# Historical myths DEBUNKED! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 19, 2025, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251 "2025-08-19T02:56:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/261 "2025-08-28T14:56:14Z")
> [@Clearbluesky](#): > > But we like the narrative that two brothers just up and invented air travel. Plus they are Americans! Competing claims on who did what first are common. Well, there was Gustav Weißkopf (Whitehead) who claimed to have flown in 1901, in a sort of bat winged flying boat looking thing near Bridgeport CT, and again over Long Island Sound a year later, but there is no substantive evidence of his flights, and some of the witnesses were not even on the scene. His contraption was recreated to spec in the '50s, and it did fly, but it used modern engines and materials.        The most important development by the Wrights was the wing warping (aileron-type action), which was a sensible notion probably related to their bicycle work (you bank into turns on a bike). No one else had built a flying machine that could be controlled like a Wright flyer, and their propeller design was without precedent. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/262 "2025-08-28T15:24:58Z")
> [@Clearbluesky](#): > > Did John Paul Jones actually say “I have not begun to fight” ? I don’t know, but he did say “The apples of the valley hold the seeds of happiness” in his 1977 North American tour. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/263 "2025-08-28T15:36:38Z")
And it’s great that those apples are there, or else everybody would forget laughter. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/264 "2025-08-28T15:39:19Z")
Whereas Paul Revere said “I’m still a red man deep inside.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/265 "2025-08-28T15:51:37Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > That reminds me of the story of the death of Dr Charles Drew in 1950. Dr. Drew revolutionized blood transfusions, but died at just 45 following a car accident. > > The myth is that he died because the whites only hospital which was closest to the accident refused to treat him, as this was in North Carolina and he was Black. > > In reality, the hospital _did_ try to save him. His injuries were just too severe. Are you saying Hawkeye Pierce lied to me? But he always seemed so sincere. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/266 "2025-08-28T15:55:03Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Whereas Paul Revere said “I’m still a red man deep inside.” I realize this wasn’t where you were going with this but Revere was one of the men who dressed up as an Indian and participated in the Boston Tea Party. ---
**Author:** ![Clearbluesky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Clearbluesky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clearbluesky)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/267 "2025-08-28T16:38:53Z")
My general viewpoint on the topic of Historical myths DEBUNKED! Is that a lot of history is made up. Well made up might be too strong. Embellished? Once embellished, it spreads through popular culture. It eventually becomes accepted historical fact by the masses. Did George Washington cross the Delaware river and defeat the Hessians at Trenton? Yes. It’s a pretty reliable historical fact. Did it look like the famous painting of said crossing? Probably not. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/268 "2025-08-28T16:40:22Z")
> [@Clearbluesky](#): > > Did George Washington cross the Delaware river and defeat the Hessians at Trenton? Yes. It’s a pretty reliable historical fact. Did it look like the famous painting of said crossing? Probably not. Expecting art to correspond 100% with the matter depicted is a mistake, art is meant to convey emotions not facts. ---
**Author:** ![Clearbluesky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Clearbluesky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clearbluesky)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/269 "2025-08-28T16:42:32Z")
It’s an example of popular culture turning an historical fact into an historical myth. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/270 "2025-08-28T16:43:35Z")
Yes, sorry it wasn’t meant as a criticism, the problem is that popular culture is wrong in interpreting art as facts thus generating myths. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/271 "2025-08-28T18:16:32Z")
> [@Clearbluesky](#): > > Thomas Edison was just good at public relations and stealing ideas. Yes, there were electric lightbulbs before- they lasted mere minutes. Edison invented the first **Practical** electric bulb, > [@Clearbluesky](#): > > Did John Paul Jones actually say “I have not begun to fight” ? He said that-or something very similar to a British request to surrender. > [@Clearbluesky](#): > > My general viewpoint on the topic of Historical myths DEBUNKED! Is that a lot of history is made up. > > Well made up might be too strong. Embellished? Facts turned into legends. Other stuff that sounded cool and possible- made up. I mean I guess George and the cheery tree is _possible_, but comes from one single source, some time later, So doubtful. Very. > [@Clearbluesky](#): > > The whole first Thanksgiving thing is made up. But it’s fun and we all play along. There was a feast. its been turned into a legend, along with many details. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/272 "2025-08-28T18:36:34Z")
> [@Clearbluesky](#): > > Well made up might be too strong. Embellished? Once embellished, it spreads through popular culture. It eventually becomes accepted historical fact by the masses. It is also created and propagated in the interests of those with the power to have certain stories and perspectives repeated in schools, media, and government. That is more designed and effective than transmission by popular culture. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/273 "2025-08-28T19:07:41Z")
> [@Clearbluesky](#): > > My general viewpoint on the topic of Historical myths DEBUNKED! Is that a lot of history is made up. > **digression** > > Not to cause a hijack, but, my position for some while has been that the past is what we think it was. Determinism is based on a past that is set in stone, shaping the inevitable course of the future. But when we look at the past, our information about what happened seems to keep shifting. The past is only what we understand it to have been, and that information is what will shape the future, not necessariiy what actually did happen. Hence, if you can contol the past, you can change the future. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/274 "2025-08-28T21:58:21Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > George and the cheery tree No, that was Bob Ross. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/275 "2025-08-28T23:37:23Z")
> [@Clearbluesky](#): > > Did George Washington cross the Delaware river and defeat the Hessians at Trenton? Yes. It’s a pretty reliable historical fact. Did it look like the famous painting of said crossing? Probably not. The painting was not intended to be an accurate account of the event. Emanuel Lutze painted it to hearted European reformers to keep up their fight against monarchy after the failure of the Revolutions of 1848. It was a propaganda piece, not a portrayal. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/276 "2025-08-28T23:41:05Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > It was a propaganda piece As is most “history”. After all, it _is_ written by the victors, according to the old saying. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/277 "2025-08-28T23:46:40Z")
Deleted ---
**Author:** ![Clearbluesky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Clearbluesky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clearbluesky)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/278 "2025-08-29T03:57:51Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > It was a propaganda piece, not a portrayal. And that’s the point I’m trying to make, however ineptly. The origin of historical inaccuracies, or myths, is made up or embellished stories. Or in this case a painting. I know who painted it and when. But anybody who got a C+ in junior high American History has a vague image in their mind of that painting if the subject of Washington crossing the Delaware were to come up. Why is that painting used in history books? Is it used in chapters regarding the American Revolution or in chapters regarding German painters in the 1800s supporting social upheaval in Europe? It’s used in the American context. And it’s a mythological painting of of a historical event. And it’s widely accepted. ---
**Author:** ![LoneRhino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lonerhino/32/1311_2.png) [@LoneRhino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoneRhino)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/279 "2025-08-29T05:22:41Z")
Ever? ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/280 "2025-08-29T06:37:23Z")
> [@Clearbluesky](#): > > Did John Paul Jones actually say “I have not begun to fight” ? Like he had a stenographer following him around in middle of the naval battle and they documented it? And was it before or after he said “Hey hey mama said the way you move gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251.md?page=15)