There had been earthquakes over the years, but it had been a long time since an eruption. The citizens did not know it was a volcano. The word “volcano” was not coined until the 17th The word was in honor of the god Vulcan. The date was August 24, 79 Read more…
“Schindler’s List” is considered to be the best Holocaust movie. Steven Spielberg based it on Thomas Kenneally’s novel “Schindler’s Ark”. The book is historical fiction, but features several real persons including Oskar Schindler and Amon Goth. Ralph Fiennes gained 28 pounds to play Goth. When asked what it was Read more…
Stephen Decatur was the brightest star in the U.S. Navy when he died. Decatur’s father had been a commodore in the Continental Navy during the American Revolution. Stephen was raised to be a sailor. He became an ensign at age 19. His great leadership abilities resulted in a rapid Read more…
Edith Cavell was born in 1865. She was the daughter of a rector. She worked as a governess in Belgium and then returned to England to train as a nurse. She worked in hospitals in London and then became the Matron at Belgium’s first training hospital in Brussels. She Read more…
Jane Fonda was probably the most famous (or infamous, if you will) Vietnam War protester. In 1970, she and Donald Sutherland and others toured West Coast military bases with a show entitled “Free the Army” (which was take-off on the slogan “Fuck the Army!”). It was peaceniks’ answer to Bob Read more…
After the Battle of Saratoga, the British changed strategy and attempted to tap into the supposedly large loyalist population of the southern colonies. At the start the strategy seemed to work. In May, 1780, the city of Charleston, S.C. fell and in August the Battle of Camden resulted in Read more…
The Battle of Crecy was a royal butt whipping of the French by an English army led by King Edward III. You have to credit the French knights with foolish bravery as they rode into a blizzard of arrows fired by English longbowmen. None of the frontal charges came Read more…
In September, 1868, a teacher named Emerson Bentley found a note on his school door. It read: “E.B. Beware! KKK”. The note included a coffin, skull and bones, and a bloody dagger. The 18-year-old Bentley had come south from Ohio to Opelousas, Louisiana to teach at a Freedmen’s Bureau Read more…
Samuel Woodfill’s father was a veteran of the Mexican War and the Civil War. Samuel enlisted in the Army in 1901. He saw action in the Philippines against guerrillas. His unit was involved in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. On Sept. 26, 1918, His company was pinned down by machine gun fire Read more…
In February, 1692, two young girls in Parris household began to show symptoms of bewitchment. Elizabeth “Betty” Parris (9) and her cousin Abigail Williams (11) had fits that were immediately attributed to witchcraft. Soon, other young girls were having fits, too. The first arrested were Tituba (a Caribbean slave that Read more…