On December 21, 1945, General George S. Patton died from injuries he received in a car crash 12 days earlier. His death came mere months after the end of World War II, in which he’d commanded troops in some of the war’s major battles.
On December 13, 1862, Union forces launched a bloody attack during the Battle of Fredericksburg. However, the tide turned and it became one of the most one-sided battles of the war.
On November 25, 1863, General Ulysses S. Grant broke the Confederate siege of Chattanooga.
Wiley Hardeman Post was born on November 22, 1898, Van Zandt County, Texas. A world-renowned aviator, he pushed the limits of early aviation technology to break the ’round the world record twice!
On November 20, 1889, one of the world’s most renowned astronomers, Edwin Hubble, was born. Hubble discovered and classified galaxies beyond ours and his studies revealed an expanding universe. His name lives on today through the Hubble Telescope, which has provided incredibly clear images of deep space for over 30 years.
On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered his eloquent Gettysburg Address. Delivered at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, it went on to become one of the most famous speeches in US history.
After burning Atlanta, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman embarked on his month-long March to the Sea on November 15, 1864.
On November 7, 1848, the War Department established a post on the Rio Grande that would later come to be known as Fort Bliss. Still in use today, it’s the second-largest US Army installation in the world.
America’s 26th president, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt was born October 27, 1858, in New York City. The youngest man to ever hold the office, he considered one of his greatest achievements to be the Panama Canal.