In the years during and after the War of 1812, our soliders fought a few more battles. From 1813-1814 we fought the Creek Indians in the Creek War. Then began the battles over Texas. The War of Texas Independence was fought in 1836, freeing Texas from Mexican rule. After 10 years of self-rule, Texas wished to join the United States. From 1846-1848 America fought Mexico for the rights over the Texas Territory, though they also gained California and the other Southwestern states as a result of the fighting.

As these states were joining the union, there were other battles brewing. “Bleeding Kansas” were fierce battles between those who thought Kansas should enter the Union as a slave state, and those who held firm that it should be a free state. Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (the part which became West Virginia when Virginia Seceded) in 1859 was an example of a militant Abolitionist – John Brown – taking extreme measures to get his views across.

The Civil War started in 1861 and ravaged this country until 1865. It is hard to imagine a situation in which more American blood could be shed than was shed as brother fought brother. The Northern part of the country – The Union – fought the Southern half of the young country – The Confederacy – over many things; though the main issues are generally considered to be Slavery and State’s Rights. As an example of how horrific this war was, the tragic loss of life during the September 11th attack, was approximately equal to the number of people as were killed during the Battle of Antietam – which lasted just a few days of this incredibly drawn-out war.

After the Civil War, America was relatively peaceful. There were a few scuffles, but they were generally small. We fought the Spanish-American war in 1898 over our sphere of influence, and our country earned it’s reputation as a world power. We intervened in Hawaii’s revolution in 1893 – though it wouldn’t become a state for more than 50 years. In Pershing’s Raid into Mexico from 1916-1917 we assisted the Mexican Government in their fight against political rebels.

Out west we had a few more encounters with the Native Americans which were less than peaceful. They included General George Crook’s expedition to capture Geronimo, The Battle of Bear River, and The Running Battle of 1865.

Most people generally think of World War II as having been fought abroad, but, in fact, there were attacks on American soil. Of course the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the brief capture of the Aleutian islands, but, few remember that there were others. Quite a few Japanese submarines attacked locations along the west coast. Japanese planes actually dropped bombs on Oregon in 1942; an attempt at starting widespread forest fires. Finally, in 1944-45, in a final desperate attempt to inflict damage, they launched “fire balloons” towards the US, resulting in 6 deaths – 5 of whom were children.

For most of the next few decades Americans were busy fighting overseas – with one exception: The Bay of Pigs Invasion. In 1961, American a group of Cuban exiles with American support landed at Bahia de Cochinos – translated as The Bay of Pigs – in Cuba. While this battle did not technically occur on American soil or with American soldiers, but it was extremely close to home, and deeply affected American life for many years to come.

One final note on wars in America: It was my intent to include race riots in this article, but, the unfortunate truth is that there are simply too many to list here; and not all of them were black and white. The list includes Anti-Irish, Anti-Catholic, and Anti-German riots, as well as an American Nazi uprising.

It just reinforces the idea that war is never pretty; there may be times when it is necessary, but it is never pretty.