Following WWI, the United States commemorated November 11th as Armistice Day. The date was significant since WWI fighting ended on November 11, 1918 (the 11th hour, 11th month, 11th day). However, in 1947, a WWII veteran from Birmingham, Alabama, was the driving force in his community to organize this country’s first Veterans Day celebration. Raymond…
We’ve recently completed a publication that contains nearly 11 million records of U.S. Veterans gravesites that date back to the Revolutionary War. The U.S. Veterans’ Gravesites, ca. 1775-2019 collection compiles records from a variety of sources and cemeteries for soldiers and their dependents who were buried in Veterans Affairs (VA) National Cemeteries, state veterans’ cemeteries,…
We have added a new collection of naval records to our archives! The Navy Officers’ Letters 1802-1884 is a collection of letters to the Secretary of the Navy from officers assigned to naval ships, stations, and Navy bureaus. The letters contain routine personnel matters such as duty assignments, leave or furloughs, desertions, resignations, court-martials, and…
On August 12, 1898, representatives for the United States and Spain signed a peace protocol in Washington DC, ending the three-month-long Spanish-American War in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The American victory against the Spanish would result in the collapse of what remained of Spain’s colonial empire and would herald America’s entrance as…
