last bastion on the Mississippi River, fell …
One of the more intriguing characters of the Civil War was BG Charles Pomeroy Stone. On 20 October 1861, MG George B. McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac, ordered Stone to “conduct a slight demonstration” from his position near Poolesville, Maryland. During late September and into October, McClellan’s forces received information that the …
Lasting from 1846 to 1848, the Mexican War remains one of the least studied conflicts in U.S. Army history. Yet, despite the war’s relative obscurity in the annals of the U.S. Army, the Mexican War left an important legacy, not just for the U.S. Army for the nation as a whole. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, …
By Patrick Feng, Foundation Programs and Operations Coordinator When Americans read or hear about the Indian Wars, they are exposed to the familiar names like Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and George Armstrong Custer and his demise at the battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876. Little is known of the worst disaster experienced by …
The Battle of the Wabash: The Forgotten Disaster of the Indian Wars Read More »
By Matthew Seelinger, Chief Historian In the days of the early Republic, the U.S. Army suffered some of its most devastating defeats in its history. While the Continental Army of the War for Independence fared well against the European style of tactics employed by the British redcoats, particularly later in the war, the Indian warriors …
By Command Sergeant Major James Clifford, USA-Ret. These few words—the opening line of the United States’ national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner”—are some of the most recognizable in American history and move the heart all that hear them. Nearly every school child in America knows that Francis Scott Key wrote the anthem as a poem …
Battles That Saved America: North Point and Baltimore 1814 Read More »
by Matthew Seelinger, Chief Historian As a result of a number of longstanding grievances with Great Britain, including the impressment of American sailors into the Royal Navy and British interference in Indian affairs, the United States declared war on Great Britain on 18 June 1812. At no other time in its history, however, has America entered …
By Brigadier General Creighton W. Abrams, USA-Ret., AHF Executive Director By the spring of 1781 and after six years of war, the British forces in America hung on to a handful of coastal bases surrounded by a largely hostile countryside. At the same time, they continued with what amounted to a global war against France …
By Matthew Seelinger, Chief Historian On July 7, 1776, Major General Philip Schuyler, commander of the Northern Department, convened a council of war at Crown Point, New York, to assess the military situation following the American retreat from Canada. In attendance were Major General Horatio Gates, newly appointed commander of the nonexistent American army in Canada, …
Illinois, Maryland, and Alabama have a peculiar bond. They all have counties or cities named after MG Richard Montgomery, a martyr of the American Revolution. He trained as a British soldier and fought in the French and Indian War before becoming a “rebel” and an officer in the Continental Army. He died in the first …
The Army Historical Foundation is the designated official fundraising organization for the National Museum of the United States Army.
We were established in 1983 as a member-based, charitable 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We seek to educate future Americans to fully appreciate the sacrifices that generations of American Soldiers have made to safeguard the freedoms of this Nation. Our funding helps to acquire and conserve Army historical art and artifacts, support Army history educational programs, research, and publication of historical materials on the American Soldier, and provide support and counsel to private and governmental organizations committed to the same goals.
