Featured Story
They Begged the King for Peace. They'd Already Voted to Invade His Empire.
On July 5, 1775, the Second Continental Congress signed a petition begging King George III for peace. Weeks earlier, the same Congress had created an army and voted to invade his territory. This is the story of the last peace offer America ever made to its king, and why he never got the chance to reject it himself.
They Signed It Together, Then Became Enemies. Fifty Years Later, They Died on the Same Day, Hours Apart.
On July 4, 1826, exactly fifty years after the Declaration of Independence, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died within hours of each other. It looked like providence. Some of the people who knew them best weren't so sure.
He Never Actually Gave the Order. Twelve Thousand Men Walked Into the Guns Anyway.
On the third day at Gettysburg, Robert E. Lee is remembered as the man who ordered Pickett's Charge. The battlefield dispatches show something messier: a decision passed down a chain of officers who each tried not to be the one who said go, until an artillery colonel with dwindling ammunition made the call almost by default.
Lee Ordered the Attack. Longstreet Spent the Morning Arguing Against It.
On the second day at Gettysburg, Robert E. Lee ordered a massive assault on the Union flanks. His most trusted general spent hours trying to stop him. What happened next would haunt the Confederate cause for generations.
They Didn't Come for Shoes. They Came Because Ten Roads Met in One Town.
On the morning of July 1, 1863, two Confederate brigades marched on Gettysburg looking for nothing more than a reconnaissance. By nightfall, 9,000 Union soldiers and nearly 7,000 Confederates were casualties, and the bloodiest battle in American history had begun. The story you've heard about why is mostly wrong.
They Called It a Routine Flight. Hezbollah Turned It Into a 17-Day Nightmare.
On June 14, 1985, two men smuggled guns and grenades onto a commercial flight in Athens. What followed was 17 days of beatings, a murder on a Beirut tarmac, and a hostage crisis that changed how America understood terrorism.
He Finished Last at West Point. Two Years Later He Was a General.
On June 29, 1863, a 23-year-old captain with no command experience was jumped over every rank between him and brigadier general. Three days later, he rode into the Battle of Gettysburg.