# Little-known American history **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 5, 2007, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227 "2007-11-05T00:07:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/21 "2007-11-05T16:07:18Z")
In 1776 John Adams and Benjamin Franklin met with Lord Howe at the Billopp House at the southwestern tip of Staten Island in a last-ditch attempt to come to terms with Britain and prevent the American Revolution. The house is still there, and called The Conference House: [http://www.theconferencehouse.org/](http://www.theconferencehouse.org/) It didn’t work out, for some reason. But I never heard of the event until I visited the house. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/22 "2007-11-05T16:10:29Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] 9/11 wasn’t the first time that any of NYC’s landmark skyscrapers was struck by an airplane. In 1947 or so a USAF B-25 crashed into the Empire State Building in heavy fog, killing everyone on the plane and several inside the building (fortunately, this happened on a Sunday, so hardly anybody was at work, and a B-25 is a rather small airplane on the scale of things). Probably a bit better known since Hurricane Katrina than it was before, but the costliest natural disaster in US history was the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, where the entire city of Galveston, Texas was literally swept into the sea by a storm surge, killing somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,000 people. Before the American entry into the First World War, many American pilots flew in the Lafayette Esquadrille, a French fighter squadron made up entirely of American pilots. Similarly, No. 33 Squadron, The American Eagles, flew for the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain, having forfeited their US Citizenships and sworn loyalty to the King of England in order to get into the fight. In China, before the US was officially operating on the Asian mainland, the American Volunteer Group, nicknamed “The Flying Tigers”, flew as mercenaries for the Nationalist Chinese against the Japanese. They were suprisingly well equipped for a group of freelancers, having gotten quite a deal on P-40 Warhawks from the US government, and including numerous American military pilots who were allowed to resign their commissions in order to join up with the AVG. [/QUOTE] Slight nitpick, The squadrons were called "Eagle Squadrons and the pilots did not have to relinquish US citizenship. They came over here because they belived in the fight for democracy and also because, as Gen Patton said, “All Americans love a fight” ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/23 "2007-11-05T16:51:59Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Slight nitpick, The squadrons were called "Eagle Squadrons and the pilots did not have to relinquish US citizenship. They came over here because they belived in the fight for democracy and also because, as Gen Patton said, “All Americans love a fight” [/QUOTE] Quite true, I’m sure. I’m quite the pacifist, but if I were the appropriate age in that era I would have given the keys to my heart to Stalin himself if it meant I could kill a lot of Nazis. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/24 "2007-11-05T18:22:38Z")
The _H.M.S. Eagle_, a 64-gun frigate belonging to the British navy, was attacked by a prototype submarine while moored in New York Harbor in September of 1776. Ezra Lee, the lone occupant of the _Turtle_, attempted to secure a time-fused powder keg to the _Eagle’s_ side, and came very close to succeeding. The _Turtle_ was equipped with a device that, when alongside the hull of the larger ship, could be used to fasten a screw into the wooden planking, thereby providing a means of anchoring the explosive device in place. By chance, the drill bit struck a metal support rather than wood, and attempts to reposition the craft for a second attempt were unsuccessful. Ultimately exhausted by the strenuous task of piloting the unorthodox craft, Lee was forced to disengage without having affixed his makeshift mine. In making good his escape, however, Lee did release the powder keg. The resulting explosion was spectacular, but too far away from the _Eagle_ to do anything more than startle its crew. Despite its near success, the _Turtle_ was not used in combat again. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/25 "2007-11-05T19:20:26Z")
The [Fenians](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenian_Brotherhood) attempted an invasion of Canada from Upstate New York in 1866. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/26 "2007-11-05T20:59:23Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] Jimmy Carter had been attacked by a giant rabbit in 1976. Help me out! [/QUOTE] [Here](http://www.narsil.org/politics/carter/killer_rabbit.html)’s a pic. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/27 "2007-11-05T21:51:55Z")
[QUOTE=x-ray vision] [Here](http://www.narsil.org/politics/carter/killer_rabbit.html)’s a pic. [/QUOTE] Where do you think I read about it? I meant, help me find out some more strange and interesting bits of little-known US history. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/28 "2007-11-05T21:54:31Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] In 1776 John Adams and Benjamin Franklin met with Lord Howe at the Billopp House at the southwestern tip of Staten Island in a last-ditch attempt to come to terms with Britain and prevent the American Revolution. The house is still there, and called The Conference House: > **[Conference House |](https://conferencehouse.org)** It didn’t work out, for some reason. But I never heard of the event until I visited the house. [/QUOTE] It’s quite possible that it didn’t work out because Adams and Franklin had an active dislike for each other. Adams considered Franklin to be careless and lackadaisical in his dealings with foreign governments and sent bitter diatribes (probably born of envy) back to the colonial government during his assignments in France with Franklin. I would be surprised if one or the other hadn’t actively sabotaged the meeting, despite their aversion to war. By 1776, it was far too late anyway, and France was in bed with America by then. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/29 "2007-11-05T22:16:00Z")
More than 25% of the people who were forced to march the Trail of Tears died. [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1567.html](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1567.html) ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/30 "2007-11-05T22:36:00Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] More than 25% of the people who were forced to march the Trail of Tears died. > **[The Trail of Tears](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1567.html)** [/QUOTE] We were taught this in both middle and high school History classes. Maybe this is a new addition to the curriculum? (I’m 21, for what it’s worth). ---
**Author:** ![Tenebras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/31 "2007-11-05T22:36:27Z")
From the wiki page on Peter Francisco: “He is also said to have thrown two men, along with their horses, over a fence near his farm when they attempted to annoy him.” This sentence is all kinds of awesome. Not only did he throw two men over a fence, he threw two horses over the fence, too. And their crime? Attempted annoyance. They were cracking jokes featuring “enormous” and “Peter” and he gets up and says “Now boys, it’s not that your puerile attempts at humor are getting to me, but I’m afraid this has gone on long enough.” And then he picks up their horses and tosses them over a fence. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2007, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/32 "2007-11-06T00:25:39Z")
Columbia University is the only college in America where a Revolutionary War battle (The Battle of Harlem Heights) was fought on the site of its current campus. The Battle of Bennington was not fought in Bennington, Vermont, but rather in Hoosick Falls, New York. The battle of Saratoga was won due to the exploits of one particular general, who was injured in the foot during the battle. Years later, a monument was put up to commemorate his heroism, in the form of his boot. However, the name of the general was deliberately left off the monument. Benedict Arnold. Nowadays there are signs directing you to the monument only refers to him as “the most brilliant soldier of the Continental Army.” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/33 "2007-11-06T00:28:43Z")
Teddy Roosevelt and San Juan Hill: While he and his Rough Riders were definitely there, and did participate in the charge up the hill, the Buffalo Soldiers were the true heroes of the battle, winning the respect of everyone there and winning one of the soldiers a Medal of Honor. At the time, Roosevelt praised their courage and ferocity, but afterwards his enthusiasm waned and he even hinted at acts of cowardice among the “coloreds”. When Roosevelt decided to run for president, he eventually took full credit for the victory. It was shameful behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/34 "2007-11-06T00:43:12Z")
William Sherman, probably the most despised figure in all of Southern History because of his slash and burn campaign, was a major founder of Louisiana State University (LSU) and held the superintendent’s post during its creation. He lived in the Deep South until the beginning of the Civil War. “In 1859, Sherman accepted a job as the first superintendent of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy in Pineville, Louisiana, a position offered to him by Major D.C. Buell and General G. Mason Graham.[15] He proved an effective and popular leader of that institution, which would later become Louisiana State University (LSU).” > **[William Tecumseh Sherman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tecumseh_Sherman)** > > William Tecumseh Sherman (/tɪˈkʌmsə/ tih-KUM-sə; February 8, 1820 – February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), achieving recognition for his command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the scorched-earth policies that he implemented against the Confederate States. British military theorist and historian B. H. Liddell Hart declared that Sherman Born ... ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/35 "2007-11-06T00:43:53Z")
[QUOTE=Dosipede] That I did not know. Another tidbit I was unaware of before a little research tonight to refresh my memory on the incident: it was the only time a sailing vessel was victorious over a steam-driven warship. [/QUOTE] [Here’s a photo](http://civilwarhandgun.com/cylinder.jpg). I’ve seen the whole engraving in a book, but couldn’t find it online. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/36 "2007-11-06T01:02:17Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] Columbia University is the only college in America where a Revolutionary War battle (The Battle of Harlem Heights) was fought on the site of its current campus. [/QUOTE] Unless you count [the battle of Princeton](http://www.americanrevolution.com/BattleofPrinceton.htm), of course. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/37 "2007-11-06T01:18:50Z")
[QUOTE=MLS] Unless you count [the battle of Princeton](http://www.americanrevolution.com/BattleofPrinceton.htm), of course. [/QUOTE] Your cite doesn’t say whether or not it was fought on the current grounds of the campus itself. In fact, [my cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_princeton) says that the site of the battle is now a state park. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/38 "2007-11-06T01:41:55Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] Your cite doesn’t say whether or not it was fought on the current grounds of the campus itself. In fact, [my cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_princeton) says that the site of the battle is now a state park. [/QUOTE] That may be the location of a major part of the battle, but part of your cite says: > [@](#): > > The remainder of the British fell back into Princeton, which, along with the men already there, they defended against Sullivan’s force for a while, before retreating to New Brunswick. A number of troops were left behind in Princeton. Facing overwhelming numbers and artillery fire, they surrendered. The campus of Princeton University as it now stands is scattered throughout the town of Princeton. Another [link](http://www.doublegv.com/ggv/battles/Princeton.html) states: > [@](#): > > The British took shelter in and around Nassau Hall in Princeton.The Americans brought up cannon, and took two shots at the building. The first bounced off, but the second entered the main room where the troops were holding, and allegedly decapitated a picture of King George the 2 nd on the wall. The British in Nassau Hall surrendered. Nassau Hall is most definitely a part of Princeton University. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/39 "2007-11-06T01:51:51Z")
Fair enough. > [@MLS](#): > > The campus of Princeton University as it now stands is scattered throughout the town of Princeton. I didn’t know that. The Wikipedia article says that Princeton is spread across three zip codes. Must be a pain in the ass to get from one side of campus to the other… ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227/40 "2007-11-06T01:53:06Z")
Some Civil War battles were fought as far west as New Mexico and Arizona (by today’s maps). Arizona was strongly pro-Confederate and sent representatives to the Confederate legislature. L.A. was also mostly pro-Confederate and the Drum Army Barracks in San Pedro, famous to local history buffs, were set up to keep the locals from going over to the wrong side. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-known-american-history/425227.md?page=3)