He intentionally fired into the air, but his political rival, the sitting Vice-President Aaron Burr, took deadly aim and fatally shot Alexander Hamilton in a duel JULY 11, 1804. Alexander Hamilton was born in the British West Indies on the Island of Nevis, either in the year 1755 or 1757, and grew up on the Island of St. Croix. Just […]

38-year-old King George III ruled the largest empire that planet earth had ever seen. The Declaration of Independence, approved JULY 4, 1776, listed the reasons why Americans declared their independence from the King: “He has made judges dependent on his will alone… He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people […]

England was invaded by “Dane” Vikings from Scandinavia who destroyed churches, libraries and defeated all opposition except for 23-year-old King Alfred. Forced into the swampy, tidal marshes of Somerset, Alfred, King of the Anglos and Saxons, began a resistance movement in 878 AD. According to biographer Bishop Asser: “Alfred attacked the whole pagan army fighting ferociously in dense order, and by divine will eventually won the victory.” […]

England was invaded by “Dane” Vikings from Scandinavia who destroyed churches, libraries and defeated all opposition except for 23-year-old King Alfred. Forced into the swampy, tidal marshes of Somerset, Alfred, King of the Anglos and Saxons, began a resistance movement in 878 AD. According to biographer Bishop Asser, “Alfred attacked the whole pagan army fighting ferociously in dense order, and […]

Just six weeks after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Harvard President Samuel Langdon, MAY 31, 1775, spoke to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. Samuel Langdon’s address was titled”Government Corrupted By Vice”: “They … attempted, by a sudden march of a body of troops in the night, to seize and destroy one of our magazines, formed by the people merely for their own security … […]

Withholding taxes from paychecks began JUNE 9, 1943. Congress passed it as an emergency measure during World War II to get money to fight Hitler. Withholding taxes was the idea of Beardsley Ruml, the treasurer of Macy’s Department Store who became chairman of New York’s Federal Reserve Bank. Ruml was helped by Bernard Baruch and Milton Friedman. The Federal Government […]

The 120 mile long Suez Canal, connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, was built by the French, 1859-1869. Britain gained control of the Canal in 1882, and defended it during the First and Second World Wars. On July 26, 1956, after making overtures to the Soviet Union, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser seized control of the Suez Canal, […]

D-Day was JUNE 6, 1944. Over 160,000 troops from America, Britain, Canada, free France, Poland, and other nations landed along a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast of France. It was the largest amphibious invasion force in world history, supported by 5,000 ships with 195,700 navy personnel and 13,000 aircraft. On that day, the sea along the heavily fortified beaches […]

In 1942, Imperial Japan invaded Singapore and took around 25,000 prisoners. Next was the Philippines. With Imperial Japan’s relentless bombardment by planes and heavy siege guns, President Roosevelt did not want General Douglas MacArthur captured, so he ordered him to leave Corregidor, Philippines, and evacuate to Australia. General Douglas MacArthur obeyed, March 11, 1942, but not without promising, “I shall […]

Southern women scattered spring flowers on graves of both northern Union and southern Confederate soldiers of the Civil War in which over a half-million died. Many places claimed to have held the original Memorial Day, such as: Warrenton, Virginia; Columbus, Georgia; Savannah, Georgia; Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Boalsburg, Pennsylvania; Waterloo, New York. One such place was Charleston, South Carolina, where a mass […]

Douglas MacArthur told West Point cadets, May 1962: “The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training-sacrifice. In battle and in the face of danger and death, he discloses those Divine attributes which his Maker gave when He created man in His own image … No physical courage and no brute instinct can take the place of Divine help which alone can sustain […]

John Wayne: “I’d like to know why they make excuses for cowards …” “Mad Anthony” Wayne raised a militia unit at the beginning of the Revolutionary War and participated in the invasion of Canada. He fought in the Battle of Trois-Rivières, and led forces at Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence. ​“Mad Anthony” Wayne fought at Brandywine in 1777, then harassed […]

Twentieth-Century Fox made a motion picture in 1955 titled A Man Called Peter, about the life of U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall, born MAY 27, 1902. At the age of 25, Peter Marshall emigrated from Scotland, arriving at New York’s Ellis Island in 1927. Members of his Sunday School class paid his way to seminary in Atlanta, where he graduated […]

“Mad Anthony” Wayne raised a militia unit at the beginning of the Revolutionary War and participated in the invasion of Canada. He fought in the Battle of Trois-Rivières, and led forces at Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence. “Mad Anthony” Wayne fought at Brandywine in 1777, then harassed British General Howe as his troops marched towards Pennsylvania. He fought at Germantown, […]

T he SS SAVANNAH left MAY 22, 1819, from Savannah, Georgia, and 25 days later arrived in Liverpool, England, completing the first trans-Atlantic voyage by steamship. To pay tribute to the American Merchant Marine, President Franklin Roosevelt designated MAY 22, 1933, as NATIONAL MARITIME DAY. Ronald Reagan commented, May 20, 1986: “When steam-powered vessels began to eclipse sailing ships in the latter part of the 19th century, […]

T he American Red Cross was organized MAY 21, 1881, by a schoolteacher namedClara Barton. The first woman to be a clerk at the U.S. Patent Office, Clara Barton moved to Washington at the outbreak of the Civil War. She distributed relief supplies to wounded soldiers and, at the request of President Lincoln, aided for nearly four years in searching for missing soldiers. After attempting to carry a wounded soldier off thebattlefield of […]

On midnight, MAY 14, 1948, the State of Israel came into being and was immediately recognized by the United States and the Soviet Union. A homeland for the thousands of Jews who were persecuted and displaced during World War II, Israel was attacked the next day by the Transjordanian Army, the Arab Legion, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Against all […]

Mothers’ Day was held in Boston in 1872 at the suggestion of Julia Ward Howe, writer of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” But it was Anna Jarvis, daughter of a Methodist minister in Grafton, West Virginia, who made it a national event. During the Civil War, Anna Jarvis’ mother organized Mothers’ Day Work Clubs to care for wounded soldiers, both Union and Confederate. She raised money for medicine, […]

T he son of a rabbi, he was born MAY 11, 1888. At 4-years-old, he immigrated with his family from Russia to New York. Falling in love with America, he served as a U.S. infantry sergeant in World War I. He later wrote some of the nation’s most popular songs, including: “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas”; “Remember”; “Always”; “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”; “There’s No Business like Show […]

W hen Muslim Turks conquered the land trade routes from Europe to Asia, Europeans explored sea routes. These attempts were initially financed by kings and wealthy private individuals, and later through the new invention of “companies.” “Companies” have a significant history. During the Middle Ages, there were tradesmen, partnerships, merchant guilds, craft guilds,and religious guilds , but these did not have large amounts of capital […]