An interesting historical story.
Today is Medal of Honor Day in honor of the award instituted on this day by Pres. Lincoln in 1861. There have been over 3,500 recipients. Here are some interesting facts: 1. It is simply called the Medal of Honor, not the Congressional Medal of Honor. There are three versions Read more…
The bad blood began in 1790 when Burr defeated Hamilton’s father-in-law for the Senate. Hamilton considered Burr to be a dangerous opportunist and opposed him when he ran for Vice President in 1796. In 1800, Burr leaked a Hamilton letter criticizing John Adams. In the Election of 1800, Jefferson ended Read more…
The Butler Act had been passed earlier in 1925. It forbade the teaching of evolution in Tennessee schools. The American Civil Liberties Union immediately put out a press release asking for someone to challenge the law. George Rappelyea of Dayton, Tn. felt a trial would bring recognition to his city Read more…
He was born during a lightning storm in Serbia. When the midwife proclaimed this was a dark omen, his mother responded: “No, he will be a child of light.” After witnessing the death of his older brother, he started having visions. He had obsessive compulsive disorder. He was obsessed with Read more…
The flight was almost cancelled before the CIA decided to make it the last of 24 flights. It was determined that May 1 would be a good day because the Soviets would be celebrating May Day and the air defenses would thus be lax. Actually, the fact that there were Read more…
He was the son of a Baptist minister. He went to the California gold fields where he caught a disease and died, leaving his wife to bring up Frank, Jesse, and Susan. She remarried a couple of times and remained a staunch supporter of her boys. When the Civil War Read more…
He was a member of the Sauk and Fox tribe. His Native American name was “Bright Path.” He learned to break horses from his father. He used to spend hours observing horses and patterned his running after them. At age 6, he and his twin brother Charlie were sent to Read more…
It was written by a five man committee: Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman. John Adams was supposed to write the draft, but he deferred to the more talented writer, Jefferson. The committee made 86 edits, but left the Preamble the way Jefferson wrote it. The Declaration was Read more…
It would have been more accurately called “Longstreet’s Charge” as it involved three of his divisions – Pickett, Pettigrew, and Trimble. That was a total of 12,500-15,000 men. It was Lee’s desperate attempt to end the Civil War in one day. In the first two days of the battle, he Read more…
On this day in 1937, Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared during her attempted flight around the world. Her Lockheed Electra took off from New Guinea destined for tiny Howland Island over 2,500 miles away. They never arrived. Since the tragedy, many theories have been advanced to explain Read more…