One of the worst disasters in American History occurred on May 31, 1889. The South Fork Dam was on the Little Conemaugh River, 14 miles upriver from Johnstown, Pa. At 3:10 P.M. on May 31, 1889, the dam burst. There had been several days of heavy rain. The Read more…
One of the most famous duels in American History occurred on May 30, 1806. Rachel Robards met Jackson at her father’s boarding house. When her husband left her to seek divorce, they got married. Two years later they found out he had not gotten a divorce, so technically she Read more…
At 11:30 A.M. on May 29, 1953 the tallest spot on Earth was conquered by a New Zealander and his Tibetan guide. Mount Everest had been the goal of mountain climbers for many years. The Tibetans called it Chomo-Lungma (“Mother Goddess of the Land”). The rest of the world Read more…
Today is the 76th birthday of John Fogerty. Here is the history of his most famous hit. One day, John Fogerty was sitting in his bedroom and he was angry about the unfairness of the draft. He was specifically thinking of David Eisenhower (grandson of Pres. Eisenhower and Read more…
On May 27, 1942, Dorie Miller became the first African-American to earn the Navy Cross (it should have been the Medal of Honor, but the Navy was racist) for his bravery during the Pearl Harbor attack. Dorie (born Doris) Miller was an African-American who enlisted in the Navy in September, Read more…
In Vietnam, it took a while for Americans to figure out how the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese avoided contact so well. Part of it was their ability to hide in the jungle, but they also had an intricate tunnel system. The most famous were the tunnels of Cu-Chi. Read more…
Probably the most famous segregated Army unit in WWII was the 761st Tank Battalion. The unit was nicknamed the “Black Panthers” and its motto was “Come Out Fighting”. It was created in March, 1942 and trained in the south where it encountered the racism common in that area. Its Read more…
Today is the birthday of Emanuel Leutze. Born on May 24, 1816, he painted “Washington Crossing the Delaware” in 1850-51. Leutze grew up in America and then returned to his homeland. He had learned to draw while sitting at the bedside of this dying father. He set up a studio Read more…
On this day in 1900, William Carney received his Medal of Honor. William Carney was born a slave in Virginia. He used the Underground Railroad to reach relatives in Massachusetts. In 1863, he enlisted in the famous 54th Massachusetts Regiment. (The unit depicted in the movie “Glory”.) The 54th Read more…
It’s easy to think the partisanship in Congress could not be worse, but it has been in the past. As vicious as some of the rhetoric can get, at least we have not had any physical altercations, yet. On May 22, 1856, the rhetoric went far beyond jawing. On Read more…