19th Century

Though the 19th century saw the rise of populism, the labor movement and Jacksonian democracy, it also ushered in the Gilded Age, when men like Cornelius Vanderbilt and J. P. Morgan wielded vast control over politics and business.

Featured Overview

Historian Matthew Pinsker gives a crash course on the concept of "manifest destiny" and the seeds of westward American expansion.

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Color painting of a 19th century covered wagon train entering a valley in front of impressive mountains in the distance

MPI/Getty Images

Featured Overview

Historian Matthew Pinsker gives a crash course on the concept of "manifest destiny" and the seeds of westward American expansion.

1:55m watch

Start Here

A dinner of society people at Delmonico's restaurant in New York City in 1899.

As American industrialists and financiers accumulated incredible wealth during the Gilded Age, they strove to outdo one another with their lavish spending and possessions.

Chinatown, San Francisco, 1900.

Facing economic threats and violence, early Chinese immigrants banded together and created communities to survive—and thrive.

What It Was Like to Ride the Transcontinental Railroad

The swift, often comfortable ride on the Transcontinental Railroad opened up the American West to new settlement.

Miners during the Klondike Gold Rush

The Klondike Gold Rush was a mass influx of prospecting migrants to the Canadian Yukon Territory and Alaska after gold was discovered in those regions in 1896.

Labor Movement

Labor Movement

Analyze the impact of the labor movement in America throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

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19th Century
Assassination of President Garfield.

Before civil service reforms—introduced after President Garfield's assassination—federal employees could be fired for not making campaign donations.

The 1803 land deal may have been one of history’s greatest bargains, but doubling America’s territory drew sharp criticism—over cost, governability and more.

Voting in 1948.

The first modern U.S. presidential poll was a 1936 Gallup survey. But informal straw polls started much earlier.

Thomas A. Edison stands next to his American Barker electric car, circa 1895.

Electric vehicles were some of the earliest automobiles ever invented—and, unlike early gas-powered cars, they didn't require a crank to start the engine.

Chief John Ross devoted much of his life to fighting against the forced removal of his people from their ancestral lands.

Opera glasses owned by Mary Church Terrell.

During the Gilded Age era of opulence in America, certain objects signaled social status.

Chinatown, San Francisco, 1900.

Facing economic threats and violence, early Chinese immigrants banded together and created communities to survive—and thrive.

Crinolines from 1850. Artist Unknown.

As clothing became cheaper and faster to make amid the Industrial Revolution, new, sometimes outrageous fashion designs became chic.

October 1813: Death of Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, at the Battle of Thames in the War of 1812.

The conflict was their last, best chance for outside military help to protect their homelands from westward expansion.

An illustration depicting the alleged abduction of anti-freemason William Morgan.

The Anti-Masonic Party existed for only a decade, but promoted anti-establishment sentiment in its opposition to the dominance of Freemasonry in American politics.

Portrait of Kate and Maggie Fox, Spirit Mediums from Rochester, New York. Along the bottom edge of the daguerreotype "Kate and Maggie Fox, Rochester Mediums, T.M. Easterly Daguerrean" is inscribed.

When two young sisters claimed to communicate with ghosts in the mid-1800s, they soon became celebrity mediums and unwittingly spurred a trend.

Railroad strike destruction at the 26th Street Pennsylvania Railroad Round House, July 14-27 1877, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Thousands of rail workers in states across the country protested poor pay and working conditions in a massive—and violent—uprising.

The town of Unalaska, on Unalaska Island, was founded in 1700s as the first headquarters of the Russian-American Company in Alaska. A Russian Orthodox church appears in the lower left.

Russia began encroaching into Alaskan territory in the mid 18th century, eventually establishing settlements as far south as California.

December 17th, 1903, Kittyhawk, North Carolina: The World's first flight with Orville Wright at the controls. His brother Wilbur is running at the side of the machine.

Some of the modern world's most groundbreaking technologies emerged during this 30-year period.

Seated portrait of cartoonist Thomas Nast. Photo by Matthew Brady.

Thomas Nast gleefully mocked the Tammany Hall boss in multiple cartoons, prompting newspapers and authorities to investigate.

Crowd in the street during a strike, 1927

Strikes have been a powerful, sometimes perilous tactic for workers as they've fought for better wages and working conditions.

How an Anti-Obscenity Crusader Policed America's Mail for Decades

The act is named after Anthony Comstock, a devout Protestant-turned postal inspector who sought to bar the mailing of 'obscene, lewd or lascivious' materials.

Teddy Roosevelt and the Battle of San Juan Hill, Spanish American War

Some later accounts of the battle, including Teddy Roosevelt's, downplayed the Black troopers' crucial role in the US victory.

Inside Theodore Roosevelt's Gilded Age Upbringing

Young ‘Teedie’ suffered from severe asthma and idolized his father, who helped him develop resilience, drive and intellectual rigor.

The Harrowing Rescue Missions to Save the Donner Party Survivors

As the Donner Party fought to survive in the snowy Sierra Nevada mountains, four brave rescue missions ensured some traumatized members made it out alive.

A dinner of society people at Delmonico's restaurant in New York City in 1899.

As American industrialists and financiers accumulated incredible wealth during the Gilded Age, they strove to outdo one another with their lavish spending and possessions.

The official declarations of war occurred during five separate military conflicts, starting in 1812 and, most recently, in 1942.

A rear view of the Breakers mansion in Rhode Island, one of the most luxurious homes of the Gilded Age, circa 1900.

Robber barons amassed vast fortunes during the age that began at the start of the Civil War—and ended with a crash.

Peshtigo Fire

In 1871, the Wisconsin town of Peshtigo burned to the ground, killing up to 2,500 people. But it was overshadowed by another fire.

The Battle of Little Bighorn.

As Europeans sought to control newly settled American land, wars raged between Native Americans and the frontiersmen who encroached on their territory, resources and trade.

How the Transcontinental Railroad Affected America's Communities of Color

Chinese immigrant workers and Indigenous tribes paid a particularly high price.

8 Famous Figures Who Believed in Communicating with the Dead

Spiritualism’s popularity waxed and waned throughout the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, and surged on the heels of major wars and pandemics.

Group of telephone operators, c. 1915

As their numbers grew, women operators became a powerful force—for workers' rights and even serving overseas in WWI.

1885 Tacoma, Washington broadside rallying citizens to an anti-Chinese rally.

In the 1880s, mobs in Tacoma and Seattle forcibly expelled Chinese residents. In Tacoma, town officials organized the action months in advance.

Harry Houdini is still known today as history's most famous magician, but there was a time when his act needed to be rescued from the dead.

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A cholera outbreak in 19th century London led to a critical advance in public health.

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How Amateur Engineers and Raw Labor Built the Erie Canal in Just Eight Years

The 360-mile canal connecting the Hudson River to the Great Lakes was built in eight years through thick forests and stubborn rock.

How the Whig Party, Powerhouse of 19th-Century US Politics, Fell Apart; Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun

For all its prominence and power in the mid-19th century, the Whig party became divided over slavery and couldn't keep it together.

A History of Attacks at the US Capitol

Over its 200-year history, the nation’s legislative seat has withstood multiple episodes of violence.

Wild West Outlaw Jesse James with members of his gang, probably two of the Younger brothers.

Jesse James. Billy the Kid. Butch and Sundance. Their iconic status endures, despite their history of violent crime.

Broken Treaties in Native American History: Timeline

From 1778 to 1871, the United States signed some 368 treaties with various Indigenous people across the North American continent.

California outlaw and folk hero Joaquin Murrieta on horseback

It's clear the California rangers beheaded someone in 1853. What's isn't clear is whether it was the infamous bandit known as 'Joaquín.'

The Real-Life Exploits of Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid and the Wild Bunch

Did the famed band and train robbers bury any of their loot?

What It Was Like to Ride the Transcontinental Railroad

The swift, often comfortable ride on the Transcontinental Railroad opened up the American West to new settlement.

When California Became Its Own Nation

Following the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846, California existed as an independent nation—for 25 days.

Buffalo Soldiers, 25th Infantry

After fighting in the Civil War and later military engagements, the famous all-black regiments protected the National Parks.

How Did Billy the Kid Die?

Even though a widely-accepted account says the outlaw was shot by Sheriff Pat Garrett in New Mexico, murky details have led to other theories.

1889 Flu Pandemic

Modern transportation helped make it the first global outbreak.

Rather than expressing love and affection, these cards were designed to offend.

Vast corporate wealth and a fee-based governance structure fueled widespread corruption during America's Gilded Age.

Lewis and Clark Expedition: Timeline

In 1804, Lewis and Clark set off on a journey filled with harrowing confrontations, harsh weather and fateful decisions as they scouted a route across the American West.

The explorers not only produced maps from their 1804-1806 expedition to the American West, they also recorded some 122 animals new to science.

Before salted roads and giant snowplows, one devastating storm brought New York City to a halt. But it may have changed things for the better.

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Victorian Christmas Cards

Santa kidnapping children and murderous mice were par for the course in the Victorian-era Christmas card tradition.

Minimum Wages in America

Since 1938, the U.S. federal government has established that workers are entitled to a base hourly wage. Which workers receive that minimum—and how much—has remained a political issue.

History of American Whiskey

A surplus of U.S. corn crops led to a boom in whiskey sales—and consumption—following the Revolutionary War.

1919 Steel Strike

Plagued by bad press and fraught with racial and ethnic tensions, the huge steel strike was doomed to fail.

1937 Flint Sit-down strike

Over 136,000 GM workers participated in the strike in Flint, Michigan that became known as 'the strike heard round the world.'

10 Ways the Transcontinental Railroad Affected America

The country, from its commerce to the environment to even its concept of time, was profoundly altered after the completion of the railroad's 1,776 miles of track.

David McCullough discusses the challenges faced by America's earliest pioneers as they braved harsh conditions to settle westward.

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Andrew Carnegie

The magnate with humble roots claimed to be pro-union, but his actions didn’t match his rhetoric.

New Madrid Earthquake

When the New Madrid earthquakes rattled the Midwest in 1811 and 1812, William Clark, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, convinced the government to step in.

In 1929, Section 1325 criminalized undocumented immigration for the first time. Its aim was to decrease Mexican immigration.

Yoga's Long Introduction into America Began With an Indian Monk

Over a century ago, a Hindu monk named Swami Vivekananda spoke about yoga to a crowd in Chicago. In the decades since, it has gone from unknown to mainstream.

Census workers were expected to count ‘insane’ and ‘idiotic’ Americans for half a century.

The Elephant Man

For over a century, the famously deformed 27-year-old’s final resting place was a mystery. One of his biographers believes she’s finally found his burial plot.

Immigrants in 2017 were more likely to speak English and be skilled workers than those in 1907, a new study finds.

Faced with a crisis of orphans on New York City streets, Charles Brace devised a solution – send these children out for adoption in towns across the Midwest. By the end of the Orphan Train program, over 200,000 children had been placed with new families.

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The Victorian Era

The period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 1837 until her death in 1901 was marked by sweeping progress and ingenuity.

William Walker

Lawyer William Walker took over Nicaragua and part of Mexico with his own private army.

The pioneers hoped to shave 300 miles off their journey. But the route they took to California had never been tested.

America's Northern Border

Criminals operated with impunity along the northern border.

The death of King Kamehameha II and Queen Kamamalu was a harbinger of disaster.

During the 1920s, hatred was a family affair.

Populism is defined as a member of a political party claiming to represent the common people. But to understand it’s origins we have to go back to when the term was coined in the 19th century.

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Before his book could be published, William Morgan was dragged away by a group of Masons, never to be seen again.

American children of Japanese, German and Italian heritage

America didn’t always extend citizenship to those born within its borders.

Post Mortem Photography

What if your first photo was taken after you died?

Thousands of Mexican Americans joined the Confederacy—but even more joined the Union.

Portrait of Justice Hugo Black

FDR nominated the Alabama Senator as his first U.S. Supreme Court nominee.

Slaves revolting against French power in Haiti.

Napoleon was eager to sell—but the purchase would end up expanding slavery in the U.S.

Ku Klux Klan on a poster that advertises the Griffith movie 'The Birth of a Nation,' 1915.

D.W. Griffith’s controversial epic 1915 film about the Civil War and Reconstruction depicted the Ku Klux Klan as valiant saviors of a post-war South ravaged by Northern carpetbaggers and freed Black people.

1857 Police Riot

Two separate police forces— state and city—came head to head in a bloody brawl.

7th November 1837: A pro-slavery mob attacking the offices of the Alton Observer, killing the anti-slavery editor and proprietor, Elijah Lovejoy. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The issue was so hot, it inspired everything from eggings to duels to mob attacks.

A political cartoon from 1883 aimed at wealthy businessmen, including Vanderbilt, that depicts laborers awash in a sea of hard times, struggling to hold up the industries with low wage jobs on their backs as the industrialists and their millions weigh them down.

The first Gilded Age saw massive wealth inequalities, hyperpartisanship, virulent anti-immigrant sentiment and growing concern about money in politics. Sound familiar?

1940 80th Anniversary Pony Express stamp. (Credit: Public Domain)

Some are firsts, others have printing errors and others are simply rare and old—all factors that make these the most sought-after U.S. stamps.

Canadian Independence

Canada was granted the right to self-government in 1867, but did not gain full legal autonomy until 1931. 

A Wife Auction in England, circa 1800s. (Credit: Fotosearch/Getty Images)

Between the 17th and 19th centuries, wife-selling was a weird custom with a practical purpose.

Jennie Jerome, later Lady Randolph Churchill. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

During the Gilded Age, marrying British aristocrats was seen as a way for American heiresses to raise their social status.

The Hermitage near Nashville, Tennessee. (Credit: Mary Evans Picture Library/Everett Collection)

The Hermitage was the plantation home of U.S. President Andrew Jackson. Located east of Nashville, Tennessee, the mansion sits on an estate of over 1,100 acres.

Group portrait of female American Red Cross workers with uniformed young boys (possibly boy scouts) with a Red Cross flag holding money, during a Red Cross parade, Birmingham, Alabama, May, 1918. US War Department photo.

The Red Cross, a global humanitarian network which aids victims of disasters and armed conflict, was co-founded in 1863 by Swiss businessman Henry Dunant.

A group of Native Americans gazing across the frozen Missouri River, 1834

The 19th-century American West has long been described as a land of opportunity. But for many, it was little more than another place of bondage.

Daniel Boone leading a group of settlers, 1773. (Credit: MPI/Getty Images)

Famed hunter-adventurer Steven Rinella shares seven ways to safely navigate the backcountry.

Theodore Roosevelt, 1905. (Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The 26th president found that simplifying the language was anything but simple.

Women settlers standing guard while living on the American frontier. (Credit: Interim Archives/Getty Images)

Spies and scouts, mothers and homestead keepers, women quietly made their mark on America's changing western frontier.

A woman in a white robe, the symbol of 'Manifest Destiny,' floating over the prairie as Native Americans and bison run in front of her, followed by signs of western expansion.

Land symbolized opportunity to generations of Americans, starting with colonists.

Custers Last Stand

The Battle of the Little Bighorn—also known as Custer’s Last Stand—was the most ferocious battle of the Sioux Wars. Colonel George Custer and his men never stood a fighting chance.

HISTORY: The Gilded Age

The Gilded Age was an American era in the late 19th century which saw unprecedented advancements in industry and technology and the rise of powerful tycoons.

Black cowboys on horseback, circa 1880

The amazing true story of Bass Reeves, the formerly enslaved man who protected the Wild West.

Native Californians were treated abominably in the area where gold was first discovered.

Susan B. Anthony, 1865. (Credit: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images)

How the death of a domestic worker’s baby became a symbol in the fight for equal rights for women.

See a colorized version of an early 1900s photo of the president's grandparents.

Miners during the Klondike Gold Rush

The Klondike Gold Rush was a mass influx of prospecting migrants to the Canadian Yukon Territory and Alaska after gold was discovered in those regions in 1896.

The Santa Fe Trail, a 900-mile route connecting Franklin, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, played a crucial role in America's westward expansion in the 1800s.

L'Etoile by Edgar Degas. (Credit: DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Wealthy men turned the famous Paris Opera Ballet into a brothel.

Buffalo Soldiers in 1898 during the Spanish-American war

Buffalo Soldiers were the Black U.S. servicemen who fought on the Western frontier after the Civil War and were named by the Native Americans they encountered.

Lupine grows next to wagon wheel ruts made by wagon trains crossing the South Pass on the Oregon Trail. South Pass is the highest point in elevation on the trail.

The Oregon Trail, a 2,000-mile route from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon, was used by hundreds of thousands of pioneers in the mid-1800s to emigrate west.

In 1850, around 400 Pomo people, including women and children, were slaughtered by the U.S. Cavalry and local volunteers at Clear Lake north of San Francisco. (Credit: NativeStock Pictures/UIG/REX/Shutterstock)

Up to 16,000 Native Americans were murdered in cold blood after California became a state.

A painting from the Hudson River School: "View Towards the Hudson Valley" by Asher Brown

Transcendentalism, a 19th-century school of American theological and philosophical thought, embraced nature and the concept of a personal knowledge of God.

1890s stockbroker

Critics tried to dissuade the public from investing money with the female stockbrokers.

Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill

Buffalo Bill and Sitting Bull performed together in Wild West shows, and forged what would become a very strange friendship.

The newly built tuberculosis sanatorium in Colorado, where every patient has a separate cottage, 1928

The state was once known as 'the world’s sanatorium.'

Old GloryAn American flag, US, circa 1985. (Photo by Alfred Gescheidt/Getty Images)

The Star-Spangled Banner, written by lawyer Francis Scott Key in 1814, emerged as a popular patriotic song before becoming the U.S. national anthem in 1931.

Analyze the impact of the labor movement in America throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

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Why were parents giving their children heroin in the 1880s?

Stereo card of a singing school in a church in Winchendon, MA in the late 1800s

Singing schools are obsolete now, but they provided a rare chance to loosen up, socialize and learn something about music

Portrait of Davy Crockett by John Neagle

The frontiersman worked hard to build his rustic reputation.

Hershey Strike

Annoyed at a sit-in by workers, Hershey’s orchestrated a riot.

Writer and journalist Nathaniel Parker Willis, 1855. (Credit: adoc-photos/Corbis via Getty Images)

It's a pithy term that sparked outrage among rich and poor New Yorkers during the 19th century.

Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr met on the dueling ground one fateful day, but their story started much earlier.

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America was ready to expand westward, even if it meant going to war. Learn how and why the Mexican-American War happened.

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Over 400,000 people travel West to start a new life and claim new land along the Oregon Trail, including Lucinda Brown. One-hundred seventy years later, one of her descendants sees a kettle from her journey for the first time.

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Find out what a cow has to do with the Chicago fire of 1871 in this animated tale of disaster and destruction in the windy city.

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Dr. James Barry

How—and why—did a groundbreaking physician pass as the opposite sex for more than 50 years?

Our Nation's Past. New York, New York: This is a reproduction of "The Famished", a 50" x 36" oil on canvas by John Falter, one of six paintings depicting events in American history that he has been commissioned to do by 3M Company. The painting is of a scene at Grosse Isle, Canada, on the St. Lawrence River during the Irish immigration to the U.S. Fearful that a tide of Irish immigrants might engulf them, Americans insisted that some immigrants be diverted to Canada.

Forced from their homeland because of famine and political upheaval, the Irish endured vehement discrimination before making their way into the American mainstream.

Historian Matthew Pinsker gives a crash course on the concept of "manifest destiny" and the seeds of westward American expansion.

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Before his death in 1919, steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie helped fund the creation of some 2,800 libraries across the world

Toledo, Ohio, in the late 1800s.

Michigan and Ohio are now famous for their college football rivalry, but in 1835, the two states nearly went to war over a small strip of land containing the modern day city of Toledo.

Get a crash course on the causes and consequences of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 with historian Matthew Pinsker.

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Livingstone and Stanley receiving newspapers in Central Africa, 1871-1873. Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone (1813-1873) was the first European to discover the Victoria Falls on the Zambezi river in central Africa. While searching for the source of the Nile in the late 1860s he became seriously ill and went missing. He was found by Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904) in 1871 and Stanley joined him in exploring the area. Livingstone never fully recovered from his illness and died in Bangwelulu, Zambia. Artist Pearson. (Photo by Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

In November 1871, journalist Henry Morton Stanley located the missing missionary David Livingstone in the depths of Africa. The famous meeting launched Stanley’s tumultuous career as an explorer.

US rodeo star Annie Oakley (1860 - 1926) the highly skilled trick shooter with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.   (

The renowned sharpshooter competed at Wimbledon and successfully sued William Randolph Hearst for libel.

Learn key facts behind Bleeding Kansas, a series of violent confrontations between pro- and anti-slavery forces during the settling of Kansas, from historian Matthew Pinsker.

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16th September 1893: More than 100,000 hopeful settlers rush onto the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma on the day that it was opened to colonisation after the removal of all Native Americans. Original Artwork: Engraving by V Perard after H Worrall.

In 1889, people poured into central Oklahoma to stake their claims to nearly 2 million acres opened for settlement by the U.S. government. Those who entered the region before the land run’s designated starting time, at noon on April 22, 1889, were dubbed “sooners.”  The area to which the settlers flocked was known as the […]

Uncle Sam on a vintage U.S. postage stamp.

Legend has it that a meatpacker from Troy, N.Y. may have been the inspiration. But the term may have predated him.

A train carrying several million dollars of high quality coal for export to China waits on the tracks outside of a coal processing plant near Blair, West Virginia. | Location: Logan County, WVA, USA. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

In late August 1921, union miners and coal company supporters clashed near Blair Mountain, West Virginia, in what has been called the largest armed uprising since the Civil War.

Miners during the Klondike gold rush

In the late 1890s, some 100,000 would-be prospectors journeyed to the remote Yukon region of Canada as part of one of the largest gold rushes in history.

Portrait of Davy Crockett by John Neagle

Explore 10 surprising facts about the man often called the “King of the Wild Frontier.”

Explore eight ways that the Erie Canal, which married the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes, altered the course of American history.

Explore 10 interesting facts about the short-lived mail service that helped transform the American West.

Take a look back at one of the controversial chapters in America’s 19th-century labor movement.

Find out more about the lives of six adventurers who made their mark on the American frontier.

Mexican-American War 1846-1848: Battle of Buena Vista. (Credit: Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Explore 10 fascinating facts about what has often been called America’s “forgotten war.”

Explore 10 key facts about one of the most gruesome episodes from the era of westward expansion.

A worn, gramatically flawed marker welcomes visitors to San Vicente, Bolivia, the final resting place of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. (Photo by Tyler Bridges/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Read about the enduring mystery surrounding the deaths of the notorious outlaw, Butch Cassidy, and his partner in crime, the “Sundance Kid.”

Illustration of a meeting of Molly Maguire men.

In the latter half of the 19th century, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, was an area rife with violence. Between 1861 and 1875, a series of violent assaults, arsons and murders was blamed on a secret society of Irish immigrants known as the Molly Maguires. The group had originally emerged in north-central Ireland in the 1840s as […]

upton sinclair, the jungle

Get the facts on Upton Sinclair’s muckraking masterpiece.

'Barlow Cutoff', near Mount Hood, Oregon

Check out nine surprising facts about the route that once served as the gateway to the American West.

U.S. Marine Corps

Explore seven surprising facts about one of the most storied branches of the armed forces.

Explore 10 surprising facts about one of America’s first and greatest expeditions of discovery.

The name references the year when thousands of prospectors flocked to California to strike gold.

Buffalo Soldiers

The Black infantry regiments fought in the American-Indian Wars, captured cattle thieves and even served as park rangers.

8 Things You Didn't Know About Daniel Boone

The legendary frontiersman's background holds some surprises, including his real opinion on coonskin caps and his poor track record in real estate.

ireland, immigration

A 14-year-old girl has proven that historical scholarship is not solely the realm of tweedy academics. Armed with her curiosity and an Internet connection, Rebecca Fried has debunked a history professor’s claim that “No Irish Need Apply” signs were not historical realities, but “a myth of victimization.

The Mary Celeste.

The ghost ship found floating off the coast of the Azores in 1872 became an enduring maritime mystery.

Wild Bill Hickok, The Original Wild West Showdown

On July 21, 1865, frontier legend Wild Bill Hickok gunned down gambler Davis Tutt in what is often called the first “Wild West” showdown.

THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WYATT EARP - Photo of the Real Wyatt Earp - Shoot Date: 1885.

Find out more about this Old West icon, from how he met his friend Doc Holliday to what happened to him after the Tombstone gunfight.

3D rendering of a merged Canadian-USA flag on satin texture. Concept of the mutually influential relations between the two countries politically and economically.

The U.S.-Canada border wasn’t always so peaceful. Look back at seven times when the United States clashed violently with its northern neighbor.

alamo, texas

A British rock legend’s unlikely fascination drove him to amass the world’s largest private collection of Alamo relics, which he recently donated to the Texas landmark.

According to unsubstantiated legend, the “yellow rose of Texas” quietly played a crucial role in the Battle of San Jacinto, helping Texas gain its independence from Mexico. But who was that “yellow rose,” memorialized in a 19th-century ballad, and what’s actually known about her? In the fall of 1835, a free African American woman from […]

sam houston 2

Learn seven surprising facts about the legendary political and military leader who fought for Texan independence.

UNSPECIFIED - CIRCA 1822: Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (1794-1876) Mexican soldier and political leader. In 1822 he declared his loyalty to Augustin de Iturbide and the Republican movement. President of Mexico seven non-consecutive times in 22 years beginning in 1833. Painting of Santa Anna in military uniform with battle in background. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Check out six surprising facts about the flamboyant Mexican political and military ruler.

Butch Cassidy

From the origins of his famous name to the mystery surrounding his death, the legendary American outlaw.

The legend about the "foundling of Nuremberg" draws on the birthday of the allegedly exchanged heir to the throne of Baden, Alexander (29 September - 16 October 1812), for Kaspar Hauser. The true heir to the throne shall have been exchanged for a dying baby to enable other members of the dynasty the succession to the throne. There is the rumour that Kaspar Hauser is the hereditary prince born in 1812. The city library of Nuremberg opens the exhibition "Kaspar Hauser - anniversary of a legend" on the occasion of the 150th retrun of this day and offers scientific material on this case for discussion. The presented documents referring to the story of the "Hauser case" contain around 200 exhibits with pictures of persons and houses around Kaspar Hauser and shall investigate the case of a young man who also died in mysterious circumstances. The picture shows one of the exhibits on which Kaspar Hauser (left) enters the free city Nuremberg for the first time (archive photograph, 24 August 1962). | usage worldwide (Photo by Karl Schnörrer/picture alliance via Getty Images)

From a wild boy kept as a pet in King George’s court to an Indian who was supposedly raised by wolves, learn the puzzling and often tragic stories of six famous feral children

FRANCE - CIRCA 1890: Affair Dreyfus. Caricature. France, about 1900. (Photo by Roger Viollet Collection/Getty Images)

The Dreyfus Affair was a political scandal that rocked France between 1894 and 1906 and revealed growing antisemitism across Europe.

The Battle Of New Orleans, January 8, 1815. Final Battle Of The War Of 1812, Resulting In Victory For The American Forces Against The British. After A 19Th Century Work. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Learn the truth behind six common myths about the last major engagement of the War of 1812.

UNSPECIFIED - OCTOBER 15: Jesse Woodson James (1847-1882) american bandit here in 1882 (Photo by Apic/Getty Images)

Between his days as a teenage Confederate guerrilla and his murder at age 34, James became one of America’s most notorious outlaws.

In 1869, trickster George Hull masterminded one of the 19th century’s most sensational hoaxes: the discovery of a 10-foot-tall giant.

(Credit: KT Design/Science Photo Library)

Explore more about one of the 19th century’s most infamous financial scandals.

Ten surprising facts about the national anthem and the man who wrote its lyrics.

Burning of the White House, 1814

As the War of 1812 neared its conclusion, British forces torched the White House, the Capitol and nearly every other public building in Washington.

The Rush for the Promised Land' - horsemen crossing the border into Oklahoma during the Gold Rush, USA, 1889

A look back at the day when 50,000 “boomers” and “sooners” made a mad dash to stake their claims in the Oklahoma Land Rush.

A map showing the westward trail from Missouri to Oregon.

Even before Oregon Country—the disputed area claimed in the early 1800s by both Great Britain and the United States—was officially claimed by Congress as a United States territory in 1846, pioneers had been traveling west to explore its bounty. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark had arrived at the Pacific Ocean in 1805, but the route […]

An American flag near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, US, on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023. A $400 million federal grant to upgrade and retrofit the Golden Gate Bridge to ensure it can withstand the impacts of a major earthquake was unveiled following the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure law in Congress last year that included funding to repair and rebuild bridges across the country. Photographer: Benjamin Fanjoy/Bloomberg via Getty Images

National anthems are often only dusted off for patriotic holidays and sporting events, but these stately hymns and marches can also serve as a window into their country’s cultural and political history.

10-gallon hat

It definitely can't hold that much fluid, so the name likely has a different origin.

Circus and hippodrome at Constantinople.

Get the facts on six of history’s most preposterous conflicts.

Group portrait of female American Red Cross workers with uniformed young boys (possibly boy scouts) with a Red Cross flag holding money, during a Red Cross parade, Birmingham, Alabama, May, 1918. US War Department photo.

Check our seven things you may not know about the International Red Cross.

Chief Tecumseh

Get the facts on the legendary Shawnee war chief, who took part in the worst defeat ever inflicted by Native Americans on U.S. forces.

Explore 10 true stories of the Wild West, some of them stranger than fiction.

Mural of the Battle of Lake Erie by artist Rufus Zogbaum.

“We have met the enemy and they are ours,” proclaimed Oliver Perry after defeating a British fleet on Lake Erie.

Two boys greedily eat hot dogs.

From ancient Roman sausage to Nathan's Coney Island hot dog, the history of tubular meat may stretch back millennia.

john jacob astor

Get the facts about John Jacob Astor, America’s first multi-millionaire.

Catherine I of Russia.

Get the facts on seven people who defied the odds to establish themselves among the richest and most powerful figures of their time.

Men and women stroll along the promenade deck of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Explore some surprising facts about the iconic span.

A map of the Louisiana Purchase.

A look behind the scenes of the historic real-estate deal.

Prospectors panning for gold, California, circa 1850

On January 24, 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in Northern California. Get the facts on the rush for gold that followed.

Shakers is the common name for members of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, a group now believed defunct but still known for their furniture craftsmanship .

From group marriage to restrictions on hot baths, explore the surprising practices of five utopian communities in 19th-century America.

Get ready for the premiere of The Men Who Built America with five facts about the series’ principal subjects.

Why Organized Labor Declined in the 1920s

Take a look back at a landmark victory for American workers: the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike.

USS Constitution vs. HMS Guerriere

In August 1812, USS Constitution defeated HMS Guerriere and earned the nickname “Old Ironsides.”

During the Battle of Fort Niagara, a pair of uniformed soldiers and two civilians (one a woman) load and fire a cannon during the War of 1812, Fort Niagara, New York, December 18, 1813.

The United States’ invasion of Canada 200 years ago went awry from the start.

(Original Caption) Undated wash drawing shows the burning of Washington, DC, by the British in 1812. The White House is seen in the background.

The US invaded Canada. New England nearly seceded. And after being torched, Washington, D.C. was almost abandoned.

The famed Industrialist breaks the back of organized workers.

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Following the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan emerges to suppress and victimize newly freed slaves.

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In 1804, Jefferson sends a team to explore lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery will travel nearly 8,000 miles over three years, reaching the Pacific Ocean and clearing the path for westward expansion.

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Thomas Jefferson pulls off the land deal of the millennium when he buys 800,000 square miles from the French, stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains

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No-nonsense commander Andrew Jackson cleverly defended New Orleans against the threat of an overwhelming British force during the War of 1812.

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Meet Andrew Carnegie and find out how the wealthiest man of his day ended up giving away his vast fortune.

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Western migration through uncharted regions strands a wagon train in the Sierra Mountains leaving little choice for survival.

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The election of Abraham Lincoln was a tipping point on the path to Civil War. In the wake of Southern secession, would the new president defend the U.S. forts in rebel territory?

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Find out how the transcontinental railroad transformed America into one nation.

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Find out how Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery to become one of the most respected and effective abolitionist leaders.

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Discover how the Gold Rush led to the creation of California.

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General Jackson circa 1820: Portrait of Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), seventh President of the United States, who served for two terms from 1829 to 1837. The self-taught lawyer, known as 'Old Hickory,' forced much of the Native-American population from the Eastern U.S. into Western territories. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Jacksonian Democracy refers to the ascendancy of President Andrew Jackson (in office 1829 –1837)and the Democratic party after the election of 1828. More loosely, it alludes to the entire range of democratic reforms that proceeded during Jacksons’ tenure—from expanding suffrage to restructuring federal institutions, but also slavery, the subjugation of Native Americans, and the celebration of white supremacy.

After a century-long ban, France has legalized absinthe, a potion with a rich history that artists once prized for its supposed hallucinogenic effects.

Freight train on the Union Pacific Railroad, USA.

The Crédit Mobilier scandal of 1872-1873 damaged the careers of several Gilded Age politicians. Major stockholders in the Union Pacific Railroad formed a company, the Crédit Mobilier of America, and gave it contracts to build the railroad. They sold or gave shares in this construction to influential congressmen.

cowboy on horseback

Cowboys originated with the Spanish settlers in modern Mexico, before becoming synonymous with the American West during the cattle drives of the 1800s.

Colonel George E Waring, American engineer and sanitarian who revolutionised street cleaning in New York. Late nineteenth century portrait. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

George Waring was a 19th century engineer who devised an innovative sewage system for Memphis, Tennessee, before initiating sanitation reforms in New York City.

HISTORY: Cornelius Vanderbilt

Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877) was a shipping and railroad tycoon, and a self-made multi-millionaire who became one of the wealthiest Americans of the 19th century.

Cumberland Gap', 1872. View of the pass through the Cumberland Mountains on the border of Kentucky and Virginia, USA. From "Picturesque America; or, The Land We Live In, A Delineation by Pen and Pencil of the Mountains, Rivers, Lakes...with Illustrations on Steel and Wood by Eminent American Artists" Vol. I, edited by William Cullen Bryant. [D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1872]. Artist Harry Fenn.

The Wilderness Road, blazed by frontiersman Daniel Boone through the Cumberland Gap, opened a western pathway that led to the first settlements in Kentucky.

Sutter's Mill, California, where John Augustus Sutter struck gold and accidentally started the gold rush. (Credit: MPI/Getty Images)

The Gold Rush in California started in 1848 after gold was found at Sutter’s Mill. Within a year, hundreds of thousands of 49ers seeking fortune poured into the state.

'Barlow Cutoff', near Mount Hood, Oregon

Conestoga wagons, known for their curved floors and canvas covers, originated in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County and were commonly used by the early 1800s.

The Oregon Trail'The Oregon Trail Beyond Devil's Gate', Wyoming - by W H Jackson. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

Manifest Destiny, a phrase coined in 1845, expressed the philosophy that drove 19th-century U.S. territorial expansion. It contended that the United States was destined by God to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent.

Susannah Dickinson, wife of Captain Almaron Dickinson, provided an eyewitness account of the 1836 Battle of the Alamo as one of its few survivors.

Vintage illustration of Davy Crockett in deerskins; screen print, 1921.

Davy Crockett was a woodsman, soldier, politician, and prolific storyteller. Before his death at the Alamo, the “King of the Wild Frontier” was an American folk hero.

The Donner PartyIllustration captioned 'On The Way To The Summit,' depicting the Donner Party, a group of California-bound American emigrants caught up in the 'westering fever' of the 1840s. After becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846/1847, some of them resorted to cannibalism. USA, circa 1846. (Photo by Fotosearch/Getty Images).

The Donner Party was a group of 89 emigrants from Illinois who purportedly turned to cannibalism to survive after getting trapped by snowfall while on a westward journey in 1846. Forty-two members of the party died.

Gallant DefenceThe Texan defenders of the Alamo fighting Mexican soldiers within the walls of the fortress. Davy Crockett (1786 - 1836), centre right, with his rifle above his head, died in the siege. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

Early History of the Alamo Spanish settlers built the Mission San Antonio de Valero, named for St. Anthony of Padua, on the banks of the San Antonio River around 1718. They also established the nearby military garrison of San Antonio de Béxar, which soo...

daniel boone

Daniel Boone was a hunter, politician, land speculator and frontiersman whose name is synonymous with the Cumberland Gap and the settlement of Kentucky.

Great Chicago Fire A view of the ruins in the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire, Illinois, October 1871. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)

The Chicago Fire of 1871, rumored to have started when a cow kicked over a lantern, killed an estimated 300 people and caused some $200 million in damages.

The Tenure of Office Act was a law meant to restrict the U.S. president's power to remove certain officials. Passed in 1867, it was repealed 20 years later.

Print shows the Battle of Lake Champlain and the Battle of Plattsburgh, 1814.

The Battle of Plattsburgh, held in and on the shores of Lake Champlain in northern New York, was a decisive victory for the Americans late in the War of 1812.

Engraving of a scene from the Haymarket Riot

The Haymarket Riot followed a Chicago labor protest rally in May 1886, resulting in at least eight deaths and the conviction of eight radical labor activists.

President Andrew Jackson

The Bank War of 1832 was the political struggle that ensued over the fate of the Second Bank of the United States during the presidency of Andrew Jackson.

Teamsters Camping For The Night(Original Caption) Westward Movement. Teamsters establishing camp for night. Mid 19th Century wash drawing.

Westward expansion, the 19th-century movement of settlers into the American West, began with the Louisiana Purchase and was fueled by the Gold Rush, the Oregon Trail and a belief in "manifest destiny."

Louisiana Purchase1803: Map showing the area covered by the Louisana Purchase. The land which was bought from France, virtually doubled the area of the United States, cost only 15 million dollars and gave the US security against development by the French. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 introduced about 828,000,000 square miles of territory from France into the United States, thereby doubling the size of the young republic. Explore the facts about this important acquisition and its lasting legacy on Thomas Jefferson’s presidency.

Full length portrait of Liliuokalani, Queen of Hawaii (1838-1917). Dated 1917.

Liliuokalani ruled Hawaii as its first queen and final sovereign of the Kalākaua dynasty, until an American-led coup overthrew the monarchy in 1893.

Soldier and politician Samuel Houston (1793-1863), first president of the Republic of Texas from 1836-38.

Sam Houston (1793-1863) was a lawyer, congressman and senator from Tennessee. After moving to Texas in 1832, he joined the conflict between U.S. settlers and the Mexican government and became commander of the local army. On April 21, 1836, Houston and his men defeated Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna at San Jacinto to secure Texan independence.

The Battle of Palo Alto, waged along the disputed Texas-Mexico border in May 1846, saw U.S. forces led by General Zachary Taylor defeat a larger Mexican army.

The Battle of New Orleans BY E. Percy Moran. Shows Andrew Jackson standing in front of American flag with sword raised. Artist E. Percy Moran, 1910

The Battle of New Orleans of January 1815 saw Andrew Jackson and a ragtag group of soldiers successfully repelling a superior British force in the War of 1812.

Political cartoon from the "New York Herald," ca. 1904, showing European potentates observing American naval might. Written on the two ships is "Monroe Doctrine," and the cartoon's caption reads, "Let it be written so it can be heard."

The Monroe Doctrine, established by President James Monroe in 1823, was a U.S. policy of opposing European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere.

Mexican-American War 1846-1848: Battle of Buena Vista. (Credit: Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

The Mexican-American War was a 1846-1848 conflict over vast territories in the American West, which the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave to the United States.

Lewis and Clark Expedition Route

The Lewis and Clark Expedition began in 1804 when Thomas Jefferson asked Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the lands of the Louisiana Purchase.

J.P. Morgan

One of the most powerful bankers of his era, J.P. Morgan (1837-1913) financed railroads and helped organize U.S. Steel, General Electric and other major corporations. In 1895, he helped organize the investment bank J.P. Morgan & Company, a predecessor of the modern-day financial giant JPMorgan Chase.

Members of the British and American delegations at the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812.

The Treaty of Ghent was signed by British and American representatives at Ghent, Belgium, in December 1814, bringing an end to the War of 1812.

American soldier, explorer, and politician John C. Fremont (1813 - 1890) hoists the grizzly-bear flag of the California Republic as California settlers declare themselves independent of Mexico during the Bear Flag Revolt, Sonoma, California, June 10, 1846. (Photo by Stock Montage/Getty Images)

The Bear Flag Revolt lasted from June to July 1846, after a small group of American settlers in California rebelled against the Mexican government and proclaimed California an independent republic. The republic was short-lived because soon after the Bear Flag was raised, the U.S. military began occupying California, which went on to join the Union in 1850. The Bear Flag became the official California state flag in 1911.

Daniel Webster, 1835. Artist Francis Alexander.

Daniel Webster emerged as one of the greatest orators and most influential statesmen in the United States in the early 19th century. As an attorney, he argued several landmark cases before the Supreme Court that expanded the power of the federal government.

Andrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie (1835-1919) American industrialist and humanitarian philanthropist, 1913. (Photo by APIC/Getty Images)

Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-born industrialist who became very wealthy via the steel industry before giving away much of his fortune as a philanthropist.

American lawman and gun fighter Wyatt Earp (1848 - 1929), circa 1873.

Wyatt Earp, a famous figure from the American West, is best remembered for his participation in a deadly gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.

The Whig Party was formed in 1834 by opponents to Jacksonian Democracy. Guided by their most prominent leader, Henry Clay, they called themselves Whigs—the name of the English antimonarchist party.

Lincoln-Douglas debates, 1858.

The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a series of seven public debates in 1858 between Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln and incumbent Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas. The main topic was slavery and the battle over its extension into new U.S. territories.

The labor movement in the United States emerged from the artisans of the colonial era and gained steam with the widespread formation of unions in the 1800s.

Ku Klux Klan Holding a MarchKu Klux Klan members parade down Pennsylvania Avenue from the capitol to the treasury in Washington, DC, on August 8, 1925.

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is an American white supremacist terrorist hate group founded in 1865. It became a vehicle for white southern resistance to the Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for Black Americans.

The leaders of the Knights of Labor in 1886, the year the union boasted 700,000 members and success in dozens of election races.

The Knights of Labor, founded in 1869, was a prominent national labor organization that advocated for the eight-hour day, a graduated federal income tax, as well as other worker protections.

HISTORY: Kansas-Nebraska Act

The Kansas-Nebraska Act was an 1854 bill that allowed settlers of Kansas and Nebraska to decide whether slavery would be allowed within their state's borders. The conflicts that arose between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in the aftermath of the act’s passage led to the period of violence known as Bleeding Kansas, and contributed to unrest that led to the American Civil War (1861-65).

USS Constitution and the HMS Guerriere during the War of 1812

The War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain was ignited by British attempts to restrict U.S. trade and America's desire to expand its territory.

HISTORY: Bleeding Kansas

Bleeding Kansas describes the period of repeated outbreaks of violent guerrilla warfare between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces following the creation of the new territory of Kansas in 1854.