On April 15th 1861, the day after the fall of Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers to enlist for three months' service to defend the Union. This 90-day period pr

Contrary to the image portrayed by Hollywood, the infantry played as great a part in the Indian Wars of the 1860s-80s, and were more consistently successful than their more famous counterparts in the

African-American soldiers played a decisive role in the US Army on the western frontier during the Plains Wars. First authorised by Congress in July 1866, they were organised into two cavalry and fou

The part played in the Civil War by the small Marine Corps of the United and Confederate States is overshadowed by the confrontations of the great armies. Nevertheless, the coastal and riverine campa