An independent historical directory The index is in progress
The American
Military Record
Leutze’s painting of Washington and Continental soldiers crossing an ice-filled Delaware River.
American Revolution
An 1887 color print of Hancock, Union soldiers and artillery along the Gettysburg battle line.
Civil War
American soldiers operating a camouflaged 155-mm howitzer near Samogneux, France, in World War I.
World War I
An M-3 tank driving across a dusty training ground under a blue sky at Fort Knox in 1942.
World War II
Soldiers run toward a Huey helicopter while other helicopters hover over a grassy landing zone.
Vietnam War
Abrams tanks advance across a sandy desert, trailing dust beneath a pale sky.
Gulf War
Two aircraft carriers sail beside each other across blue ocean beneath a clouded sky.
Modern service
251Calendar years
—Directory records

Research edition / Index expansion: 1776–2026

Explore the archive

Year index

The Revolutionary era

1776

Year 1 of the record
From the visual archive
Loading the index…Chronological order

The record is still taking shape. The index remains incomplete. Year sources, named engagements, and unresolved leads are being added in discovery passes; detailed verification follows.

1776

Independent historical directory. The appearance of U.S. Department of War (DoW) visual information does not imply or constitute DoW endorsement.

The visual archive

Images across the eras.

Historical photographs and artworks from museum and military archives. Each selected image has a documented public-domain basis in the United States. Images illustrate broad eras; they are not evidence of the selected year or engagement. Artwork dates and depicted events are identified separately below.

Leutze’s painting of Washington and Continental soldiers crossing an ice-filled Delaware River.

Public domain in the United States / CC0

Washington Crossing the Delaware

Washington Crossing the Delaware — Emanuel Leutze, 1851, depicting the 1776 crossing.

Emanuel Leutze (artist). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of John Stewart Kennedy, 1897, 97.34. Public domain / CC0.

Archive record ↗Rights information ↗

An 1887 color print of Hancock, Union soldiers and artillery along the Gettysburg battle line.

Public domain in the United States

Battle of Gettysburg

Hancock along the Union line at Gettysburg — an 1887 print after Thure de Thulstrup.

Thure de Thulstrup (underlying painting); L. Prang & Co. (print publisher). Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-pga-04033. L. Prang & Co., after Thure de Thulstrup.

Archive record ↗Rights information ↗

American soldiers operating a camouflaged 155-mm howitzer near Samogneux, France, in World War I.

Public domain in the United States

American 155-mm artillery near Samogneux

American 155-mm artillery near Samogneux, France, 1918.

U.S. Army Signal Corps; individual photographer not named. U.S. Army Signal Corps / Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-40789.

The official A.E.F. catalogue caption gives October 10, 1918; the Library of Congress’s broader date field reads “1917 or 1918.”

Archive record ↗Rights information ↗

An M-3 tank driving across a dusty training ground under a blue sky at Fort Knox in 1942.

Public domain in the United States

An M-3 tank in action, Fort Knox

M-3 tank training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, June 1942.

Alfred T. Palmer, U.S. Office of War Information photographer. Alfred T. Palmer / Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, LC-DIG-fsac-1a35203.

Archive record ↗Rights information ↗

Soldiers run toward a Huey helicopter while other helicopters hover over a grassy landing zone.

Public domain in the United States

UH-1D helicopters during Operation Wahiawa

Army UH-1D helicopters airlift 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry soldiers near Cu Chi, South Vietnam, during Operation Wahiawa, May 16, 1966.

SFC James K. F. Dung / U.S. Army. SFC James K. F. Dung / U.S. Army, National Archives, NAID 530610. Public domain.

Archive record ↗Rights information ↗

Abrams tanks advance across a sandy desert, trailing dust beneath a pale sky.

Public domain in the United States

Abrams tanks moving during Desert Storm

M1A1 Abrams tanks of the 3rd Armored Division cross the desert during Operation Desert Storm, February 15, 1991.

PHC D. W. Holmes II / U.S. Navy. PHC D. W. Holmes II / U.S. Navy. Public domain. Digital color and contrast adjustments recorded on Wikimedia Commons.

Archive record ↗Rights information ↗

Two aircraft carriers sail beside each other across blue ocean beneath a clouded sky.

Public domain in the United States

Ford and Eisenhower in Atlantic formation

USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower sail in formation in the Atlantic Ocean, August 24, 2024.

Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Maxwell Orlosky / U.S. Navy. MC2 Maxwell Orlosky / U.S. Navy, DVIDS 8608570. Public domain.

Archive record ↗Rights information ↗

The appearance of U.S. Department of War (DoW) visual information does not imply or constitute DoW endorsement.

Collection credits identify provenance. This independent historical directory is not endorsed by the pictured services, people, museums or archives. Military imagery policy ↗ · Full image records ↗

About the research edition

Building toward
the full record.

This directory is being built to trace United States military activity from 1776 onward, year by year. The current edition combines a starter index, year-by-year source discovery, and a name-first inventory of individual actions. It is not an exhaustive list of American engagements.

What belongs in the archive

Named battles, sieges, skirmishes, naval and air actions, raids, massacres, and combat operations involving Continental and federal forces, state and territorial militias, and relevant local armed defenders or privateers. Foreign conflicts, domestic fighting, and engagements involving Indigenous nations all belong in the scope. Participating nations and forces are identified as specifically as the evidence allows. Independent pre-annexation forces, organized American volunteers abroad, and armed private parties are labeled by their actual status; inclusion does not imply federal authorization. American volunteer formations serving foreign commands are identified explicitly. Removals, unopposed seizures, protective deployments and armed standoffs are retained as operations when identifiable, without assuming a firefight. Major changes in organization, leadership, military institutions, and technology sit alongside them as development milestones.

How the record will grow

  1. Index: identify an event and place it in the chronology.
  2. Verify: check dates, names, location, and American participation.
  3. Expand: add summaries, primary sources, related events, and further reading.

How to read this edition

“Listed · research pending” means a name and date have been recorded from a published inventory or discovery source; detailed verification is still pending. Captures and seizures are kept distinct from established exchanges of fire. “Starter entry” means the record needs further research. “References located” means useful initial references have been found; it does not mean every detail is verified or the entry is complete. Year-level context sources are labeled and are not counted as battles. Year-only and month-only dates are deliberately shown without invented days. Conflicting dates remain visible in the research notes. Multi-year entries appear in each year they overlap and retain one shared record.

Empty years mean indexing is pending. The 1776–2026 span covers 250 elapsed years and 251 calendar-year pages. The current-year page is a placeholder for research through October 31, 2026.

Scope note: actions that ended before 1776 are outside this edition; an operation already underway in 1776 can appear as a continuation. Continental forces and American units in the Civil War require explicit participant labels as the index expands. Conflicting accounts, historical terminology, and disputed dates will be documented during research.