Exploring the most important 55 months in American history
165 YEARS AGO: Confederates form a defense line across Kentucky while Federals open recruitment efforts, thereby ensuring that turmoil in the state will continue.
165 YEARS AGO: Despite the recent loss of Lexington and the scattering of his forces, John C. Fremont reports that his troops are somehow “gathering around the enemy” in Missouri.
John C. Fremont continues garnering ill will among fellow officers, and Abraham Lincoln endures criticism from politicians for modifying Fremont’s controversial decree.
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: Sterling Price’s pro-secessionist Missouri State Guards capture a Federal force and a key commercial town in their effort to expel the Federals from their state.
165 YEARS AGO: The pro-secessionist Missouri State Guards advance northward and threaten Lexington, a key commercial town on the Missouri River.
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: Federal forces seize an important base to be used as a staging area for future operations in the Gulf of Mexico, including an attack on New Orleans.