FACTS ABOUT MAGELLAN

His parents died at age 10. Two years later he moved to Lisbon, Portugal to become a page to the queen.  He went to the page school and learned about cartography, astronomy, and navigation. He first went to sea as a soldier. He fought for Portugal in Malaysia and Morocco.  Read more

THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY

                The most famous train robbery in British history occurred on August 8, 1963.  It was the robbery of the Royal Mail train on its run from Glasgow to London.  The robbery had been planned for a long time and involved 16 men, most of them career criminals.  Their leader Read more

FACTS ABOUT GUADALCANAL

It was the first battle in American History where all branches of the current military participated: Navy, Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard.  Signalman First Class Douglas Munro became the only member of the Coast Guard to ever earn the Medal of Honor.  He led a rescue mission of a Read more

HISTORICAL ACCURACY: BRAVEHEART

On this day in 1305, William Wallace was captured by the British.  The following is part of my review of the movie “Braveheart” on my blog The War Movie Buff (https://warmoviebuff.blogspot.com/2011/04/67-braveheart.html ).  As history teachers, movies can be a good supplement to our lessons, provided they are reasonably accurate.  In Read more

THE AMISTAD CASE

       In Feb., 1839, Portuguese slave hunters kidnapped hundreds of Africans and brought them to Cuba for sale.  Two Spanish plantation owners bought 53 at auction.  They were loaded on a ship called the Amistad (“friendship”) and sailed for the Caribbean island where they had their plantations.  The cargo consisted Read more