Charles VI ruled France from 1380 – 1422. He started off well and was known as “Charles the Beloved”, but before his reign was over he was known as “Charles the Mad”. His insanity was evidenced in several ways. He once murdered some of his knights in a fit. Read more
The myth of the Bermuda Triangle exploded after an incident on Dec. 5, 1945. On that day, a training flight took off from the naval station at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The 5 TBM Avengers torpedo bombers were led by Lt. Charles Taylor. He was a veteran of the war Read more
Sir Arthur Aston was a professional soldier who commanded mercenary forces in the Thirty Years’ War. In 1642, he was back in England and he joined the king’s forces in the English Civil War. Somewhere along the way he lost a leg and it was replaced by a prosthetic. Read more
He was born in 1800 in Connecticut to an abolitionist family. They moved to Ohio where his father allowed the home to be used by the Underground Railroad. John went to school to become a minister, but had to drop out. He ended up as a tanner like his father. Read more
On Dec. 1, 1887 the first Sherlock Holmes story appeared in print. Arthur Conan Doyle had been turned down by several publishers before he finally found someone to print it. He was 27 years old and wrote “A Study in Scarlet” in three weeks. It was not a success, but Read more
He was born two-months premature on November 30, 1835 as Samuel Langhorne Clemens. His home town was Florida, Missouri. His father was a self-educated lawyer who ran a general store. At age 4, the family moved to Hannibal, Mo. His father died when Samuel was 11 of pneumonia. He was Read more
Recently I posted on the Battle of the Washita and posed the question “was it a battle or a massacre?” I think most would agree it was a battle, although one-sided and unfair. A similar question, but with a different response, could be applied to the Sand Creek Massacre. Read more
Heraclitus was a famous Greek philosopher. He lived from 535-475 B.C. He believed that the Universe was constantly changing, hence his quote: “No man ever steps in the same river twice”. He formulated the “unity of opposites” which is the belief that the Universe consists of paired opposites. Heraclitus Read more
In 1868, Gen. Philip Sheridan was determined to end the Native American raids on American settlements on the Great Plains. He decided a winter campaign would catch the Indians hunkered down in their camps. He decided George Custer was the right man for the job. Unfortunately, the “Boy General” Read more
She was born Carrie Amelia Moore on Nov. 25, 1846. Her father was a slave-holding plantation owner in Kentucky. Her mother had mental problems, which may explain some of Carrie’s future actions. She got married at age 21 to an alcoholic doctor who had served in the Union Army. They Read more