Regular army established in U.S. 220 years ago

220 years ago, on September 29, 1789, the U.S. War Department first established a regular army with a strength of several hundred men.

United States military history is one of the subject strengths of the Opening History aggregation of digital collections, with over 40 digital collections focusing on this subject. For example, America at War digital collection chronicles the military history of the United States from the 1760s through the Vietnam War and provides an insight into how Louisiana impacted and was impacted by national and international engagements.

The item featured below, courtesy of America at War collection, is a letter from Brigadier General (U.S. Army) to Major Edmund P. Gaines, Recruiting officer, 24th Regiment of Infantry, U.S. Army, written in May of 1812.

Letter, Brigadier General James Winchester (U.S. Army) to Major Edmund P. Gaines, Recruiting officer, 24th Regiment of Infantry, U.S. Army

Read Full Post »

Jefferson’s letters

Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, was born on April 12, 1743.
Digital collections in Opening History aggregation contain a number of items related to Thomas Jefferson’s life and deeds. Other US presidents, whose life is covered by digital collections in Opening History, include Abraham Lincoln, William Taft, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and John Kennedy.

The item featured below is a full-text digitized Buffalo Historical Society’s 1904 publication, “A bundle of Thomas Jefferson’s letters, now first published”. This digital copy replaces the irreparably deteriorated original. Courtesy of New York State Historical Literature Collection , Cornell University (more information about this digital collection from Opening History).

Read Full Post »