A typical seaman in the Royal Navy in the early 19th Century was awakened at 3:40. He and his mates gathered on the deck for muster and inspection and then morning watch began. Each tar (as the sailors were called) had a job to do. Some would scrub and Read more
On Jan. 23, 1968, the U.S. surveillance ship USS Pueblo was on routine duty 16 miles off the coast of North Korea. The ship’s job was to monitor North Korea for intelligence information as part of Operation Clickbeetle. Suddenly, North Korean warships approached with evil intent. Capt. Lloyd Blucher Read more
One of the most famous battles in British history took place on Jan. 22, 1879. The Battle of Rorke’s Drift took place during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. The war was brought about because of British desire to expand its South African colony into Zululand. They manufactured a threat Read more
Today is the anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jackson, a man who was a much better general than teacher. Here is a cute story from his teaching career. Stonewall Jackson was one of the greatest generals in American History, but he was one of the worst teachers, too. Read more
On January 20, 1870, Victoria Woodhull and her sister open the first stock brokerage firm run by women. Victoria Woodhull had a tough childhood. Her father was a small-time criminal and the family lived in poverty. At age 13, she and her sister would conduct seances and turn the money Read more
Iva Toguri D’Aquino was born to Japanese immigrants in 1916 in Los Angeles. In 1941, she reluctantly went to Japan to care for an ailing relative. Although she did not intend to stay, she was caught in Japan when Pearl Harbor occurred. She was 25 years old. Pressured by Read more
Today is the birthday of one of the most important individuals in the settling of the West. Joseph Glidden was born on Jan. 18, 1813. Without his invention, ranchers might have won their war with farmers. The following anecdote is a sample of what you can find by going to Read more
Alphonse Capone was born the 4th of 9 children to Italian immigrants in Brooklyn. His father was a barber. One of his brothers changed his name and became a Prohibition agent. He was in a street gang as a teenager. He was expelled in 6th grade after punching a female Read more
There was a Prohibition Party and its symbol was the camel because it doesn’t need to drink much. The party still exists. In California it works to get winemakers to switch to a different crop from grapes. Large parts of the country were “dry” already. The hard core Protestant areas. Read more
The Great Molasses Flood (also known as the Boston Molasses Disaster and the Great Boston Molasses Flood) occurred on Jan. 15, 1919. The U.S. Industrial Alcohol Company had built a huge storage tank in Boston to store the molasses that was converted into industrial alcohol to make explosives like Read more