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JANUARY 2, 1864: GENERAL CLEBURNE PROPOSES THAT THE CONFEDERACY FREE AND ENLIST ITS SLAVES As 1864 began, both northerners and southerners believed that the coming year would prove decisive in the ongoing conflict. Although the...

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MARCH 9, 1864—ULYSSES S. GRANT IS COMMISSIONED AS LIEUTENANT-GENERAL On March 8, 1864, Ulysses S. Grant and his eldest son, Fred, arrived at Washington, DC. It was the general’s first visit to Washington since 1852, when he had been a...

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In this newly received donation to the Gilder Lehrman Collection, Eleanor Roosevelt responds to a correspondent who was apparently worried about the desegregation of restrooms and forced social interaction between the races in the...

This archive of twenty-six documents was compiled by Pierce Butler when he served as one of South Carolina’s delegates to the US Constitutional Convention in 1787. It includes the printed first and second drafts of the Constitution;...

The Gilder Lehrman Collection has more than 10,000 letters written by soldiers during the American Civil War, and when you read dozens or even hundreds of letters by the same person, it is very much like reality television. You become...

The Henry Knox Papers in the Gilder Lehrman Collection contain more than 10,000 documents dating from 1750 to 1820. The bulk of the archive chronicles the American Revolution and early founding era. The depth and complexity of the...

A good primary source will give you a sense of immediacy and awe that makes history come alive and leaves you with a deeper understanding of an event. It is one of the key elements we look for when adding materials to the Gilder...

The Gilder Lehrman Collection includes a letter and a painting by Ulysses S. Grant when he was a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. These unique items reveal Grant as the equivalent of a modern-day...

If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!

If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!

If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!

If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!

If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!

If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!

If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!

If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!

Sometimes documents leave us with more questions than answers. That is definitely true for this letter of October 8, 1859, from an unidentified man to his mother—both of whom appear to be slaves! The author refers twice to having a...

These miniature portraits of Jane and Franklin Pierce, attributed to artist Moses B. Russell, were painted shortly after the couple was married in 1834. Measuring only 4 ¼ inches tall by 3 ½ inches wide, the paintings have gilt-metal...

Between battles, marches, and military exercises, Civil War soldiers spent their free time in camp playing music, writing and reading letters, and, for those with the skill, sketching scenes from the day. This unknown soldier’s...

In the fall of 1941 Thomas Barwiss Hagstoz Askin Jr. was on board USS Memphis counting down the days until his enlistment in the United States Navy ended. He recorded his experience in a diary he entitled "Memorys and Incidents of My...

After his escape from slavery in 1838, Frederick Douglass became a well-known orator and abolitionist. In 1845, he wrote an autobiography that increased his influence, but also increased the chances that he would be captured and...

When World War I ended, President Woodrow Wilson attended the Paris Peace Conference, where the Allied nations met to write the Treaty of Versailles . In September 1919, President Woodrow Wilson embarked on a speaking tour of US...

Explore in depth Paul Revere’s 1770 print "Brittish Ships of War Landing Their Troops, 1768" and check out Paul Revere’s related propaganda print of the Boston Massacre .

View the full Battle of the Thames document and read an essay on the Battle for Baltimore during the War of 1812 .

View Columbus’s letter , read an excerpt , or view a depiction of his landing .

On Monday, October 12, many Americans had the day off and stores hosted sales under the name of that 15th-century Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus. But Columbus’s impact on our world reaches past a 3-day weekend and great deals...

Ever wonder why the name "Fido" has become synonymous with dogs? It all goes back to a very special dog belonging to Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln always had a fondness for animals, and it has been speculated that he relied on his pets to...

On October 27, 1904, New York City was forever changed. Nine miles of what one day would become 137 miles of subway track were ready for travel. After months of construction and a few iffy test rides, the IRT (Interborough Rapid...

Meryl Streep’s new bio-pic, Suffragette , chronicles the adventuresome lives of the British women’s rights advocate Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters. Tired of waiting for equality, the Pankhurts’ Women’s Social and Political Union...

Read an excerpt of John R. Chapin's eyewitness account of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 .

In 1769, Alexander Hamilton, an ambitious young clerk in St. Croix, wrote to a friend that "I . . . would willingly risk my life, tho not my Character, to exalt my station. . . . I wish there was a war." Seven years later, he was a...

View the account of the 1793 yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia or read the transcript .

Do you want to make a great interactive timeline that incorporates images, text, audio, and video? TimelineJS is a great free tool to explore. View this tutorial as a printable PDF. If you need more help, or if you'd like to explore...

In October 1948, Jesse LeRoy Brown made history by becoming the first African American naval aviator. Born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in 1926, Brown was inspired to become a pilot by an airshow that he attended at age six. After...

On October 28, 1919, the National Prohibition Act—also known as the Volstead Act—was passed by Congress, overriding President Woodrow Wilson’s veto. On January 16, 1920, Americans would have to put down their drinks and shutter the...

The question of whether the United States has entered a new Gilded Age pops up quite frequently in magazines, op-eds, and newscasts these days. Here, historian Edward O’Donnell, author of Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality ,...

Historian Jeffrey Sammons tells the story of the Harlem Rattlers in the Great War. The 369th Regiment —a unit of African American soldiers — fought on two fronts: in the trenches of Europe and for civil rights in the military and at...

Read about Cornwallis' last gambit at the Siege of Yorktown and view more primary sources related to the surrender of Cornwallis.

The Gilder Lehrman Collection contains more than 15,000 letters written by servicemen from the American Revolution through World War II. These personal letters, largely unpublished, capture the experience of the common soldier and his...

Read about the report from the Western Sanitary Commission regarding the conditions of freed slaves in the Mississippi valley.

On October 19, champions of American history education gathered at the Yale Club in New York City to celebrate the 2015 Gilder Lehrman National History Teacher of the Year. The award highlights the crucial importance of American...

On December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights was ratified when Virginia approved ten of the twelve proposed constitutional amendments. Historian Carol Berkin talks about the genesis of the first ten amendments to the Constitution and the...

Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer discusses Abraham Lincoln’s complex relationship with the press and public opinion. Are you a Lincoln enthusiast? Visit "Lincoln Speaks: Words That Transformed a Nation," an online exhibition about...

On December 17, 1903, the Orville and Wilbur Wright achieved the first successful airplane flight. Historian David McCullough says one of the most enjoyable things about working on his book The Wright Brothers was becoming acquainted...

In 1918, Ella Osborn, a nurse working in New York City, volunteered to serve in the US Army. She kept a diary from January 1918, days before she sailed from New York, to the day of her return to the US and release from service in...

On December 14, 1780, Alexander Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler, the second daughter of wealthy patriot Philip Schuyler. One of our favorite documents in the Gilder Lehrman Collection is a love letter from Hamilton to Elizabeth ,...

Can you tie a sailor’s knot? Can you cook a one-pot meal in the woods? Can you, if necessary, splint a sprained wrist? If you answered yes to these questions, and if you’re anything like 2.8 million women and girls, you may have been...