Today is the anniversary of the first voyage of the first successful steamboat. Robert Fulton was an indifferent student, but he did show some ability in art and an interest in inventing. At age 12, his family visited England where he saw a steam engine made by James Watt. Read more…
Today is the birthday of the original Siamese twins. Chang and Eng were born on May 11, 1811 in Siam (Thailand). They were conjoined twins, but their mother raised them as regular kids. Around age 17, they were spotted by a Scottish merchant named Hunter when they were swimming. Read more…
Today is the birthday of either one of the most brilliant men in history or one of the worst. Or both. He was not French, he was from Corsica which belonged to France. He may have looked short when standing next to his Imperial Guardsmen, but he was actually 5’6”. Read more…
The National Socialist German Workers Party created an organization for young boys in 1922. In 1926, it was named the Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls was added. After the Nazis took power in 1933, both organizations boomed. Boys were recruited through hot meals for the hungry Read more…
In 1199 (the 100th anniversary of the First Crusaders capture of Jerusalem), French knight Hughes de Payen and eight others swore at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem that they would protect pilgrims to the Holy Land. They took a vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They Read more…
In 1942, the first female concentration camp guards began working at Auschwitz and Majdenek. By the end of the Holocaust, 3,500 women worked as guards. Most were recruited via ads in newspapers. You had to be single and 21-45 years old. They were trained at Ravensbruck for up to Read more…
Alvin York was born in a log cabin, the third of eleven children to a subsistence farmer in Tennessee. After a wild childhood that included drinking sprees, he became a fundamentalist Christian. When he was drafted for WWI, he tried to claim conscientious objector status due to that “thou shalt Read more…
On August 9, 1944, the U.S. Forestry Service authorized the creation of a baby bear symbol for firefighting efforts by the public. WWII was underway and there were fewer firefighters because many joined the military. The public was enlisted to fight fires. Part of it was war related as Read more…
The Battle of Britain was the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces. The battle actually got its name before it even began. On June 18, 1940 Winston Churchill made a speech that included the lines: “The Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain Read more…
The St. Albans Raid was the most Northern action of the Civil War. Lt. Bennett Young of the Confederate army had escaped from a Union prison camp and made it to Canada. He came up with the idea of robbing some Northern banks to get back at his captors. Read more…