Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Over the course of three days of intense fighting, the Union Army defeated the Confederate States Army on the bloodstained battlefield. It has become widely known as a crucial turning point in this tumultuous period of U.S. history. The loss of human life was extensive, families were torn apart and the country would never be the same again.
In 1868, Union Army Major General John A. Logan declared May 30 "Decoration Day," a day to honor fallen Civil War soldiers with speeches, prayers, and flowers and other decorations on their graves at Arlington National Cemetery. In 1971, Congress made the observance a national holiday to remember all those who have died serving our country, and since then, Memorial Day has been observed on the last Monday of May.
There are few better ways to honor the memory of the nation's fallen heroes than by acknowledging the special sacrifices and answering the special needs of the nation's military community. Few have done more to help veterans and first responders than Gary Sinise, who traces his long commitment back to his breakthrough role as broken Vietnam veteran Lt. Dan in "Forrest Gump."
The past year has seen both cries for cutting the defense budget at home and renewed violence abroad. With the economy continuing to decline, and the deficit continuing to rise, it is almost inevitable that the defense budget will continue to shrink.
During awards season, the short-film nominees are never given the same attention as the best picture contenders or the gossip about who’s wearing whom. Yet, brevity is an art and deserves a look. This week, catch screenings of the Academy Award nominees for the best live action, animated and documentary shorts at area movie theaters, where screenings will group the five nominees in each category together.
This week, catch screenings of the Academy Award nominees for the best live action, animated and documentary shorts at area movie theaters, where screenings will group the five nominees in each category together.
The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery is opening two new exhibits that retrace the history of the Civil War, including a display of lesser known portraits by photographer Mathew Brady.
The "Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant," covering Grant's years as commanding general of the Union Army during the Civil War and his two-term presidency, has been justifiably acclaimed as one of the best books of its genre, on a par with Julius Caesar's "Commentaries." The back story of the memoirs - a cancer-stricken man writing to stave off financial ruin for his wife - makes his work even more compelling. It is this story that drives Charles Bracelen Flood's "Grant's Final Victory."
When confronted by a 40-pound amputated human scrotum - diseased and distended, roughly the size of a well-fed lapdog, sporting the cracked, leathery texture of an old, weathered football, preserved under glass for easy viewing - many words come to mind.
District leaders in tailored suits mingled with re-enactors portraying Union soldiers and 19th century farmwives during the grand opening Monday of the new African American Civil War Museum.
Vintage baseball is many things — an alternative to recreational league softball, the athletic equivalent of a Civil War re-enactment, a chance to experience the national pastime as it was played in its formative era. Mostly, though, it's murder on the hands.
Nearly 150 years after Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant fought in Northern Virginia, a conflict over the battlefield is taking shape in a courtroom.
Who becomes a general — and why — tells us a lot about whether our military is on the right or wrong track.
Students of history and fellow Virginians gathered yesterday in Alexandria to celebrate the 201st anniversary of the birth of Robert E. Lee at an unlikely place — Fort Ward, a former Union Army base built to protect the District.
James Edward Hanger was a healthy man of 18 and a sophomore at Washington College in Lexington, Va., when he decided to fight in the War Between the States. Local officials considered him too young to join the Confederate army, but when he found an ambulance corps vehicle carrying food and other supplies for the Confederacy, he simply made himself part of the group leaving his hometown of Churchville, Va.
