On this day in 1942, survivors of the Bataan Death March staggered into Camp O’Donnell in the Philippines. They were the lucky few, if you considered the next few years of captivity to be lucky. The march began on April 9, after the surrender of American and Filipino soldiers Read more…
Today is the birthday of the 5th President of the U.S. James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758. Here is my favorite anecdote involving him. Because he was boring, Monroe does not have many interesting anecdotes. He does feature in a sequel to Hamilton’s famous “Reynolds Affair”. Before the Read more…
The 70 paid passengers probably grumbled when the 2,000 soldiers were put aboard the Sultana. Things would get much, much worse. The Sultana was a side-wheel steamboat that was only two years old. It worked the St. Louis to New Orleans route. On April 23, 1865, it put in Read more…
On April 25, 1777, a force of 2,000 redcoats landed at Westport, Connecticut and marched on Danbury. There they burned homes and destroyed rebel supplies. The raid was similar to the one on Concord, Massachusetts a year earlier. Col. Henry Ludington was in command of the militia forces in Read more…
Morris Frank grew up caring for his blind mother. When he was young, he lost sight in his right eye when he ran into a tree branch while horse-riding. At age 16, he lost sight in his other eye due to a boxing accident. At Vanderbilt University, he became Read more…
Drugs played a role in WWII. One of the world leaders was a drug addict. Adolf Hitler had a personal physician (quack) who injected him daily with a variety of drugs. One was Eukodel which was a combination of oxycodone and speed. Some believe that Hitler’s erratic behavior in Read more…
One of the most important companies in the world was formed because a man wanted to see Janet Jackson’s breast. Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim were wealthy from employment with PayPal. When the company was bought by eBay, they were looking for a new opportunity. Hurley had Read more…
The French soldiers saw an ominous green cloud wafting toward their trenches. Soon they were choking and it felt like they were drowning. They were the victims of the first poison gas attack of WWI. The Germans had begun developing poison gas as soon as the war began. Famed chemist Read more…
On April 20, 1918, the greatest ace of the Great War shot down his 79th and 80thenemy aircraft. One day later, he was dead. Manfred Von Richthofen was thirty-six at the time. The Red Baron was one of the most famous persons in the world. On April 21, he Read more…
Did you know an American President survived an assassination by a swamp rabbit? It happened on April 20, 1979. President Jimmy Carter was fishing in a flat-bottomed bottom alone while on vacation in Plains, Georgia. As he told a reporter later, a swamp rabbit swam out towards the boat Read more…