Do you have New York ancestors? If so, take some time to explore Fold3’s new collection of New York Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts. Like its title suggests, this collection, from microfilm at the New York State Archives, is made up of abstracts compiled from original muster rolls for New York volunteer units (mostly infantry…
Unlike many other countries, when the United States entered World War II, they didn’t have a canine corps. But the military came to believe that dogs would prove an asset, so in 1942 a war dog program was introduced. Since the country was already at war, the military needed a large number of dogs right…
On June 17, 1775, American colonists clashed with the British in the Battle of Bunker Hill, the first major battle of the American Revolution. At the time, the British occupying Boston were under siege and thus aimed to take the nearby and strategically valuable Dorchester Heights. In response, the Americans decided to build defenses on…
June 1865 was the month of two of the final surrenders of Confederate land forces at the end of the Civil War. At the beginning of June, Confederate general Edmund Kirby Smith signed the documents that surrendered the Trans-Mississippi Department—the last unsurrendered Confederate department, comprising approximately 36,000 troops—to the Federals. Although Smith had rejected a…
When many of us think of photos from World War II, we think of black-and-white images. After all, most of the iconic photographs from the war—like those capturing the flag raising on Iwo Jima or the VJ Day kiss in Times Square—are in that medium. But actually, color photography had slowly been becoming more popular…
On May 12–13, 1865, 800 Federal troops under Colonel Theodore H. Barrett engaged Colonel John S. Ford‘s 350 Confederates outside Brownsville, Texas, in the Battle of Palmito (Palmetto) Ranch, the last battle of the Civil War. Although an informal agreement to avoid conflict had existed between the Federals and Confederates along the Rio Grande since…
This May 8 marks the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day in 1945. If you have family members who served in World War II, or are just interested in the time period, take a look at Fold3’s World War II Collection, which you can access for free from May 1st to 15th. The…
