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Construction and Design

Fort Sumter was first built in the wake of the War of 1812, which had highlighted the United States' lack of strong coastal defenses. Named for Revolutionary War general and South Carolina native Thomas Sumter, the fortification was one of nearly 50 forts built as part of the so-called Third System, a coastal defense program implemented by Congress in 1817.

The three-tiered, five-sided fort's coastal placement was designed to allow it to control access to the vital Charleston Harbor. While the island itself was only 2.4 acres in size, the fort was built to accommodate a garrison of 650 soldiers and 135 artillery pieces.

Did you know? There were no casualties during the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter at the start of the Civil War. The only Union deaths came during the evacuation: One soldier was killed and another mortally wounded in an accidental explosion during a planned 100-gun salute.

Construction of Fort Sumter first began in 1829 in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, on a manmade island built from thousands of tons of granite. Building ground to a halt in the 1830s amid a dispute over ownership of the stretch of the harbor, and did not resume until 1841. Like many Third System fortifications, Fort Sumter proved a costly endeavor, and construction slowed again in 1859 due to lack of funding. By 1860 the island and the outer fortifications were complete, but the fort's interior and armaments remained unfinished.

Fort Moultrie

Construction of Fort Sumter was still underway when South Carolina seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860. Despite Charleston's position as a major port, at the time only two companies of federal troops guarded the harbor. Commanded by Major Robert Anderson, these companies were stationed at Fort Moultrie, a dilapidated fortification facing the coastline.

Recognizing that Fort Moultrie was vulnerable to a land assault, Anderson elected to abandon it for the more easily defensible Fort Sumter on December 26, 1860. South Carolina militia forces would seize the city's other forts shortly thereafter, leaving Fort Sumter as the lone federal outpost in Charleston.

Battle of Fort Sumter

A standoff ensued until January 9, 1861, when a ship called Star of the West arrived in Charleston with over 200 U.S. troops and supplies intended for Fort Sumter. South Carolina militia batteries fired upon the vessel as it neared Charleston Harbor, forcing it to turn back to sea.

Major Anderson refused repeated calls to abandon Fort Sumter, and by March 1861 there were over 3,000 militia troops besieging his garrison. A number of other U.S. military facilities in the South had already been seized, and Fort Sumter was viewed by many as one of the South's few remaining hurdles to overcome before achieving sovereignty.

With the inauguration of President Abraham Lincoln in March 1861, the situation soon escalated. Knowing that Anderson and his men were running out of supplies, Lincoln announced his intention to send three unarmed ships to relieve Fort Sumter. Having already declared that any attempt to resupply the fort would be seen as an act of aggression, South Carolina militia forces soon scrambled to respond.

Civil War Begins

On April 11, militia commander P.G.T. Beauregard demanded that Anderson surrender the fort, but Anderson again refused. In response Beauregard opened fire on Fort Sumter shortly after 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861. U.S. Captain Abner Doubleday-later famous for the myth that he invented baseball-ordered the first shots in defense of the fort a few hours later. The first shots of the Civil War had been fired.

Beauregard's 19 coastal batteries unleashed a punishing barrage on Fort Sumter, eventually firing an estimated 3,000 shots at the citadel in 34 hours. By Saturday, April 13, cannon fire had broken through the fortress's five-foot-thick brick walls, causing fires inside the post. With his stores of ammunition depleted, Anderson and his Union forces had to surrender the fort shortly after 2 p.m. in the afternoon.

No Union troops had been killed during the bombardment, but two men died the following day in an explosion that occurred during an artillery salute held before the U.S. evacuation. The bombardment of Fort Sumter would play a major part in triggering the Civil War. In the days following the assault, Lincoln issued a call for Union volunteers to quash the rebellion, while more Southern states including Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee cast their lot with the Confederacy.

Beauregard and Du Pont

Following Beauregard's bombardment in 1861, Confederate forces occupied Fort Sumter and used it to marshal a defense of Charleston Harbor. Once it was completed and better armed, Fort Sumter allowed the Confederates to create a valuable hole in the Union blockade of the Atlantic seaboard.

The first Union assault on occupied Fort Sumter came in April 1863, when Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont attempted a naval attack on Charleston. Commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Du Pont arrived in Charleston with a fleet of nine ironclad warships, seven of which were updated versions of the famed U.S.S. Monitor.

While Du Pont had hoped to recapture Fort Sumter-by then a symbol of the Confederate rebellion-his attack was poorly coordinated and met with unfavorable weather conditions. In collaboration with Fort Sumter, Confederate batteries commanded by P.G.T. Beauregard hammered the ironclad fleet with artillery fire, and underwater mines posed a constant threat to the ships' hulls.

Outgunned and unable to properly maneuver in heavy currents, Du Pont's fleet eventually withdrew from the harbor after taking over 500 hits by Confederate guns. Only one Union soldier was killed during the battle, but one of the ironclads, Keokuk, sank the next day.

Five Confederates were killed during the attack, but the damage to Fort Sumter was soon repaired and its defenses improved. Confederate soldiers even managed to salvage one of Keokuk 's 11-inch Dahlgren guns and mount it on the fortress.
READ MORE: 7 Important Civil War Battles
Fort Wagner

In July 1863, Union troops laid siege to Fort Wagner, a valuable post on Morris Island near the mouth of Charleston Harbor. After being met with heavy fire from Fort Sumter, Union General Quincy Adams Gillmore turned his guns on the fort and unleashed a devastating seven-day bombardment.

On September 8, a force of nearly 400 Union troops attempted to land at Fort Sumter and capture the post by force. Union Rear Admiral John Dahlgren mistakenly believed the fort was manned by a skeleton crew, but the landing party was met by over 300 Confederate infantry, who easily repulsed the assault.

Following the failed infantry attack, Union forces on Morris Island recommenced their bombing campaign on Fort Sumter. Over the next 15 months, Union artillery effectively leveled Fort Sumter, eventually firing nearly 50,000 projectiles at the fort between September 1863 and February 1865. Despite suffering over 300 casualties from the Union bombardments, the beleaguered Confederate garrison managed to retain control of the fort until February 1865.

Only when Union General William T. Sherman was poised to capture Charleston did the Confederates finally evacuate. Union forces would reclaim Fort Sumter on February 22, 1865. Robert A. Anderson and Abner Doubleday, the two commanding officers from the original siege of Fort Sumter, would both return to the fortress on April 14, 1865, for a flag-raising ceremony.

Fort Sumter National Monument

After the Civil War, the derelict Fort Sumter was rebuilt and partially redesigned. It would see little use during the 1870s and 1880s and was eventually reduced to serving as a lighthouse station for Charleston Harbor. With the start of the Spanish-American War (1898), the fortress was rearmed and once again used as a coastal defense installation. It would later see service during both World War I and World War II.

In 1948, Fort Sumter was decommissioned as a military post and turned over to the National Park Service as a National Historic Site and part of Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park. Tours are now available, attracting more than 750,000 visitors every year.

Sources

Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie: History & Culture. National Park Service.
Fort Sumter. American Battlefield Trust.
Fort Sumter: The Civil War Begins. Smithsonian Magazine.

Fact Check

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Fort Sumter: Civil War, Battle & Location | HISTORY

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Fort Sumter is an island fortification located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, and is most famous for being the site of the first battle of the Civil War.

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Abraham Lincoln: The Emancipation Proclamation | Biography

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Battle of Gettysburg: Summary, Facts & Casualties | HISTORY

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The Battle of Gettysburg, fought over three hot summer days, from July 1 to July 3, 1863, is considered the most important engagement of the American Civil War. The South lost the battle—and many men—and it marked a turning point in the bloody war that left the South mostly on the defensive.

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Appomattox Court House

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Trapped by the Federals near Appomattox Court House, Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union general Ulysses S. Grant, precipitating the capitulation of other Confederate forces and leading to the end of the bloodiest conflict in American history.

How it ended

Union victory. Lee's formal surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, brought the war in Virginia to an end. While this event is considered the most significant surrender of the Civil War, several other Confederate commanders had to capitulate and negotiate paroles and amnesty for Southern combatants before President Andrew Johnson could officially proclaim an end to the Civil War. That formal declaration occurred sixteen months after Appomattox, on August 20, 1866.

In context

General Lee's final campaign began on March 25, 1865, with a Confederate attack on Fort Stedman, near Petersburg. General Grant's forces counterattacked a week later on April 1 at Five Forks, forcing Lee to abandon Richmond and Petersburg the following day. The Confederate Army's retreat moved southwest along the Richmond & Danville Railroad. Heavily outnumbered by the enemy and low on supplies, Lee was in dire trouble. Nevertheless, he led a series of grueling night marches, hoping to reach supply trains in Farmville, Virginia, and eventually join Maj. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army in North Carolina. Union troops captured the valuable supplies at Farmville on April 7.

On April 8, the Confederates discovered that their army was blocked by Federal cavalry. Confederate commanders tried to break through the cavalry screen, hoping that the horsemen were unsupported by other troops. But Grant had anticipated Lee's attempt to escape and ordered two corps (Twenty-fourth and Fifth), under the commands of Maj. Gen. John Gibbon and Bvt. Maj. Gen. Charles Griffin, to march all night to reinforce the Union cavalry and trap Lee. On April 9, those corps drove back the Confederates.

Rather than destroy his army and sacrifice the lives of his soldiers to no purpose, Lee decided to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia. Three days later, a formal ceremony marked the disbanding of Lee's army and the parole of his men, ending the war in Virginia. The Grant-Lee agreement served not only as a signal that the South had lost the war but also as a model for the rest of the surrenders that followed.

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The Battle of Appomattox Court House page includes history articles, photo galleries, maps, and other recommended links for this 1865 Civil War battle in Virginia.

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By early November 1863, Abraham Lincoln found himself frustrated with the glacial pace of wartime reconstruction efforts, particularly in Louisiana. In an August letter to Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks, the president had outlined "what I would like Louisiana to do." His wish list included a new constitution, statewide adoption of emancipation, a system to help ease the transition from slavery to freedom for blacks and whites and education for young freedmen and women. He went on to assure his abolitionist general that "I shall not ... retract the emancipation proclamation; nor ... ever return to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that proclamation, or by any of the acts of Congress."

Now, three months later, the president once more wrote to Banks, to note that "nothing has yet been done," a fact that "disappoints me bitterly." A clearly impatient Lincoln urged Banks to "go to work and give me a tangible nucleus ... which I can at once recognize and sustain as the true State government. ... Time is important," he continued, for there was danger that disloyal men might "set up a State government, repudiating the emancipation proclamation, and re-establishing slavery," a situation he could not "recognize or sustain."

The commander in chief's sense of urgency about reconstruction was understandable. Events had long ago disabused him of an early belief that there existed a strong pro-Union element in the South. Victories at Gettysburg, Vicksburg and Chattanooga had led him to hope (and perhaps fear) that the Confederacy might be at the point of imminent collapse. As the Lincoln biographer David Donald notes, "There was a real possibility that the Confederates, admitting defeat, might claim that they had never been out of the Union - a legal fiction [Lincoln] and his advisers had always stoutly maintained - and send back to Washington the same congressmen who had denounced the Union in 1861." Lincoln, Donald argues, feared such a circumstance would "make probable 'a renewal of the terrible scenes through which we are now passing.'"

Despite assurances from Senator Zachariah Chandler, a Radical Republican from Michigan and frequent critic of the president, that "You are today master of the Situation if You stand firm," Lincoln fully grasped the dilemma that crafting a reconstruction policy presented. "[I must] stand firm enough not to go backward," he told Chandler, "and yet not go forward fast enough to wreck the country's cause."

Three major roads to reconstruction presented themselves. Prominent conservatives such as Reverdy Johnson, a Maryland lawyer and Democratic politician, embraced "The Union as it was, and the Constitution as it was." The withdrawal of the Emancipation Proclamation and the issuance of general amnesty would enable former Confederate states to send new representatives to Washington, effectively ending the war.

By the fall of 1863, however, events had conspired to make such a backward step increasingly unlikely; the real contest over reconstruction policy resided within the Republican Party. While Republicans as one agreed that slavery must go and that states-rights secessionists must be prevented from resuming their antebellum prominence, a wide gap yawned between the radicals and conservatives.

Pennsylvania congressman Thaddeus Stevens contended that the Confederate states were "conquered provinces." Reconstruction, he insisted, must "revolutionize Southern institutions, habits, and manners. ... The foundation of their institutions ... must be broken up and relaid, or all our blood and treasure have been spent in vain." Senator Charles Sumner argued that the seceded states had committed "state suicide," and in doing so had forfeited their rights and reverted to territorial status.

In the September 1863 Atlantic Monthly, Sumner elaborated on his argument in " Our Domestic Relations; or, How to Treat the Rebel States." Reconstruction policy, Sumner claimed, was a legislative, not an executive, responsibility. Congress should divide the liberated lands "among patriotic soldiers, poor whites, and freedmen" as "a restraint upon the lawless vindictiveness and inhumanity of the Rebel States."

Postmaster General Montgomery Blair fired back almost immediately. In an October speech - " On the Revolutionary Schemes of the Ultra Abolitionists, and in Defence of the Policy of the President " - he contended that peace was "menaced by the ambition of the ultra-Abolitionists" who, "whilst pronouncing philippics against slavery seek to make a caste of another color by amalgamating the black element with the free white labor of our land." Reconstruction, Blair believed, must be trusted to the "safe and healing policy of the President."

Lincoln knew enough to avoid this intraparty scrimmage. There could be "little difference among loyal men" over the issue of keeping "the rebellious populations from overwhelming and outvoting the loyal minority," he told one visitor. The question of whether the seceded states remained states or reverted to territories was "merely metaphysical," because everyone agreed that they were "out of their proper relation with the Union, and that the sole object of the government ... is to again get them into that proper relation."

Shortly after returning from the dedication of the new national cemetery at Gettysburg on Nov. 19, Lincoln set about defining how to restore the seceded states to their "proper relation." Working from his sickbed - he had contracted what was probably a mild case of smallpox and was bedridden for the better part of the two weeks after Nov. 25 - Lincoln began preparing his annual address to Congress, the forerunner to today's State of the Union.

An amalgam of reports from cabinet secretaries as well as Lincoln himself, the 6,000-word address has been generally judged to be a rather tepid affair, suggesting perhaps that inspiration temporarily deserted the ailing president. As one historian has noted, the report is more memorable for what it omitted - any mention of the "new birth of freedom," the completion of the Capitol, the heroic performance of black troops or his nascent relationship with Frederick Douglass - rather than for what it included.

The president received much higher marks, both then and now, for the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, which he appended to the annual message. Less a blueprint for the postwar South than a wartime measure intended to shorten the fighting, the proclamation offered political repatriation for those portions of the Confederacy under Union control. Those willing to take an oath of allegiance to the United States would receive "full pardon ... with restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves." Among those ineligible for a pardon were Confederate civil or diplomatic officers, military or naval officers above the respective ranks of colonel and lieutenant, former members of Congress who left to aid the rebellion and anyone mistreating captured black or white Union troops.

As soon as 10 percent of the eligible voters in the 1860 election took the oath of allegiance, they could reestablish a state government that would receive the guarantees of a republican form of government and protection against invasion and domestic violence outlined in Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution. Lincoln took care to note that "whether members sent to congress from any state shall be admitted to seats constitutionally rests exclusively with the respective houses, and not to any extent with the Executive."

The proclamation further provided that "the name of the state, the boundary, the subdivisions, the constitution, and the general code of laws" would be maintained "as before the rebellion," subject only to the provisions regarding the inviolability of emancipation. State governments were further assured that the "National Executive " would not object to any temporary arrangement that, while recognizing the permanent freedom of former slaves, would take into account "their present condition as a laboring, landless, and homeless class."

Lincoln's Dec. 8 proclamation met with immediate acclaim across the political spectrum. The author and social activist Charles Eliot Norton declared it an "admirably timed" state paper that would "compel even politicians to like virtue." The noted diarist George Templeton Strong proclaimed: "Uncle Abe is the most popular man in America today" and suggested that "the weight of his personal character may do a great deal toward restoration of our national unity." Surveying the political landscape, The Chicago Tribune editorialized that "the political future begins to look clear," while the president's secretary John Hay noted that "men acted as if the Millennium had come."

The outpouring of support was hardly surprising, for the proclamation had a little something for almost everyone but the freedmen. Conservatives were pleased that the plan recognized the prewar boundaries and laws of the states, excepting slavery; that it acknowledged local control; and that Lincoln would tolerate a gradual adjustment to freedom by the former slaves. The New York World, an organ for the Democratic Party, adjudged the proclamation "a creditable specimen of political dexterity [that] trims with marvelous adroitness between the two factions of the Republican party."

Radical Republicans took comfort in Lincoln's obvious commitment to emancipation's permanence, the inclusion of a strict loyalty oath, and his nod toward congressional authority over admission of new members elected by the new state governments. Charles Sumner wrote, "He makes emancipation the cornerstone of reconstruction and I am ready to accept any system which promises this result." His fellow Massachusetts senator, Henry Wilson, declared, "The president has struck another great blow ... God bless him."

While fulsome, such praise was not universal. The Chicago Times protested that Lincoln was either "insane with fanaticism, or a traitor who glories in his country's shame." In a Dec. 13 letter to Gen. Benjamin Butler, Wendell Phillips argued that the amnesty program "makes the negro's freedom a mere sham." The administration was "willing that the negro should be free" but sought "nothing else for him." In a particularly cutting observation, Phillips wrote, "What McClellan was on the battlefield - 'Do as little hurt as possible!' - Lincoln is in civil affairs - 'Make as little change as possible!'"

Among the president's harshest critics was his new friend, Frederick Douglass. The abolitionist lion roared that Lincoln "has virtually laid down this as the rule of his statesmen: Do evil by choice right from necessity. ...Our Government asks the Negro to espouse its cause" and "turn against his master." Once peace came, Douglass feared the government would "hand the Negro back to the political power of his master, without a single element of strength to shield himself from the vindictive spirit sure to be roused against the whole colored race."

Lincoln's Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction was hardly the last word on reconstruction. The president himself had hedged his bets, suggesting in the accompanying annual address that "saying that reconstruction will be accepted if presented in a specified way ... [is not to say] it will never be accepted in any other way."

His critics among the Radical Republicans began to argue that the threshold for readmittance was too low and express fears that Lincoln's 1864 re-election bid would benefit unduly from votes from the new states. Within months he would infuriate these critics by vetoing the Wade Davis Act, which sought far harsher terms for reconstruction. But for a brief moment in December 1863, Lincoln may well have been the "most popular man in America."
Follow Disunion at twitter.com/NYTcivilwar or join us on Facebook. Sources: Michael Burlingame, "Abraham Lincoln: A Life"; Richard Carwardine, "Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power"; David Herbert Donald, "Lincoln"; Eric Foner, "Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction"; Eric Foner, "The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery"; Eric Foner, "Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877"; Harold Hyman and William M. Wiecek, "Equal Justice Under the Law: Constitutional Development, 1835-1875"; James M. McPherson, "Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era"; Mark E. Neely Jr., "Lincoln and the Triumph of the Nation: Constitutional Conflict in the American Civil War"; Phillip Shaw Paludan, "The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln"; Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein, "Lincoln and Medicine"; Ronald C. White, Jr., "A. Lincoln: A Biography." Rick Beard, an independent historian and exhibition curator, is co-author of the National Park Service publication "Slavery in the United States: A Brief Narrative History."

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With the war going well, the president struggled to find the right way to bring the Confederate states back into the Union.

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OurDocuments.gov. Featuring 100 milestone documents of American history from the National Archives. Includes images of original primary source documents, lesson plans, teacher and student competitions, and educational resources.

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The Reconstruction Amendments: The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments

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Plessy v. Ferguson/End of Reconstruction

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Plessy v. Ferguson/End of Reconstruction

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The ruling in this infamous U.S. Supreme Court case stated that segregation was legal as long as the separate facilities were equal. But most people are more familiar with the name of the case than with the actual events that transpired around it.

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The ruling in this infamous Supreme Court case stated that segregation was legal as long as the separate facilities were equal. But most people are more familiar with the name of the case than with the actual events that transpired around it.

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The homestead act was passed May 20, 1862. This act allowed for US citizens to get 160 acres of land out in the west for free. They had to be adults of course, and they also had to have been loyal to...

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A national tragedy like 9/11 or Pearl Harbor or the Battle of Gettysburg prompts grieving people to gather for public memorial services, followed by weeks of mourning and ultimately, museums and monuments commemorating the lives of the fallen.

But another seminal tragedy in U.S. history will go virtually unnoticed this year: the 150th anniversary of the Long Walk, the forced exile of thousands of Navajos from their homelands in what is now Arizona and New Mexico to a forlorn encampment at Bosque Redondo in the Pecos River Valley. They were held there at gunpoint by the U.S. Army. Hundreds died en route and during captivity from starvation and exposure, as well as disease.

Yet no known official observations are planned by the Navajo Nation to mark one of the most horrific chapters in American and tribal history.

In 1968, the Navajos held a yearlong observance of the 100th anniversary of their ancestors' return from Bosque Redondo. And some of them attended the dedication of the Bosque Redondo Memorial at the Fort Sumner State Monument in 2005.

But many Navajos don't feel comfortable publicly discussing the invasion of their land - a period they referred to as the "fearing time" - and their removal to Fort Sumner by the U.S. military.

"There are people who feel, yes, we need to remember this and discuss it. And then there is the other viewpoint that you don't visit [the memorial] and you don't commemorate it," said Manuelito Wheeler, director of the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Ariz.

Wheeler, who was named for Manuelito, one of the principal Navajo leaders and war chiefs at the time of the Long Walk, said he hasn't planned any events this year at the museum, although he might prepare something next year on Treaty Day, June 1, as long as the observation "represents all viewpoints."

"There are people who feel this should be marked in our history and not forgotten, and others who feel, 'We've moved on, let's keep moving forward,' " he said.

Jennifer Nez Denetdale, an assistant professor at The University of New Mexico and author of The Long Walk and Reclaiming Diné History: The Legend of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita, said she didn't find out until her mid-20s that her great-great-great-grandmother was Juanita, one of Manuelito's wives.

"I went to school in the late '60s and '70s," Denetdale said. "At that time, there was really no information on Navajo history or culture in the public schools. This is the experience of many Navajo people of my generation."

She said her mother told her that she just didn't listen to the stories told by her grandmothers about the Long Walk.

But Denetdale was interested and went on to became a historian, believed to be the first Navajo to earn a doctorate in history. She interviewed her grandmothers and grandfathers about the stories they had been told.

Denetdale said she learned that when her family left Bosque Redondo after a treaty establishing the initial boundaries of the Navajo Reservation was reached between the U.S. government and the Navajos, they stopped at Zia Pueblo, where they were "revived and refreshed" before continuing home. "From then on, my great-great-great-grandmother [Juanita] took on the Zia people as her clan."

In the late 1990s, Denetdale said, she went to her grandfather's home to show him photos of Juanita and her two daughters. In Navajo, he said to her, "It's well you bring me these pictures of my grandmothers. I was just thinking of the Long Walk last night." Denetdale said they sat together silently looking at the images with "hope and thankfulness that our grandmothers had endured a tragedy beyond our imagination."

She learned more about Juanita, including that Manuelito depended on her for advice and counsel. He listened to her, and she went with him to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Ulysses S. Grant to talk about Navajo land requests in 1874.

Denetdale's father also told her that one of his grandmothers had been captured and taken to Zuni Pueblo, where she was being held until she could be sold into Mexico. She managed to escape and made her way to Bosque Redondo, where she joined other members of her family.

"I think it's still very much a powerful memory. Once you bring it up, you get stories about loss and loneliness and heartsickness and tragedy," Denetdale said. "And that," she added, "raises questions about the U.S.'s treatment of Navajo and indigenous people."

Wheeler said he knew that his great-great-great-grandmother had been on the Long Walk, but according to another family story, two of his male ancestors were in a cornfield when they spotted the soldiers and fled to safety in the nearby canyons.

Wheeler said Navajos definitely have respect for that period of time in their history. "And by respect," he said, "I mean we understand the tragedy and hardships - and the attempted genocide on our people."

But Wheeler said he's still "on the fence" about whether to visit the memorial at Fort Sumner himself. "It's a heavy subject for me," he said.

Speaking for some from his tribe, he said, "There's definitely the tragedy they don't want to remember or commemorate. But also, from a traditional standpoint, it's thought of, if you commemorate that or go back and visit it, then you're asking for those things to happen again."

Wheeler said when the Navajos left Bosque Redondo, they appealed to the holy people and deities to help them. "By returning to that place, you have a conflicting request. That's not good in terms of Navajo traditionalism," he said.

Tony Joe, an anthropologist with the Navajo Nation's Historic Preservation Department, doesn't have mixed feelings about the subject. "In our department, we don't acknowledge anything that has to do with the Long Walk, nor do we emphasize anything that has to do with the Long Walk. That's just part of Navajo tribal history. We don't bring anything back."

Joe said when someone proposed building a hogan, a traditional Navajo home, at the memorial at Fort Sumner, "We told him, 'Don't do it, man.' It's not a good thing to talk about."

Navajos, he said, aren't supposed to go to the Bosque Redondo memorial because "people died there. It's something we don't want to talk about. Not even my grandparents talk about it."
'Go to the Bosque Redondo'
Brig. Gen. James Carlton, commander of the Department of New Mexico, believed the Navajos (and the Mescalero Apaches) were causing unrest in the region. In September 1863, he announced his plan to remove them to a desolate area near Fort Sumner where, he said, they would learn to be farmers and be instructed in Christian virtues, and their children would be educated in the ways of white America.

Carlton ordered the Indian fighter Christopher "Kit" Carson to take his message to the Navajos: "Go to the Bosque Redondo, or we will pursue and destroy you. We will not make peace with you on any other terms."

Carson dispatched forces to burn crops, destroy food supplies and hogans, poison water and shoot livestock. By late 1863, thousands of destitute Indians had surrendered, although Manuelito did not turn himself in until 1866.

The Long Walk to Bosque Redondo was actually a series of marches over four different routes from Fort Defiance to Fort Sumner, distances that ranged between 375 miles and 425 miles. The journey was arduous. People were shot for complaining about being tired or sick, one storyteller said. "If a woman became in labor with a baby, she was killed."

In her book, Denetdale relates a story told by Manuelito's son-in-law about Bosque Redondo in which he said, "Many of them [Navajos] died from starvation. The kind of food they had to eat, many died from that. Also I think a larger percent of deaths was caused from homesickness. They wept from day-to-day."

On June 18, 1868, after the signing of the treaty, people set off for home, forming a line said to be 10 miles long. Upon getting there, Denetdale wrote, they conducted "cleansing ceremonies to remove the taint of the foreign from their spirits, minds and bodies."

It was difficult for many to talk about their experiences, however.

In The Long Walk, Denetdale quotes Gus Bighorse, a member of Manuelito's band, as saying, "We take our tragic story with us, but we can't talk about it. It is so terrible. Only if somebody would ask us a question, then we talk about it."

"For Navajos," Denetdale writes, "this time in their history was so traumatic and horrific that many refused to speak of it for decades. In fact, elders' narratives first became public when the Navajo tribe was preparing its land claims case before the U.S. Indian Claims Commission in the 1950s, when researchers began recording oral testimony to be used in the hearings."

The Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Ariz., has an exhibit on the Long Walk, known as Hwéedi in Navajo, that focuses not on the hardships but on the 12 Diné chiefs and 17 council headmen who signed the treaty. The exhibit also shows how, when Navajos came back home, they returned to their traditional way of life.

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The Long Walk: A tragedy unobserved 150 years later

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A national tragedy like 9/11 or Pearl Harbor or the Battle of Gettysburg prompts grieving people to gather for public memorial services, followed by weeks of mourning and ultimately, museums and monuments commemorating the lives of the fallen. But another seminal tragedy in U.S.

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American Imperialism (The Spanish-American War

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American Imperialism (The Spanish-American War

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Whatever its origins, American imperialism experienced its pinnacle from the late 1800s through the years following World War II. During this "Age of Imperialism," the United States exerted political, social, and economic control over countries such as the Philippines, Cuba, Germany, Austria, Korea, and Japan.

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Growth, Cities, and Immigration: Crash Course US History #25

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Political Corruption and Progressive Government Reform

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Political Corruption and Progressive Government Reform

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political science / public policy / economic policy

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Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences, and Reform

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Corruption is a worldwide phenomenon. Developing countries and those making a transition from socialism are particularly at risk. This book suggests how high levels of corruption limit investment and growth and lead to ineffective government. Corruption creates economic inefficiencies and inequit...

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"If a Western Rip Van Winkle had fallen asleep in 1869 and awakened in 1896, he would not have recognized the lands that the railroads had touched. Bison had yielded to cattle; mountains had been blasted and bored. Great swaths of land that had once whispered grass now screamed corn and wheat. Nation-states had conquered Indian peoples, slaughtering some of them and confining and controlling most of them. Population had increased across much of this vast region, and there were growing cities along its edges. A land that had once run largely north-south now ran east-west. Each change could have been traced back to the railroads." - Richard White, Railroaded

Unprecedented Urbanization

Between 1820 and 1860, the visual map of the United States was transformed by unprecedented urbanization and rapid territorial expansion. These changes mutually fueled the Second Industrial Revolution which peaked between 1870 and 1914. Between the annexation of Texas (1845), the British retreat from Oregon country, and The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (1848) which cemented Mexican cession of the Southwest to the United States, territorial expansion exponentially rewrote the competing visions free-soilers, European immigrants, industrial capitalists, and Native Americans held for the future of the American Empire.

Need for Railroads

The need for massive industry was obvious: in order to reach California's burgeoning port cities like San Francisco and to expedite the extraction of gold from the mines, railroad tracks would need to be laid across the plains to reach the Pacific and open up trade networks. Questions abounded about the character this new American territory would take: would it be reliant on slave labor and fulfill Jefferson's original vision of an agrarian republic? Would corporations or the federal government lay down the required infrastructure to 'tame the West'? Still, others wondered if turning over the bison laden Plains to New York based corporations would stifle the American dream for America's second and third sons. Still, others believed the technological innovations of the Second Industrial Revolution was the unstoppable culmination of modern civilization propelling the fulfillment of Manifest Destiny. Questions of this nature were not new in American history. Throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, Americans were forced to adjust to the implications of the First Industrial Revolution. 1750 to 1850 marked a century of heightened industrial activity centered around textiles. After the invention of steam power and the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793, cotton could be shipped from the American South by New England ships to the vast textile factories of Great Britain, producing a reverse triangle trade around a single global commodity. These developments were hailed by some as "progress," but the pace, scale, and reliance of slave labor on these developments instilled in others a great sense of anxiety and fear.

Although the economic and social problems of the first Industrial Revolution distressed many, these concerns were set aside during the nation's bloody Civil War (1861-1865).

The following maps demonstrate the advancement of the railroad before the Civil War (as always, click to enlarge image):

American Economic Growth

In the aftermath of the Civil War and Reconstruction, the American economy grew considerably as it entered "The Second Industrial Revolution," generally recognized as the period between 1870 and 1914. The U.S. was awash in an abundance of natural resources from its newly acquired territories, a growing supply of labor immigrating from Europe, and the migration of emancipated African Americans North and West, an expanding market for manufactured goods, and the availability of capital for investment.

The Second Industrial Revolution took local communities and their new products out of the shadow of large regional agricultural based economies which was assisted by new labor forces and production techniques. During the Second Industrial Revolution, innovations in transportation, such as roads, steamboats, the Eerie Canal, and most notably railroads, linked distant, previously isolated communities together.

Transporting Products

For the first time, goods from the American interior could be shipped directly to the Atlantic, and vice versa. Being able to ship products great distances transformed the nature of economic activity in the United States. Before the development of this elaborate transportation and communication system, economies were localized and often based on a barter system. The transportation revolution opened up new markets for farmers, industrialists, and bankers who could now bring crops cotton in the Mississippi River Valley, wheat in the Midwest, and manufactured goods in upstate New York into a global market based on credit. Similarly, the expansion of the railroad brought a dramatic reduction in the time and money it took to move heavy goods, creating new opportunities for wealth at a time when two-thirds of all Americans still resided on farms.

Government Involvement

The federal government actively participated in this growth by promoting industrial and agricultural development. High tariffs were enacted to protect American industry from foreign competition, land was granted to railroad companies to encourage construction, and the army was employed to forcibly remove Indians from western land desired by farmers and mining companies. The rapid growth of factory production, mining, and railroad construction all boosted the new industrial economy and stood in stark contrast to the previous small farm and artisan workshop economy of the pre-Civil War era.

By 1913, the United States produced one-third of the world's industrial out put-more than the total of Great Britain, France, and Germany combined. The living standards and the purchasing power of money increased rapidly, as new technologies played an ever-increasing role in the daily lives of working- and middle-class citizens. Between 1870 and 1920, almost 11 million Americans moved from farm to city, and another 25 million immigrants arrived from overseas. By 1920, for the first time in American history, the census revealed more people lived in cities than on farms.

Interconnected Growth

Inventions during the Second Industrial Revolution were interconnected. The railroad spurred the growth of the telegraph machine. Telegraph lines and railroad lines inextricably bound together as telegraph polls dotted the distance of railroad lines. The telegraph, and later the telephone, ushered in the era of instant communication and brought about, in the words of cultural historian Stephen Kern, "the annihilation of distance." This was a profound change for Americans. The "local" shot outward to the "national" and even "international" as a new sense of world unity was established through these new technologies. These technologies also increased the pace of life and the manner in which people worked and lived.

Major Technological Advances of the Second Industrial Revolution:

* 1870s - Automatic signals, air brakes, and knuckle couplers on the railroads; the Bessemer and then the open-hearth process in the steel mills; the telephone, electric light, and typewriter.
* 1880s - The elevator and structural steel for buildings, leading to the first "skyscrapers."
* 1890s - The phonograph and motion pictures; the electric generator, contributing to modern household items such as refrigerators and washing machines and gradually replaced water and steam powered engines; and the internal combustion engine, which made possible the first automobiles and the first airplane flight by the Wright brothers in 1903.

Unstable Growth

The economic growth during this time period was extraordinary but unstable. The world economy experienced harsh depressions in 1873 and again in 1897. Businesses competed intensely with each other and corporations battled to gain control of industries. Countless companies failed and others were bought up by larger corporations which eventually ruled the marketplace.

For those who were able to capitalize on these technological advancements, the Second Industrial Revolution was highly profitable. During the Depression of 1873, the soon-to-be industry giant, Andrew Carnegie established a steel company which controlled every phase of business from raw materials to transportation, manufacturing, and distribution.

Carnegie Fortune

By the 1890s, Carnegie dominated the steel industry and had accumulated a fortune worth millions. His steel factories were the most technologically advanced in the world, although this honor came at a price for his workers. Carnegie ran his companies with a dictatorial hand; his factories operated around the clock and workers were burdened with long hours. Yet, at the same time, Carnegie believed that the rich had a moral obligation to promote the advancement of society and he distributed much of his wealth to various philanthropies, especially towards the creation of public libraries throughout the country.

Like Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller also accumulated enormous amounts of wealth, although his came through domination of the oil industry.

Beating the Competition

Rockefeller annihilated rival oil firms through committed competition, secret deals with railroad companies, and fixed prices and production quotas. He bought out competing oil refineries and managed all aspects of the operation, including drilling, refining, storage, and distribution. Before long, Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company controlled a majority of the nation's oil industry. Like Carnegie, Rockefeller publicly supported a number of philanthropies, yet privately domineered over his workers and bitterly fought their efforts to organize and unionize.

The Second Industrial Revolution fueled the Gilded Age, a period of great extremes: great wealth and widespread poverty, great expansion and deep depression, new opportunities and greater standardization. Economic insecurity became a basic way of life as the depressions of the 1870s and 1890s put millions out of work or reduced pay. Those who remained in the industrial line of work experienced extremely dangerous working conditions, long hours, no compensation for injuries, no pensions, and low wages. But for a limited minority of workers, the industrial system established new forms of freedom. Skilled workers received high wages in industrial work and oversaw a great deal of the production process. Economic independence now required a technical skill rather than ownership of one's own shop and tools. It was labeled "progress" by its proponents, but those who worked the floor at the factory knew it came at a price.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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The Second Industrial Revolution, 1870-1914 - US History Scene

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"If a Western Rip Van Winkle had fallen asleep in 1869 and awakened in 1896, he would not have recognized the lands that the railroads had touched. Bison had yielded to cattle; mountains had been blasted and bored. Great swaths of land that had once whispered grass now screamed corn and wheat.

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Light bulb, Telephone, Automobile, Airplane

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Light bulb, Telephone, Automobile, Airplane

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Science Lesson: Learn About Inventions

The Telephone & Alexander Graham Bell

What if the only way you could communicate with someone living in another city was by mailing them a letter, one that might take weeks to get delivered? (Even with our modern technology, it still takes at least two weeks for mail to get to some countries.) The telephone is certainly one of the greatest inventions in the history of communication!

The inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, was born in Scotland in 1847, the same year as Thomas Edison. He went to university in Edinburgh and London, then immigrated to Canada in 1870 and to the U.S. a year later. There he used visible speech (a type of phonetic notation that shows the position of the throat, mouth, and tongue to make different sounds) to teach deaf-mute people how speak.

When he was a young man, Bell became interested in transmitting speech, the way a telegraph transmitted messages. In 1874 he developed the idea for the telephone and successfully created and patented one two years later. (Just two hours after he applied for his patent, Elisha Gray filed his intention to apply for a patent for a very similar device.) His first transmitted sentence was to his assistant: 'Watson, come here; I want to see you.' Bell demonstrated his telephone at the Philadelphia Centennial Expo and in 1877 organized the Bell Telephone Company.

So how does this amazing invention work? How can you talk to someone miles away and hear them as though they were in the same room with you? It's actually a fairly simple process. At its most basic, a telephone consists of a switch, a receiver, and a microphone. The switch connects your phone to the telephone network; the receiver changes electrical signals into sound waves so you can hear the other person, and the microphone changes the sound waves you make into electrical impulses to send to the other end of the line.

The microphone contains carbon granules and a thin metal diaphragm. When you speak, the sound waves (vibrations in the air) hit the diaphragm and cause it to move, compressing the carbon granules behind it. A louder sound will compress the granules more than a soft sound. When the carbon is compressed, an electrical current can flow through it more easily. A battery (either in your handset or at the telephone company) sends an electric current through your phone; when you speak, the compression of the carbon varies the intensity of the current.
Experiment with electricity and sound transmission with this kit for kids!
This process is reversed at the other end of the line by the receiver. The electrical current flows through an electromagnet in the receiver, producing a magnetic field. This magnetic field attracts the thin metal diaphragm in the receiver, causing it to move in and out. As it does so, it pushes and pulls the air, creating sound waves. These waves reach your ear with the same intensity as they were spoken, allowing you to hear what the other person said.

The process hinges on the ability to have a variable electrical current. Unlike the telephone, a telegraph operates on a constant electric current - the messages are transmitted not by changing the current, but by repeatedly turning it on and off in a distinct pattern. Because the human voice doesn't start and stop sound waves in the same way as tapping Morse code does, the current must be able to adjust for variation in volume and frequency. The carbon microphone allows for this variation, giving us the ability to transmit speech electrically.

Bell probably couldn't have imagined the kind of communication we have today. Not only do we have long-distance telephone networks all over the world, we also have cellular phones that use radio frequencies to allow us to talk wirelessly wherever we are. Communication was changed forever by the telephone and continues to develop rapidly today.
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The Light Bulb & Thomas Edison

Perhaps one of the most important inventions of all time is the electric light bulb. We could get by with candles or lanterns in our homes, but imagine trying to shop at the mall, work in a large office complex, or travel at night by car or plane without electric lighting!

Thomas Alva Edison, one of the developers of the modern light bulb, is also one of the most famous as well as prolific inventors in history. He patented over 1000 inventions in his lifetime. Edison was born in Ohio in 1847. As a child, he received less than a year of formal schooling, but was educated at home. His parents allowed him to set up a laboratory in their basement and his mother gave him books about chemistry and electronics. Edison credits his mother as being 'the making' of him.

When he was 12, Edison got a job selling newspapers on a train that made day trips between his hometown of Port Huron, Michigan and Detroit. He took his laboratory along in the baggage car so that he would be able to experiment during layovers. This worked until one day some of his chemicals spilled and started a fire! Also while working on the train, Edison saved the child of one of the station masters, and as a reward was taught how to use a telegraph machine. He became a telegraph operator and began making improvements to the telegraph's functionality. He later invented a way for multiple telegraph messages to be transmitted simultaneously (rather than one at a time).

As a young man, Edison moved to New York City and eventually established a laboratory. In 1877 he invented the phonograph, which used a record made of tinfoil to play back sound. In 1879 he created a successful incandescent light bulb. This was his hardest project - from 1877 to 1880, Edison and his assistants tried around 3000 experiments to perfect their light bulb design. By the end of 1880, Edison had produced a bulb that lasted 1500 hours. (This has a moral: don't worry if some of your own science experiments aren't a success the first time you try them!)
Experiment with electricity with our student-friendly kit!
Edison was not the first person to make a working light bulb: In the 1860s another English scientist, Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, began experimenting. He made a light bulb that used carbonized paper for a filament. But Swan lacked a strong enough vacuum inside the bulb; a design problem that he corrected at almost the same time Edison did. After a legal battle between the two inventors, Edison and Swan teamed up and created the company Ediswan to market their invention.

How exactly do light bulbs work? For being such an important part of our lives, they have a fairly simple design. The base contains two metal contacts, which connect to an electrical circuit. These contacts are attached to two wires, which are in turn attached to the filament in the middle of the bulb (the filament is usually supported by a glass mount). A power supply sends an electric current from one contact to the other, traveling up through the wires and the filament. As the current passes through the filament, it "excites" the atoms that make up the filament material, causing them to give off energy in the form of heat and light. Edison tried thousands of different materials for his filaments, but most of them produced light for only a short time. He finally tried a carbonized cotton thread, which burned for many hours. Eventually, light bulbs were made using the metal tungsten for the filament. Tungsten works well because it has an unusually high melting point. This is important because metal must be heated to extreme temperatures to give off enough light.

The danger of running electrical current through the filament is that the resulting high temperatures may cause the filament to combust, or catch on fire. This will only happen if oxygen is present, so Edison sucked all the air out of his glass bulbs to create a vacuum. This method worked fine to prevent combustion, but it allowed filament atoms to evaporate, shortening the life of the bulb. In modern bulbs, the glass is filled with an inert gas, such as argon. This prevents combustion, and also helps prevent tungsten atoms from evaporating.

For over a century we have read and worked by the light of Edison's incandescent bulb. Other light sources, such as fluorescent bulbs and LED, have gained popularity in recent years because of their efficiency. The incandescent bulb releases most of its energy in the form of heat, not light, thus wasting electricity. Fluorescent and LED, however, are much cooler, and release most of their energy as visible light. These light sources have replaced the incandescent bulb for many functions.

Although almost all of Edison's discoveries were technological rather than strictly scientific, his invention credits include an alkaline storage battery, microphone, mimeograph (a copy machine), and a kinetoscope for viewing moving pictures. He also created the first 'talkie,' a movie that had sound, using his kinetoscope and phonograph. He continued to improve not only the incandescent light bulb, but some of his other inventions like the phonograph as well.
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The Airplane and the Wright Brothers

On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright flew the first powered, heavier-than-air airplane, propelling himself and his older brother Wilbur into world history. It took the brothers years of preparation to get to that cold and windy day in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Wilbur (born in 1867) and Orville (born in 1871) grew up in Dayton, Ohio, the son of a United Brethren minister. Both of their parents had college educations, and they fostered intellectual curiosity and experimentation in their children. Bishop Wright sparked his young sons' interest in flight early on by bringing them a special toy - a flying top. This toy was essentially a rubber-band powered helicopter. The boys flew it until it fell apart, and then Wilbur built his own. As they grew older, the boys spent much of their time designing, building, and selling kites.

As young adults, Wilbur and Orville capitalized on the booming popularity of bicycles by starting their own bicycle sale and repair shop. Eventually they started building their own bicycles, which was excellent training for their next enterprise: building a flying machine.

Wilbur and Orville read everything about flight that they could get their hands on in Dayton. To get more information, Wilbur wrote the Smithsonian asking for up-to-date materials on the study of flight. With the Smithsonian's help they studied Sir George Cayley's work with the four forces of flight (lift, gravity, thrust, and drag), others' experiments with gliders, and the attempts at flight made by the Smithsonian's secretary, Samuel Langley. All the work these men had done, even when they failed, proved indispensable to the Wrights' efforts. After carefully studying, Wilbur and Orville began their own scientific analysis of what was needed for flight, and began designing their own gliders. They didn't just want to put an airplane in the sky; they wanted controlled flight, and for this they needed to master the three axes of motion: pitch, roll, and yaw.

Pitch is the up and down motion of the airplane's nose (climbing or diving). Roll is the airplane rolling from side to side, causing its wings to tilt up or down. This is especially necessary for turns. When an airplane turns left, it doesn't just remain level; the left wing will dip down and the right wing will be raised up. The last of the three axes is yaw, which is the airplane's right and left movement.

Orville and Wilbur realized that birds control pitch, roll, and yaw by adjusting the shape of their wings. The brothers tried to mimic this by developing what they called 'wing warping,' a system of wires and pulleys that manipulated the glider wings to allow banking turns to the left and right. At first the wing warping was controlled with the pilot's feet, but eventually they designed a hip cradle, which was easier to use. The pilot shifted his hips right, the wires pulled the left wingtips up, and the glider banked to the right. Wing warping took care of roll; their front elevator controlled pitch, and eventually the brothers controlled yaw by connecting wires from a rudder to the hip cradle.

In the autumn of 1900, the Wrights packed up a glider and set up camp at a deserted and windy beach outside of Kitty Hawk, NC. For three weeks they flew their glider as a kite, before trying to pilot it. Though they didn't achieve as much lift as they expected based on the lift tables established by aviation researchers, they were very happy with the results of their first Kitty Hawk visit. Their best flight lasted 15 seconds and covered 300 feet.

1901 saw the brothers back at Kitty Hawk, this time with an upgraded glider. The flight tests did not go as they had hoped. The new glider proved much more difficult to control, and they simply could not get the amount of lift they were trying for. They went home to Dayton discouraged and ready to give up. Men will certainly fly, they thought, but not in our lifetime. In the end, they decided to persevere. The lift tables widely accepted by the other pioneers in flight must be wrong. The Wrights decided to test the tables; they built their own wind tunnel in the back of their bicycle shop, and observed its effects on 200 different types of miniature wings.

With the information they gathered from their wind tunnel experiments, the brothers built yet another glider for testing in 1902. This was the first flying machine that had controls for all three axes of motion. It flew smoothly, was controlled easily, and glided more than 600 feet several times. They had a maneuverable aircraft; now they needed power.

True to form, the Wrights decided to build their own engine for their plane (named 'The Flyer'). The finished product put out 12 horsepower and weighed 180 lb (the entire plane weighed 605 lbs). Then came the real challenge: designing propellers. One of their greatest contributions to aviation turned out to be their pioneer research on propellers. Their final product had 70% efficiency, which is nearly as good as modern propel ers! Back at Kitty Hawk in the fall of 1903, they began assembling The Flyer. Bad weather and damage to the plane delayed flying for several months, but finally in mid-December they were ready. Because wheels would make the plane too heavy, the Wrights constructed a wooden track for the plane to move on when taking off. On December 17th, Orville climbed onto The Flyer and started the engine. It moved down the track and lifted into the air. That first flight last only 12 seconds and covered 120 feet, but it was still the first-ever controlled, heavier-than-air flight. The brothers flew the plane four times that day, and the fourth time Wilbur flew for 59 seconds, covering 852 feet.

After this breakthrough the Wrights continued to improve their plane. Now that they weren't dependent on the winds for power, they left the beaches of Kitty Hawk and moved their work to an Ohio field. By 1905, Wilbur was flying laps around the field: 24.5 miles in 39 minutes. In spite of this success, the brothers couldn't find a buyer for their invention. They decided to stop flying until they could get a sales contract. Three years later, in 1908, they received offers from the French and from the U.S. Army. Wilbur packed up a plane and went to France, where he became something of a celebrity by flying figure eights and taking up passengers (this later model had two seats). Orville demonstrated his plane for the U.S. Government and impressed them with his altitude of 300 feet, hour-long flights and average speed of 42.58 miles. They paid him $30,000 for the plane.

The age of aviation had 'taken off,' so to speak. Just 44 years after that first powered flight, airplanes began flying faster than the speed of sound; in another 14 years men were flying in space; another eight years after that they were walking on the moon. The Wright brothers' passion and perseverance laid the foundation for this astonishing and speedy technological advance.
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Science Projects: Technology Experiments

Make a Light Bulb

Thomas Edison tried thousands of experiments when he was inventing the incandescent light bulb. You can experiment too, and find out how a light bulb really works, by making your own! You will need a glass canning jar with a lid, three feet of insulated copper wire, a 6-volt battery, and thin iron wire (unraveled picture hanging wire works great).

Cut the copper wire into two equal sections. Strip at least one inch of insulation off the ends of each length of wire. Next, punch two holes in the jar lid (you can use a nail for this). Thread a wire through each hole in the lid. Make a hook at the end of each wire (the end that will be inside the jar when you put the lid on). Twist two or three strands of iron wire together, then twist the ends around the hooks in the copper wire. The iron wire will act as your filament.

Place the lid (with the filament) in the jar and carefully connect the free ends of the copper wire to the 6-volt battery. Once both ends are connected, the current should start flowing, causing the filament to heat up and give off a bright orange glow. Your homemade light bulb is working! (Note: once your filament is burned out, don't touch it right away - it will be very hot.)

For full instructions on making and experimenting with propellers, read the rest of this science project!
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Learn about Inventions: Airplane, Light Bulb, Telephone

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What if the only way you could communicate with someone living in another city was by mailing them a letter, one that might take weeks to get delivered? (Even with our modern technology, it still takes at least two weeks for mail to get to some countries.)

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http://ushistoryscene.com/article/second-industrial-revolution/
The Lightbulb, Telephone, Automobile, Airplane
https://learning-center.homesciencetools.com/article/modern-inventions-airplane-light-bulb-telephone/
The Rise of Big Business
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUe0TEdEVcU
The Rise of Labor Movement
https://aflcio.org/about/history
American Imperialism
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ushistory/chapter/american-imperialism/
Immigration and Growth of Cities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRhjqqe750A
Political Corruption and Progressive Government Reform
https://www.amazon.com/Corruption-Government-Causes-Consequences-Reform/dp/0521659124
Women's Rights
https://www.amazon.com/Corruption-Government-Causes-Consequences-Reform/dp/0521659124

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Rise of Labor Movement

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Women's Rights

# data[].attributes.body
https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/09/lincolns-10-percent-plan/
Wade Davis Bill:
https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=37
13-15th Amendments:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpiH2b923pc
Plessy v Ferguson:
https://www.missedinhistory.com/podcasts/plessy-v-ferguson.htm
Fort Sumter
https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/fort-sumter
Emancipation Proclamation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh3-9R7Q0OE
Battle of Gettysberg:
https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/battle-of-gettysburg
Appomattox Court House:
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/appomattox-court-house
The Gold Rush
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldrush-california/
Homestead and Morrill Acts:
https://into-the-westah1.weebly.com/homestead-act-and-morrill-land.html
The Long Walk:
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/the-long-walk-a-tragedy-unobserved-years-later/article_22f697c9-5cb0-5fed-bbfc-696e56dd35fb.html
Massacre at Wounded Knee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7b3K61ri10

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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

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Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are shot to death by a Bosnian Serb nationalist during an official visit to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. The killings sparked a chain of events that led to the outbreak of World War I by early August. On June 28, 1919, five years to the day after Franz Ferdinand's death, Germany and the Allied Powers signed the Treaty of Versailles, officially marking the end of World War I.

The archduke traveled to Sarajevo in June 1914 to inspect the imperial armed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908. The annexation had angered Serbian nationalists, who believed the territories should be part of Serbia. A group of young nationalists hatched a plot to kill the archduke during his visit to Sarajevo, and after some missteps, 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip was able to shoot the royal couple at point-blank range, while they traveled in their official procession, killing both almost instantly.

The assassination set off a rapid chain of events, as Austria-Hungary immediately blamed the Serbian government for the attack. As large and powerful Russia supported Serbia, Austria asked for assurances that Germany would step in on its side against Russia and its allies, including France and possibly Great Britain. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the fragile peace between Europe's great powers collapsed, beginning the devastating conflict now known as the First World War.

After more than four years of bloodshed, the Great War ended on November 11, 1918, after Germany, the last of the Central Powers, surrendered to the Allies. At the peace conference in Paris in 1919, Allied leaders would state their desire to build a post-war world that was safe from future wars of such enormous scale. The Versailles Treaty, signed on June 28, 1919, tragically failed to achieve this objective. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's grand dreams of an international peace-keeping organization faltered when put into practice as the League of Nations. Even worse, the harsh terms imposed on Germany, the war's biggest loser, led to widespread resentment of the treaty and its authors in that country-a resentment that would culminate in the outbreak of the Second World War two decades later.

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Austria's Archduke Ferdinand assassinated | June 28, 1914 | HISTORY

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Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are shot to death by a Bosnian Serb nationalist during an official visit to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. The killings sparked a chain of events that led to the outbreak of World War I by early August.

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by A. Torrey McLean
Reprinted with permission from Tar Heel Junior Historian, Spring 1993.
Tar Heel Junior Historian Association, NC Museum of History

See also: WWI: Life on the Western Front

One of the saddest facts about World War I is that millions died needlessly because military and civilian leaders were slow to adapt their old-fashioned strategies and tactics to the new weapons of 1914. New technology made war more horrible and more complex than ever before. The United States and other countries felt the effects of the war for years afterwards.

The popular image of World War I is soldiers in muddy trenches and dugouts, living miserably until the next attack. This is basically correct. Technological developments in engineering, metallurgy, chemistry, and optics had produced weapons deadlier than anything known before. The power of defensive weapons made winning the war on the western front all but impossible for either side.

When attacks were ordered, Allied soldiers went "over the top," climbing out of their trenches and crossing no-man's-land to reach enemy trenches. They had to cut through belts of barbed wire before they could use rifles, bayonets, pistols, and hand grenades to capture enemy positions. A victory usually meant they had seized only a few hundred yards of shell-torn earth at a terrible cost in lives. Wounded men often lay helpless in the open until they died. Those lucky enough to be rescued still faced horrible sanitary conditions before they could be taken to proper medical facilities. Between attacks,the snipers, artillery, and poison gas caused misery and death.

Airplanes, products of the new technology, were primarily made of canvas, wood, and wire. At first they were used only to observe enemy troops. As their effectiveness became apparent, both sides shot planes down with artillery from the ground and with rifles, pistols, and machine guns from other planes. In 1916, the Germans armed planes with machine guns that could fire forward without shooting off the fighters' propellers. The Allies soon armed their airplanes the same way, and war in the air became a deadly business. These light, highly maneuverable fighter planes attacked each other in wild air battles called dogfights. Pilots who were shot down often remained trapped in their falling, burning planes, for they had no parachutes. Airmen at the front did not often live long. Germany also used its fleet of huge dirigibles, or zeppelins, and large bomber planes to drop bombs on British and French cities. Britain retaliated by bombing German cities.

Back on the ground, the tank proved to be the answer to stalemate in the trenches. This British invention used American-designed caterpillar tracks to move the armored vehicle equipped with machine guns and sometimes light cannon. Tanks worked effectively on firm, dry ground, in spite of their slow speed, mechanical problems, and vulnerability to artillery. Able to crush barbed wire and cross trenches, tanks moved forward through machine gun fire and often terrified German soldiers with their unstoppable approach.

Chemical warfare first appeared when the Germans used poison gas during a surprise attack in Flanders, Belgium, in 1915. At first, gas was just released from large cylinders and carried by the wind into nearby enemy lines. Later, phosgene and other gases were loaded into artillery shells and shot into enemy trenches. The Germans used this weapon the most, realizing that enemy soldiers wearing gas masks did not fight as well. All sides used gas frequently by 1918. Its use was a frightening development that caused its victims a great deal of suffering, if not death.

Both sides used a variety of big guns on the western front, ranging from huge naval guns mounted on railroad cars to short-range trench mortars. The result was a war in which soldiers near the front were seldom safe from artillery bombardment. The Germans used super-long-range artillery to shell Paris from almost eighty miles away. Artillery shell blasts created vast, cratered, moonlike landscapes where beautiful fields and woods had once stood.

Perhaps the most significant technological advance during World War I was the improvement of the machine gun, a weapon originally developed by an American, Hiram Maxim. The Germans recognized its military potential and had large numbers ready to use in 1914. They also developed air-cooled machine guns for airplanes and improved those used on the ground, making them lighter and easier to move. The weapon's full potential was demonstrated on the Somme battlefield in July 1916 when German machine guns killed or wounded almost 60,000 British soldiers in only one day.

At sea, submarines attacked ships far from port. In order to locate and sink German U-boats, British scientists developed underwater listening devices and underwater explosives called depth charges. Warships became faster and more powerful than ever before and used newly invented radios to communicate effectively. The British naval blockade of Germany, which was made possible by developments in naval technology, brought a total war to civilians. The blockade caused a famine that finally brought about the collapse of Germany and its allies in late 1918. Starvation and malnutrition continued to take the lives of German adults and children for years after the war.

The firing stopped on November 11, 1918, but modern war technology had changed the course of civilization. Millions had been killed, gassed, maimed, or starved. Famine and disease continued to rage through central Europe, taking countless lives. Because of rapid technological advances in every area, the nature of warfare had changed forever, affecting soldiers, airmen, sailors, and civilians alike.
A. Torrey McLean, a former United States Army officer who served in Vietnam, studied World War I for more than thirty years, personally interviewing a number of World War I veterans.

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by A. Torrey McLean Reprinted with permission from Tar Heel Junior Historian, Spring 1993. Tar Heel Junior Historian Association, NC Museum of History See also: WWI: Life on the Western Front One of the saddest facts about World War I is that millions died needlessly because military and civilian leaders were slow to adapt their old-fashioned strategies and tactics to the new weapons of 1914.

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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/archduke-ferdinand-assassinated
Technology of WW1
https://www.ncpedia.org/wwi-technology-and-weapons-war
America's Role in WW1
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/rise-to-world-power/us-in-wwi/a/the-united-states-in-world-war-i
How was peace established
http://totallyhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Treaty_of_Versailles_English_version.jpg
The Rise of the Automobile
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL_lStk8q9c&t=61s
The 18th Amendment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKhkT6Gge6M
Black Tuesday/Stock Market Crash of 1929
https://i1.wp.com/www.bookofdaystales.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/bt4.jpg
Business Cycle/Causes of the Great Depression
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0SW3BgwL14
President Roosevelt's New Deal/Plan for Ending the Great Depression
https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/new-deal
The Dust Bowl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-rBhbkvtm0
The Rise of Totalitarianism in Europe in the 1930's
https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-did-rise-totalitarianism-lead-wwii-315984
America's Involvement in WW2
https://www.thoughtco.com/overview-of-world-war-ii-105520

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The United States in World War I (article) | Khan Academy

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Learn for free about math, art, computer programming, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, finance, history, and more. Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

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How was peace established at the end of WW1?

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How was peace established at the end of WW1?

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History Brief: The Rise of the Automobile

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Black Tuesday/Stock Market Crash of 1929

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Black Tuesday/Stock Market Crash of 1929

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Business Cycle/Causes of the Great Depression 

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Business Cycle/Causes of the Great Depression 

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📽 The Great Depression | What Caused It?

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President Roosevelt's New Deal/Plan for Ending the Great Depression

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President Roosevelt's New Deal/Plan for Ending the Great Depression

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New Deal - Programs, Social Security & FDR

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The New Deal was a series of programs and projects instituted during the Great Depression by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that aimed to restore prosperity to Americans. A Second New Deal was put in place shortly thereafter as a way to continue the country’s economic recovery.

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The Rise of Totalitarianism in Europe in the 1930's

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The Rise of Totalitarianism in Europe in the 1930's

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When events began happening in Europe that would eventually lead to World War II, many Americans took an increasingly hard line toward getting involved. The events of World War I had fed into the United States' natural desire of isolationism, and this was reflected by the passage of Neutrality Acts and the general hands-off approach to the events that unfolded on the world stage.

Increasing Tensions

While the United States was wallowing in neutrality and isolationism, events were occurring in Europe and Asia that were causing increasing tension across the regions. These events included:

Totalitarianism as a form of government in the USSR (Joseph Stalin), Italy (Benito Mussolini), Germany (Adolf Hitler), and Spain (Francisco Franco)

A move toward fascism in Japan

The creation of Manchukuo, Japan's puppet government in Manchuria, beginning the war in China

The conquest of Ethiopia by Mussolini

Revolution in Spain led by Francisco Franco

Germany's continuing expansion including taking the Rhineland

The worldwide Great Depression

World War I allies with large debts, many of whom were not paying them off

The United States passed the Neutrality Acts in 1935-1937, which created an embargo on all war item shipments. U.S. citizens were not allowed to travel on "belligerent" ships, and no belligerents were allowed loans in the United States.

The Road to War

The actual war in Europe began with a series of events:

Germany took Austria (1938) and the Sudtenland (1938)

The Munich Pact was created (1938) with England and France agreeing to allow Hitler to keep the Sudetenland as long as no further expansion occurred

Hitler and Mussolini created the Rome-Berlin Axis military alliance to last 10 years (1939)

Japan entered an alliance with Germany and Italy (1939)

The Moscow-Berlin Pact occurred, promising nonaggression between the two powers (1939)

Hitler invaded Poland (1939)

England and France declared war on Germany (September 30, 1939)

The Changing American Attitude

At this time and despite President Franklin Roosevelt's desire to help the allied powers of France and Great Britain, the only concession America made was to allow the sale of arms on a "cash and carry" basis.

Hitler continued to expand in Europe, taking Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In June 1940, France fell to Germany. The speed of the expansion was noticed in the U.S. and the government began to reinforce the military.

The final break in isolationism began with the 1941 Lend-Lease Act, whereby America was allowed to "sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of, to any such government...any defense article." Great Britain promised not to export any of the lend-lease materials. After this, America built a base on Greenland and then issued the Atlantic Charter on August 14, 1941. The document was a joint declaration between Great Britain and the U.S. about the purposes of war against fascism. The Battle of the Atlantic began with German U-boats wreaking havoc. This battle would last throughout the war.

Pearl Harbor

The real event that changed America into a nation actively at war was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This was precipitated in July 1939 when Franklin Roosevelt announced that the U.S. would no longer trade items such as gasoline and iron to Japan, which needed it for its war with China. In July 1941, the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis was created. The Japanese began occupying French Indo-China and the Philippines, and all Japanese assets were frozen in the U.S. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, killing more than 2,000 people and damaging or destroying eight battleships, which seriously damaged the Pacific fleet. America officially entered the war and now had to fight on two fronts: Europe and the Pacific.

After the U.S. declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. Strategically, at the beginning of the war the U.S. government began following a Germany First strategy, mainly because it posed the greatest threat to the West, it had a larger military, and it seemed the most likely to develop newer and more lethal weapons. One of the worst tragedies of World War II was the Holocaust, during which between 1933 and 1945 it is estimated that anywhere from 9 to 11 million Jews and others were killed. Only after the defeat of the Nazis were the concentration camps closed and the remaining survivors freed.

American Rationing

Americans at home sacrificed while soldiers fought overseas. By the end of the war, more than 12 million American soldiers had joined or were drafted into the military. Widespread rationing occurred. For example, families were given coupons to purchase sugar based on the size of their families. They could not buy more than their coupons would allow. However, rationing covered more than just food-it also included goods such as shoes and gasoline.

Some items were just not available in America. Silk stockings made in Japan were not available-they were replaced by the new synthetic nylon stockings. No automobiles were produced from February 1943 until the end of the war to move the manufacturing to war-specific items.

Many women entered the workforce to help make munitions and implements of war. These women were nicknamed "Rosie the Riveter" and were a central part of America's success in war.

Japanese Relocation Camps

Wartime restrictions were imposed on civil liberties. A real black mark on the American homefront was the Executive Order No. 9066 signed by Roosevelt in 1942. This ordered those of Japanese-American descent to be moved to "Relocation Camps." This law eventually forced close to 120,000 Japanese-Americans in the western part of the United States to leave their homes and move to one of 10 "relocation" centers or to other facilities across the nation. Most of those relocated were American citizens by birth. They were forced to sell their homes, most for next to nothing, and take only what they could carry.

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act that provided redress for Japanese-Americans. Each living survivor was paid $20,000 for the forced incarceration. In 1989, President George H. W. Bush issued a formal apology.

America and Russia

In the end, America came together to successfully defeat fascism abroad. The end of the war would send the U.S. into a Cold War due to concessions made to the Russians in exchange for their aid in defeating the Japanese. Communist Russia and the United States would be at odds with each other until the downfall of the USSR in 1989.

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As World War II approached, many Americans preferred not to get involved and America's isolationism was reflected by the passage of Neutrality Acts.