Walk Softly and Carry a Big Stick, 1902-1917

Links for today:

US / World History in Context (need WSU login to use, useful starting point for research on any of the international episodes covered in this chapter)

U.S. Navy from Civil War to the “Great White Fleet”

Quick overview of Theodore Roosevelt’s “Great White Fleet” trip 1906-1907

The Schlieffen Plan (i.e. why Germany invaded France through Belgium in 1914, and how that worked out for them)

PBS American Experience, The Great War, Chapter 1

Reconstruction and the West

Some links for your consideration:

Matthew Pearl, “K Troop,” Slate 3/4/16

“Little War on the Prairie,” audio episode of This American Life, 11/23/2012 about the 1862-1863 Dakota War

Pamphlet history on The Army and Reconstruction, 1865-1877 (Army Center of Military History)

Little Bighorn National Monument (National Park Service)

Wounded Knee Massacre (1890) Primary Source Set from Digital Public Library of America

Civil War, Part II (1863-1865)

Links for today:

Armies and Organization in the Civil War (Battlefield Trust)

Magnitude of the Civil War (Ken Burns)

Animated Battle Map of entire Civil War, by year (Battlefield Trust)

Overview of the Western Theater (Battlefield Trust)

Vicksburg Campaign – July 1863 (Battlefield Trust)

Chickamauga Campaign / Battle of Chattanooga – Sept-Nov 1863 (Battlefield Trust)

Atlanta Campaign – May-Sept 1864 (Battlefield Trust)

Sherman’s March – late 1864 (Ken Burns)

Sherman’s Field Order No. 15 – 1865 (Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History)

Fourteenth Amendment, especially Section 3

Historians’ Amicus Brief in the Supreme Court case Trump v. Anderson (Colorado Disqualification case, being argued before the court on 8 Feb 2024).

Historians Jill Lepore and David Blight discuss their Amicus Brief (above) and the relevant history on NPR (31 Jan 2024)

Military Professionalism, Seminole Wars, Indian Removal, and Annexation of Texas

Lots to cover in this early 19th century era! Some useful links and resources:

“Fighters to the End,” about the bitter rivalry between Sylvanus Thayer and Alden Partridge.

Ships of Sail (US Navy. Explore frigates, brigs, and sloops). The only remaining US Navy sailing ship in commission is the USS Constitution. See for example, the USS Constitution‘s Battle Record (our source for last time’s letters describing battle with HMS Java, Dec 1812)

1821 Army Regulation Manual, authored by Gen. Winfield Scott

Seminole Nation’s perspective on the Seminole Wars

Video: “The Seminole War” (Historical Society of Palm Beach County)

Maj Gen Scott’s Military Order No. 25 regarding Cherokee removal, 1838

A Soldier Recalls the Cherokee Trail of Tears (1838, written in 1890)

Critical Period + War of 1812

Useful links:

Battle of Fallen Timbers (Army Historical Foundation)

The War of 1812 (American Battlefield Trust)

Smithsonian Magazine, “Your Guide to the Three Weeks of 1814 that We Today Call the War of 1812

USS Constitution Museum website — why “Old Ironsides” was the ship to beat in 1812

More about the bombardment of Fort McHenry, Baltimore, in September 1814 and Key’s poem that became today’s national anthem

The actual flag that Key wrote about is in the Smithsonian’s collection, btw

Battle of New Orleans: A Closer Look (28-minute video of a 2015 panel, featuring the governor of Louisiana and panel of historical experts, Louisiana Public Broadcasting)

American Revolution – Links and Resources

Seven Years’ War – Battle scene (Barry Lyndon, 1975)

Flintlock musket demo (a British reenactor demonstrating top speed for re-loading a “British Brown Bess”-style flintlock musket & getting 3 shots off in 46 seconds)

Flintlock Loading (slower motion, FYI)

American Battlefield Trust – Bunker Hill (this organization has created many such 4-minute explainers, they’re all quite good)

Revolutionary War Battles, interactive maps and other resources from American Battlefield Trust

Mount Vernon, Yorktown Battle Animation (there’s also a Winter Patriot film covering the winter of 1776-1777 and the battles of Trenton and Princeton)

Origins, pre-1760s

Watch and take notes on this 5-minute clip from the 2006 Spanish film Alatriste, depicting Spanish tercio (“pike and shot”) formations against French forces during the Battle of Rocroi in 1643, during the Thirty Years’ War. Rocroi was fought in the Ardennes region of northern France.

Questions to consider:

What equipment are the soldiers using?
What tactics does each side employ?
How do forces communicate on the battlefield?
How does this depiction differ from paintings made of the battle? For example …

In the late 1600s by Savuer Le Conte

Or in 1834 by Francois Joseph Heim

Links to Explore:

Use (or Mis-Use) of the Trebuchet by Cortez at Tenochtitlan, 1521 (present-day Mexico City)
Jamestown Fort 1607 (Virginia)
Anglo-Powhatan Wars, 1610s-1640s (Virginia)
Pequot War, 1636-1637 (Connecticut)
Overview of Iroquois Wars (“Beaver Wars”) 1640-1701 (Great Lakes Region / Eastern Canada)
Pueblo Revolt 1680, a firsthand account from the Spanish (present-day New Mexico)
Narrative of Mary Rowlandson, a New England Puritan captive during King Philips’ War 1675 (Lancaster, MA)