*** This anecdote is probably apocryphal, but it could be true. Plus, it’s cool. Two of the greatest generals met in the Battle of Zama in 202 B.C. The battle ended the Second Punic War and made Rome the dominant power in the western Mediterranean. In the battle, Scipio Read more
480 – 479 B.C. was a wild time for the Greek city-states. The year before, the Spartans lost at Thermopylae, Athens was sacked, a Greek fleet defeated the Persian fleet at Salamis, Persian emperor Xerxes took the remainder of the fleet home and left a huge army in Greece. Read more
One of the most tragic incidents in the racial history of the US occurred on August 23, 1917. It resulted in the largest courts-martial in US Army history and the largest trial in American History. On July 27, the 3rd Battalion, 24th Regiment (one of the Buffalo Soldiers regiments) Read more
The Battle of Thermopylae is famous for the stand the Spartans made against a huge Persian army. Everyone knows that all 300 of Leonidas’ men were killed in the battle. But it was actually not all 300. After holding off the Persians for several days, a Greek traitor told Read more
Today Pres. Biden will sign a proclamation creating a national monument in Springfield, Illinois in remembrance of the Springfield Race Riot. On August 16, 2024, Pres. Biden signed a proclamation creating a national monument in Springfield, Ill. In remembrance of the Springfield Race Riot of 1908. Springfield at the Read more
Was Hitler Jewish? It would be the greatest irony if he was. Hitler’s mother was Maria Shicklgruber. When Adolf was born his birth certificate did not identify his father. When his mother married five years later to Johann Georg Hiedler, her son’s name was changed to that of his Read more
Early in the 20th Century, Congress began to look into construction of a canal across Central America to link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The French had attempted it in the 1880s. They tried digging the canal through the isthmus of Panama. Twenty years of effort were for naught Read more
Guadalcanal is located in the Solomon Islands. It was unknown to American planners until air reconnaissance discovered the Japanese were building an air field on it. The air base would be a threat to the supply line to Australia. Adm. Ernest King, the head of the Navy, decided the island Read more
Gertrude Ederle was the daughter of German immigrants. When she was a child, her father taught his children how to swim at a New Jersey beach. Gertrude was a natural. She got so good that she dropped out of school to race competitively. She won her first race at Read more
Mary, Mary, quite contrary,How does your garden grow?With silver bells, and cockle shells,And pretty maids all in a row. “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” was first published in 1744. There are various theories with regard to its meaning. The most likely is it refers to Queen Mary of England. The daughter Read more