Today Nevada is admitted into the Union as the 36th state. Statehood arrives eight days prior to the 1864 presidential elections, and is earlier than originally planned in order to provide a voting edge for President Lincoln and the Republican Party. Hurrying Western territories into statehood is a broader strategy utilized during the war and…
Since July, the Union Army has been operating under President Abraham Lincoln‘s order to execute one Confederate soldier for every Federal soldier killed in violation of the laws of war. Lincoln’s order had been issued due to frequency and violence of Confederate guerrilla activity during the second half of the war, corresponding to the dimming…
On the site of what will one day be the Kansas City, Missouri zoo, the Battle of Westport takes place. The battle proves to be a culmination of major activity in the state, as a Union win effectively overcomes the little remaining resistance to Union rule in Missouri. Not only is the battle significant in…