History in 20th Apr

Robert E. Lee resigns his commission as a colonel in the U.S. Army, fearing that he would have to take arms against his native Virginia. Following Virginia's secession, Lee pledged to defend the commonwealth and eventually commanded the Army of Northern Virginia. 

More »

President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Civil Rights Act of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, into law. The act designed to protect African-Americans in the South who had been intimidated, harassed, assaulted, and murdered by Klan members; its provisions enabled federal soldiers to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment and other civil rights legislation during Reconstruction.