Browse all Events, Entries, Images, Videos, and Audio Files in the Antebellum Time Period.
Missouri Compromise (Transcript)
March 6, 1820 An Act to authorize the people of the Missouri territory to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, and to prohibit slavery in certain territories. An Act to authorize the people of the Missouri territory…
Mountain Meadows Massacre
September 11, 1857 On September 11, 1857, members of the Mormon militia and Paiute Indians murdered roughly 120 unarmed men, women, and children in southwestern Utah during the Utah War. In 1857, newly elected U.S. President James Buchanan dismissed Young and replaced him with Alfred Cumming. Anticipating that the change would anger Young and his…
Nathan Bedford Forrest
July 13, 1821 – October 29, 1877 Known as "the Wizard of the Saddle," Nathan Bedford Forrest was a prominent Confederate cavalry officer whose reputation was stained by accusations regarding his role in the "Fort Pillow Massacre" on April 12, 1864. Nathan Bedford Forrest was born on July 13, 1821 in rural Chapel Hill, Tennessee.…
Nathaniel Lyon
July 14, 1818 – August 9, 1861 Infamous for his quick temper, Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon was killed during the Battle of Wilson's Creek, on August 9, 1861, making him the first Union general to die in combat during the American Civil War. Nathaniel Lyon was born on July 14, 1818, in Ashford, Connecticut. He…
Nathaniel Prentice Banks
January 30, 1816 – September 1, 1894 Nathaniel Prentice Banks was a ten-time member of the United States House of Representatives and, during the American Civil War, one of President Abraham Lincoln's political generals. Nathaniel Prentice Banks was born in Waltham, Massachusetts on January 30, 1816. He was the first of nine children of Nathaniel…
Newton Jasper Kidwell
1848-1920 Captured for the final time in 1919, fifty-four years after the American Civil War ended, Ohioan Newton Jasper Kidwell was possibly the last Confederate soldier taken prisoner by Union soldiers. Born on July 4, 1848, in Fauquier County, Virginia, Kidwell came from a working-class background. His parents were yeomen farmers, who resided in Upperville,…
Nullification Crisis
1832-1833 On November 24, 1832, the Convention of the People of South Carolina approved the South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification, precipitating a constitutional crisis that nearly triggered a civil war in the United States. On May 19, 1828, United States President John Quincy Adams approved an act of Congress commonly known as the Tariff of…
Oliver Otis Howard
November 8, 1830 – October 26, 1909 Major General Oliver O. Howard, a Medal of Honor recipient, commanded Union troops in both the Eastern and Western Theaters of the American Civil War and served as the only commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau during Reconstruction. Oliver Otis Howard was born on November 30, 1830, at Leeds,…
Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel
July 28, 1809 – October 30, 1862 Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel was a world-renowned astronomer and a Union major general during the American Civil War who served briefly as commander of the Department of the Ohio. Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel was born near Morganfield, in Union County, Kentucky on July 28, 1809. He was the youngest child…
Patrick Ronayne Cleburne
March 16 or March 17, 1828 – November 30, 1864 Major General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne was one of the Confederacy's leading general officers in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. Patrick Ronayne Cleburne was born in Ovens, County Cork, Ireland on March 16 or March 17, 1828. He was the third child and…