A Treasure Chest of Hidden History

Abner Doubleday, who is credited with inventing baseball, made history in 1861 by firing the first shot for the Union defending Fort Sumter. Catton, Bruce The Army of the Potomac: Mr. Lincoln’s Army. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc. 1951. p. 37. **** During the Revolutionary War, Benjamin Franklin suggested that George Washington’s army replace their rifles with bows and arrows. The soldiers could fire off four arrows for each time it took to load a musket. Bowen, Catherine Drinker John Adams and the American Revolution. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1950. pp. 549-550. **** Following the disastrous defeat in New Orleans in 1814, many of the remaining British troops sailed to Dauphin Island (just south of Mobile) and remained there for over a week. While on the island they slaughtered and consumed every animal. Remini, Robert V. The Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson and America’s First Military Victory. New York: Viking, 1999. pp. 182-183. **** Much of what we read in textbooks about President Warren G. Harding concerns the Teapot Dome scandal. Rarely is mention of Harding’s then controversial Birmingham speech promoting civil rights. His plan to place African Americans in charge of a hospital in Tuskegee led to a huge Ku Klux Klan demonstration in 1923. Hayman, John Bitter Harvest: Richmond Flowers and the Civil Rights Revolution. Montgomery: Black Belt Press, 1996. p. 61. **** Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party leader Fannie Lou Hamer faced all sorts of harassment for her stand promoting freedom. She once received a monthly water bill of $9,000 even though she had no running water. Lewis, John Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998. p. 238. **** Senator Pete Wilson (R-CA) was brought from the hospital straight to the Senate floor in 1985 to cast a tie breaking budget vote from his bed with intravenous hookups. Dodd, Lawrence C. and Bruce I. Oppenheimer Congress Reconsidered. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 1989. p. 27. **** During the debate over the graduated income tax in 1913, the understanding was that it would never be higher than 2%. Viguerie, Richard A. The Establishment vs. the People: Is a New Populist Revolt on the Way? Chicago: Regnery Gateway, Inc. 1983. p. 153. **** Alger Hiss was exposed in 1945 (three years before the Whittaker Chambers revelation) by Catholic Priest John Cronin who had compiled a list of subversives for a report entitled “The Problem of American Communism”. Weinstein, Allen Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978. pp. 7-8. **** Katherine Semmes, the daughter of Confederate Admiral Raphael Semmes, married Luke Wright who became the American ambassador to Japan. While living in Japan, Katherine was inspired to bring home and plant the famed Japanese cherry trees in Washington D.C. which are still enjoyed today. Spencer, Warren F. Raphael Semmes: The Philosophical Mariner. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 1997. p. 211. **** Contrary to the leanings of the Supreme Court while as Chief Justice, California Governor Earl Warren promoted states rights and campaigned against a 1948 referendum proposing reapportionment. Katcher, Leo Earl Warren: A Political Biography. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1967. pp. 174. 436. **** The CIA found evidence that Nixon had received a check for $100,000 that was deposited in his personal account at the Bank of California around the time of the Checkers Speech. Hersh, Seymour M. The Dark Side of Camelot. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1997. p. 158. **** “A hippie dresses like Tarzan, has hair like Jane, and smells like Cheetah.” Gov. Ronald Reagan of California Branch, Taylor At Canaan’s Edge: America In the King Years, 1965-68. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006. p. 544. **** The Russian satellite Sputnik launched in 1957 which caused such alarm and distress in the United States was only the size of a beach ball and weighed 184 pounds. Patterson, James T. Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. p. 418. **** Contrary to popular myths, the Boston Tea Party was a result of the inability of wholesale merchants to profit due to a new law passed by Parliament that allowed tea to be sent directly to retail outlets. Morgan, Edmond S. The Birth of the Republic, 1763-1789. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1956. p. 59.