On June 7, 1942, Japanese soldiers began a nearly year-long occupation of the American island of Attu, the last piece of U.S. soil to fall to enemy forces in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska during World War II. The day before, 500 Japanese marines had gone ashore at Kiska Island, Alaska, as a separate campaign concurrent with the Japanese plan for the Battle of Midway. … Continue reading Japan Invades the Aleutian Islands of Alaska
On May 30, 1854, the Kansas–Nebraska Act became law establishing the United States territories of Kansas and Nebraska. I lived in northeast Kansas for many years and spent a lot of time in southeast Nebraska as well. While we lived in an historical area of Tennessee previously (just down the road from Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage mansion), it was while going to junior high school near … Continue reading Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
My first task each morning consists of preparation for the daily A Stamp A Day article. I do have a calendar with many event anniversaries already penned-in for which I have appropriate stamps. For those dates that don’t already have a subject assigned, I first double-check the Wikipedia page for the date in question to make sure there isn’t a suitable topic. If there isn’t … Continue reading The Hawaiian Organic Act of 1900
On March 31, 1917, the United States of America formally took possession of the Danish West Indies after paying $25 million to Denmark, renaming the territory the United States Virgin Islands (USVI). The date is celebrated with a holiday each year in the USVI called Transfer Day; the holiday is the subject of Sophie Schiller’s 2012 novel Transfer Day. The United States’ interest in the Virgin … Continue reading The U.S. Virgin Islands
The Kansas–Nebraska Act became a law on May 30, 1854, establishing the Nebraska Territory and Kansas Territory. One of the provisions of the Act repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and allowed the settlers of Kansas Territory to determine by popular sovereignty whether Kansas would be a free state or a slave state. The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that … Continue reading The Territory of Kansas
The Insular Government of the Philippine Islands was a territorial government of the United States of America created in 1901 in what is now the Republic of the Philippines. The name reflects the fact that it was a civilian administration under the authority of the Bureau of Insular Affairs, in contrast to the United States Military Government of the Philippine Islands that it replaced. The government … Continue reading Insular Government of The Philippine Islands #396 (1935)
On March 30, 1822, the Spanish provinces of Florida Oriental (East Florida) and Florida Occidental (West Florida) — divided by the British in 1763 following the French and Indian War (the Seven Years’ War) out of the former Spanish territory of La Florida — became the United States Territory of Florida. This organized incorporated territory existed until March 3, 1845, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Florida. Ceded … Continue reading The U.S. Territory of Florida
The Hawaiian Islands (Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) from the island of Hawaiʻi in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Captain James Cook visited the islands on January 18, 1778, and named them the “Sandwich Islands” in honor of John Montagu, … Continue reading Hawaii #52 (1891)
A Stamp A Day 