The west Pacific volcanic island of Iwo Jima was
declared secure by the U.S. military after weeks
of fiercely fighting its Japanese defenders.  

On March 6, 1836, after 13 days of intermittent fighting, the Battle
of the Alamo came to a gruesome end and capping off a pivotal
moment in the Texas Revolution.

Mexican forces were victorious in recapturing the fort, and nearly
all of the roughly 200 Texan defenders—including frontiersman
Davy Crockett—died.

The defense of the Alamo remains a symbol of resistance and
revolution. The battle has been immortalized in several TV
series and films, including 1960’s The Alamo, starring John
Wayne as Davy Crockett. 

On February 8, 1943, Japanese troops evacuate Guadalcanal,
leaving the island in Allied possession after a prolonged
campaign. The American victory paved the way for other
Allied wins in the Solomon Islands.

On December 29, 1890, in one of the final chapters of America’s
long Indian wars, the U.S. Cavalry killed 146 Sioux at Wounded
Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.

A depiction of the Ghost Dance.

Civilian burial party, loading victims on a cart for burial.

Mass grave at the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre.

On December 16, 1944, the Germans launch the last major
offensive of the war, Operation Autumn Mist, also known
as the Ardennes Offensive and the Battle of the Bulge, an
attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern
France to northwestern Belgium. The Battle of the Bulge,
so-called because the Germans created a “bulge” around
the area of the Ardennes forest in pushing through the
American defensive line, was the largest fought on the
Western front.