Videos

Before the Battle of Little Bighorn became one of the most famous events in American history, it was an uncertain future. In this short film, Chief Curator Sara Willen examines two letters written in the weeks before the campaign—one by George Armstrong Custer and the other by Private William A. Losey.

Read side by side, these remarkable documents reveal how differently two participants viewed the same expedition, offering a rare glimpse into the hopes, fears, and expectations that preceded a pivotal moment in the American West.

A country divided, battered, exhausted – limping towards the end of the bloodiest war in American history. Abraham Lincoln, as often was the case during his presidency, is under threat. John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer is planning an attack with other conspirators that will change the course of the nation.

The vision of the Holy Land in 19th-century America was shaped by religious and cultural sentiment, and influenced by the experiences of those groups who traveled there: missionaries, pilgrims and tourists, explorers, settlers, and consular officers, all of whom had different motives for their journey and reports.

He is head of state, Commander-in-chief, and the country’s top legislator. The President of the United States has arguably the toughest job in America, and it turns out, the most deadly.

The Civil War was a time when soldiers would be executed for desertion, in order to prevent further desertion. Even immigrants, whose understanding of English and the conditions of service was limited, were executed in the American Civil War. Watch the story of five Union soldiers at Beverly Ford, VA, who perhaps unjustly were denied a stay of execution from President Lincoln.