HMS St. Lawrence – The Mightiest Ship To Never Sail the Seas
“The lumbering warship’s sole purpose was to assert the Crown’s naval supremacy on a 300 kilometre long strip of freshwater.” THE COLOSSAL St. Lawrence was one of the largest fighting vessels of the Napoleonic era. Laid down in April…
Galvanized Yankees – Meet the Confederate POWs who joined the Union Army
“This was no ordinary U.S. Army outfit. Raised the previous winter in Rock Island, Illinois, the 3rd USVI was made up entirely of veterans of the Confederate States Army.” IT WAS JULY 26, 1865 when a force…
Riot Acts – The Surprising History of Wartime Civil Unrest
“A number of cities were rocked by widespread violence and civic unrest during the war years. Here are some examples.” AMERICA LIKES TO REMEMBER the Second World War as an era in which the Greatest Generation…
The Man Who Would Be King – How a Former Royal Navy Sailor Named Himself Ruler of Iceland
Jorgen Jorgenson had a most peculiar résumé. Born in 1780, the Denmark native could claim such varied careers as sailor, privateer, writer, revolutionary, explorer, gambler, policeman, felon and even spy. But Jorgenson fancied a more…
Condemned Men – Meet Hitler’s Penal Battalions
“By 1945, more than 50,000 Wehrmacht troops had served in punishment regiments.” CALL THEM THE Fuhrer’s “Dirty Dozens.” The German army’s strafbattalions were infantry units made up largely of convicts, felons, malingerers and thugs. Inmates in…
America’s First ‘Korean War’ — Inside the U.S. Navy’s 1871 Action on Ganghwa Island
“The U.S. claimed victory in the brief campaign. A total of 15 Medals of Honor were awarded to members of the shore party — the first American citations given for an action on foreign soil.”…
