Travel

What began as a simple scouting mission evolved into a full-scale battle when a regiment of Union soldiers unexpectedly encountered a detachment of Confederate cavalry.

Three months after the Civil War's first important battle at Manassas in 1861, Union and Confederate armies met again near the sleepy town of Leesburg. The Confederates pushed forward and scattered the Union line. Soldiers drowned trying to escape back to Union lines on the other side of the Potomac River. A congressional investigation of the battle had long-lasting effects on the war's political and military administration. Bill Howard narrates the history of the battle as well as its thorny aftermath.

Valley Forge offers a variety of historical views and background into the site that became Pennsylvania's first state park. Highlights include Washington's Headquarters and the patriotic and inspiring Washington Memorial Chapel, as well as Revolutionary War artifacts that have found a home in Valley Forge. Thousands of books exist on the history of the American War for Independence, but few describe the events and people who have struggled to preserve that story of independence for people everywhere, as Valley Forge does.

The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard has a long history, from its beginnings pre-Civil War to its decommissioning in the late 1990's.

The first government-owned navy yard in Philadelphia, the birthplace of the nation and the largest city in the young republic, was started with two docks in 1798. Workers at the yard numbered seventy thousand at its peak. The area was enlarged and shipbuilding at this site increased, notably during the War of 1812 and the Civil War. The yard's area was not dramatically increased, however, until the federal government purchased the 800-acre League Island and closed the former facility in 1868. The golden age of the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard came during World War II, when it built fifty-three ships and converted or overhauled some twelve hundred more. After the 1970s, however, shipbuilding was discontinued. The yard continued to serve its country through the modernization of existing craft, but it was closed by the government in 1990 and officially decommissioned in 1996.

Located on the waterfront in historic Fall River, Massachusetts, Battleship Cove, a nonprofit maritime museum and war memorial, is home to the largest and most diverse collection of preserved US Navy ships in the world.

It is the commonwealth's official memorial for the events of September 11, 2001, and the official veterans' memorial for World War II and the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf Wars. Beginning with the opening of the battleship USS Massachusetts in 1965, the Fall River Navy has continued to grow. The vessels include the submarine Lionfish, destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., and PT boats 617 and 796. Having hosted nearly six million visitors from all over the world, Battleship Cove is one of the most popular attractions in southeastern Massachusetts. It now stands at the threshold of a new era in its ambitions to modernize for the 21st century.

The story of this important military installation is told here in a series of historic photographs, from the collections of Fort Lewis Military Museum dating from the early 20th century to the present. The photographs capture not only the natural beauty of the area and prominent buildings, but also many of the men and women who have served their nation at Fort Lewis.

Proud Marines and military aficionados know some of the tales of Parris Island military base, and now you can experience its history first-hand through this pictorial history of the infamous island.

Located near the Palmetto State's historic city of Beaufort, the United States Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina is one of the world's most famous military bases. Having trained Marine recruits since World War I, the base is the oldest major post of the Marine Corps. It is also the first base commissioned exclusively to train United States Marines, and therefore may truly be called ""The Cradle of the Corps."" Parris Island takes the reader on a visual journey through documented photographs that highlight the base's touchstones. Before the American Revolution, the island was partially owned by Col. Alexander Parris, who became the island's namesake. Plantations flourished on Parris Island until the end of the War between the States. A small detachment of Marines first arrived in the late 1800s. It was not until 1915, however, that the Marines arrived for good. Since then, the base has rapidly expanded, first during World War I and more so during World War II. Over the years, much of the physical appearance of the base has changed; yet, through this collection of photographs, former Parris Island Marines will have a chance to relive some of their memories while new recruits can watch the progression of their base unfold.

Images of America: Barksdale Air Force Base covers the history of the base from 1924 to the present with over 200 moving black-and-white photographs, many that have never been published before. This vivid history of United States military aviation includes everything from World War II to the Korean War, from the skies over Vietnam to alerts in the Cold War, from the sands of the Persian Gulf to the mountains of Kosovo, and on into the present-day War on Terrorism.

Even before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States began to prepare to enter World War II.

When the army decided to build a depot in Seneca County in 1941, dozens of families were given only days to vacate the homes they loved and land they had farmed for generations. The depot provided vital jobs for residents, but it also continued to cause controversy even after it was established--all while providing critical support for the army through the Persian Gulf War. Since the base closed in 2000, the community has grappled with what to do with the property, including protecting the area population of white deer. Join local historians Carolyn Zogg and Walter Gable as they tell the story of the Seneca Army Depot and the lives it has affected.

Discover within these pages little-known facts about the USS Albany, the U.S. Navy's oldest commissioned warship, USS Constitution, and the WWII destroyer, USS Cassin Young.

The photographs in this exciting new volume illustrate the history of the Charlestown Navy Yard from the late nineteenth century through the twentieth century. Founded in 1800, the yard was oneof the first military shipyards in the United States.Charlestown Navy Yard celebrates the life of the yardthrough one hundred years of photographs, showing thedramatic changes that took place during the transition from wood to steel ships. Charlestown Navy Yard's history is preserved in these images, which include rare views of buildings past and present and snapshots of shipyard workers in the Ropewalk, on the ships, and in the Forge Shop where die-lock chain was developed.

Ocracoke, a unique part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore with it's own dialect, captures a unique charm and spirit of community developed from its beginning in the 1580s as Wokokon Inlet.

Wokokon Inlet appeared on maps drawn by Englishman John White as early as the 1580s. The name evolved into Ocracoke, and by 1715, pilots were established on the island in order to safely navigate ships through the dangerous shoals. The village itself, once called Pilot Town, is rich with history that includes pirates, ponies, shipwrecks, hurricanes, and the oldest operating lighthouse in North Carolina. The infamous Blackbeard died here in 1718. Throughout its history, Ocracoke has been accessible only by mail boat, ferry, or private boat or plane. The Navy base established here during World War II and the Coast Guard have both made lasting impressions upon the island. Ocracoke grew into a vibrant fishing village for commercial and sport fishermen as well as a destination for hunters. The people of Ocracoke made this island a true treasure, having a distinctive brogue all their own. Today, the pristine, unspoiled beaches of Ocracoke remain part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and are maintained by the National Park Service. The village itself has retained its unique charm and community spirit.

Fort Devens is the first book to trace the military activity in this area. Throughout the twentieth century, troops were trained and deployed from Fort Devens for every major conflict the United States was involved in. During World War II, Fort Devens inducted more than six hundred thousand men into the army from the New England area. The list of individuals who have served here included Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Bill Mauldin, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, and Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Even NASA can trace its birth to Fort Devens by way of Dr. Robert Goddard's liquid-fueled rocket experiments.

Chronicling the history of life central New Jersey's Fort Dix army camp from 1917 to the present day.

Located in central New Jersey, Fort Dix has been training soldiers since its founding in 1917. More than three million men and women have passed through its gates since it was built as one of the original 16 army camps to train and mobilize soldiers for World War I. The fort, once known as Camp Dix, has experienced many changes over the years.

This unprecedented photographic history traces the evolution from a wooden cantonment to the installation of brick and fiber optics, from a horse-dominated transportation system to a motor vehicle system, and from training recruits to serving Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers. Along the way, Fort Dix depicts the influence of the 78th Division, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Women's Army Corps, Desert Storm, and the humanitarian work of resettling the Kosovo refugees.

Join local author Harry Gratwick as he uncovers stories of adventure and bravery from the forts of Maine.

Whether dotting the coastline, guarding the banks of the Kennebec or defending the Canadian border, Maine's many forts have sheltered its towns and people since the seventeenth century. Both Fort Kent and Fort Fairfield were built after the War of 1812 during the Aroostook War, when hostilities raged between Mainers and British Canadians over the region's rich timber stands. Portland Harbor's Fort Preble became embroiled in the Civil War when a Confederate raider tried—and failed—to steal a ship from its waters. In the twentieth century, Maine's preservationists protected many of these citadels, including Fort Knox in Penobscot Bay, the largest and most elaborate of all Maine's forts.

Revisit the former U.S. Naval Training Center at Bainbridge, MD by viewing photos of long closed PX, and silent drill fields... up to 350,000 sailors trained here once!

After the federal government purchased the Tome School for Boys in the northeasternmost county of Maryland in 1941, more than 1,200 acres were cleared for the United States Naval Training Center, Bainbridge. Preparing 350,000 sailors for battle in World War II, Bainbridge became a city in itself, with a PX, officer's club, chapel, post office, drill fields, indoor pools, and hospital. Because of the training center, Cecil County's population more than doubled. After 1976, when the center fell into disuse, the buildings were demolished. They live on, though, through the vintage photographs in this volume, collected from the archives of the Paw Paw Museum, the USNTC Bainbridge Museum, the U.S. Navy, and historic yearbooks and guidebooks. Images of America: United States Naval Training Center, Bainbridge aids in the efforts to preserve the center's memory for veterans and their families.

Camp Forrest was a training, induction, and combatant prisoner-of-war (POW) facility located on the outskirts of Tullahoma, Tennessee.

It was a self-sustaining city where over 70,000 soldiers were stationed and approximately 12,000 civilians were employed throughout World War II. In 1942, the camp transitioned to an enemy alien internment camp and was one of the first civilian internment camps in the United States. By the middle of 1943, it had transitioned into a POW camp and housed primarily German and Italian prisoners. After the war ended, the base was decommissioned and dismantled in 1946. In 1951, the area was recommissioned and expanded into the US Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Complex. Few remains of this important World War II facility exist today; however, the images within provide a glimpse into the effects and realities of a global war on American soil.

This volume will highlight more than 140 years of images that capture Fort Monroe's varied missions, historic buildings, the families who lived there, the resort hotels, and other aspects of this unique national landmark.

Fort Monroe was once a powerful symbol of America's national defense system. From 1823 to 1945, its primary military mission was to protect Hampton Roads and the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay from enemy attacks. Over the years, as military technology advanced, Fort Monroe's defensive posture changed. To counter potential threats, American coastal defense installations such as Fort Monroe developed sophisticated steel disappearing guns, mortars, anti-aircraft weapons, and submarine mines. As the site of the army's Coast Artillery School, Fort Monroe trained thousands of soldiers. After World War II, Fort Monroe's role as a coastal defense installation ended, and the post took on new missions as a training headquarters facility. With more than 200 original photographs, this volume unveils the layered history of this massive stone-and-brick installation from the end of the Civil War to the present.

Through the lens of over 200 vintage images, uncover the history and contributions made at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

Situated in southeastern Harford County and edged by the Chesapeake Bay and the Bush and Gunpowder Rivers, the U.S. Army bases known as Aberdeen Proving Ground, Edgewood Arsenal, and Fort Hoyle have been home to ordnance, chemical, technology, and artillery commands. The photographs in this volume include scenes of the fertile farmlands of Aberdeen, Edgewood, and Michaelsville, and their transformation, which began in 1917, into the military base known today as Aberdeen Proving Ground, or APG. Views of daily life on base include the ""Toonerville"" Trolley, a small-scale train that shuttled commuting personnel between the main gate and the buildings on post. The images document changes in the ways wars have been fought and changes in society as a result of war. Brave officers voluntarily tested the effects of mustard agent and other chemical weapons on protective clothing and gas masks. Local women sewed gas masks for troops and civilians. Women moved into key jobs on base during World War II, manufacturing and maintaining tanks and weapons systems as the need for great numbers of troops depleted the workforce of civilian males. APG scientists led the way into the computer age when they developed ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer.

Join Mark D. Hanson as he chronicles the long-standing and cohesive relationship between the farming town of Rantoul and the Chanute Air Force base.

Rantoul and the former Chanute Air Force Base are inseparably intertwined as primary players in a single historical narrative. Rantoul was first founded as an agriculturally based community in 1848 near an area known as Mink Grove. The settlement boomed with the coming of the Illinois Central Railroad in 1854; a railroad championed by the town's namesake, Robert Rantoul Jr. Disaster followed in 1899 and again in 1901 with devastating fires. Then, in 1917, a U.S. Army flying field was built on the outskirts of Rantoul. Named after the aviation pioneer Octave Chanute, Chanute Field, later Chanute Air Force Base, became a premier technical training facility. A mutually beneficial relationship quickly developed between these civilian and military establishments that would last for over 75 years. Chanute Air Force Base closed in 1993, ushering in yet another new era for the village of Rantoul.

Pres. George Washington authorized Springfield Armory to begin manufacturing small arms for the US military in 1794.

Over nearly two centuries until its closure in 1968, the government armory at Springfield, Massachusetts, became legendary, not only for the arms provided to soldiers during conflicts such as the War of 1812, the Civil War, and World War II, but also for the way in which those arms were crafted. The drive to produce firearms of high quality and quantity for the nation's military created a need to improve manufacturing methods and machinery. Armory advancements, such as the interchangeability of parts, helped lay the groundwork of the American Industrial Revolution. Because of these efforts, Springfield Armory is recognized not only as a first-rate government arms manufacturer, but also as a hub of industry, attracting thousands of skilled men and women from around the world.

The story of Camp Grant cannot be told simply through the forming of the camp, the training that took place, or the camp's eventual demise. Each part is a story unto itself, retold through the memories and photographs from the World War I troops, Illinois National Guardsmen, World War II draftees, medical personnel, and German POWs that passed through. Those photographs are gathered together here, narrating and preserving the story of Camp Grant.

This striking volume presents the military history of Fort Drum and the missions it continues to support in defense of the United States.

Northern New York State has boasted a prominent military presence since the War of 1812. Beginning in 1816 with the establishment of Fort Drum's predecessor, Madison Barracks, troops have trained there throughout the summer months and the harsh winters. Today, Fort Drum is the largest military facility in the northeastern United States, home to the 10th Mountain Division, a tactical unit deployed on missions around the world. Beginning with the history of Madison Barracks, Fort Drum depicts its birth as Pine Plains, a ten-thousand-acre training area, and its continued evolution into a military asset. By 1908, soldiers from Madison Barracks began summer maneuvers at Pine Plains under the command of Brig. Gen. Frederick Dent Grant, son of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. Historic images in Fort Drum show these training camps and what are known today as the greatest military maneuvers in peacetime history during 1935. Today, Fort Drum supports the training of almost eighty thousand troops annually.

The United States Naval Air Station at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, originally built as a Neutrality Patrol seaplane base, became a unique and fundamental asset to our nation's armed forces.

In World War II, more than half of all U-boats sunk by U. S. aviation were destroyed by Quonset-trained shore and carrier-based squadrons. In the years following World War II, Quonset Point Naval Air Station remained a premier industrial naval air station, sending squadrons or overhauling equipment for use in the Korean, Vietnam, and Cold War conflicts. For 34 years and through four wars, the Quonset Point Naval Air Station stood proud and tall on behalf of the U. S. military. This second volume of Quonset Point images uncovers nearly 200 more scenes of the installation's achievements and activities during the entire period of its service.

Dutch Island and Fort Greble, a fascinating visual journey through the past, will delight and educate both the avid historian and the casual observer.

Dutch Island is an 81-acre island situated at the southern end of the West Passage to Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. It served an important role in our country's military history, from its acquisition by the United States Army in 1864 until its closing by the military in 1947.

This volume is the first pictorial history illustrating the military development and facilities of Fort Greble on Dutch Island, spanning the period from the Civil War to World War II. Readers will step back in time and wander through the early earthworks and different incarnations of Fort Greble, stroll along the pristine parade ground before it was covered in briar and bramble, gaze upon the huge coastal artillery guns pointing toward the sea, and watch uniformed soldiers performing their duties on this fortified island.

Author Walter K. Schroder, author of Defenses of Narragansett Bay, has compiled an amazing collection of photographs, many from the official federal archives, that detail and examine a memorable chapter in our country's military past.

Experience the personal accounts of Marine Corp recruits as they recall their experiences of their time and training at Parris Island in South Carolina.

Here, for the first time, author and former Parris Island drill-instructor Eugene Alvarez records the training and tough physical and mental challenges that have helped to churn thousands of Marines out of Parris Island, South Carolina for nearly a century. Drawn from first-hand accounts of recruits themselves, the memories and recollections in these pages are humorous, sad, profane and enlightening--describing a training program that, on first encounter, often appears insane. But the results are clear: a disciplined Marine with a proud history that he or she carries proudly in peace time or war.

Fort Morgan has stood sentry on the Gulf of Mexico for almost 200 years. This pictorial history illustrates the people and events that have shaped its history.

Following the War of 1812, the United States embarked upon a major building program to improve the nation's seacoast defenses. A project was begun on Mobile Bay that would take almost twelve years to complete, plagued by harsh conditions, a lack of resources, and financial burdens. The end result, completed and opened in March of 1834, was Fort Morgan. Fort Morgan has played many key roles in the nation's military. During the Civil War, Fort Morgan provided covering fire for blockade runners entering and leaving Mobile Bay. The fort fell into disrepair after the Civil War as military planners thought it had outlived its usefulness. Between 1895 and 1904, five modern reinforced concrete batteries rose from the sands. At the peak of operations between 1910 and 1918, more than one hundred structures dotted the Mobile Bay landscape. This unique pictorial retrospective explores the growth and change at Fort Morgan, allowing the reader a chance to step back in time to the days when our nation's military fortifications provided a sense of security and protection to every citizen. Included are images culled from the Fort Morgan Museum, the National Archives and Records, and private collections. These vintage photographs depict every aspect of the fort's history, from the damage caused by the Union siege guns to the days following World War II when the fort was temporarily turned into a resort, and from the Confederates who worked to strengthen Mobile's lower defense line to the devastation of the hurricanes in 1906 and 1916.