UNITS & FORMATIONS

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 bombardment that overwhelmed the outgunned enemy squadron.

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 their worth.

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.

South of Frederick, Maryland, on July 9th, 1864, Union Major General Lew Wallace assembled a scratch force to block Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal Early’s corps moving toward Washington. Wallace’s men, including fresh militia and detachments from the veteran Sixth Corps, took up positions along the Monocacy River, knowing they were significantly outnumbered. The Confederates eventually outflanked and drove the Union troops from the field, making the day a tactical Southern victory.

A story of a lopsided clash where earthworks, frontier rifles, and bad timing shattered a veteran British army and reshaped a young republic’s confidence.

The Spanish-American War brought United States forces into Cuba, and on July 1st, 1898, American troops attacked fortified Spanish positions at El Caney and along the San Juan Heights outside Santiago. At El Caney, infantry fought for hours to take a stone blockhouse and surrounding works, while other regiments prepared to advance on Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill.

Two days later, on July 3rd, 1898, the Spanish Caribbean Squadron attempted a breakout from Santiago’s harbor, hoping to escape the blockading United States Navy. As the Spanish cruisers and destroyers emerged, American battleships and armored cruisers moved to intercept, opening fire in a running engagement along the coast. Superior gunnery, armor, and speed allowed the United States ships to rake their opponents, driving them ashore or sinking them one by one.

In the spring of 1918, the American Expeditionary Forces were still gaining experience on the Western Front when German troops launched a major raid near the village of Seicheprey. On April 20th, 1918, storm troops attacked positions held by the 26th “Yankee” Division, made up largely of New England National Guard units. The German assault used heavy artillery preparation, infiltration tactics, and gas shells to knock out forward trenches and disrupt communications.

As the spring campaigns of the American Civil War unfolded in 1862, Union forces pressed down the Virginia Peninsula toward Richmond. On May 31st, 1862, Confederate troops struck back near the crossroads of Seven Pines and Fair Oaks, launching a fierce assault against elements of the Union Army of the Potomac. Confusion in the swampy terrain and miscoordination among Confederate commanders blunted what might have been a more decisive blow. During the fighting, Confederate commander Joseph E.

A story of a brutal island landing, a coral reef turned killing ground, and how one short battle rewrote amphibious warfare.

One year later to the week, the balance of power in the air over the Southwest Pacific had begun to shift. On March 2nd, 1943, United States Army Air Forces and Royal Australian Air Force units spotted a Japanese convoy attempting to move troops and supplies to the key base at Lae in New Guinea. Over the next two days, Allied medium bombers and attack aircraft used new low-level “skip bombing” techniques, roaring in just above the waves and tossing bombs that bounced into ships’ hulls.

A story of a winter surprise offensive and exhausted American units holding the line under crushing odds.

Just two days after the Los Angeles scare, a very real crisis unfolded far across the Pacific. On February 27th, 1942, a mixed Allied naval force under Dutch command, including the United States heavy cruiser Houston, engaged a Japanese invasion convoy in the waters of the Java Sea.

On the northern Plains, the date June 25th, 1876 is inseparable from the shock that followed the destruction of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer’s battalion along the Little Bighorn River. Part of a larger campaign to push Lakota and Northern Cheyenne bands onto reservations, Custer’s Seventh Cavalry column advanced aggressively toward a large village whose size and fighting strength he underestimated.

By mid-1918, German armies in France had driven a dangerous salient across the Marne River, threatening Paris and hoping to win the war before American troops could arrive in strength. In the early hours of July 18th, French and American forces launched a coordinated counteroffensive, striking the exposed flanks of the German position near Soissons and along the Marne.