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Mexico loses California, New Mexico, and Arizona Battle of the Philippines
A border skirmish along the Rio Grande that started off the fighting was followed by a series of U.S. victories. -
The Battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy, and Cambridge. -
The Winter at Valley Forge
Valley Forge is the location of the 1777-1778 winter encampment of the Continental Army under General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War -
Benedict Arnold turns traitor
On September 21, 1780, Revolutionary War hero Benedict Arnold turned his back on his country in a secret meeting with a top British official. So how did Arnold, with his patriot's pedigree, become the most hated man in America? -
The Battle of Cowpens
The Battle of Cowpens was an engagement during the American Revolutionary War fought on January 17, 1781 near the town of Cowpens, South Carolina, between U.S. forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan and British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, as part of the campaign in the Carolinas -
The USS Constitution defeats the HMS Guerriere
On August 19, 1812, USS Constitution met and defeated HMS Guerriere, a 38-gun British frigate under the command of Captain James Richard Dacres. While relatively inconsequential in strategic terms for the War of 1812, the stunning victory provided a much needed morale boost for the American public. -
The Battle of Baltimore
merican forces repulsed sea and land invasions off the busy port city of Baltimore, Maryland, and killed the commander of the invading British forces. -
The Adoption of the Star Spangled Banner as the National Anthem
This patriotic song, whose words were written by Francis Scott Key on Sept. 14, 1814, during the War of 1812 with Great Britain, was adopted by Congress as the U.S. national anthem in 1931. -
The Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815 between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles southeast of the French Quarter of New Orleans, in the current suburb of Chalmette, Louisiana. -
The Election of Andrew Jackson
The 1828 United States presidential election was the 11th quadrennial presidential election. It was held from Friday, October 31 to Tuesday, December 2, 1828. -
The Battle of the Alamo
Mexican forces were victorious in recapturing the fort, and nearly all of the roughly 200 Texan defenders—including frontiersman Davy Crockett—died. -
Abraham Lincoln Elected President
Lincoln's election thus served as the main catalyst of the American Civil War. This marked the first time ever that a Republican was elected president, and Abraham Lincoln was the only candidate in the 1860 election to win electoral votes in only free states. Presidential Election results map. -
South Carolina secedes from the United States
South Carolina became the first state to secede from the federal Union on December 20, 1860. The victory of Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election triggered cries for disunion across the slaveholding South. -
The First Battle of Bull Run
The First Battle of Bull Run, also known as the Battle of First Manassas, was the first major battle of the American Civil War. The battle was fought on July 21, 1861, in Prince William County, Virginia, just north of the city of Manassas and about thirty miles west-southwest of Washington, D.C. -
The Battle of Gettysburg
the battle was a crushing defeat for the Confederacy. Union casualties in the battle numbered 23,000, while the Confederates had lost some 28,000 men–more than a third of Lee's army. -
The Treaty at Appomattox Courthouse
Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union general Ulysses S. Grant, precipitating the capitulation of other Confederate forces and leading to the end of the bloodiest conflict in American history. -
The sinking of the USS Maine
At 9:40pm on February 15, 1898, the battleship U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana Harbor, killing 268 men and shocking the American populace. Of the two-thirds of the crew who perished, only 200 bodies were recovered and 76 identified.