A Brief History On March 6, 1836, the most celebrated defeat in American history ended in a massacre! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we remember the Alamo as an epic battle fought by American heroes like John Wayne (as Davy Crocket) depicted in the 1960 movie The Alamo. (Another major motion picture by the same name was made in 2004.) Texans especially revere the men martyred at the San Antonio landmark, Davy Crocket, Jim Bowie, William Travis and others. The cracked part of the history is why the battle was fought. Texas at that time was part of Mexico, and Mexican…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On March 5, 1770, in an incident then known as “The Incident on King Street” British soldiers gunned down five American patriots and wounded another six. The British Army soldiers had been stationed in Boston to protect British authorities believed to be in danger from rebellious Americans upset with arbitrary laws passed by the British Parliament. Digging Deeper In 1768, the British Chief Customs Officer asked Colonial Secretary, Lord Hillsborough, to send the soldiers to Massachusetts for the protection of government officials due to unrest over tariffs and other laws perceived as unfair by the colonists. Heavy…
A Brief History On March 5, 1836, Samuel Colt formed Patent Arms Manufacturing, the forerunner of Colt’s Firearms Manufacturing Company which in turn became today’s Colt’s Manufacturing Company. (For a companion list for this article, please see our list of “The Top 10 Famous Pistols.”) Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the reason for the founding of this company was the invention and patenting of the revolver, a pistol with a revolving cylinder that can fire six times in rapid succession (originally five times, later changed to 6) compared to the single shot pistols of the time. Colt’s Paterson revolver,…
A Brief History On March 4, 1918, the USS Cyclops kept a date with destiny! Digging Deeper Cyclops, a US Navy coal carrier (collier) heading to Baltimore with a load of manganese ore. The Cyclops had left from Rio De Janeiro on February 16, 1918 and was supposed to arrive in Baltimore on March 13, 1918. Mysteriously, she disappeared without a trace in the Bermuda Triangle and nothing of her or her crew has ever been found. Chalk it up to the Bermuda Triangle? Or was she sunk by a U-Boat? Well, no U-Boat ever reported such a sinking and…
A Brief History On March 3, 1991, the combination of George Holliday and his home video camera and selective use of portions of that video by the news media shocked the country and profoundly affected American History! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find a drunken 26 year old and 2 buddies speeding through Los Angeles when police attempt to initiate a traffic stop. The convicted armed robber (on parole and not even allowed to consume alcohol) refused to stop and the chase was on! Zipping through the city at high speed is extremely dangerous, of course, to the public at…