Home About us Products Services Contact us Bookmark
:: wikimiki.org ::
M551 Sheridan

M551 Sheridan

Country Of Origin:United States
Designation:Light Tank
Configuration:Track
Manufacturer:
Crew:4
Length:20.6 ft (6.3 m)
Width:9.2 ft (2.8 m)
Height:7.6 ft (2.3 m)
Weight: 17.5 t
Clearance:19 in (483 mm)
Fording: mm
Obstacle:33 in (838 mm)
Trench:7 ft (2.13 m)
Speed:42 mph (67 km/h) road
Range:373 miles (600 km)
Primary armament:152 mm gun
Secondary armament:coaxial 7.62 mm MG, TC .50 cal M2HB machine gun
Armour:mm
Power plant:300 hp, diesel 6V53T engine
The above data pertains to the M551A1 Sheridan model The M551 became the M551A1 when equipped with the AN/VVG-1 LRF and the Tank Thermal Sight (TTS) AN/VSG-2B. The M551 became the M551NTC when configured for use in training at the National Training Center (NTC) in Fort Irwin, California and the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. The hull, suspension, and miscellaneous hull components of the M551A1 and M551NTC are identical.
The M551 Sheridan is a light tank and armoured reconnaissance vehicle developed by the United States. It is named after Civil War General Philip Sheridan.

Development

In the immediate post-WWII era the US Army introduced the M41 Walker Bulldog into service to fill their light tank role, armed with the war-era British designed 76 mm gun. However the lifetime of this system was fairly short, the 25 ton tank was considered too heavy to be a true light tank (the same weight as WWII mediums), and had a rather short cruising range. Plans started to build an even lighter replacement mounting the same gun, resulting in the T-71 and T-92 test designs. Two prototypes of the 19 ton T-92 were later ordered. However as the prototypes were entering testing, information about the new Soviet PT-76 tank became available. The PT-76 was amphibious, and soon there were demands that any US light tank be able to swim as well. The T-92 was too far into the design to be refitted, so the design of an entirely new system started as the XM551, no longer known as a "light tank", but instead "armored reconnaissance/airborne assault vehicle". The need for even lighter weight presented the design with a particularly difficult problem; guns capable of defeating modern tanks at reasonable ranges were so large as to make the vehicles able to carry them far too large and heavy to be used in the light tank role. The use of HEAT rounds instead of conventional penetrating ammunition could address this, but HEAT rounds work better at larger calibres. Gun weight is typically a function of the calibre and muzzle velocity, so in the case of the XM551 they sacrificed the latter, producing the M81 152 mm gun with very low muzzle velocity. The M81 would allow the XM551 to deal with most tanks, but only at short ranges due to the low accuracy of the "lofted" low-velocity rounds. At longer ranges the tank would be vulnerable, but it appeared there might be a solution to this problem. The solution was to equip the tank with gun-fired anti-tank missiles. A number of vehicles mounting only ATGM's, or alternately recoilless rifles like the US's own Ontos tank were already in service, but typically these vehicles had limited firepower in the infantry support role. The XM551 appeared to offer the best of both worlds, for infantry support the large calibre gun allowed it to fire full-sized artillery rounds and canister shot, while also giving it reasonable short-range anti-tank performance from the same gun. Although the Shillelagh missile was considered a risky project, if it worked the XM551 would be able to deal with even the largest tanks at extreme ranges. The vehicle designed to mount the gun was based on an aluminum-armored multipurpose tracked vehicle, powered by a large 300 hp (224 kW) diesel engine. The XM551 thus had an excellent power-to-weight ratio and mobility, able to run at speeds up to 45mph, which at that time was unheard of for a tracked vehicle. Unfortunately the armor was thin enough that it could be penetrated even by heavy machine gun rounds, and is apparently particularly vulnerable to mines. Swimming capability was provided in a unique and somewhat odd fashion. The front armor was actually three folded layers, hinged together. They could be opened up into a sloping vertical surface in front of the driver providing a bow of a boat hull, about even with the top of the turret. Fabric formed the rest of the hull, folding up from hatches lining the upper corner where the side met the top of the hull, and held up at the back with poles. The front of the "hull" was provided with a plastic window, but in practice it was found that water splashing onto it made it basically useless, and the driver instead had to stand up to see.

Production history

Production started in 1966, and reached service in 1968 as the Sheridan. 1,562 M551s were built between 1966 and 1970. The M81 gun had problems with cracks developing near the breach after repeated firing, a problem that was later tracked to the "key" on the missiles that ran in a slot cut into the barrel. Most field units were modified to help address the problem, but later the modified M81E1 was introduced with a shallower slot, along with a similar modification to the missile, that cured the problem. The Sheridan saw limited action in Vietnam. Like the Ontos, the battle reports from the troops were glowing, while the reports higher up the chain of command were entirely negative. Of course an anti-tank vehicle being fielded against an enemy that didn't use tanks was something of a waste, but the gun proved an able anti-personnel weapon, and was generally loved by the infantry who were desperate for direct-fire support. In this role the real problem with the Sheridan was its limited ammunition load, of only 20 rounds and 8 missiles. A common field-modification was to mount a large steel shield around the commander's 50 cal (12.7 mm) gun, allowing it to be fired with some level of protection. The Army started to phase out the Sheridan in 1978, although at the time there was no real replacement. Nevertheless the 82nd Airborne were able to keep them on, to the extent of 57 machines today. The Sheridan was the only air-deployable tank in the inventory, and as an elite force they had considerably more "pull" than general infantry and armor units who were forced to get rid of them. Their units were later upgraded to the M551A1 model, including a thermal sighting system for the commander and gunner. Sheridans were used Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989, and were again lauded by their operators as providing firepower in needed situations. The Sheridan was also deployed in Operation Desert Shield in 1991. In the early 80’s the M551A1 was fitted with a visual modification kit to resemble Warsaw Pact vehicles at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin California. These modified vehicles still are running strong as the OPFOR or OPposing FORces and give the modern armor a hard time with their agility. Several attempts to upgun or replace the Sheridan have been made over the years since it was introduced, but none have yet been successful. Several experimental versions of the Sheridan mounting a new turret carrying the NATO-standard 105 mm gun were made, but the recoil was so great as to make it almost unusable. Several new vehicles were tested as a part of the Armored Gun System effort of the 1980s, but none of these entered service. Today the Stryker is intended to replace the Sheridan at long last, but many have commented that the Stryker's APC-based hull is even less capable than the Sheridan. Perhaps more annoyingly the 105 is a dedicated anti-armor gun and therefore less useful in the anti-personnel role than the M81. The most ironic part of the M551 story is that it was created in order to give the US forces an amphibious tank, causing the existing T-92 design to be abandoned. However for all the trouble, it appears that the swimming system of the M551 was never used in combat.

Variants


- XM551/M551 - The M551 was the basic production model, beginning production in 1967. The XM551 had been a limited run pre-production model produced in 1965.
  - "Two Box" M551 - With the obvious shortcomings of the Shillelagh missile, all but two of the guidance and fire control components of the missle system were removed (the power supply and rate sensor were retained). The resulting additional space was filled with two seperate boxes, one for 7.62x51mm NATO ammunition, and one for 12.7x99mm BMG ammunition, and the missile stowage was redesigned to accept conventional rounds.
- M551A1 - Upgraded M551 with AN/VVG-1 laser rangefinder, used by the 82nd airborne only
  - M551A1 TTS - Tank Thermal Sight, fitted with the AN/VSG-2B thermal sight unit, similar to the unit used on the M60A3 MBT. This later became standard to all M551A1s.
- M551 NTC - National Training Center. Using M551 hulls, the NTC created a number of mock vehicles for training exercises resembling common Soviet/Warsaw pact types.

Operators

: United States (in Reserve Storage after the 1990s) : Singapore (in Reserve Storage)

Combat History

: Vietnam : Operation Just Cause in Panama : Operation Desert Shield

See Also


- List of "M" series military vehicles
- M-60A2 used a similar 152 mm gun which also fired the Shillelagh missiles.

External links


- [http://www.eaglehorse.org/4_ftx_gunnery/equipment/m551_sheridan/sheridan_intro.htm Vietnam-Germany-Fort Irwin: the Eaglehorse and the M551 Sheridan] - an excellent and in-depth history of the M551 Sheridan
- [http://afvdb.50megs.com/usa/m551.html AFV Database] Category:Light tanks Category:Cold War American tanks ja:M551_(戦車)

Ton

The word ton or tonne is derived from the Old English tunne, and ultimately from the Old French tonne, and referred originally to a large cask with a capacity of 252 wine gallons, which holds approximately 2100 pounds of water. Such a barrel (of any similar volume) is still called a tun in British English, but this usage is dying out. The modern spelling tonne, almost always referring to the metric ton of 1000 kilograms (or the associated obsolete force unit) when used in English, is a direct borrowing from the French language. There are many meanings of ton:

Units of mass

There are three similar units of mass called the ton or tonne:
- tonne or metric ton = 1000 kg (~2204.62 lb). The official symbol is t, but mT, MT, and T are also used. This is not an SI unit, though it is acceptable for use with SI. The name for this unit in SI is the megagram (symbol: Mg).
- short ton (or simply ton in the USA) = 2000 lb (exactly 907.18474 kg).
- long ton (or weight ton or gross ton, or simply ton in the UK) = 2240 lb (exactly 1016.0469088 kg), is an avoirdupois unit commonly used in the UK and still common in areas of British influence. The UK now often uses the metric (1000 kg) tonne which it is conveniently very similar to—less than 2% difference. The long ton is used for petroleum products. It is also used in the U.S., as in many other countries, for things such as the deadweight tonnage of naval ships.
- As a displacement ton the long ton is normally measured as the mass of 35 cubic feet of sea water. Increasingly, metric tons are being used rather than long tons in measuring the displacement of ships. See tonnage.
  - Deadweight ton (abbreviation 'dwt') for the capacity of a ship in the number of long tons (2240 pounds).
  - Harbour ton used in South Africa in the 20th century, equal to 2000 pounds or one short ton. Both the short ton and the long ton are composed of twenty hundredweights, each having different values for the hundredweight (100 and 112 pounds respectively). Prior to the 15th century in England, the ton was composed of twenty hundredweights, each of 108 lb, giving a ton of 2160 pounds. In the context of nuclear power plants, tHM and MTHM mean (metric) tons of heavy metal, and MTU means metric tons of uranium. Assay ton (abbreviation 'AT') is not a unit of measurement (nobody ever has x assay tons of something), but rather a standard quantity used in assaying ores of precious metals; it is 29 1/6 grams (short assay ton) or 32 2/3 grams (long assay ton), the amount which bears the same ratio to a milligram as a short/long ton bears to a troy ounce. In other words, the number of milligrams of a particular metal found in a sample of this size gives the number of troy ounces contained in a short/long ton of ore.

Units of force

There are also the units of force based on each of these three mass units. However, it is only the metric ton or tonne as a unit of mass which is acceptable for use with SI. The metric tonne force (tonne force), like the kilogram force, is not acceptable for use with SI.
- 1 short ton force = 2000 lbf = 8.896443230521 kilonewtons (kN)
- 1 long ton force = 2240 lbf = 9.96401641818352 kN
- 1 metric ton force = 1000 kgf = 9.80665 kN

Units of volume

See also ton (volume), tonnage. The freight ton or measurement ton is a unit of volume used for describing ship capacities (tonnage) or cargo. One measurement ton is equal to:
- 40 cubic feet
- 1.481(481) cubic yards (the "481" digit sequence repeats infinitely)
- 1,132.67386368 litres
- 1.13267386368 cubic metres The amount of fresh water at 4 °C displaced by one measurement ton has a mass similar to the ton masses listed above: about 1133 kg or 2497 lb. The measurement ton is abbreviated as M/T, MT, or MTON, which can cause it to be confused with the metric ton. The register ton is also a unit of volume used for the cargo capacity of a ship, defined as 100 cubic feet (roughly 2.83 cubic metres). It is often abbreviated GRT for gross registered ton. It is known as a tonneau de mer in Belgium, but, in France, a tonneau de mer is 1.44 cubic metres or about 1.88 cubic yards. The Panama Canal net ton, a unit of volume used for billing for ships going through the Panama Canal, the same as the register ton. The fee for example in the 1990s was roughly a couple USD for each unit. The water ton was formerly used in Great Britain and equal to 224 imperial gallons (the volume occupied by a mass of one long ton under the conditions which define the imperial gallon). See 1 E-1 m³ and orders of magnitude (volume) for a comparison with other volumes.

Unit of energy

ton of TNT


- A ton of TNT or tonne of TNT is a unit of energy equal to 109 calories, also known as a gigacalorie, equal to about 4.184 gigajoules.
- A kiloton of TNT or kilotonne of TNT is a unit of energy equal to 1012 calories, also known as a teracalorie, equal to about 4.184 terajoules.
- A megaton of TNT or megatonne of TNT is a unit of energy equal to 1015 calories, also known (infrequently) as a petacalorie, equal to about 4.184 petajoules. Note that these are thermal calories. The dietary calorie is equal to one thousand thermal calories. Early values for the explosive energy released by trinitrotoluene (TNT) ranged from 900 to 1100 calories per gram. In order to standardise the use of the term TNT as a unit of energy, an arbitrary value was assigned based on 1000 calories (4.184 kilojoules) per gram. Thus there is no longer a direct connection to the chemical TNT itself. It is now merely a unit of energy that happens to be expressed using words normally associated with mass (e.g. kilogram, tonne, pound) (IAEA references: [http://www.iaea.org/About/Policy/GC/GC42/Documents/gc42inf3.pdf], [http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Magazines/Bulletin/Bull404/article1.pdf]). The definition applies for both spellings: ton of TNT and tonne of TNT. Measurements in tons of TNT have been used primarily to express nuclear weapon yields, though have also been used since in seismology as well. Sample terms:

ton of coal equivalent


- A ton of coal equivalent or tonne of coal equivalent (TCE), a conventional value of 7 Gcal (IT) = 29.3076 GJ.

ton of oil equivalent


- A ton of oil equivalent or tonne of oil equivalent (TOE), a conventional value of 10 Gcal (IT) = 41.868 GJ ≈ 10.0067 ton of TNT. See also GTOE.

Unit of power


- In refrigeration and air-conditioning, a refrigeration ton can be:
  - The power required to cool 1 short ton of water by 1 °F every 10 minutes = 12,000 BTU/h ≈ 3,516.85284 watts
  - The power required to cool 1 long ton of water by 1 °F every 10 minutes = 13,440 BTU/h ≈ 3,938.87518 watts
  - A corresponding unit of energy equal to that power for a period of a day, or 24 × 12,000 BTU = 288,000 BTU ≈ 303,856,086 joules

Miscellaneous tons


- Ton is also used informally to mean a large amount of something.
- Units of speed: in slang or informal usage, a ton can be
  - 100 mph
  - 100 km/h
- In money, a ton is slang for 100 GBP (pounds sterling) —this is a term with a London, England origin.
- In darts, a ton (or ton up) is a score of 100 or more points with three darts.
- In cricket, a ton is a score of 100 runs, typically referring to 100 runs by a single batsman.
- In motor vehicles, many trucks are classified into groups loosely related to their off-road carrying capacity, as 1/4-ton (the first Jeep was so classified), 1/2-ton, 3/4-ton, 2 1/2-ton (deuce-and-a-half in U.S. military slang), 5-ton, etc. Of course, the vehicles weigh much more than this, and according to military classification are allowed to carry double the cargo on roads.
  - Conversely in some cases the weight refers to the maximum gross road weight including cargo, for example a British 3.5-tonne van is the largest vehicle that can be legally driven on an ordinary driver's license.

See also


- Conversion of units
- Medieval weights and measures
- Ancient weights and measures
- English unit
- Imperial unit
- U.S. customary unit

External links


- [http://www.ex.ac.uk/trol/scol/ccvol.htm Conversion calculator for units of mass (Cleave Books)] Category:Units of mass Category:Units of volume Category:Customary units in the United States Category:Imperial units ko:톤 ja:トン simple:ton

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded1 from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry. Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars. The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by China (12%), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). More than 50% of total trade is with these four countries. In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1950s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few strikes in recent years. The United States' imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to an annual trade deficit of $700,000,000,000, or 6% of gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign debt of over $13,000,000,000,000 (2005 estimate); and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, backing away from the more interventionist Keynsian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. As a result, the United States provides fewer government-delivered social welfare services than most industrialized nations, choosing instead to keep its tax burden lower and relying more heavily on the free market and private charities. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than the national level ($5.15 per-hour), including the highest, Washington State at $7.35. Twenty-six states are the same as the federal level; two--Ohio and Kansas--are below; and six do not have state laws. America's wealth is relatively highly concentrated. The average C.E.O. earns 500 times the typical amount a worker grosses, this is up from 25 times in the late 1970s. In terms of wealth the top 1% of Americans own 40% of all assets and 50.1% of the country's income goes to the top twenty percent of households. Average wages for the majority of employees have been largely stagnating since the 1970s. America's poverty line defined as a family of four earning less than $19,157 is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; African Americans have the lowest median income while Asians had the highest. Regionally, the southern states had the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England had the highest. The current Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan remarked that the U.S.’s growing income inequality since the 1970s is, "not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html?s=itm] However, Greenspan also noted, "...you can look at the system and say it's got a lot of problems to it, and sure it does. It always has. But you can't get around the fact that this is the most extraordinarily successful economy in history."

Transportation

Alan Greenspan ]] Because the United States is a relatively young nation, most of the development of U.S. cities has taken place since the invention of the automobile. To link its vast territory, the United States built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important element is the Interstate Highway system, commissioned in the 1950s by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and modeled after the German Autobahn. The United States also has a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight across the lower forty-eight states. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which serves forty-six of the lower forty-eight states. Many cities in the United States have extensive mass-transit systems. New York City operates one of the world's largest and most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend into Long Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Connecticut are among the most heavily used in the world. Air travel is often preferred for destinations over 300 miles (500 kilometers) away. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; in terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. There are several major seaports in the United States; the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles, California; the Port of Long Beach, California; and the Port of New York and New Jersey. Others include Houston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington; plus, outside the contiguous forty-eight states, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Society

Demographics

Hawaii The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the western United States followed by the southern portion. According to Census 2000, the states that saw the greatest increases from 1990 were: Nevada (66.3%), Arizona (40%), Colorado (30.6%), Utah (29.6%), Idaho (28.5%), Georgia (26.4%), Florida (23.5%), Texas (22.8%), North Carolina (21.4%), and Washington (21.1%). [http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t2/tab03.pdf]

Ethnicity and race

:Main article: Racial demographics of the United States The United States is a very racially diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. The majority of Americans descend from white European immigrants who arrived at the establishment of the first colonies (most after Reconstruction). This majority--69.1% in 2000--decreases each year, and is expected to become a plurality within a few decades. The most frequently stated European ancestries are German (15.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from Slavic countries such as Poland and Russia. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada. Russia Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are the largest minority group in the country, comprising 12.5% of the population (2000 census). People of Mexican descent made up 7.3% of the population in the 2000 census, and this proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. About 12.3% (2000 census) of the American people are African Americans (Blacks). African Americans are spread throughout the country, but their presence is largest in the South. Asian Americans--including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders--are a third significant minority (3.7% of the population in 2000). Most Asian Americans are concentrated on the West Coast and Hawaii. The largest groups are immigrants or descendants of emigrants from the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan. Indigenous peoples in the United States, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up 0.9% of the population (2000 census). About 35% live on Indian reservations.

Religion

Polls estimate that just under 80 percent of Americans are Christians of various denominations. The other 20 percent comprises other religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, other various faiths, and those without a specific religion. The United States is noteworthy among developed nations for its relatively high level of religiosity. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, about 44% of Americans attend a religious service at least once a week. However, this rate is not uniform across the country; attendance is more common in the Bible Belt—composed largely of Southern and Midwestern states—than in the Northeast and West Coast. In the Southern states, Baptists are the largest group, followed by Methodists; Roman Catholics are dominant in the Northeast and in large parts of the Midwest due to their being settled by descendants of Catholic immigrants from Europe (such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland) or other parts of North America (mainly Quebec and Puerto Rico). The rest of the country for the most part has a complex mixture of various Christian groups.

Education

West Coast's home at Monticello and the University of Virginia (library building shown above, and designed by Jefferson), the only collegiate campus on the list. Both sites are located in Charlottesville, Virginia.]] In the United States, education is a state, not federal, responsibility, and the laws and standards vary considerably. However, the federal government, through the Department of Education, is involved with funding of some programs and exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. In most states, all students must attend mandatory schooling starting with kindergarten, which children normally enter at age 5, and following through 12th grade, which is normally completed at age 18

Philip Sheridan

Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career U.S. Army officer and one of the great generals in the American Civil War. His actions proved decisive for the Union. He also prosecuted the latter years of the Indian Wars of the Great Plains. Both as a soldier and private citizen he was instrumental in the development and protection of Yellowstone National Park.

Early life

Sheridan was born in Albany, New York (or according to some accounts, Boston, Massachusetts), to John and Mary Sheridan, immigrants from County Cavan, Ireland. He grew up in Somerset, Ohio. Fully grown, he reached only 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) tall. In 1848, a family friend obtained an appointment for him at the U.S. Military Academy. In his third year he was suspended for a year for fighting with a classmate. The previous day Sheridan had threatened to run him through with a bayonet in reaction to a perceived insult. He graduated 34th in his class, near the bottom, in 1853. Sheridan was commissioned as a second lieutenant and was assigned to the 1st U.S. Infantry Regiment at Fort Duncan, Texas, then to the 4th U.S. Infantry in the Pacific Northwest. There he performed duty at the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation in Yamhill County, Oregon.

Civil War

Yamhill County, Oregon, Philip Sheridan, Henry E. Davies (standing), James H. Wilson, and Alfred Torbert.]] Sheridan started the Civil War as Chief Quartermaster of the Army of Southwest Missouri. Feeling that he would be a better field commander than a support officer, he persisted until he was appointed as Colonel of the 2nd Michigan Volunteer Cavalry. A month later he commanded his first forces in combat. At the Battle of Boonville, July 1, 1862, he held back several regiments of General James R. Chalmers's Confederate cavalry. His actions so impressed his commanders that they promoted him to brigadier general and assigned him command of the 11th Division, III Corps, Army of the Ohio. It was just after Boonville that one of his fellow officers gave him the horse, which he named Rienzi, that he would ride throughout the war. On October 8, 1862, Sheridan again distinguished himself during the Battle of Perryville. He pushed two Arkansas brigades across Bull Run but was ordered back by III Corps commander, Major General Charles Gilbert. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. On December 31, 1862, the first day of the Battle of Stones River, Sheridan held back the Confederate advance until his ammunition ran out and he was forced to withdraw. For his actions he was promoted to major general and given command of the 2nd Division, IV Corps, Army of the Cumberland. In six months he had risen from captain to major general. At the Battle of Chickamauga, September 19–20, 1863, Sheridan along with the rest of the army was forced to withdraw after two days of heavy losses. During the Siege of Chattanooga, at the Battle of Missionary Ridge on November 25, 1863, Sheridan took the initiative and broke through the Confederate lines. General Ulysses S. Grant, newly promoted to be general-in-chief of all the Union armies, decided he wanted Sheridan when he went east. In March 1864, Grant assigned him to command the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac. During the Overland Campaign, Sheridan fought at the Battle of the Wilderness (May 5–7, 1864) and Spotsylvania Court House (May 8–21, 1864). Up until this time, Army of the Potomac commander George G. Meade kept Sheridan's Cavalry Corps close to the main army, performing traditional cavalry functions such as screening and reconnaissance. Sheridan was frustrated at this restriction and went directly to Meade's superior, General Grant, recommending that his corps be assigned to strategic raiding missions. Grant agreed, and from May 9 through May 24, 1864, sent him on a raid toward Richmond, directly challenging the Confederate cavalry. The raid was less successful than hoped, although his soldiers managed to kill Confederate cavalry commander General J.E.B. Stuart at Yellow Tavern (May 11, 1864). Rejoining the Army of the Potomac, Sheridan's cavalry excelled at Haw's Shop (May 28, 1864). Sheridan seized the critical crossroads that triggered the Battle of Cold Harbor (June 1–12, 1864) and withstood a number of assaults until reinforced.

Army of the Shenandoah

Throughout the war, the Confederacy sent armies out of Virginia through the Shenandoah Valley to invade Maryland and Pennsylvania and threaten Washington, D.C. General Jubal A. Early, following the same pattern in the Valley Campaigns of 1864, attacked Union forces near Washington and raided several towns in Pennsylvania. In August, 1864, General Grant organized the Army of the Shenandoah. He put Sheridan in charge to drive Early out of the Valley and close it as a route to Washington. Sheridan went at it with vigor. He beat Early at Third Winchester and Fisher's Hill. At the Battle of Cedar Creek, Early launched a surprise attack while Sheridan was away from his army, at Winchester, Virginia. Hearing the distant sounds of artillery, he rode aggressively to his command. (A famous poem, [http://www.bartleby.com/102/150.html Sheridan's Ride], was written by Thomas Buchanan Read to commemorate this event.) He reached the battlefield about 10:30 a.m. and began to rally his men. Fortunately for Sheridan, Early's men were too occupied to take notice; they were hungry and exhausted and fell out of their ranks to pillage the Union camps. Sheridan's actions saved the day and dealt Early his most significant defeat, rendering his army incapable of future offensive action. Sheridan ordered total destruction in the Valley to deny the Confederacy its use as an agricultural resource. His troops destroyed crops and livestock, seized stores and equipment, and burned what they could not remove. Referring to the possibility of another Confederate army using the Valley to threaten the North, he said "If a crow wants to fly down the Shenandoah, he must carry his provisions with him." The destruction presaged the scorched earth tactics of Sherman's March to the Sea through Georgia—deny an army a base from which to operate and bring the effects of war home to the population supporting it.

Final drive

Sheridan rejoined the Army of the Potomac in March 1865. At Waynesboro, March 2, 1865, he trapped the remainder of Early's army and 1,500 soldiers surrendered. On April 1, 1865, he cut off General Robert E. Lee's lines of support at Five Forks, forcing Lee to evacuate Peterburg. President Abraham Lincoln sent Grant a telegram in April 7, 1865: "Gen. Sheridan says 'If the thing is pressed I think that Lee will surrender.' Let the thing be pressed." At Appomattox Court House, April 9, 1865, Sheridan blocked Lee's escape, forcing the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia later that day.

Reconstruction

At the close of the Civil War, Sheridan was sent to the U.S.-Mexico border under the Monroe Doctrine to "observe" the disputes between the French forces of Napoleon III, and the Mexican republicans. His presence, U.S. political pressure, and the growing resistance of Benito Juárez induced the French to abandon their claims over Mexico. Napoleon III withdrew his troops in 1866. Sheridan later admitted in his memoirs that he had supplied arms to Juárez's forces: "... supplied with arms and ammunition, which we left at convenient places on our side of the river to fall into their hands". In 1866, with Reconstruction barely started, Sheridan was appointed military governor of the Fifth Military District (Texas and Louisiana). He severely limited voter registration for former Confederates and then required that only registered voters (including black men) be eligible to serve on juries. On July 30, 1866, while Sheridan was out of town, a white mob broke up the state constitutional convention in New Orleans. Thirty-four blacks were killed. Shortly after Sheridan returned, he wired Grant, "The more information I obtain of the affair of the 30th in this city the more revolting it becomes. It was no riot; it was an absolute massacre." An inquiry implicated the mayor of New Orleans and President Andrew Johnson. Sheridan, under his authority, relieved the mayor. The governors of Texas and Louisiana complained so much that he finally removed them. First the Louisiana governor went, and the Texas governor followed for being an "impediment to the reconstruction of the State". Within a month of the Texas governor's firing, President Johnson removed Sheridan.

Indian Wars

During the Civil War, the Indians on the Great Plains were generally peaceful. In 1864, Major John Chivington (a state militia officer) attacked a peaceful village of Arapahos and Southern Cheyenne at Sand Creek in Colorado, killing over 150 Indians. That attack ignited a general war with the Indians. The protection of the Great Plains fell under the Department of the Missouri. General Winfield Scott Hancock was assigned to the Department of Missouri in 1866 but had been unable to get the Indians to abide by their treaties or by the newly signed ones. The Indians had continued to attack mail coaches, burn the stations, and kill the employees. They had also killed and kidnapped a considerable number of settlers on the frontier. Under pressure from the various governors in the Great Plains, General Grant turned to Philip Sheridan. In 1867, Grant appointed Sheridan to head the Department of the Missouri. His first task was to end the Indian Wars. His troops, even supplemented with state militia, were spread too thin to have any real effect. He conceived a strategy based on his Shenandoah experience. In the Winter Campaign of 1868–69 he attacked the Indians in their winter quarters, taking their supplies and livestock and killing those who resisted. This strategy was to continue until the Indians abided their treaties. A number of excesses occurred, such as the Wounded Knee massacre. The Indian raids subsided during the 1870s and by the early 1880s were almost over. There is a widely told story attributed to Sheridan during his campaign against the Indians. Some natives reputedly told Sheridan, "We're good Indians," to which Sheridan is often quoted as having replied, "The only good Indians I ever saw were dead." The story is of questionable authenticity and Sheridan always denied it.

Other assignments

In 1870, the Secretary of War, at Sheridan's request, authorized him to observe and report on the Franco-Prussian War. As a guest of the King of Prussia, he was able to observe the planning and execution of some of the battles. In 1871, Sheridan took several companies of troops to Chicago during the Great Chicago Fire. The mayor, to calm the panic, put the city under martial law, and issued a proclamation putting Sheridan in charge. As there were no widespread disturbances the martial law was lifted within a few days. In 1883, Sheridan succeeded William T. Sherman as Commanding General, U.S. Army, and held that position until shortly before his death.

Yellowstone

The protection of the Yellowstone area was Sheridan's personal crusade. He authorized Lieutenant Gustavus Doane to escort the Washburn Expedition in 1870 and for Captain John W. Barlow to escort the Hayden Expedition in 1871. As early as 1875 Sheridan promoted military control of the area to prevent destruction of natural formations and wildlife. In 1882, the Department of the Interior granted rights to the Yellowstone Park Improvement Company to develop 4,000 acres (16 km²) in the park. Their plan was to build a railroad into the park and sell the land to developers. Sheridan personally organized opposition to the plan and lobbied Congress for protection of the park; including expansion, military control, reducing the development to 10 acres (40,000 m²), and prohibiting leases near park attractions. In addition to lobbying Congress, he arranged an expedition to the park for President Chester A. Arthur and other influential men. His lobbying soon paid off. A rider was added to the Sundry Civil Bill of 1883, giving Sheridan and his supporters almost everything they had asked. In 1886, after a string of ineffectual and sometimes criminal superintendents, Sheridan ordered the 1st U.S. Cavalry into the park. The military operated the park until the National Park Service took it over in 1916.

Personal life

In 1870, Sheridan toured most of Europe after his inspection of the military affairs of the Franco-Prussian War. On June 3, 1875, he married Irene Rucker, a daughter of a long time army officer. She was 22, he 44. They had four children: Mary, Philip Jr., and twin daughters, Irene and Louise. After his death Irene never remarried, saying, "I would rather be the widow of Phil Sheridan than the wife of any man living." After the marriage Sheridan and his wife moved to Washington. They lived in a house given to them by Chicago citizens in appreciation for Sheridan's protection of the city after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. In June 1888, shortly before his death, Sheridan was promoted to the rank of General of the Army. Philip Sheridan died in Nonquitt, Massachusetts. His body was returned to Washington and he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

In memoriam

Fort Sheridan in Illinois was named to honor General Sheridan's many services to Chicago. The M551 Sheridan tank is named after General Sheridan. Mt. Sheridan in Yellowstone National Park was named for Sheridan by Captain John W. Barlow in 1871. Sheridan appeared on $10 U.S. Treasury Notes issued in 1890 and 1891. Sheridan County, Montana, Sheridan County, Wyoming, and Sheridan County, Kansas, are named for him, as are the cities of Sheridan, Wyoming, Sheridan, Arkansas, and Sheridan, Oregon. Sheridan Square in the West Village of New York City is named for the general and his statue is displayed nearby in Christopher Street Park. In the television series Babylon 5, the fictional character of Captain John Sheridan (played by Bruce Boxleitner) is a direct descendant of Philip Sheridan.

References


- U.S. War Dept., [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/browse.monographs/waro.html The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies], U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901.
- Wittenberg, Eric J., Little Phil: A Reassessment of the Civil War Leadership of Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, Potomac Books, 2002, ISBN 1-57488-548-0.

External links


- [http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/s_z/sheridan.htm PBS on Sheridan] Sheridan, Philip Sheridan, Philip Sheridan, Philip Sheridan Sheridan, Philip Sheridan, Philip Sheridan, Philip Sheridan, Philip Sheridan, Philip Sheridan, Philip ja:フィリップ・シェリダン

World War II

, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb. From top going counterclockwise: Allied landing on D-Day 1944, the Nuremberg Rally 1936, the Nagasaki atom bomb 1945, the Soviet flag over the Reichstag in Berlin 1945 and the Gate of Auschwitz.]] World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th Century conflict that engulfed much of the globe and is accepted as the largest and deadliest continuous war in human history. It was the first time that a number of newly developed technologies, including nuclear weapons, were used against either military or civilian targets. World War II resulted in the direct or indirect death of anywhere from 50 to 60 million or more people, over 3% of the world population at that time. It is estimated to have cost more money and resources than all other wars combined: about 1 trillion US dollars in 1945 (adjusted for inflation; roughly 10.5 trillion in 2005), not including subsequent reconstruction [http://www.historychannel.com/worldwartwo/?page=triumph5]. The outcomes of the war, including new technology and changes to the world's geopolitical, cultural and economic arrangement, were unprecedented. The conflict began by most Western accounts on September 1 1939 with the German invasion of Poland (the Pacific war is taken to have started on July 7 1937 with the Japanese attack on China) and lasted until mid-1945, involving many of the world's countries. Virtually all countries that participated in World War I were involved in World War II. Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939 and Canada followed on September 10, 1939. The United States entered the conflict in December of 1941 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Summary

Attributed in varying degrees to the Treaty of Versailles, the Great Depression, and the rise in nationalism, racism, fascism, National socialism, Japanese imperialism, and militarism, the causes of the war are a matter of debate. The war was fought between the Axis Powers and the Allies. The Axis initially consisted of an alliance between Germany and Italy, which later expanded to include Japan and Eastern European countries such as Romania and Bulgaria. Some of the nations that Germany conquered sent military forces, particularly to the Eastern front. Among the expeditionary forces that joined Germany were forces from Vichy France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain (though Spain was itself a neutral country) and armies of Russians and Ukrainians under the command of the general Andrey Vlasov. The Allies were initially the United Kingdom, including the Commonwealth, France and Poland, later joined by the USSR, the United States of America and China. Fighting occurred across the Atlantic Ocean, in Western and Eastern Europe, in the Mediterranean Sea, Africa, the Middle East, in the Pacific and South East Asia, and it continued in China. In Europe, the war ended with the surrender of Germany on 8 May 1945 (V-E and Victory Days), but continued in Asia until Japan sur