Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Navy SEALs are born
In 1962, the Navy quietly created two teams that would change modern warfare.
Coming January 1
The 366-day story calendar
Every day has a story.
Find a moment that changed a life, a country, or the way we see the world. Start with a date. Follow your curiosity.
The story schedule
Schedule subject to change. Every release is at 7:00 AM Eastern.
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Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Battle of Assunpink Creek
Washington was trapped against a river, and he slipped away in the night.
Coming January 2
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Victory at Princeton
Washington rode within thirty yards of the British line to rally his men.
Coming January 3
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The Walker Colt contract
A Texas Ranger walked into a gun shop and saved Samuel Colt's career.
Coming January 4
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Benedict Arnold burns Richmond
The most famous traitor in American history came back wearing a red coat.
Coming January 5
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The Pacific Clipper's long way home
Pearl Harbor stranded an American airliner, so the crew flew around the world.
Coming January 6
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America's first presidential election
America's first presidential election had no campaign and only one real candidate.
Coming January 7
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The Battle of New Orleans
America's greatest victory of the War of 1812 came after the war was already over.
Coming January 8
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Star of the West is fired upon
Three months before Fort Sumter, cadets fired at a ship flying the American flag.
Coming January 9
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Common Sense is published
A 47-page pamphlet by a recent immigrant talked America into independence.
Coming January 10
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Major James Howard's one-man stand
One Mustang pilot took on about thirty German fighters to protect the bombers.
Coming January 11
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The Children's Blizzard
The morning was so warm that children walked to school without coats.
Coming January 12
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Air Florida Flight 90
A man in the icy Potomac kept handing the rescue line to strangers.
Coming January 13
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Fire aboard USS Enterprise
One overheated rocket set off a chain of explosions on the world's first nuclear carrier.
Coming January 14
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The Great Molasses Flood
A wave of molasses fifteen feet high rolled through the streets of Boston.
Coming January 15
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Carole Lombard's last flight
Hollywood's biggest star died flying home from selling war bonds.
Coming January 16
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Underway on nuclear power
Four words from a submarine changed undersea warfare forever.
Coming January 17
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The first landing on a ship
A daredevil pilot landed on a warship using ropes and sandbags.
Coming January 18
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An American Navy expedition sights Antarctica
A U.S. Navy lieutenant claimed the discovery of a frozen continent.
Coming January 19
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The hostages come home
After 444 days in captivity, 52 Americans were finally free.
Coming January 20
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The Siege of Khe Sanh begins
For 77 days, 6,000 Marines held a hilltop base surrounded by North Vietnamese divisions.
Coming January 21
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The landing at Anzio
Allied troops landed behind German lines in Italy almost unopposed.
Coming January 22
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The capture of USS Pueblo
A Navy spy ship was seized, and its crew spent eleven months as prisoners.
Coming January 23
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Gold at Sutter's Mill
A carpenter spotted something shiny in a mill ditch and changed the West.
Coming January 24
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Nellie Bly races around the world
A young reporter beat Jules Verne's fictional record by eight days.
Coming January 25
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Audie Murphy's stand at Holtzwihr
He climbed onto a burning tank destroyer and held off a German attack alone.
Coming January 26
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The Apollo 1 fire
Three astronauts died in a fire during a routine test on the launch pad.
Coming January 27
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The Coast Guard takes its name
Two old lifesaving services merged and America got the Coast Guard.
Coming January 28
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The Bear River Massacre
One of the deadliest attacks on Native Americans in U.S. history is almost forgotten.
Coming January 29
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The Raid at Cabanatuan
Army Rangers crawled across an open field to free 500 prisoners of war.
Coming January 30
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Explorer 1 reaches orbit
Four months after Sputnik, an Army rocket put America's first satellite in orbit.
Coming January 31
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The Greensboro sit-in
Four college freshmen sat down at a lunch counter and refused to leave.
Coming February 1
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The Army Nurse Corps is born
After the Spanish-American War, Congress finally made women nurses a permanent part of the Army.
Coming February 2
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The Four Chaplains
Four chaplains gave away their life jackets and went down with the ship, arms linked.
Coming February 3
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Washington is elected unanimously
Every single elector voted for George Washington, the only president ever chosen unanimously.
Coming February 4
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The lost bomb of Tybee Island
A nuclear bomb may still lie buried in the mud off Georgia.
Coming February 5
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The alliance with France
Benjamin Franklin signed the treaty that may have won the Revolution.
Coming February 6
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The first human satellite
A Navy captain flew away from the space shuttle with no tether at all.
Coming February 7
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The Boy Scouts of America is founded
A lost businessman in a London fog brought scouting to America.
Coming February 8
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Guadalcanal is secured
After six months of brutal fighting, the Japanese were gone from Guadalcanal.
Coming February 9
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The Bridge of Spies
A U-2 pilot and a Soviet spy crossed paths on a Berlin bridge.
Coming February 10
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Lincoln's farewell to Springfield
Lincoln told his neighbors he did not know when, or whether, he would return.
Coming February 11
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Operation Homecoming
The first American POWs walked off a plane into freedom after years in Hanoi.
Coming February 12
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The first Medal of Honor action
The earliest act ever honored with the Medal of Honor was an Army doctor's.
Coming February 13
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First salute to the Stars and Stripes
On Valentine's Day 1778, a foreign navy saluted the American flag for the first time.
Coming February 14
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Remember the Maine
A massive explosion in Havana Harbor killed 260 American sailors and led to war.
Coming February 15
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Decatur burns the Philadelphia
A 25-year-old lieutenant sailed into an enemy harbor to destroy a captured American ship.
Coming February 16
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The Hunley's first strike
A hand-cranked submarine became the first in history to sink a warship.
Coming February 17
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The wrecks of Truxtun and Pollux
Newfoundland miners climbed down icy cliffs to save American sailors.
Coming February 18
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D-Day on Iwo Jima
Seventy thousand Marines were sent to take an island of volcanic ash.
Coming February 19
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Butch O'Hare saves the Lexington
One Navy pilot stood between nine bombers and his aircraft carrier.
Coming February 20
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The Washington Monument is dedicated
It took nearly forty years to build, and you can still see where construction stopped.
Coming February 21
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The Great White Fleet comes home
Sixteen white battleships sailed around the world to show America had arrived.
Coming February 22
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The flags on Mount Suribachi
There were actually two flag raisings on Iwo Jima that day.
Coming February 23
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The 100-hour ground war begins
In four days, coalition armies drove Iraq's army out of Kuwait.
Coming February 24
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Hiram Revels takes his Senate seat
The first Black U.S. senator took the seat once held by Jefferson Davis.
Coming February 25
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New York's pneumatic subway
A tunnel under Broadway, dug mostly at night, carried riders with a giant fan.
Coming February 26
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The Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge
Patriots greased a bridge and won the Revolution's first big victory in the South.
Coming February 27
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The USS Princeton disaster
A giant cannon exploded on a Navy warship with the president aboard.
Coming February 28
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Hattie McDaniel wins an Oscar
She won Hollywood's top honor but had to sit at a separate table.
Coming February 29
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The world's first national park
America invented the national park, and the Army guarded the first one.
Coming March 1
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Lucky Lady II circles the globe nonstop
An Air Force bomber flew around the world without landing once.
Coming March 2
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The Star-Spangled Banner becomes our anthem
America went 155 years without an official national anthem.
Coming March 3
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USS Cyclops vanishes
A Navy ship with 306 aboard sailed into the Caribbean and vanished.
Coming March 4
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The Seabees get their name
The Navy needed builders who could fight, and they became the Seabees.
Coming March 5
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The fall of the Alamo
No defender survived the final assault on the Alamo.
Coming March 6
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The bridge at Remagen
American soldiers raced across a bridge the Germans were trying to blow up.
Coming March 7
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The Marines land at Da Nang
The first American combat troops in Vietnam waded ashore to a welcome of flowers.
Coming March 8
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Monitor vs. Virginia
Two iron ships fought for hours, and every wooden navy became obsolete.
Coming March 9
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Harriet Tubman, Union scout
She led a Union raid that freed more than 700 people.
Coming March 10
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MacArthur escapes Corregidor
Navy PT boats carried a general through enemy waters at night.
Coming March 11
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The first Girl Scout troop
Juliette Gordon Low gathered 18 girls in Savannah and started a movement.
Coming March 12
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The Army's K-9 Corps
America's first war dogs were donated by families across the country.
Coming March 13
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Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin
One machine changed the South, and not the way its inventor hoped.
Coming March 14
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The Newburgh Address
With one pair of glasses, Washington stopped a military coup.
Coming March 15
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West Point is founded
Thomas Jefferson signed the law that created the U.S. Military Academy.
Coming March 16
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The British leave Boston
Washington's cannons appeared overnight, and the British sailed away.
Coming March 17
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The Gardner Museum heist
Two thieves dressed as police stole $500 million in art, and it's never been found.
Coming March 18
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The ship that wouldn't die
A burning aircraft carrier lost 800 men and still made it home.
Coming March 19
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USS Langley, the first carrier
America's first aircraft carrier started life as a coal ship.
Coming March 20
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The march to Montgomery begins
Soldiers and federalized Guardsmen protected marchers walking fifty miles for the vote.
Coming March 21
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The Pilgrims' peace with Massasoit
A peace treaty made in 1621 lasted more than fifty years.
Coming March 22
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Give me liberty or give me death
Patrick Henry's most famous words were spoken inside a church.
Coming March 23
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Operation Varsity
Thousands of paratroopers dropped across the Rhine in a single day.
Coming March 24
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The first Medals of Honor
The first Medals of Honor went to Union raiders who stole a train.
Coming March 25
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Iwo Jima's final battle
The last Japanese attack on Iwo Jima hit sleeping pilots and Seabees.
Coming March 26
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The Naval Act of 1794
Pirates attacking American ships convinced Congress to build a navy.
Coming March 27
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The last fight of USS Essex
A young Farragut watched his frigate fight to the end off Chile.
Coming March 28
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The last troops leave Vietnam
After more than eight years of combat, the last U.S. combat troops left Vietnam.
Coming March 29
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Seward's Folly
America bought Alaska for about two cents an acre.
Coming March 30
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Commodore Perry opens Japan
A Navy commodore with black ships ended two centuries of Japanese isolation.
Coming March 31
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Okinawa: the last great battle
On Easter Sunday 1945, Americans walked ashore on Okinawa almost unopposed.
Coming April 1
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Wilson asks Congress for war
"The world must be made safe for democracy," the President told Congress.
Coming April 2
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The Pony Express rides
For 18 months, mail crossed the West on horseback in about ten days.
Coming April 3
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The loss of USS Akron
The Navy's giant flying aircraft carrier went down in a storm off New Jersey.
Coming April 4
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Washington's first veto
George Washington waited three years before he ever said no to Congress.
Coming April 5
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Shiloh: the surprise in the woods
At dawn, Confederates burst out of the woods onto Union soldiers cooking breakfast.
Coming April 6
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Sinking the battleship Yamato
The biggest battleship ever built sailed on a one-way mission and never arrived.
Coming April 7
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The Senate votes to end slavery
Before the Civil War ended, the Senate voted to abolish slavery forever.
Coming April 8
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Surrender at Appomattox
Two generals met in a farmhouse parlor and began to end the Civil War.
Coming April 9
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The loss of USS Thresher
On a routine deep dive, the Navy's most advanced submarine never came back up.
Coming April 10
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The Navy buys its first submarine
For $150,000, the Navy bought a 54-foot boat that could hide underwater.
Coming April 11
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The Great Locomotive Chase
Union spies stole a train deep in Georgia, and earned the first Medals of Honor.
Coming April 12
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Apollo 13: "We've had a problem"
Two hundred thousand miles from Earth, an oxygen tank on Apollo 13 exploded.
Coming April 13
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The ship that refused to sink
A mine broke her keel, but the Sammy B crew refused to let her sink.
Coming April 14
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Jackie Robinson, Army lieutenant
Before he broke baseball's color line, Jackie Robinson beat a court-martial.
Coming April 15
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The Texas City disaster
A ship full of fertilizer blew up and leveled a Texas port town.
Coming April 16
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Apollo 13 comes home
After four days in a crippled spacecraft, three astronauts splashed down alive.
Coming April 17
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The Doolittle Raid
Sixteen Army bombers took off from a Navy carrier that was never built for them.
Coming April 18
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Lexington and Concord
Nobody knows who fired first, but by nightfall a war had begun.
Coming April 19
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Deepwater Horizon: the Coast Guard responds
Forty miles out in the Gulf, an oil rig exploded into a pillar of fire.
Coming April 20
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San Jacinto: eighteen minutes
"Remember the Alamo!" A battle that lasted 18 minutes won Texas.
Coming April 21
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The Oklahoma Land Rush
At noon a gun fired, and 50,000 people raced to claim free land.
Coming April 22
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John Paul Jones raids England
In 1778, an American captain landed on the coast of England itself.
Coming April 23
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Desert One: Operation Eagle Claw
Eight Americans died in the Iranian desert trying to bring the hostages home.
Coming April 24
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Handshake on the Elbe
American and Soviet soldiers met at a ruined bridge and cut Germany in two.
Coming April 25
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The end of John Wilkes Booth
Twelve days after shooting Lincoln, the assassin was cornered in a burning barn.
Coming April 26
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The Sultana disaster
Union soldiers who survived prison camps died in America's worst ship disaster.
Coming April 27
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Exercise Tiger: D-Day's secret disaster
Weeks before D-Day, 749 Americans died in a rehearsal, and it was kept secret.
Coming April 28
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The liberation of Dachau
American soldiers opened the gates of the first Nazi concentration camp.
Coming April 29
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The fall of Saigon
In the final hours, Marines and helicopters lifted thousands from rooftops.
Coming April 30
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Dewey at Manila Bay
"You may fire when you are ready, Gridley." By lunchtime, a Spanish fleet was gone.
Coming May 1
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Roy Benavidez: six hours in hell
Stabbed, shot and hit by shrapnel, he kept going back for his men.
Coming May 2
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Birmingham: hoses and dogs
In Birmingham, the marchers facing fire hoses and police dogs were children.
Coming May 3
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The Freedom Riders roll out
Thirteen people boarded two buses in Washington, knowing they might not come back.
Coming May 4
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Alan Shepard: the first American in space
"Light this candle," Alan Shepard said, after hours of waiting on the pad.
Coming May 5
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The fall of Corregidor
"We have done our best," the last radio message read, before Corregidor surrendered.
Coming May 6
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The sinking of the Lusitania
A German torpedo sank a passenger liner in 18 minutes, killing 128 Americans.
Coming May 7
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The Battle of the Coral Sea
The first battle where the ships never saw each other.
Coming May 8
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Join, or Die
America's first political cartoon was a snake chopped into pieces.
Coming May 9
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The capture of Fort Ticonderoga
At dawn, a few dozen men took a British fort without a fight.
Coming May 10
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Robert Gray finds the Columbia
A Boston captain crossed a deadly sandbar and named a river for his ship.
Coming May 11
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The fall of Charleston
The worst American defeat of the Revolution came at Charleston, South Carolina.
Coming May 12
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The Navy Nurse Corps
The first women to officially serve in the Navy were called the Sacred Twenty.
Coming May 13
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Lewis and Clark set out
They left without a map, because no map of where they were going existed.
Coming May 14
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Koh Tang: the last battle of Vietnam
The last names on the Vietnam Wall died two weeks after Saigon fell.
Coming May 15
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Saved by one vote
A president kept his job by a single vote in the Senate.
Coming May 16
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The attack on USS Stark
Two missiles struck a Navy frigate in the Persian Gulf, and 37 sailors died.
Coming May 17
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Jacqueline Cochran breaks the sound barrier
The woman who led the WASPs became the first woman faster than sound.
Coming May 18
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New England's Dark Day
In 1780, the sun disappeared over New England at midday.
Coming May 19
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The Homestead Act
For a small fee and five years of work, Americans could claim 160 acres.
Coming May 20
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Clara Barton founds the American Red Cross
The "Angel of the Battlefield" brought the Red Cross to America.
Coming May 21
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The loss of USS Scorpion
On her way home, a Navy submarine vanished in the Atlantic with all 99 aboard.
Coming May 22
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William Carney's Medal of Honor
"The old flag never touched the ground," he said, bleeding from his wounds.
Coming May 23
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Elmer Ellsworth: the first martyr
A 24-year-old colonel climbed up to take down a flag, and never came back.
Coming May 24
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The Constitutional Convention opens
They met in secret, with the windows shut, in a hot Philadelphia summer.
Coming May 25
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The USS Bennington explosion
A peacetime morning off Rhode Island became one of the Navy's deadliest days.
Coming May 26
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NC-4 flies the Atlantic
Eight years before Lindbergh, a Navy crew flew across the Atlantic first.
Coming May 27
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Washington's first battle
A 22-year-old named George Washington fired shots that started a world war.
Coming May 28
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Rhode Island finally says yes
The last of the 13 states joined the Union by just two votes.
Coming May 29
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The first Decoration Day
The first national Memorial Day was a day for flowers on soldiers' graves.
Coming May 30
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The Johnstown Flood
A rich men's fishing club dam broke, and a wall of water hit Johnstown.
Coming May 31
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"Don't give up the ship"
A dying captain's last order became the motto of the U.S. Navy.
Coming June 1
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Harriet Tubman's Combahee River Raid
Harriet Tubman led Union gunboats up a river and freed more than 700 people.
Coming June 2
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Ed White walks in space
"I'm coming back in, and it's the saddest moment of my life."
Coming June 3
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Midway: five minutes that changed the war
In about five minutes, Navy dive bombers turned the Pacific War.
Coming June 4
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General Marshall's plan
The general who helped win a world war gave a short speech about rebuilding it.
Coming June 5
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D-Day
On June 6, 1944, more than 150,000 Allied troops crossed the Channel.
Coming June 6
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The Lee Resolution
Before the Declaration, there was a single sentence: "these United Colonies are... free."
Coming June 7
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The attack on USS Liberty
In international waters, an American ship was attacked by aircraft and torpedo boats.
Coming June 8
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The burning of the Gaspee
Rhode Islanders burned a British ship 18 months before the Boston Tea Party.
Coming June 9
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Marines land at Guantanamo Bay
The Marines who came ashore in 1898 never really left.
Coming June 10
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The stand in the schoolhouse door
A governor blocked a doorway, and the President sent the National Guard.
Coming June 11
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Medgar Evers, soldier for freedom
He came home from Normandy and was shot in his own driveway.
Coming June 12
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Lafayette arrives in America
A 19-year-old French nobleman bought his own ship to join a war.
Coming June 13
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The Army is born
The U.S. Army is older than the United States itself.
Coming June 14
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Arlington becomes a cemetery
The Union buried its dead in Robert E. Lee's front yard.
Coming June 15
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"A house divided"
A little-known lawyer told Illinois the nation could not stay half slave.
Coming June 16
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Bunker Hill
The British won the hill, but lost more than a thousand men taking it.
Coming June 17
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America declares war on Britain
The young nation went to war against the world's greatest navy.
Coming June 18
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Juneteenth
Two months after Appomattox, an Army general brought word of freedom to Texas.
Coming June 19
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The Great Seal of the United States
It took Congress six years and three committees to design America's seal.
Coming June 20
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New Hampshire makes it law
With one vote in New Hampshire, the Constitution became the law of the land.
Coming June 21
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The Chesapeake-Leopard affair
A British warship fired on an American frigate in peacetime, off Virginia.
Coming June 22
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The Coast Guard Auxiliary is born
Weekend boaters became a volunteer force that helped guard America's coasts in WWII.
Coming June 23
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The first "flying saucers"
A pilot searching for a lost Marine plane saw nine objects streak past Mount Rainier.
Coming June 24
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The Korean War begins
Before dawn, North Korean tanks crossed the 38th parallel.
Coming June 25
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The Berlin Airlift begins
To save a blockaded city, aircrews flew in food and coal for nearly a year.
Coming June 26
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Truman sends forces to Korea
Two days after the invasion, Truman ordered American planes and ships to fight.
Coming June 27
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Operation Red Wings
Four SEALs on a mountainside faced a far larger enemy force, and one came home.
Coming June 28
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Eisenhower's highways
As a young officer, Eisenhower spent two months crossing America in an Army convoy.
Coming June 29
The 26th Amendment: voting at 18
Eighteen-year-olds could be drafted to Vietnam, but most couldn't vote.
Coming June 30
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Buford Holds the High Ground
Before Gettysburg was a legend, it was a cavalry general buying time.
Coming July 1
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Little Round Top
Out of ammunition, a college professor ordered his men to fix bayonets.
Coming July 2
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Battle of Santiago de Cuba
In four hours, the U.S. Navy erased an entire Spanish fleet.
Coming July 3
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The Declaration Is Adopted
Fifty-six men put their names on a document that could hang them.
Coming July 4
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Task Force Smith
The first Americans to fight in Korea were sent with almost nothing.
Coming July 5
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Lieutenant Jackie Robinson's Stand
Before he broke baseball's color line, he refused to move on an Army bus.
Coming July 6
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The Dentist Who Held the Line
He was an Army dentist. He died behind a machine gun.
Coming July 7
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Perry's Black Ships
Four smoking warships sailed into Edo Bay and changed Japan forever.
Coming July 8
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Four Bullets Through His Coat
Young George Washington should have died at the Monongahela.
Coming July 9
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The Invasion of Sicily
Paratroopers jumped into the dark, scattered across a hostile island.
Coming July 10
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The Burr-Hamilton Duel
The sitting vice president shot a founding father on a New Jersey ledge.
Coming July 11
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The Army Medal of Honor
Lincoln signed a resolution creating the nation's highest award for valor.
Coming July 12
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The Northwest Ordinance
Before the Constitution, Congress banned slavery in a territory larger than France.
Coming July 13
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Quentin Roosevelt's Last Flight
A president's youngest son flew into a dogfight and never came home.
Coming July 14
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The Rock of the Marne
Attacked from three sides, one regiment refused to give an inch.
Coming July 15
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Trinity: The First Atomic Blast
At 5:29 a.m., the New Mexico desert briefly became brighter than the sun.
Coming July 16
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Port Chicago Explosion
In seconds, a California pier vanished, and 320 men died.
Coming July 17
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Sergeant Carney's Flag
Shot again and again, he would not let the flag touch the ground.
Coming July 18
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Seneca Falls Convention
Three hundred people came to a chapel to demand women's rights.
Coming July 19
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Eagle Has Landed
Two veterans flew to the Moon. One was a Korean War Navy pilot.
Coming July 20
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
First Bull Run
Spectators brought picnics to watch the war's first big battle.
Coming July 21
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Wiley Post Circles the Globe Alone
A one-eyed pilot from Oklahoma flew around the world by himself.
Coming July 22
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Grant Finishes His Last Battle
Dying of cancer, Grant raced to finish a book to save his family.
Coming July 23
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Eastland Disaster
A ship rolled over at its dock and 844 people died.
Coming July 24
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
General of the Army Grant
Congress revived a rank first made for Washington, and gave it to Grant.
Coming July 25
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Executive Order 9981
One order began ending segregation in America's armed forces.
Coming July 26
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Korean War Armistice
The guns stopped in Korea, but the war never officially ended.
Coming July 27
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
A Bomber Hits the Empire State Building
In thick fog, a B-25 slammed into the world's tallest building.
Coming July 28
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Fire on USS Forrestal
One stray rocket set off a chain of explosions on a carrier deck.
Coming July 29
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
USS Indianapolis
After delivering the atomic bomb, they spent four days in shark-filled water.
Coming July 30
Public domain (CC0) · Source & rights ↗
Lafayette, Major General at 19
A 19-year-old French aristocrat offered to fight for America for free.
Coming July 31
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Operation Tidal Wave: Ploesti
They flew B-24 bombers at treetop height into Hitler's oil fields.
Coming August 1
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
PT-109
A Japanese destroyer cut his boat in half. Then Lt. Kennedy started swimming.
Coming August 2
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Under the North Pole
A submarine reached the top of the world without ever surfacing.
Coming August 3
Public domain (CC0) · Source & rights ↗
The Coast Guard Is Born
Alexander Hamilton asked for ten boats. He got the Coast Guard.
Coming August 4
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Damn the Torpedoes
His lead ironclad sank. Admiral Farragut ordered full speed ahead anyway.
Coming August 5
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Extortion 17
Thirty Americans boarded a Chinook in the Afghan night. None came home.
Coming August 6
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Marines Land on Guadalcanal
Eight months after Pearl Harbor, America finally went on offense.
Coming August 7
Nazi Saboteurs Executed
Eight Nazi saboteurs landed on American beaches. One of them called the FBI.
Coming August 8
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Bockscar Over Nagasaki
Their target was hidden by clouds, and their fuel was running out.
Coming August 9
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Smithsonian's Mystery Founder
A British scientist who never saw America left it his entire fortune.
Coming August 10
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Hedy Lamarr's Secret Patent
A Hollywood star patented an idea that helps power today's wireless technology.
Coming August 11
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Other Kennedy Brother
Joe Kennedy Jr. volunteered to fly a plane packed with explosives.
Coming August 12
The First Woman Marine
She was first in line when the Marines finally let women enlist.
Coming August 13
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
V-J Day in America
At 7 p.m., the president announced the words Americans had waited for.
Coming August 14
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Panama Canal Opens
Thousands died digging it. Then a cargo ship crossed a continent in hours.
Coming August 15
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Battle of Bennington
John Stark told his men they'd win, or Molly Stark would be a widow.
Coming August 16
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Schweinfurt-Regensburg
In a single day, sixty American bombers fell from the sky.
Coming August 17
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
A Mother's Letter
The vote for women came down to one young lawmaker and his mom.
Coming August 18
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Old Ironsides
British cannonballs bounced off her sides, and a legend was born.
Coming August 19
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Battle of Fallen Timbers
A storm-felled forest became the battlefield that opened the Northwest.
Coming August 20
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Hawaii Becomes the 50th State
Hawaii became a state, and America's flag needed one more star.
Coming August 21
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
There Is No Second
An American schooner beat Britain's best, and a famous trophy got its name.
Coming August 22
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The King Declares a Rebellion
King George III declared the colonies in open rebellion, ending any hope of compromise.
Coming August 23
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Dolley Madison Saves Washington
With British troops coming, the First Lady refused to leave Washington's portrait.
Coming August 24
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Storm That Saved Washington
The British burned the capital. Then the sky turned against them.
Coming August 25
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Abbey Gate
Thirteen Americans died helping strangers reach freedom at the Kabul airport.
Coming August 26
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Maryland 400
A few hundred Marylanders charged again and again so an army could escape.
Coming August 27
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The March on Washington
A quarter of a million people marched for jobs and freedom.
Coming August 28
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Night Escape from Brooklyn
Fishermen from Marblehead rowed an entire army to safety under the enemy's nose.
Coming August 29
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Guion Bluford Reaches Orbit
A combat pilot with 144 missions in Vietnam became the first Black American in space.
Coming August 30
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Charleston Earthquake
The biggest earthquake in the eastern U.S. struck a city with no warning.
Coming August 31
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Navy Mission That Found Titanic
The search for Titanic was a cover story for a top-secret Navy mission.
Coming September 1
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Surrender in Tokyo Bay
On a battleship's deck, the deadliest war in history officially ended.
Coming September 2
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Treaty of Paris
Eight years of war ended with signatures in a Paris hotel.
Coming September 3
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The First Officer Killed
The first American officer killed in WWI was a doctor in a hospital.
Coming September 4
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Battle That Trapped Cornwallis
America's independence was decided in a sea battle with no Americans in it.
Coming September 5
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Fort Griswold
Benedict Arnold came home to Connecticut to burn it.
Coming September 6
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Turtle: America's First Submarine
A one-man wooden submarine tried to sink the British flagship.
Coming September 7
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Galveston Hurricane
In one night, a hurricane killed about 8,000 people in Galveston, Texas.
Coming September 8
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Birth of 'The United States'
Until this day, our country was officially called the United Colonies.
Coming September 9
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
We Have Met the Enemy
His flagship was shot to pieces, so he rowed to another one.
Coming September 10
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
September 11
On a clear Tuesday morning, 2,977 people went to work and never came home.
Coming September 11
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
St. Mihiel
For the first time, an American army attacked under its own flag.
Coming September 12
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Halls of Montezuma
The Marines' Hymn begins here, but the legend isn't quite what you heard.
Coming September 13
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Star-Spangled Banner
After 25 hours of bombardment, a lawyer saw the flag still flying.
Coming September 14
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Inchon
MacArthur bet everything on a landing almost everyone said was impossible.
Coming September 15
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Knowlton's Rangers at Harlem Heights
America's first intelligence unit was led by a hero of Bunker Hill.
Coming September 16
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Constitution Is Signed
Ben Franklin looked at a carved sun on Washington's chair and made a prediction.
Coming September 17
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Air Force Is Born
After 40 years under the Army, America's airmen finally got their own branch.
Coming September 18
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Washington Says Goodbye
George Washington's most famous speech was never actually given aloud.
Coming September 19
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Rock of Chickamauga
The Union army was breaking apart, and one general refused to move.
Coming September 20
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Long Island Express
With no warning, a hurricane slammed into New England at highway speed.
Coming September 21
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Nathan Hale
A 21-year-old schoolteacher volunteered to spy, and paid with his life.
Coming September 22
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
I Have Not Yet Begun to Fight
His ship was sinking, and the British asked if he'd surrender.
Coming September 23
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The First Nuclear Carrier
Eight nuclear reactors powered the longest warship ever built.
Coming September 24
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The 101st Airborne at Little Rock
Paratroopers escorted nine teenagers into high school.
Coming September 25
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive
More than a million Americans went into the deadliest campaign in Army history.
Coming September 26
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Douglas Munro: Did They Get Off?
The Coast Guard's only Medal of Honor went to a 22-year-old signalman.
Coming September 27
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Corporal Freddie Stowers
His Medal of Honor recommendation was lost for more than 70 years.
Coming September 28
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Michael Monsoor
He was the only one who could have escaped. He chose to stay.
Coming September 29
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Berlin Airlift Ends
For 15 months, pilots fed a city of two million from the sky.
Coming September 30
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
James Meredith enters Ole Miss
A nine-year Air Force veteran, and Mississippi still tried to keep him out.
Coming October 1
Public domain (CC0) · Source & rights ↗
Major André hangs at Tappan
Benedict Arnold escaped. The young British officer he dealt with did not.
Coming October 2
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Black Hawk Down in Mogadishu
Two Delta snipers asked three times to be put on the ground.
Coming October 3
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Fog at Germantown
Washington lost the battle, but Europe noticed his army attacked anyway.
Coming October 4
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
I will fight no more forever
They were forty miles from Canada and freedom when the Army caught them.
Coming October 5
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The airmen who fed the Lost Battalion
They flew low on purpose, so the starving men below could catch the bundles.
Coming October 6
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Overmountain Men at Kings Mountain
A British major threatened the frontier. The frontier came to him.
Coming October 7
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Corporal York's morning
A Tennessee farmer who doubted he should fight captured 132 men.
Coming October 8
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Pulaski's last charge at Savannah
The father of the American cavalry was a Polish nobleman who died for us.
Coming October 9
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Naval Academy opens at Annapolis
It started with fifty midshipmen and seven teachers on an old Army post.
Coming October 10
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Arnold's fleet at Valcour Island
America's homemade navy lost the battle and may have saved the Revolution.
Coming October 11
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The attack on USS Cole
A small boat came alongside while the crew lined up for lunch.
Coming October 12
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Navy is born
Congress voted for two ships, and the United States Navy began.
Coming October 13
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Yeager breaks the sound barrier
He did it with two broken ribs and a sawed-off broom handle.
Coming October 14
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Hunley sinks with its inventor
The man who built the submarine went down with it on a practice dive.
Coming October 15
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
John Brown raids Harpers Ferry
Twenty-one men tried to start a slave uprising by seizing a federal arsenal.
Coming October 16
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga
A British general bet he would beat the Americans. He lost his whole army.
Coming October 17
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The flag rises over Alaska
The Russian flag got stuck on the pole on the way down.
Coming October 18
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The world turned upside down at Yorktown
The Revolution was won as much at sea as on land.
Coming October 19
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
MacArthur returns to the Philippines
Two and a half years earlier he had promised: I shall return.
Coming October 20
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Old Ironsides is launched
She is the oldest commissioned warship still afloat anywhere in the world.
Coming October 21
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Kennedy tells the nation about Cuba
At 7 p.m., the president told Americans that nuclear missiles sat 90 miles away.
Coming October 22
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Beirut barracks bombing
It was a Sunday morning, and most of the Marines were still asleep.
Coming October 23
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The wire that ended the Pony Express
For the first time, a message crossed America in minutes instead of days.
Coming October 24
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Taffy 3 off Samar
Destroyers charged battleships, knowing they probably would not come back.
Coming October 25
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Thirty Seconds at the O.K. Corral
The most famous gunfight in the West lasted about thirty seconds.
Coming October 26
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Major Anderson Over Cuba
He was the only American killed by enemy fire in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Coming October 27
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Lady Liberty Is Dedicated
She was a gift from France, but Americans paid for her base with pennies.
Coming October 28
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
John Glenn Goes Back at 77
Thirty-six years after his first orbit, the old Marine flew again.
Coming October 29
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Night Martians Landed
The night Martians landed in New Jersey, on the radio.
Coming October 30
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Sinking of the Reuben James
The first U.S. warship sunk in World War II went down before America entered it.
Coming October 31
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The First Family Moves In
The first family to live there found it unfinished, damp and cold.
Coming November 1
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
All Who Served: How Armistice Day Became Veterans Day
Veterans Day began as Armistice Day. This is how it became a day for every American who ever served.
Coming November 2
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
A Gunboat and a New Nation
A U.S. Navy gunboat helped a country be born, and with it a canal.
Coming November 3
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Hostages in Tehran
Fifty-two Americans would spend 444 days as hostages.
Coming November 4
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Susan B. Anthony Casts a Ballot
She voted for president and was arrested for it.
Coming November 5
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Shore at Tarawa
Seventy-six hours on a coral island in the Pacific, and the hard lessons Marines carried to every beach after it.
Coming November 6
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Ocean in view! O! the joy
After 18 months and thousands of miles, William Clark thought he saw the Pacific.
Coming November 7
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Operation Torch
America's first big punch at Hitler landed in North Africa.
Coming November 8
The Great Northeast Blackout
At rush hour, 30 million people suddenly lost their lights.
Coming November 9
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Marine Corps is born
The legend says the first recruits signed up in a tavern.
Coming November 10
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Last man killed in World War I
He died at 10:59. The war ended at 11:00.
Coming November 11
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Ellis Island closes its doors
The last person to leave Ellis Island was a Norwegian sailor.
Coming November 12
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The five Sullivan brothers
They enlisted on one condition: that they serve together.
Coming November 13
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
First takeoff from a ship
A civilian pilot rolled off a wooden ramp and started naval aviation.
Coming November 14
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Sherman marches to the sea
He cut his own supply line and disappeared into Georgia.
Coming November 15
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Margaret Corbin takes her husband's gun
When her husband fell at his cannon, she took his place.
Coming November 16
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Ambush at LZ Albany
Three days after X-Ray, another battalion walked into an ambush in tall grass.
Coming November 17
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The day of two noons
Before this day, every American town kept its own time.
Coming November 18
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Gettysburg Address
The main speaker talked for two hours. Lincoln spoke for about two minutes.
Coming November 19
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Bloody Tarawa
The tide was too low, and Marines had to wade 500 yards under fire.
Coming November 20
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Son Tay raid
The raid went perfectly. The prisoners had been moved months before.
Coming November 21
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Dallas
The president who survived PT-109 was killed in an open car in Dallas.
Coming November 22
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Orchard Knob opens the fight for Chattanooga
What began as a show of force became the start of a Union breakout.
Coming November 23
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
D.B. Cooper vanishes
He collected $200,000, jumped into a storm, and was never seen again.
Coming November 24
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Evacuation Day in New York
The British left one last insult: their flag nailed to a greased pole.
Coming November 25
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The secret sinking of the Rohna
More than 1,000 American soldiers died, and the Army kept it secret for decades.
Coming November 26
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The frozen Chosin
At forty below, Marines and soldiers were surrounded by ten Chinese divisions.
Coming November 27
The Cocoanut Grove fire
In fifteen minutes, a Boston nightclub became the deadliest club fire in history.
Coming November 28
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
First flight over the South Pole
To clear the mountains, they threw their food overboard.
Coming November 29
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Five hours at Franklin
Six Confederate generals died in a single afternoon.
Coming November 30
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Rosa Parks keeps her seat
She said later she was not tired. She was tired of giving in.
Coming December 1
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The first nuclear chain reaction
Under the stands of a football field, the atomic age began.
Coming December 2
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
John Paul Jones raises the first flag
Before the Stars and Stripes, America's navy flew a flag with Britain's Union Jack.
Coming December 3
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Jesse Brown and Thomas Hudner
His wingman crash-landed on purpose to try to save him.
Coming December 4
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Flight 19 disappears
Five Navy bombers vanished, and then so did the plane sent to find them.
Coming December 5
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Thirteenth Amendment is ratified
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude: with those words, slavery ended in America.
Coming December 6
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Pearl Harbor
At 7:55 on a Sunday morning, the first bombs fell.
Coming December 7
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
A date which will live in infamy
Roosevelt crossed out world history and wrote one word: infamy.
Coming December 8
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Grace Hopper is born
Amazing Grace taught computers to understand words, and the Navy kept calling her back.
Coming December 9
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Wyoming gives women the vote
Fifty years before the nation did, a frontier territory let women vote.
Coming December 10
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Germany declares war on America
Hitler made a decision that sealed his fate. He declared war on America.
Coming December 11
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The sinking of USS Panay
Four years before Pearl Harbor, Japanese planes sank an American gunboat.
Coming December 12
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Birth of the National Guard
The National Guard is older than the country it defends.
Coming December 13
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The death of George Washington
His last words were simple: 'Tis well.
Coming December 14
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Bill of Rights is ratified
The Constitution almost failed because it lacked these ten amendments.
Coming December 15
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Battle of the Bulge begins
In the snowy Ardennes, a quiet sector suddenly exploded.
Coming December 16
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Twelve seconds at Kitty Hawk
The first airplane flight was shorter than the wingspan of a modern jet.
Coming December 17
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Typhoon Cobra
The storm killed more sailors than many battles did.
Coming December 18
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The army enters Valley Forge
You could follow the army by the bloody footprints in the snow.
Coming December 19
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Space Force is born
For the first time since 1947, America created a new military branch.
Coming December 20
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Apollo 8 leaves for the moon
Three men became the first humans ever to leave Earth's orbit.
Coming December 21
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Nuts!
The Germans asked the Americans at Bastogne to surrender. The answer: Nuts!
Coming December 22
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Washington gives back his sword
King George reportedly said this act would make Washington the greatest man alive.
Coming December 23
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Leopoldville goes down
Five miles from France on Christmas Eve, more than 760 soldiers died.
Coming December 24
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The ship of miracles
Built for 12 passengers, a freighter rescued 14,000 refugees by Christmas.
Coming December 25
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
Victory at Trenton
The Revolution was nearly lost until one cold morning in New Jersey.
Coming December 26
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Flushing Remonstrance
Thirty settlers defended Quakers they did not even share a faith with.
Coming December 27
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Dade battle
Of about 110 soldiers who marched out, only a handful lived.
Coming December 28
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The arsenal of democracy
A year before Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt told Americans their factories must arm freedom.
Coming December 29
Public domain (CC0) · Source & rights ↗
The Iroquois Theater fire
It was advertised as absolutely fireproof. It burned in minutes.
Coming December 30
Public domain · Source & rights ↗
The Monitor sinks off Hatteras
The ironclad that changed naval warfare could not survive a storm.
Coming December 31
All 366 dates are included, including February 29. Unannounced dates are awaiting the show’s editorial schedule.