In Feb., 1942 the French ocean liner SS Normandie was being converted into the troop ship USS Lafayette in New York harbor. On Feb. 9, a fire broke out and the ship was badly damaged. Although, officially proclaimed an Read more
I am a big George Washington fan. He was a great leader and without his leadership, we would not have won independence and probably would have gone the route of Canada. But he was not a great general. He lost Read more
In 738 B.C., the Romans adopted the ten-month lunar calendar from the Greeks. Those months were Martius (named for Mars – the god of war), Aprilius (named for aperio which means “to open” – a reference to flowers blooming in Read more
Benedict Arnold was not always a traitor. In fact, he was quite a hero before he went over to the dark side. His resume included several noteworthy accomplishments. He helped Ethan Allen captured Fort Ticonderoga. He followed this up Read more
The Ancient Romans were known for their relative cleanliness in comparison to other ancient peoples, and especially in comparison to medieval man. They had the public baths for bathing. These popular sites were cheap enough for even the poor Read more
Today is the anniversary of an event that will live in infamy. On Jan. 1, 1889, the Pauite prophet Wovoka claimed to have a dream brought on by a solar eclipse. He dreamed that Jesus would return as an Indian Read more
Everyone knows the Ancient Egyptians loved their cats. There are thousands of cat statues and mummified cats left from that time. Heck, there were so many mummified cats, that later Egyptian farmers would crush them and use them to Read more
Ancient Egyptians felt they had a sure-fire way of determining the sex of a baby. The mother-to-be was told to pee on a pile of wheat and barley for several days. If the wheat grew, it was going to Read more
If I may get personal here, the Battle of Trenton occurred 244 years ago today. It is one of my favorite battles. Hell, I named my son after it. It is an example of what drew me to History and Read more
The famous painting was by German-American artist Emanuel Leutze in his Dusseldorf, Germany studio in 1850-51. Leutze grew up in America and then returned to his homeland. He painted it after the failed Revolution of 1848 in the hope that Read more