Today marks the occupation of the city of Alexandria, VA by Union forces. An expedition left from the Washington Navy Yard under cover of darkness and crossed the Potomac into Virginia. Demanding the surrender of the city, Union sailors and soldiers hoisted the American flag on prominent buildings to send a strong message that the [...]

Thinking that the secession of Maryland from the Union was imminent, Captain Franklin Buchanan – the first Superintendant of the United States Naval Academy, Mexican war hero and current Commandant of the Washington Navy Yard – resigned his commission in the US Navy on April 22, 1861 and waited for Maryland to become Confederate. Turns [...]