A Brief History On March 8, 1889, the anniversary date of the Battle of Hampton Roads, the clash of ironclad warships USS Monitor and CSS Virginia, the inventor of the Monitor died. John Ericsson, born in Sweden as Johan Ericsson, showed early brilliance in surveying and engineering, and moved to England in 1826 where he invented ways to improve steam engines. Digging Deeper Ericsson is best known for inventing America’s first screw propeller driven ship system, and of course, the USS Monitor, a revolutionary ironclad that boasted the first rotating gun turret, a design that has lasted through the years…
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A Brief History On March 7, 1799, French General Napoleon Bonaparte successfully captured the city of Jaffa in Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire. Although considered one of the all-time military geniuses, Bonaparte blundered when he allowed his men to massacre more than 2000 Albanians that had surrendered. Digging Deeper Napoleon then encouraged civilians to leave the city in the hope that these refugees would spread the word of French terror and cause other cities in the area to surrender without a fight. He was wrong! News of the massacre steeled the resolve of the Ottoman defenders and forced…
A Brief History On March 6, 1943, the Battle of Fardykambos was fought between the Greek Resistance and the invading Italian Army. The Resistance won the battle, with nearly an entire Italian battalion surrendering. Digging Deeper In the past we have talked about odd named wars and battles, but despite the funny sounding names, these conflicts are not funny. The Greeks suffered 4 dead with another 13 wounded and the Italians lost 565 captured, 96 dead, and 79 wounded. Italy was on a path of conquest, and part of their plan was to seize Greece, which they invaded in 1940. …
A Brief History On February 28, 1959, a Thor-Agena A rocket was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying a spy satellite designated Discoverer 1, the first in a spy satellite program of the American military and intelligence network. Digging Deeper Discoverer 1 was intended as the first ever satellite to orbit the Earth via the poles rather than on an equatorial orbit, and was part of the CORONA program. Actually a testbed, Discoverer 1 was not equipped with the camera and film that later satellites of the KH-1 type would carry. Unfortunately, the star-crossed spacecraft failed in…
A Brief History On February 25, 1870, history was made when Hiram Rhodes Revels, an African American man from Mississippi, was sworn in as a US Senator, the first African American member of the US Congress. Digging Deeper Despite being born in North Carolina in 1827, Revels was not born a slave, and later lived in Indiana and Ohio. The son of a Baptist minister, Revels was educated in Quaker seminaries and at Knox College, in Illinois, later being ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Revels served in the US Army during the American Civil War as a chaplain,…