Recreation in the Old West oftentimes meant betting on the turn of a deck of cards. But for many colorful Westerners, gambling was a serious, sometimes deadly, business.
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Lieutenant Colonel Horace C. Porter: Eyewitness to the Surrender at Appomattox
Lieutenant Colonel Horace C. Porter provides a firsthand account of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House in April 1865.
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James Marshall: California’s Gold Discoverer
The tragedy and the irony of the man who discovered a nugget on the South Fork of the American River and set in motion the rush to a new El Dorado.
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Edwin Booth Saved Robert Todd Lincoln’s Life
A Lincoln family incident during the Civil War became a remarkable snippet of assassination lore.
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Second Punic War: Hannibal’s War in Italy
In 218 bc, Hannibal Barca left Iberia to take the Second Punic War to Rome — leading a disparate 84,000-man army.
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The 1966 Buddhist Crisis in South Vietnam
In 1966, resistance to the Saigon government almost sparked a South Vietnamese civil war.
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Elizabeth Van Lew’s American Civil War Activities
Eccentric enough to hide in plain sight within the Confederate capital, Elizabeth Van Lew was Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s eyes and ears in Richmond.
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English Civil War: Battle of Marston Moor
At Marston Moor in 1644, the English Civil War teetered for nearly two hours between decisive victory for Royalists or Roundheads.
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Congo Crisis: Operation Dragon Rouge
Far from any hope of rescue, the hostages in Stanleyville were suddenly awakened by sounds of battle and chilling cries from their Simba captors: ‘Your brothers have some from the sky! Now you will be killed!’
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Donald Hamblen: One Tough Marine and Purple Heart Recipient
He had been wounded twice in Korea. He had lost part of his left leg in a parachute training accident. Still, Donald Hamblen earned two more Purple Hearts while serving in Vietnam.