Jack Northrop’s XP-79B jet fighter looked unusual, but its method of attack was even more bizarre.
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King George’s War: Siege of Louisbourg
Ben Franklin warned that it would be a ‘hard nut to crack’—but in 1745 a ragtag army of New Englanders captured Louisburg, France’s most imposing North American stronghold.
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Benjamin Franklin: America’s Inventor
Born 300 years ago, Benjamin Franklin remains perhaps the most inquisitive, creative and prodigious inventor, innovator and thinker ever born on American soil. But which of Franklin’s many ‘inventions’ was actually his most important? A scientist offers a somewhat surprising answer.
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Benjamin Franklin: Revolutionary Spymaster
On the eve of the colonials’ leap into revolution, Benjamin Franklin was the target of a dangerous initiative by a French secret agent to determine the Americans’ intentions and capabilities. Franklin’s wisdom — and wile — proved pivotal in boosting French confidence in supporting the insurgents.
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Capturing Fort Pulaski During the American Civil War
As a young U.S. Army lieutenant, Robert E. Lee helped to construct Fort Pulaski. As a Confederate general 30 years later, he confidently assured fort defenders it could not be breached. Union gunners were not so sure.
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‘Home, Sweet Home’: A Civil War Soldier’s Favorite Song
John Howard Payne’s haunting ‘Home, Sweet Home’ was the Civil War soldier’s favorite song.
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America’s Civil War: Major General John Pope’s Narrow Escape at Clark’s Mountain
While Robert E. Lee’s entire army massed behind Clark’s Mountain to attack the Union Army of Virginia, a daring Yankee spy swam the Rapidan River to warn Maj. Gen. John Pope of the imminent danger. It was, said one military historian, ‘the timeliest single product of espionage’ in the entire war.
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Battle of Chickamauga: Colonel John Wilder’s Lightning Brigade Prevented Total Disaster
Armed with their new, lethal seven-shot Spencer rifles, Wilder’s Lightning Brigade was all that stood between the Union Army and the looming disaster at Chickamauga Creek.
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Second Battle of Manassas: Union Major General John Pope Was No Match for Robert E. Lee
Brash, bombastic John Pope tempted fate by returning to the old battleground at Manassas. He thought he had caught Robert E. Lee napping. He was wrong.
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General Tomoyuki Yamashita
The ‘Tiger of Malaya,’ General Tomoyuki Yamashita, was hanged near Manila in retribution for Japanese war crimes.