Video: Fort Pulaski

(Friday, April 11, 1862, during the American Civil War) — The two-day Battle of Fort Pulaski on Cockspur Island, Georgia, near the mouth of the Savannah River, ended today as the fort fell to Union forces.

Video: April 11, 1862 (at 47:45)

(Friday, April 11, 1862, during the American Civil War) — U.S. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was removed from field command today by Gen. Henry W. Halleck after the frightful losses (including nearly 3,500 deaths) in the victory of the Battle of Shiloh.

(Friday, April 11, 1862, during the American Civil War) — In a letter to his brother Charles Francis Adams Jr., in London, journalist, historian, academic and novelist Henry Brooks Adams wrote today: “Someday science may have the existence of mankind in its power, and the human race commit suicide, by blowing up the world.”

Video: April 7, 1862 (at 51:17)

(Monday, April 7, 1862, part of the American Civil War) — Union gunboats and 2,000 troops today took the Confederate fortress at Island Number Ten near New Madrid, Missouri, leaving the Mississippi River open as far south as Memphis.

Video: April 6, 1862 (at 32:09)

(Sunday, April 6, 1862, during the American Civil War) — The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, began this morning in southwestern Tennessee when Confederate forces under Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard launched a surprise attack on Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. Continue reading Confederates launch Battle of Shiloh 150 years ago today (1862) →

Video: April 5, 1862 (at 24:25)

(Saturday, April 5, 1862,  part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War) — The monthlong Siege of Yorktown began today in Virginia when the Union commander, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, overestimated the enemy’s strength and insisted on preparations for a full-scale assault.

Video: April 4, 1862 (at 21:51)

(Friday, April 4, 1862,  part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War) — Union Gen. George B. McClellan’s army began its advance toward Richmond today with 121,500 men, 14,592 horses and mules, 1,150 wagons and 44 batteries of artillery.

Video: Gray condolence letter (at 27:47)

(Thursday, March 20, 1862, during the American Civil War) — An official condolence letter was written today to the brother of Corporal Charles Gray, who was killed at the Battle of New Bern on Mar. 14, 1862. He was the first man from Deer Isle, Maine, to join the army and the first from the island to die in the war.

Video: Fugitive Slave Act

(Thursday, March 13, 1862, during the American Civil War) — U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed a measure today prohibiting Union military officers from returning fugitive slaves to their owners, effectively superseding the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

Video: Lincoln and McClellan at Antietam, Oct. 1862

(Tuesday, March 11, 1862, during the American Civil War) — President Abraham Lincoln today removed Gen. George B. McClellan as general-in-chief of the Union armies, leaving him in command of only the Army of the Potomac, ostensibly so that McClellan would be free to devote all his attention to the move on Richmond.