An interesting historical story.
On August 3, 1943, Gen. George Patton visited a field hospital on the island of Sicily. He was coming off the capture of the city of Palermo and was moving on Messina. “Old Blood and Guts” toured the hospital, stopping at beds to chat with the wounded soldiers. He Read more
The last of the three battles of Red Cloud’s War occurred on August 2, 1867. The war was an attempt by the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians to force whites to abandon the Bozeman Trail, which crossed Indian lands to get to the gold fields of Montana. Earlier, the Indians Read more
It is estimated that around 400 women disguised themselves as men to serve as soldiers in the Civil War. One of the most famous was born Sarah Edmonds in Canada. The youngest of five daughters of a disciplinarian father who preferred sons, she worked on the farm doing men’s Read more
In 1864, Gen. Grant’s campaign to capture Richmond and destroy Lee’s Army of North Virginia ran into a brick wall at Petersburg. Both sides dug in and if you think trench warfare began in WWI, think again. There was even a no man’s land between the front lines. In Read more
The first month of the Korean War was chaotic and full of military failures for the South Korean army and its allied U.S. Army. The invasion came as a complete surprise and the North Korean army quickly captured Seoul and rolled southward with little opposition. American forces had been Read more
Colonial New England had an interesting custom known as “bundling” (also called tarrying). It was used for courting The practice originated in either Holland or Great Britain and was brought over to the colonies where it was especially popular in Pennsylvania with the Dutch settlers.. A young couple would Read more
You may have heard the creepy children’s story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The most common version comes from the Brothers Grimm. The city of Hamelin in Germany was having a rat problem when a man dressed in multi-colored clothing (“pied”) offered to remove them. The city fathers Read more
Frank Clara Folsom was born July 21, 1864 in Buffalo. She was named after an uncle, but changed the name to Francis when she got older. Her father was a lawyer and good friends with his partner Grover Cleveland. “Uncle Cleve” bought Frank, daughter of his partner, her first baby Read more
On July 20, 1917, Eugene Bullard became a pilot in the Lafayette Flying Corps. Eugene Bullard was the grandson of a slave. He was the seventh child of a poor family in the American South. At age ten, he witnessed the near lynching of his father. Determined to escape racism, Read more
This is the third anniversary of this site. In honor of that, I am posting one of my favorite anecdotes. It’s a Civil War story and makes light of the fact that many underage boys enlisted. It is estimated that between 260,000 – 420,000 under age teenagers enlisted in the Read more