Playing cards made history

Originally posted on Pacific Paratrooper:
Playing cards to pass the time War can be hell… and war can be absolute boredom.  There are few better ways to pass the time than by playing cards.  They’re easy to carry: small and lightweight, they fit into a rucksack, duffel bag or Alice pack without having to sacrifice…

Burying James Monroe – Again

Originally posted on Presidential History Blog:
A quarter century after James Monroe died, he was buried. Again. James Monroe, Virginian Like his close friends and Revolutionary companions Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, James Monroe (1758-1831) had strong ties to Virginia. Monroe could arguably considered the one with the tightest tie to the Old Dominion, having…

Infamy in Tombstone

Wyatt Earp fired the most important shot…during the gunfight at the OK Corral.  Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday enjoyed the name recognition, but the most dangerous man on the streets of Tombstone that day was Frank McLaury.  McLaury was known throughout the Arizona territory as a dangerous gunman; but, he was also a notorious cattle

Texas and Secession

Far from being a stronghold of secession in 1860, Texas gave substantial support to Constitutional Union Party candidate John C. Bell. The Unionist spirit in Texas sprang from its First Citizen, the venerable Sam Houston. Sam Houston…. had some emphatic words for the lunatics who took his proud state out of the Federal Union he

Slippery Slope is Real- Jefferson

In 2017, when Donald Trump predicted the removal of Confederate monuments would lead to attacks on George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, he was roundly ridiculed in the media. This blog was not particularly enamored with the 45th President, but look where we are today. Everyone from rioters in the streets to US Senators are calling

October 13, 1863: Vallandigham Loses Bid for Governor

Originally posted on Almost Chosen People:
I have always thought that the Copperhead Movement in the North, those Northerners who believed that war to preserve the Union was wicked and/or futile, had a great deal of potential strength and it is something of a puzzle as to why it did not have a greater impact on the…

Bockscar

Originally posted on M.A. Kleen:
Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Bockscar” at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. This was the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb, nicknamed “Fat Man”, on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Bockscar was commanded by Maj. Charles W. Sweeney. Its single atom bomb destroyed approximately…

Jefferson on Love

A periodic look into the mind of Jefferson Jefferson loved two women in his life… both brought him periods of blissful happiness and profound sadness.  Through all the sadness, Jefferson’s optimism could always be felt-  He told his second love, Maria Cosway in 1786: “Heaven has submitted our being to some unkind laws.  When those