Author: Major Dan

A Brief History On February 11, 1990, Iron Mike Tyson went into his match against James “Buster” Douglas as a 42 to 1 favorite.  Not only did Tyson, undefeated and undisputed as the Heavyweight Champion at the time, lose the fight, he was knocked out in the 10th round! Digging Deeper While Douglas’s surprise victory is largely considered the biggest upset in boxing history at any weight class, some of the other major heavyweight upsets include: James “The Cinderella Man” Braddock over Max Baer, 1935 Max Schmeling’s knockout of Joe Louis in 1936 Muhammad Ali’s knockout of Sonny Liston in…

A Brief History On February 10, 1862, during the American Civil War, the Union fleet won the battle of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, by sinking the Confederate “Mosquito Fleet.”  So, what is a “mosquito fleet?” Digging Deeper Generally speaking, a mosquito fleet is an unofficial nickname for a fleet of small warships or gunboats, in the case of the Confederate mosquito fleet mentioned here, 5 gunboats and a single schooner. Other nations and navies have employed mosquito fleets, ranging from commandeered private yachts used for anti-submarine patrol during the World Wars to converted fishing or utility vessels pressed into military…

A Brief History On February 9, 1907, the city of London was the scene of an epic civil rights march, colloquially known as “The Mud March.”  More correctly known as the “United Procession of Women,” it was at the time the largest demonstration in history for the cause of women’s suffrage.  Today, we name a few others of the most famous or infamous marches. Digging Deeper The Long March, 1934-1935, when Mao Zedong led Chinese communist forces on an epic retreat by foot over the course of a year, walking about 5600 miles on the trek! The Bataan Death March,…

A Brief History On February 8, 1587, Mary Stuart, also known as Mary, Queen of Scots or even Mary I of Scotland, was executed by the order of Queen Elizabeth I of England, her own cousin! Digging Deeper Mary, born in December of 1542, was only 6 days old when she inherited the throne of Scotland, and reigned for only 15 years before she was forced to abdicate after the murder of her husband and Mary remarrying the main suspect in her husband’s murder only a month after his acquittal for the murder. Failing to reclaim her throne, Mary fled…

A Brief History On February 7, 1984, two astronauts from the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-41-B made space exploration history by taking the first untethered space walk outside of their space ship. Digging Deeper Not being attached by any sort of lifeline had to be a terrifying prospect, but astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart, both on their first space flight, operated outside the Challenger free of any safety line for over 5 hours. In 1972, President Richard Nixon announced the NASA Space Shuttle program, an ambitious program sadly remembered for the Challenger and Columbia disasters, but…