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The day after Washington accepted his new burden, militiamen outside Boston met the British army in one of the Revolution’s most famous early battles. Though remembered as the Battle of Bunker Hill, most of the fighting raged on nearby Breed’s Hill, where colonial forces hastily fortified a position overlooking the harbor. British commanders, determined to break the rebel grip on the peninsulas around Boston, launche
Before sunrise on November 20, 1917, the British attack began without the usual warning. There was no long preliminary bombardment to announce that an offensive was coming. No days of shellfire tearing the battlefield apart in advance. Instead, the opening movement at Cambrai depended on secrecy, timing, and the strange mechanical presence of hundreds of tanks moving toward the German line.
Three years later to the day, August 16th, 1780, the Continental Army suffered one of its worst defeats at Camden, South Carolina. Major General Horatio Gates led a hastily assembled army of Continentals and militia against a seasoned British force under Lord Cornwallis. Marching through swampy country on poor rations, many of Gates’s men were already in bad condition before the battle even began.
When the United States entered the First World War, many allies wondered how quickly American units could adapt to the brutal demands of the Western Front. On May 28th, 1918, the Army’s 1st Division attacked the German-held village of Cantigny in France, supported by tanks, artillery, and aircraft. The assault seized the shattered village and, more importantly, held it against persistent counterattacks and heavy shel
A story of a frozen fighting withdrawal and how it reshaped the war in Korea.
A story of hard lessons, desert tank duels, and a young armor force learning fast enough to change a campaign.
As the Peninsula Campaign turned sour for the Union in the summer of 1862, the Army of the Potomac tried to slip away toward the James River, its supply line and safety. On June 30th, 1862, near the crossroads at Glendale and the woods around Frayser’s Farm, Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee launched a complex attack meant to cut the retreating Union column in two.
A story of a grinding hill assault, exhausted rifle companies, and a single ridge that reshaped the war back home.
A story of street-to-street fighting, shattered assumptions, and how one city battle reshaped the Vietnam War.
A story of air cavalry, hidden armies, and a brutal valley fight that previewed the grinding war still to come.
A story of a risky harbor landing, brutal tides, and how it broke a grinding stalemate in Korea.
A story of a volcanic ridge, two flags in the wind, and a fight that reshaped the Pacific war’s final months.
A story of a painful first defeat and how it forced a new army to relearn leadership, tactics, and trust in combat.
At the opening of the Spanish–American War, Commodore George Dewey led the United States Asiatic Squadron into Manila Bay to find and destroy Spain’s Pacific fleet. In the pre-dawn darkness his column of cruisers and gunboats slipped past coastal batteries and closed with the anchored Spanish ships. Once in position, Dewey gave his famous order to his flagship’s captain to open fire, unleashing a methodical bombardme
A story of a risky carrier ambush, frantic searches, and a sudden shift in the Pacific war.
Almost ninety years later, early June once again found American soldiers in desperate combat, this time along the Mississippi River during the Civil War. On June 7th, 1863, Confederate troops attacked Union positions at Milliken’s Bend, a key supply point supporting the siege of Vicksburg. Many of the defenders were newly raised African American regiments, still short on training and equipment but determined to prove
A story of an urban raid that turned into a street-by-street survival fight and how it reshaped American intervention abroad.
On a sweltering June day in New Jersey, George Washington’s Continental Army met British forces withdrawing from Philadelphia toward New York, and refused to break. The battle opened badly for the Americans as an advance under General Charles Lee faltered and retreated in confusion, but Washington rode forward, rallied the troops, and rebuilt the line near Monmouth Court House.