Militia

The Battle at Northallerton: Knights on Foot?

By Terry Gore

“To be a knight was to be potentially a Lord or Lordling … and a fate worse than death, was to set one’s hand to the plow.” Read more

Militia

Medieval Knights: Arms and Armor at Northallerton

by Terry Gore

Numerous pictorial representations show us the arms and armor of the 12th-century Anglo-Norman knight, the most famous being the Bayeux Tapestry. Read more

Militia

The History of the American Long Rifle

by James K. Swisher

The battle at Kings Mountain in October 1780 was the only clash of the American Revolution in which the entire colonial force was armed with American long rifles. Read more

Militia

Citizen Casualties at the Bloody Battle of Aschaffenburg

by Christopher Miskimon

During the highly destructive Battle of Aschaffenburg, American soldiers reported seeing civilians fighting alongside German troops. Such reports were common during the battle, as were a number of reports of Germans troops shooting their own civilians as they tried to flee the city. Read more

Militia

Flags from World War I, World War II and the American Civil War

Founded in 1773, the Charleston Museum in South Carolina dubs itself “America’s First Museum.” Its new collection, “Unfurled,” is a stunning collection of historical flags from American history. Read more

Militia

Missouri Joins the Civil War: Prelude to the Battle of Wilson’s Creek

by Joshua van Dereck

At the beginning of 1861, Missouri was in turmoil. A slave state since its inception in 1820, Missouri had grown increasingly tied to urban industry. Read more

Militia

Ulysses S. Grant: Clerk to Commanding General

by Donald J. Roberts II

The Confederate attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, marked the beginning of the American Civil War. Read more

Militia

Female Revolutionary War Heroes: the Front Lines and at Home

by Mike Haskew Martha Custis Washington: General’s Wife and First Lady

Martha Custis Washington, wife of General George Washington, came to the winter quarters of her husband’s army each winter of the Revolutionary War. Read more

Militia

American Civil War Timeline: the Road to War

by William Welsh

One of the catalysts for a major rebellion in the United States were irregular warfare in “Bleeding Kansas” from 1854 to 1861 between anti-slavery Free Staters and pro-slavery border ruffians. Read more

Militia

Blood on the Village Green: Battle at Concord

By David A. Norris

“Soldiers, don’t fire!” In the half light of dawn on April 19, 1775, war was breaking out on a New England town common, and Major John Pitcairn of His Majesty’s Marine Forces was trying to stop it. Read more

Militia

The Volkssturm: Last-Ditch Militia of the Third Reich

By Blaine Taylor

On October 18, 1944—the 131st anniversary of the Battle of the Nations’ victory over Napoleon in 1813—Reichsführer-SS (National Leader) Heinrich Himmler stepped up to a microphone to make a national radio address announcing the formation of the Nazi Party-controlled Volkssturm, or People’s Militia. Read more

Militia

The Citizen-Soldier: Militia in Early America

by Donald Roberts II

British colonization of the New World transplanted many British institutions to America. Besides the political and social beliefs seeded in the colonies, military ideals were also implemented. Read more

Militia

Capturing Louisbourg: How British Firepower Prevailed

by William Welsh

The crews of the British longboats had to fight the elements as much as the French to get ashore at Cormorandiere Cove a short distance southwest of the fortress of Louisbourg on June 8, 1758, but somehow they completed their mission, thanks to the gifted leadership of Brig. Read more

Militia

First Mission of the U.S. Dragoons

By Kevin L. Cook

A caravan of traders bound for Santa Fe left Cantonment Leavenworth near the Missouri River on June 3, 1829, escorted by four companies of the 6th U.S. Read more

Militia

Greene’s Gamble at Hobkirk’s Hill

By Daniel Murphy

In late March 1781, American Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene sought to make the best of a bad situation. Read more

Militia

Mackenzie’s Rebellion

By Chuck Lyons

In December 1837, 400 men armed with muskets, pitchforks, and staves marched against the city of Toronto and the British government. Read more

Militia

Black Day at Magersfontein

By Kelly Bell

During the third week in November 1899, British forces under the overall command of General Sir Redvers Buller were marching northward across South Africa’s Orange Free State in a campaign to relieve the strategically vital railroad center of Kimberley. Read more

Militia

Stalingrad: Apocalypse on the Volga

By John Walker

After Adolf Hitler’s audacious invasion of Russia finally ground to a halt in December 1941 on the forested outskirts of Moscow, the exhausted German Army stabilized its winter front in a line running roughly from Leningrad in the north to Rostov in the south. Read more

Militia

The Dakota War of 1862: What Caused the Great Sioux Uprising

By Eric Niderost

Shortly after midnight on the morning of Monday, August 18, 1862, an uneasy group of Santee Sioux warriors arrived at the simple frame home of Taoyateduta, known to the whites as Little Crow. Read more

Militia

Slugfest at Eutaw Springs

By John Pezzola

In the early morning hours of September 8, 1781, drums rolled and fifes played in Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene’s camp in the High Hills of southeastern South Carolina. Read more