If our narratives of veteran protesters tend to focus on the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, soldiers’ protests actually have a much more longstanding history. Some of their most powerful examples were the World War I veterans who constituted the Bonus Army.
Military & Maritime
Veterans to Remember: Parker David Robbins
Thanks principally to the critical and popular success of the film Glory (1989), our collective memory of the Civil War includes African American soldiers (known in their era as United States Colored Troops).
Veterans to Remember: Chinese Americans in the Civil War
At least 58 Chinese Americans fought in the Civil War, constituting a largely forgotten community of soldiers and veterans.
Lt. Alonzo Cushing and the Medal of Honor
Today, November 6, 2014, President Obama awarded First Lt. Alonzo H. Cushing of Wisconsin the Medal of Honor for heroism. Cushing kept to his post despite horrific wounds in his shoulder and abdomen, leading his men for ninety minutes until a bullet to his head killed him.
“Remember the Maine!”
On February 15, 1898, the U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana Harbor. Although the spontaneous combustion of coal dust in the bunker beside the powder magazine probably touched off the explosion, a faction of Americans insisted that Spanish officials in Cuba had deliberately mined the ship.
What Grant’s Migraine Says about the Civil War
On April 8, 1865, General Ulysses S. Grant was having a hard night. His army had been harrying General Lee’s for days, and Grant knew it was only a question of time before Lee had to surrender.