1960 U-2 incident
A story of secret overflights, Cold War nerves, and the moment a “untouchable” spy plane finally fell from the sky.
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216 results for “People & Commanders”
Showing 1–18
Adams–Onís Treaty cedes Florida
On February 22nd, 1819, American and Spanish negotiators signed the Adams–Onís Treaty, transferring Spanish Florida to the United States and settling a long-troublesome frontier. For years, the border had been a patchwork where runaway enslaved people, Native communities, smugglers, and raiding parties moved in and out of reach of American authorities.
Albert E. Schwab
A Medal of Honor story of courage under fire in the Pacific war.
Albert Ernest Schwab
The valley offered almost no cover. Shallow folds of earth and shattered shrubs were all that shielded the Marines of 1st Battalion, 5th Marines as they tried to push forward on Okinawa Shima on May 7, 1945. Ahead of them, on a high ridge at the valley’s mouth, a Japanese machine gun hammered the slopes, stitching bullets across every patch of ground where a helmet or sleeve dared to move. The air vibrated with the c
Amphibious landing at Veracruz in the Mexican-American War
A generation after New Providence, the United States undertook a much larger and more complex amphibious operation on March 9th, 1847, when General Winfield Scott’s army came ashore near the Mexican port of Veracruz. Supported by a strong naval flotilla, thousands of soldiers landed by surfboat in carefully planned waves along an open beach, establishing a ring around the city with remarkably few casualties in the in
Anton L. Krotiak
The air over Balete Pass crackled with small-arms fire and the flat explosions of grenades. On the steep slope of Hill B, a narrow finger of ground jutting out above the zigzag road that threaded the Caraballo Mountains, five exhausted American infantrymen hugged the earth around a captured Japanese trench. It was 8 May 1945, deep in the Battle of Luzon, and Private First Class Anton L.
Arthur F. DeFranzo
A Medal of Honor story of sacrifice and battlefield leadership in the Normandy campaign of World War II.
Arthur O. Beyer
The January sky over eastern Belgium is the color of steel, low clouds pressing down on snow-covered fields. An American armored task force eases forward along a narrow road when the world ahead of it suddenly erupts. Antitank rounds smash into the frozen earth, machine guns rake the ditches, and rifle fire lashes out from a ridgeline roughly two hundred yards in front of the column. Inside one of the lead tank destr
Assault at Cold Harbor
Just a year later in war-time June, Union and Confederate armies were locked in the Overland Campaign, a grinding series of battles as Ulysses S. Grant tried to force Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia back toward Richmond. On June 3rd, 1864, Grant launched a massive frontal assault at Cold Harbor, where entrenched Confederate troops held strong positions behind earthworks and rifle pits.
Assault on Stony Point
In the summer of the Revolutionary War, British forces held a fortified outpost at Stony Point on the Hudson River, threatening American communications and morale. General George Washington approved a bold plan for a nighttime assault led by General Anthony Wayne and a specially selected light infantry corps. With unloaded muskets and fixed bayonets, Wayne’s men advanced in silence, relying on discipline and surprise
Assault to Retake Corregidor
On February 16th, 1945, United States forces launched a daring combined airborne and amphibious assault to retake Corregidor, the rocky island guarding the entrance to Manila Bay in the Philippines. Corregidor had become a symbol of resistance when United States and Filipino defenders held out there in 1942 before surrendering to Japanese forces. Three years later, with the liberation of the Philippines well underway
Battle of Antietam
A story of a blood-soaked cornfield, a shallow creek, and a battle that reshaped the Union’s war.
Battle of Atlanta
Three years later and hundreds of miles to the west, another July battle marked a turning point in the struggle to save the Union. Outside Atlanta, Confederate General John Bell Hood launched a bold, flanking assault against Major General William T. Sherman’s forces, hoping to catch Union troops off balance and drive them away from the city.
Battle of Bennington
On August 16th, 1777, American militia under Brigadier General John Stark struck a British foraging column near Bennington in what is now Vermont. The British force, made up of German auxiliaries and Loyalists, had been sent out from General Burgoyne’s main army to gather supplies and horses for the invasion toward Albany.
Battle of Brandy Station
Just two years later, cavalrymen of the Union and Confederacy collided near Brandy Station, Virginia in what became the largest mounted battle ever fought in North America. On June 9th, 1863, Union cavalry crossed the Rappahannock River in a surprise attack aimed at probing Confederate movements as Robert E. Lee’s army shifted north toward Pennsylvania. Throughout the day, sabers and carbines flashed across fields an
Battle of Buena Vista
By February 23rd, 1847, the Battle of Buena Vista in northern Mexico had reached its decisive phase. General Zachary Taylor’s outnumbered American force, including U.S. regulars and state volunteer regiments, faced a much larger army led by Santa Anna along a series of ridges and arroyos near Saltillo. The terrain allowed the Americans to anchor their line, but Santa Anna probed for weak points all day, at times driv
Battle of Bull Run
Just outside Manassas, Virginia, the first major land battle of the Civil War tore away any illusion of a quick, clean victory. Union forces under Brigadier General Irvin McDowell marched out from Washington hoping to strike inexperienced Confederate troops and end the rebellion in a single blow. Instead they found determined opposition and a battlefield that quickly grew chaotic, with brigades feeding in piecemeal a
Battle of Camden
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.