Writer of Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry and Master Photographer
The British and the French both had pretty good slices of North America prior to the French and Indian War (aka The Seven Years War). The Brits and colonists prevailed and took a lot of territory. Many Brits wanted to make a quick move to get settlers in the newly acquired regions to make sure…
In 1862, a slave named Robert Smalls was working as a pilot on a Confederate steamer named the Planter based in Charleston. The three officers were white, while the rest of the crew was composed of Smalls and six other slaves. The officers were supposed to stay onboard the ship according to regulations, but they…
[Note: This is part of a new ongoing series about lost, altered or “never were” states] In July of 1919, Massachusetts state representative James H. Brennan went to the clerk’s office and filed a bill to make Boston a state. Ironically, the main issue for Brennan was unjust taxation. He was upset that Boston was…
Memorial Day is not only a time to honor those who died to defend the country, but also a good time to learn about our history. I found a couple of episodes about which relatively little has been written, but which you might find interesting. •The Confederacy had quite an operation going in…
Most of us learned in school about the Boston Tea Party and have heard the story over years in popular culture. Normally, it is told with some variations, as taxes or the price of tea went up, and local patriots spontaneoulsy dumped the product into the harbor. That’s not quite right. Actually, the problem was…
There were about 150,000 Irishmen — many of whom were not American citizens at the time — who served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Many were patriotic towards their new home, while some hoped that honorable service might help reduce some of the blatant discrimination against the Irish in the country. As…
Israel Putnam isn’t a name that comes up on many lists of important Revolutionary War generals, but he was an interesting character who had a distinguished military career before and after the conflict. Putnam may be best known — but least credited — for his order at Bunker Hill: “Don’t fire until you see the…
While Andrew Jackson’s legacy as president will forever be tarnished for his role in the Trail of Tears, he was an interesting historical figure and key figure in the War of 1812. My favorite story about Jackson is that he survived the first known attempt to assassinate a president of the United States. On the…
There’s more material about General Robert E. Lee than a person could read in a lifetime. However, there was a Confederate captain named Robert J. “Bob” Lee who kept his personal war going for nearly half a decade after the Civil War ended who is barely known outside Texas. When the war broke out, Lee…
For most of us, President’s Day (it’s Monday, by the way) has become just a day when we don’t get mail and the stock market is closed. This is pretty sad considering we have holidays to honor candy and ghosts. Maybe a few interesting facts about some of our leaders would help…