On August 5, 1864, Union admiral David Farragut led his ships into Mobile Bay, Alabama, to battle the Confederates for control of the last major port for Confederate blockade runners. Farragut’s force consisted of 14 wooden ships and 4 ironclad, while Mobile Bay was protected by only 3 gunboats and 1 ironclad, the Tennessee. However,…
From the vantage point of history, there is consensus: the Great War changed everything. World War I resulted in more than 37 million casualties. Empires were lost. An era of new roles for women and civic rights swept the globe. National boundaries were reshaped. Economies were devastated. The world was never the same. And now,…
If you’re interested in getting a first-hand look at what life was like for American soldiers in Europe during World War I, try browsing through Fold3’s collection of Officer Experience Reports. More than simply giving summaries of the dates, places, and technical aspects of the men’s service, these reports by engineering officers of the American…
As we celebrate the founding of America this month, learn more about the people who made it possible by exploring Fold3’s Revolutionary War collection for free July 14–31. If you have Revolutionary War ancestors, you might find them in the Revolutionary War pension files, service records, war rolls, or payment vouchers, or in the Revolutionary…
This July 28 marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I in 1914. A month before the war began, on June 28, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife Sophie had been assassinated during a trip to Bosnia. Initial outrage was strong, as were fears that this would…
On July 11–12, 1864, Confederate general Jubal Early led his troops in an attempt to take Washington DC. The beleaguered Robert E. Lee had sent Early north to create havoc that would draw Federal soldiers away from Petersburg and Richmond, thus relieving some of the pressure on those cities. Early and his men traveled to…
If you have ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War, Fold3’s Revolutionary War Pension Files can be a valuable resource for finding detailed information about them and their families. With roughly 80,000 files, this collection (via the National Archives) contains applications for veterans’ pensions, widows’ pensions, and bounty land warrants, organized by state and then…
