AMERICAN HERITAGE

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What began as a civil war within the British Empire continued until it became a wider conflict affecting peoples and countries across Europe and North America.

The Forgotten Battle of Menotomy

by Michael Ruderman

Overshadowed in memory by Lexington and Concord, the Massachusetts town of Menotomy saw the most violent and deadly fighting on April 19, 1775.

Introduction: Revisiting Concord and Lexington

by Edwin S. Grosvenor

This special issue looks at the dramatic and momentous events that occurred 250 years ago this month.

Drama at the Old North Bridge

by Rick Atkinson

“Now the war has begun and no one knows when it will end,” said one minuteman after the fight.

Discovered: First Maps of the American Revolution

by Edwin S. Grosvenor

Previously unknown, a map drawn by Lord Percy, the British commander at Lexington, sheds new light on the perilous retreat to Boston 250 years ago this month.

Classic Essays from Our Archives

The Hawthornes In Paradise | December 1958, Vol 70, No 3

By Malcolm Cowley

Nathaniel was poor and sunk in his solitude; Sophia seemed a hopeless invalid, but a late-flower love gave them at last “a perfect Eden.”

"The Sparck of Rebellion" | Winter 2010, Vol 70, No 3

By Douglas Brinkley

Badly disguised as Indians, a rowdy group of patriotic vandals kicked a revolution into motion.

“The Tide is Setting Strongly Against Us” | Winter 2010, Vol 59, No 4

By Edward L. Ayers

Lincoln’s bid for reelection in 1864 faced serious challenges from a popular opponent and a nation weary of war.

A Few Parchment Pages Two Hundred Years Later | May/June 1987, Vol 70, No 3

By Richard B. Morris

The framers of the Constitution were proud of what they had done but might be astonished that their words still carry so much weight. A distinguished scholar tells us how the great charter has survived and flourished.

Did Castro Okay the Kennedy Assassination? | Winter 2009, Vol 58, No 6

By Gus Russo

Incriminating new evidence has come to light in KGB files and the authors' interviews of former Cuban intelligence officers which indicates that Fidel Castro probably knew in advance of Oswald's intent to kill JFK.

Searching for “Shenandoah” | Winter 2022, Vol 67, No 1

By Bruce Watson

It's one of the oldest folk ballads in our national songbook, but where did it come from? The answer is complex, multi-layered, American.

Today in History

Reagan asks Gorbachev to tear down this wall

President Ronald Reagan, speaking in front of the Brandenburg Gate section of the Berlin Wall, asks that Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev "Tear down this wall!" Reagan spoke at the 750th anniversary of Berlin, which was united as the German capital in 1989.
George Bush born

41st President George Herbert Walker Bush in born in Milton, Massachusetts. The son of Connecticut Senator Prescott Bush, he volunteered for the U.S. Navy after Pearl Harbor and became the youngest Naval aviator in American history. Bush later served in the House of Representatives, directed the CIA, and was elected to both the vice presidency and the presidency in the 1980s.
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