The First Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving is the 150th annual celebration of the holiday in American history. Although the holiday is traditionally associated with the Pilgrim's Thanksgiving in the 1600s, its celebration annually by the nation begun in 1863 with a proclamation by Abraham Lincoln. Before that time, Thanksgiving days were called on special occasions. To learn more about the history of Thanksgiving, watch this video from Discerning History.

Battle of Fort Wagner Video

150 years ago today the Union army attacked Fort Wagner outside of Charleston South Carolina. Leading the charge was the black regiment the 54th MA. Their brave and bloody attack was seen in the film Glory.

CSS Alabama - Confederate Raider

150 years ago the CSS Alabama sailed the seven seas, spreading fear through the Union fleet. Learn about her career and demise in this video by Discerning History!

New History Blog

I would love for you all to check out a new blog that I have been working on a new history blog for Discerning History. On it we will be covering a wide variety of eras and aspects of history. Recent posts include one on how the Confederacy chose their motto and what it means, and an ongoing series on Ernest Shackleton. You may also be interested in our Youtube channel. We post weekly history videos on the Civil War and many other topics. Check out our most recent one below, on the history of the filibuster:

Replica of the CSS Neuse

On our Discerning History Youtube Channel, we just released a video on the CSS Neuse, were we visit the only full scale replica of a Confederate ironclad and see how Civil War naval technology changed warfare. Stayed tuned to this blog over the next few years

Gaines Mill Reenactment

This month we went to the Lee Takes Command reenactment in Pennsylvania. We already posted one of the battles reenacted there, Seven Pines. Here is the reenactment of the Confederate breakthrough at Gaines Mill, in a wonderful time of day as the sun was setting. Notice the charge of the Louisiana Tigers at 2:55.

Seven Pines Reenactment

Last weekend we attended the Lee Takes Command reenactment to do filming for our video series, Discerning History. Here is a short edit of the reenactment of the Battle of Seven Pines. You can read out post about the battle here. Check back next week for another video of breakthrough at the Battle of Gaines Mill.

John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry

Today is the 151th anniversary of the execution of John Brown after his raid on on Harper's Ferry in October, which in many ways helped cause the Civil War. This week people are celebrating how he was a martyr who died to free the slaves. This is actually not true. Brown was a very evil man. Before the raid on Harper's Ferry, he stole what would now be about a million dollars, but he was so persuasive that he convinced the man he stole it from later to lend him money. He was also a lunatic. At one point while he was in Kansas, he took a group of people out during the night and went to all the cabins of the area and murdered in cold blood everyone who was for slavery. Also it just so happened that after that murder Brown and his sons had nice new saddles. There are many other examples which we will leave out for lack of space. My father did a great talk on our trip to the Shenandoah Valley last year, which you an buy here.

John Brown was encouraged to raid Harper's Ferry by the "Secret Six", a group of six prominent Bostonians who were abolitionists and Unitarians. The raid was not a very smart idea. He had 21 men, 16 white and 5 black. He chose Harper's Ferry because at that time it was a large arsenal and weapon factory where about 100,000 guns were stored. His plan was to get the weapons and leave, and then he excepted the slaves to flock to him from their plantations. First of all, he did not have any way to transport the 100,000 weapons. Secondly, if the slaves did come to him, it would just be a mob. Brown had never commanded more than 30 men, and the slaves probably did not know how to use the weapons. It would have been a bigger disaster than it was.

Inside the engine house

The actual raid went well to start with. He captured the arsenal, but then he made a big mistake by not leaving at once. The militia of the area gathered and attacked him. He ended up trapped in the fire engine house with only four men. The next day Col. Robert E. Lee and Lt. Jeb Stuart came up from Washington with 88 marines, and stormed the engine house at the point of the bayonet and captured it. John Brown and his men were tried for murder and slave insurrection and were convicted. They were hung on December 2nd. There is much interesting history about the raid which I studied before we went to the Shenandoah Valley.

Last year we took a tour to Harper's Ferry and it was great to see what actually happened there. Much of the town is the same as it was then, and it is a very nice location.

The Bridge which Brown used to get to Harper's Ferry

The town

The original location of John Brown's Fort (it was moved)

The Potomac River. Harper's Ferry is here the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers meet

Here is a short video clip from our VAlley Tour:

To view in HD click here.