Exploring the most important 55 months in American history
165 YEARS AGO: Professor Thaddeus Lowe ascends in a balloon to demonstrate the usefulness of aerial military reconnaissance, and J.D. Mills demonstrates a forerunner to the modern machine gun. Both of these innovations capture President Lincoln’s interest in advanced technology.
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: The first land battle of the war takes place in northern Virginia, and Confederates blockade the Potomac waterway into Chesapeake Bay.
165 YEARS AGO: President Abraham Lincoln calls for increased military enrollment, which results in Federal troops pouring into Washington, D.C. By mid-May, talk turns from defense to offensive operations including an invasion of the South.
Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s Confederate army continues moving south up the Shenandoah Valley and prepares to take on two Federal forces approaching from two different directions.
Two Federal forces continue their pursuit of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s Confederates in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, but Jackson is able to stay one step ahead of them for now.
Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s Confederates drive one Federal army out of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, but two more are quickly closing in on them from opposite directions.