Deborah Sampson disguised herself as a young man and enlisted in the United States Army near the end of the Revolutionary War.  She saw combat, was wounded, and eventually was found out and honorably discharged.  Her story is truly amazing!

Early Life

Deborah Sampson’s parents were descended from Mayflower passengers and Puritan luminaries, but they did not prosper like many of their ancestors. When Deborah was about five years old, her father vanished. The family believed that he was lost at sea during a fishing trip, but it later emerged that he had abandoned his wife and six young children to build a new life and family in Maine.

Deborah’s mother, unable to provide for her children, placed them with other relatives and families, as was common for destitute parents of the time. Deborah ended up with the widow of a former minister, Mary Prince Thatcher, who likely taught the child to read. From that point on, Deborah displayed a desire for education unusual in a girl of that era.

When Mrs. Thatcher died around 1770, 10-year-old Deborah became an indentured servant in the household of Jeremiah Thomas of Middleborough, Massachusetts. “Mr. Thomas, as an earnest patriot, did much towards shaping the political opinions of the young woman in his charge.” At the same time, Thomas did not believe in women’s education, so Deborah borrowed books from the Thomas sons.

After her indenture ended in 1778, Deborah supported herself by teaching school in the summers and working as a weaver in the winter. She also used her skills at light woodworking to peddle goods like spools, pie crimpers, milking stools, and other items door-to-door.

Enlisting in the Army

The Revolution was in its final months when Deborah decided to disguise herself and attempt to enlist sometime in late 1781. She purchased some cloth and made herself a suit of men’s clothing. At 22, Deborah had reached a height of around five feet, eight inches, tall even for men of the period. With a wide waist and a small chest, it was easy enough for her to pass as a young man.

She first enlisted under the pseudonym “Timothy Thayer” in Middleborough in early 1782, but her identity was discovered before she made it into service. On Sept. 3, 1782, the First Baptist Church of Middleborough expelled her, writing that she: “Last spring was accused of dressing in men’s clothes and enlisting as a Soldier in the Army […] and for some time before had behaved very loose and unchristian like, and at last left our parts in a suden maner, and it is not known where she has gone.”

She ended up walking from Middleborough to the port of New Bedford, where she considered signing on to an American cruiser, then passed through Boston and its suburbs, where she finally mustered in as “Robert Shurtliff” in Uxbridge in May 1782. Private Shurtliff was one of 50 new members of the Light Infantry Company of the 4th Massachusetts Infantry.

Identity Uncovered

Deborah soon saw combat. On July 3, 1782, just a few weeks into her service, she took part in a battle outside Tarrytown, New York. During the fight, she was struck by two musket balls in the leg and a gash to her forehead. Fearing exposure, “Shurtliff” begged comrades to leave her to die in the field, but they took her to the surgeon anyway. She quickly slipped out of the field hospital and removed the bullets with a penknife.

More or less permanently disabled, Private Shurtliff was reassigned as a waiter to General John Patterson. The war was essentially over, but American troops remained in the field. By June 1783, Deborah’s unit was sent to Philadelphia to put down a brewing mutiny among American soldiers over delays in back pay and discharge.

Fevers and illness were common in Philadelphia, and not long after she arrived, Deborah fell seriously ill. She was put under the care of Dr. Barnabas Binney, who discovered her true gender as she lay delirious in his hospital. Rather than alert her commander, he took her to his home and put her under the care of his wife and daughters.

After months in Binney’s care, it was time for her to rejoin General Patterson. As she prepared to leave, Binney gave her a note to give to the General, which she correctly assumed revealed her gender. Following her return, she was called to Patterson’s quarters. “She says, ‘A re-entrance was harder than facing a cannonade,” in her biography. She nearly fainted from the tension.

To her surprise, Patterson decided not to punish her. He and his staff seemed almost impressed she had carried off her ruse for so long. With no sign she had ever acted inappropriately with her male comrades, Private Shurtliff was given an honorable discharge on Oct. 25, 1783.   

Becoming Mrs. Gannett

Deborah returned to Massachusetts, where she married Benjamin Gannett and settled down on their small farm in Sharon. She was soon the mother of four: Earl, Mary, Patience, and an adopted daughter named Susanna. Like many families in the young Republic, the Gannetts struggled financially.

Starting in 1792, Deborah began what would become a decades-long battle to receive back pay and pension relief from her time in service. Unlike many of her male peers, Deborah didn’t rely just on petitions and letters to Congress. To raise her profile and strengthen her case, she also allowed a local writer named Herman Mann to write a romanticized version of her life story, and in 1802 embarked on a lengthy lecture tour of Massachusetts and New York.

National Tour

Reluctantly leaving her children in Sharon, Gannett was on the road from June 1802 to April 1803. Her tour covered over 1,000 miles and stopped in every major town in Massachusetts and the Hudson River Valley, ending in New York City. In most towns, she lectured simply on her wartime experiences.

In bigger venues like Boston, the “American Heroine” was a spectacle. Gannett would give her lecture in female dress, then exit the stage as a chorus sang patriotic tunes. Finally, she would reappear in her military uniform and perform a complex, 27-step military drill with her musket.

Her tour was met with widespread acclaim until she got to New York City, where she lasted only a single performance. “Her talents do not appear calculated for theatrical exhibitions,” one reviewer sniffed. She returned home to Sharon soon after. Because of the high cost of travel, she ended up making a profit of around $110.

Petition for Benefits

In her long fight for benefits, Gannett had the support of some powerful allies like Revolutionary War hero Paul Revere, Massachusetts Congressman William Eustis, and her old commander, General Patterson. All would press her claims with the Government, and Revere, in particular, would frequently lend her money. Revere wrote to Eustis after meeting Gannett in 1804, describing her as “much out of health,” in part because of her military service, and despite the Gannett’s obvious efforts, “they are really poor.” He added:

We commonly form our Idea of the person whom we hear spoken off, whom we have never seen; according as their actions are described, when I heard her spoken off as a Soldier, I formed the Idea of a tall, Masculine female, who had a small share of understandg, without education, & one of the meanest of her Sex-When I saw and discoursed with I was agreeably surprised to find a small, effeminate, and converseable Woman, whose education entitled her to a better situation in life.

In 1792, Gannett successfully petitioned the Massachusetts Legislature for back pay of £34, plus interest. Following her lecture tour in 1803, she began to petition the Congress for disability pay. In 1805, she received a lump sum of $104 plus $48 a year thereafter. In 1818, she gave up disability pay for a general pension of $96 a year. The fight for retroactive payments went on until the end of her life.

Death

Deborah died at the age of 68, after a long period of ill health. The family was too poor to pay for a headstone, so her gravesite in Sharon’s Rock Ridge Cemetery was unmarked until the 1850s or 1860s. At first, she was noted only as “Deborah, Wife of Benjamin Gannett.” It wasn’t until years after that someone memorialized her service by carving into the headstone, “Deborah Sampson Gannett/Robert Shurtliff/The Female Soldier.”

SOURCE: THOUGHTCO.COM

The first White House bowling alley was a birthday present for Harry Truman

In 1947, 33rd U.S. president Harry Truman became responsible for having a bowling alley installed in the West Wing in celebration of his 63rd birthday. He became the first person to ever throw a bowling ball down the White House lane, and one of the seven pins he knocked down is on display at the Smithsonian Institution.

Bill Clinton is a My Little Pony expert

During a segment on the NPR show “Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” 42nd U.S. president Bill Clinton was quizzed about the animated movie My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. To the amazement of his hosts, he nailed all three questions and won a prize on behalf of the listener for whom he was playing.

Clint Eastwood was almost vice president under George H.W. Bush

While running for office in 1988, then-presidential nominee George Bush was not feeling lucky, so he considered bringing on Dirty Harry actor Clint Eastwood, who had been mayor of Carmel, California, to help breathe life into his struggling campaign. Bush famously chose Dan Quayle as his running mate instead.

James Garfield could write in Greek with one hand and Latin with the other

The ambidextrous U.S. president, James Garfield, could write in two languages simultaneously: Latin and Greek. He taught both languages while attending the acclaimed Williams College in Massachusetts, where he was later named president before going on to be elected as the 20th president of the United States.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president to name a woman to his cabinet

In 1933, our 32nd U.S. president hired Frances Perkins as the first woman cabinet member, specifically secretary of labor. She had previously worked for him when he was governor of New York.

Abraham Lincoln allowed seances in the White House

During Abraham Lincoln’s term, first lady Mary Todd Lincoln reportedly invited mediums to the White House to call on departed spirits through seances. While there’s no definitive evidence, the president was said to have attended some of the events. He was also thought to believe in the occult to an extent.

Three presidents are Grammy winners

It may sound odd, but Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter have each won a Grammy. No, they’re not singers or songwriters, but they did nab prizes for Best Spoken Word Album for the audio versions of their biographies.

George Washington’s teeth were made of something more disturbing than wood

It’s a popular misconception that our first U.S. president’s teeth were made of wood. In fact, they were made of something even worse: other people’s teeth—likely those of slaves or impoverished people. The dentures apparently also contained ivory.

Two rival presidents died on the exact same day

Although friendly in their personal lives, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were political competitors. On his deathbed, Adams is believed to have uttered “Thomas Jefferson still survives,” in a final act of rivalry. Little did he know that Jefferson had died hours earlier.

America’s eighth U.S. president was the first to be born stateside

Here’s a fact about one of the U.S. presidents you may not have learned in school: There were seven official U.S. presidents before Martin Van Buren, the first president to actually be born in the United States, took office. Van Buren was the eighth U.S. president. In fairness, the United States was not even founded until 1776, two years before George Washington took office, but facts are facts.

One of President Tyler’s grandchildren is still alive

How is it possible that a grandchild of our nation’s 10th president, John Tyler, who was born one year after George Washington took office and elected to office himself in 1841, is still alive, as of February 2024? The president was 75 when his last child was born in 1928, and the grandson is a descendant of that son.

No one could dance in the White House during James Polk’s tenure

The wife of 11th U.S. President James Polk was a strict Presbyterian and looked down upon dancing, so it was banned in the White House while her husband was in office, including at the Inaugural Ball. She also disapproved of horse racing and the theater.

Ulysses S. Grant’s middle initial stood for nothing

You might know who is buried in Grant’s tomb, but do you know what his middle initial stood for? Well, neither did he. Apparently, it came from a typo on his application to West Point.

SOURCE: READERSDIGEST

I found an interesting article on Reader’s Digest about our presidents. 

Abraham Lincoln turned down the chance to host elephants

In 1861, the King of Siam offered to gift President Lincoln “several pairs of young male and female elephants,” which were indigenous to his country (Thailand today). The elephants could be bred to multiply, the king suggested, and the herds could be used as “beasts of burden” that could work alongside the military during the Civil War. The president politely declined the offer, opting to use steam power instead of animal labor.

Gerald Ford modeled on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine

Before he became the 38th U.S. president, Gerald Ford had a side gig as a model. In 1942, shortly after joining the Navy, he landed an uncredited spot on the cover of Cosmopolitan in his uniform. Another fun president fact? It was during this time that he met fellow model Elizabeth Bloomer, who he went on to marry. She became known to Americans as first lady Betty Ford.

John Quincy Adams approved a real-life journey to the center of the Earth

Back in the 1800s, little was known about our planet. In the absence of scientific evidence, people believed in some pretty kooky theories—like the idea that planet Earth is actually hollow. Our sixth president, John Quincy Adams, was on board with this one. The commander-in-chief even signed off on a proposed expedition by a fellow Hollow Earther and would-be explorer to the Earth’s “empty” core. But when Andrew Jackson was voted into office four years later, he put the kibosh on the journey that never was.

William Howard Taft took a custom bathtub on a trip to Panama

As legend has it, our 27th president once got stuck in a bathtub and had to be pulled out by six men. Although President William Taft did weigh 340 pounds at his heaviest, this story is wholly false. But it probably stemmed from Taft’s (very true) affinity for baths. In fact, he ordered a 7-foot-long tub that weighed a literal ton to be built and placed aboard the USS North Carolina, so he could luxuriate in it on his way to Panama.

Herbert Hoover’s White House staff hid from him

In a very diva (or perhaps just racist) move, 31st president Herbert Hoover insisted that his staff never see him around the White House—and he didn’t want to see them either. This caused quite the charade, of course, as the staff felt pressured to hide from the president whenever he was present. According to White House journalist Kenneth Walsh, staffers would “pile into closets” and “hide behind bushes so the president couldn’t see them.”

Lyndon B. Johnson proposed to Lady Bird with a $2.50 ring from Sears

In 1934, Lyndon B. Johnson, then 26, proposed to Claudia Alta “Ladybird” Taylor, 22, on their first date. Though she declined his offer, Johnson continued to woo her from afar, sending his sweetheart 90 letters in the span of about 90 days. Impatient, Johnson traveled from Washington, D.C. to Texas to arrive at her door with an ultimatum: Marry me now or forever hold your peace. As a fun first lady fact, she accepted his proposal—and the $2.50 engagement ring that came with it.

John Quincy Adams loved to skinny-dip

While in office, sixth president John Quincy Adams often swam in the Potomac River, and he preferred to do so in the buff. Adams was an early riser, and in his diaries, he wrote of waking at about 4 a.m. and taking a morning dip—nude. Though it sounds risqué now, skinny-dipping was apparently common in the 1800s.

George Washington grew cannabis

Before you start thinking the nation’s first president was a stoner, you should know that George Washington grew hemp, not marijuana (they both belong to the cannabis family). He cultivated the hemp at his estate in Mount Vernon for industrial uses, like making rope and canvas.

George W. Bush is cousins with Hugh Hefner

It turns out our 43rd president and the founder of Playboy are distant cousins. More specifically, they’re ninth cousins twice removed, sharing the same pair of great-grandparents. Another cousin shared by the two is former presidential candidate John Kerry.

Theodore Roosevelt officially gave the White House its name

Though the residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is painted white, it was known as The Executive Mansion and The President’s Palace until October 1901, when then-president Theodore Roosevelt referred to it as The White House. The 26th president made the moniker official when he had it engraved on his stationery.

Warren Harding lost the White House china in a poker game

Here’s another interesting fact about one of the U.S. presidents: Warren Harding, our 29th president, loved a game of poker—and apparently, he was a high roller. During one of his bi-weekly poker games, Harding gambled away a set of china that had been in the White House since President Benjamin Harrison’s tenure six terms prior. He bet it all on one ill-advised hand.

Thomas Jefferson kept pet grizzly bears

During his tenure as the third U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson became the happy recipient of a wild gift: a pair of grizzly bear cubs. He kept them in a cage on the front lawn of the White House for a few months before deciding they were too dangerous to keep and bequeathing them to a museum.

Ulysses S. Grant was arrested for speeding—on a horse

A noted equestrian, our 18th U.S. president was quite confident on a horse—perhaps too confident. While driving his horse and buggy at a furious pace during his presidential tenure, Grant was pulled over twice within the span of 24 hours. The second time, one bold police officer decided to arrest the commander-in-chief, who was ultimately given a fine. Legend has it that the officer and the U.S. president became friends.

SOURCE: READERSDIGEST

I actually found a site called “Have Fun with History”.  (My middle school class would disagree that this is even possible…lol.)

FROM: havefunwithhistory.com:

10 Facts About the Mayflower Ship

The Mayflower was the vessel that brought the first English Puritans, who are now commonly referred to as the Pilgrims, from Plymouth, England to the continent of North America in 1620. The voyage of the Mayflower and the people who boarded it had a crucial part in the early colonization and settlement of the Americas. The Pilgrims were looking for religious freedom and a better living when they made the journey to the New World. The ship had set sail with the intention of docking in northern Virginia; but, adverse weather conditions and mistakes in navigation caused it to instead arrive in what is now the state of Massachusetts, in the region that is now home to the city of Plymouth. The Plymouth Colony was the first successful and long-lasting English settlement in New England, and it was founded by the Pilgrims. Plymouth was in the southeastern part of the state of Massachusetts. The voyage of the Mayflower and the settlement of the New World by the Pilgrims is an important chapter in the annals of United States history, and it is commemorated annually on Thanksgiving.

Mayflower Facts

1 At about 180 tons, she was considered a smaller cargo ship

The Mayflower was considered a smaller freight ship and was not specifically constructed for ocean journeys. It was largely used to transport goods between England and Bordeaux, such as clothing and wine. It was, however, outfitted with the required rations and supplies to complete the journey across the Atlantic and was deemed capable of meeting the voyage’s demands. Despite its small size and lack of ocean crossing experience, the Mayflower successfully brought the Pilgrims to the New World.

2 The Mayflower was a popular name for ships at the time.

During the time of James I (1603-1625), there were 26 vessels carrying the name Mayflower in the Port Books of England; it is unknown why the name was so popular. To minimize confusion with the numerous other Mayflower ships, the identity of Captain Jones’ Mayflower is based on data from her home port, her tonnage (estimated 180-200 tons), and the master’s name in 1620. It is unknown when or where the Mayflower was built, though she was designated as “of London” in later documents. In the Port Books of 1609-11, she was identified as “of Harwich” in the county of Essex, which was also the birthplace of Mayflower master Christopher Jones in 1570.

3 It was intended for two ships to travel to the New World

The Mayflower set sail from London in the middle of July 1620 and proceeded downstream on the Thames to Southampton, where it met up with the Speedwell. It was intended for the two ships to travel to the New World together, with the Mayflower transporting the majority of the pilgrims to their new home and the Speedwell acting as a supply ship along the journey. However, it didn’t take long before it became clear that the Speedwell wasn’t seaworthy, so the two ships were forced to make multiple stops for repairs along the trip. In the end, it was determined that the Mayflower would be the sole vessel upon which the Pilgrims would continue their journey, while the Speedwell would sail back to England. Because of this setback, the voyage of the Pilgrims was prolonged by several weeks, and there were fewer people on the Mayflower as a result. In spite of this, the Pilgrims persisted on their voyage until they finally reached their destination in the New World. Once there, they established the Plymouth Colony and began a new life in the Americas.

4 There are no Admiralty court documents connected to the pilgrim fathers’ voyage of 1620.

There is no subsequent record that directly refers to Jones’ Mayflower after 1616 until 1624. This is remarkable for a ship trading to London because it would not normally vanish from the records for so long. There are no Admiralty court documents connected to the pilgrim fathers’ voyage of 1620, which could be due to the odd way the pilgrims were transferred from Leyden to New England, or some of the period’s records may have been lost. By 1620, Jones, together with Christopher Nichols, Robert Child, and Thomas Short, was one of the ship’s owners. In the summer of 1620, Thomas Weston chartered her from Child and Jones to embark on the Pilgrim journey. Because of his membership in the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London, Weston played an important role in the Mayflower journey, and he finally traveled to the Plymouth Colony personally.

5 A second Mayflower sailed from London in 1629.

In 1629, another ship called the Mayflower set sail from London to the Plymouth Colony. A group of settlers set out on this expedition to establish a new settlement in the New World. Unlike the Pilgrims’ famous voyage on the Mayflower in 1620, which is regarded one of the most renowned episodes in American history, this latter voyage is less well remembered. However, it was a significant event in the history of the Plymouth Colony, contributing to the settlement’s and its existence in the New World. The voyage of the Mayflower in 1629, as well as numerous comparable voyages conducted by other ships and groups of settlers, shaped the history of the United States and its formation as a nation.

6 The Mayflower was square-rigged ship with a beakhead bow.

The Mayflower was square-rigged, which implies that its masts were rigged with square sails. Square-rigged ships were popular because of their stability and capacity to withstand strong winds, making them ideal for long trips across the open ocean. The Mayflower also had a beakhead bow, which was common on many ships of the time. This bow was distinguished by a sharp, curved prow designed to cut through the water more efficiently. The Mayflower also had a high, elevated stern, which allowed the ship to carry more cargo while also protecting the crew and passengers from rough weather. These architectural elements, combined with the ship’s robust build and skilled crew, aided the Mayflower’s memorable trip across the Atlantic and safe arrival in the New World.

7 The number of crew on board was less than 50.

The Mayflower’s commanders and crew included a captain, four mates, four quartermasters, a surgeon, carpenter, cooper, cooks, boatswains, gunners, and roughly 36 men before the mast, for a total of about 50 men. The whole crew remained with the Mayflower in Plymouth during the winter of 1620-1621, and almost half of them died during that time. The surviving crewmen traveled back to England on the Mayflower on April 15, 1621.

8 In 2020, the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s landing was celebrated.

The 400th anniversary of the Mayflower arrival occurred in 2020, marking four centuries since the famed ship and its passengers arrived on the shores of what is now Massachusetts, United States. Special displays, historical reenactments, and educational programs, as well as ceremonies and other events honoring the bravery and endurance of the Pilgrims and the crew of the Mayflower, were held to commemorate the event. The Mayflower landing and the creation of the Plymouth Colony are significant events in American history because they signify the commencement of permanent English colonization in the New World as well as the birth of one of the United States’ earliest colonies. The 400th anniversary of the Mayflower landing was an opportunity to reflect on history and remember the Pilgrims and their trip to the New World.

9 The government created a Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar, with the ship depicted on the reverse and passenger William Bradford depicted on the obverse.

The United States government struck a unique commemorative coin, the Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar, to mark the 300th anniversary of the Mayflower’s arrival. The coin depicts the Mayflower on the reverse and a portrait of William Bradford, one of the Pilgrims’ leaders, on the obverse. The currency was issued in 1920 and extensively disseminated as a symbol of the country’s acknowledgement of the Mayflower and the Pilgrims’ importance in American history. The Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar is a noteworthy piece of American numismatic history, and coin collectors prize it for its historical significance and rarity. The release of this coin helped to raise attention to the Mayflower and the Pilgrims’ story, and it serves as a lasting homage to their bravery, dedication, and endurance in making the momentous voyage to the New World.

10 A replica of the Mayflower, built in 1956, can be seen at the Pilgrim Memorial State Park in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The Mayflower model can be seen in the Pilgrim Memorial State Park in Plymouth, Massachusetts. This replica was created in 1956 to honor the ship’s remarkable voyage and importance in early American settlement. The replica is a full-scale wooden sailing ship that was built utilizing traditional shipbuilding processes and materials to the greatest extent possible. It serves as an educational and historical resource for visitors, allowing them to learn about the Pilgrims’ and early settlers’ hardships and experiences in the New World. The replica is a renowned tourist attraction in Plymouth and a significant symbol of American history and tradition.

SOURCE: HAVEFUNWITHHISTORY.COM; THE HISTORIAN

Happy Election Day! Elections do not always run smoothly, not here, not anywhere I’m guessing.  Livescience.com had an interesting article on 6 of the strangest presidential elections in our history.

From livescience.com:

Political news would have you thinking the 2016 presidential election was the nastiest, most contentious and most important our nation ever faced. However, in the annals of American elections, that one barely registers at least for sheer strangeness.

In fact, electoral politics have always been a down-and-dirty business, starting at least as early as 1800, when our founding fathers proved themselves adept at bitter battles. Other elections have featured nasty accusations, bizarre happenstance and even the death of one of the candidates.

Read on for six of the strangest presidential elections in U.S. history.

An unexpected upset: 2016

The full history of the 2016 presidential election has yet to be written, but it seems pretty certain to be one for the history books.

First, there was the raucous primary season, in which 17 Republican candidates vied on a crowded stage for the nomination, the largest presidential primary field in U.S. history. Former reality-TV star and real estate mogul Donald Trump dominated headlines from the beginning, often with Tweets and statements that seemed outright bizarre. He insinuated that fellow Republican Ted Cruz’s father might have had something to do with the assassination of John F. Kennedy and at one point defended the size of his penis in a debate. Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton faced an unexpected challenge from Vermont senator Bernie Sanders.

Things did not get less weird after Trump and Clinton clinched their nominations. Clinton struggled against questions about her use of a private email server during her time as Secretary of State. The issue seemed settled in July when the Federal Bureau of Investigation recommended against criminal charges, but reared its head again less than two weeks before the election when the FBI announced that it was reviewing potentially new evidence found on the computer of Anthony Weiner, the husband of Clinton’s close aide Huma Abedin, during an investigation into whether Weiner had been sexting an underage girl. Yes, it almost makes that Andrew Jackson-John Quincy Adams contest look like a walk in the park, huh? Just two days before the election, the FBI cleared Clinton again.

Meanwhile, Trump refused to release his tax returns during the campaign, something that every candidate since Gerald Ford has done as a matter of course. He was widely criticized for racist remarks, such as questioning whether the “Mexican” judge in charge of his fraud case (oh, there’s a fraud case — a presidential first) could be impartial. (The judge was an American citizen of Mexican heritage.)    

The wildest bombshell of all came in early October, when a tape surfaced of Trump having a vulgar discussion about grabbing women by their private parts and trying to seduce a married woman. Leading up to the election, the polls were variable, but most pundits expected a clean Clinton victory. Instead, as election night ticked on, the electoral votes piled up for Trump. He ended up taking 290 electoral votes to Clinton’s 232, winning the presidency. But in a final twist, the popular vote tally went to Clinton, only the fifth time in U.S. history the electoral and popular votes haven’t matched. 

The very first one: 1788-1789

But let’s go back now to the first presidential election in our nation’s history, which was one-of-a-kind in that it was literally no contest. Organized political parties had yet to form, and George Washington ran unopposed. His victory is the only one in the nation’s history to feature 100 percent of the Electoral College vote.

The real question in 1788 was who would become vice president. At the time, this office was awarded to the runner-up in the electoral vote (each elector cast two votes to ensure there would be a runner-up.) Eleven candidates made a play for the vice-presidency, but John Adams came out on top.

It’s a tie: 1800

Electoral politics got serious in 1800. Forget the hand-holding peace of George Washington’s first run — political parties were in full swing by this time, and they battled over high-stakes issues (taxes, states’ rights and foreign policy alignments). Thomas Jefferson ran as the Democratic-Republican candidate and John Adams as the Federalist.

At the time, states got to pick their own election days, so voting ran from April to October (and you thought waiting for the West Coast polls to close was frustrating). Because of the complicated “pick two” voting structure in the Electoral College, the election ended up a tie between Jefferson and his vice-presidential pick, Aaron Burr. One South Carolina delegate was supposed to give one of his votes on another candidate, so as to arrange for Jefferson to win and Burr to come in second. The plan somehow went wrong, and both men ended up with 73 electoral votes.

That sent the tie-breaking vote to the House of Representatives, not all of whom were on board with a Jefferson presidency and Burr vice-presidency. Seven tense days of voting followed, but Jefferson finally pulled ahead of Burr. The drama triggered the passage of the 12th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which stipulates that the Electoral College pick the president and vice-president separately, doing away with the runner-up complications.

Things get nasty: 1828

Anything involving dueling war veteran Andrew Jackson was liable to get dirty, but the 1828 electoral battle between Jackson and John Quincy Adams took the cake for mudslinging. Jackson had lost out to Adams in 1824 after Speaker of the House Henry Clay cast a tie-breaking vote. When Adams chose Clay as his Secretary of State, Jackson was furious and accused the two of a “corrupt bargain.”

And that was before the 1828 election even got started, when Adams was accused of pimping out an American girl to a Russian Czar. Jackson’s wife, Rachel, was called a “convicted adulteress,” because she had, years earlier, married Jackson before finalizing her divorce to her previous husband. Rachel died after Jackson won the election, but before his inauguration; at her funeral, Jackson blamed his opponents’ bigamy accusations. “May God Almighty forgiver her murderers, as I know she forgave them,” Jackson said. “I never can.”

To round out a rough election, Jackson’s inauguration party (open to the public) turned into a mob scene, with thousands of well-wishers crowding into the White House. “Ladies fainted, men were seen with bloody noses, and such a scene of confusion took place as is impossible to describe,” wrote Margaret Smith, a Washington socialite who attended the party.

Running against a corpse: 1872

In 1872, incumbent Ulysses S. Grant had an easy run for a second term — because his opponent died before the final votes were cast.

Grant had the election in the bag even before his opponent, Horace Greeley, died, however. The incumbent won 286 electoral votes compared with Greeley’s 66 after election day. But on Nov. 29, 1872, before the Electoral College votes were in, Greeley died and his electoral votes were split among other candidates. Greeley remains the only presidential candidate to die before the election was finalized.

The hanging chads: 2000

Democrat Al Gore beat Republican George W. Bush in the popular vote in the 2000 election, but the electoral vote was a close, and controversial, call. As election night drew to a close, New Mexico, Oregon and Florida remained too close to call.

It would be Florida that determined the winner, but not until the Supreme Court weighed in. For a month, the outcome of the election remained in recount limbo, as Gore’s campaign contested the vote count in several close counties and the Florida and U.S. Supreme Courts engaged in a tug-of-war over whether to halt the recounts or extend their deadlines. Among the challenges faced by the hand counts: determining whether semi-attached scraps of paper, or “hanging chads,” on punch-card ballots should count as votes.

Ultimately, on Dec. 12, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that a statewide recount was unconstitutional, alongside a further decision that the smaller recounts could not go forward. The decision meant the original vote counts stood, giving the election to Bush.

SOURCE: LIVESCIENCE.COM

Today is the anniversary of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb and history.com had a wonderful article detailing just some of the amazing artifacts found in the tomb.

From history.com:

It was one hundred years ago on November 4, 1922, that British archaeologist Howard Carter and an Egyptian team discovered an ancient stairway hidden for more than 3,000 years beneath the sands of Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. Twenty-two days later, Carter descended those stairs, lit a candle, poked it through a hole in a blocked doorway and waited as his eyes grew accustomed to the dim light.

“[D]etails of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold, everywhere the glint of gold,” wrote Carter. “I was struck dumb with amazement.” When Carter’s patron, Lord Carnarvon, anxiously asked if Carter could see anything, the stunned archeologist replied, “Yes, wonderful things.”

Carter and the Egyptian team had found the lost tomb of Tutankhamun, the boy king of Egypt, who was buried in a small and overlooked tomb in 1323 B.C. King Tut may not have been a mighty ruler like Ramesses the Great, whose tomb complex covers more than 8,000 square feet of underground chambers, but unlike Ramesses and other pharaohs, King Tut’s treasures hadn’t been looted or damaged by floods. They were nearly intact.

A century later, the discovery of King Tut’s tomb, which contained more than 5,000 priceless artifacts, remains the greatest archeological find of all time.

“I don’t think there’s anything that can hold a candle to it in terms of outright richness, and in terms of the cultural and archeological information that it contains,” says Tom Mueller, a journalist who wrote a National Geographic article about Carter’s historic discovery and the opening of Cairo’s Grand Egyptian Museum, the new home for King Tut’s treasures.

Most people would recognize the iconic objects from the collection, like King Tut’s solid gold coffin and funerary mask, but even the smallest items—alabaster unguent bowls, King Tut’s walking stick or his sandals—are “works of supreme artistry,” says Mueller, who spent days with museum staff as they restored King Tut’s artifacts for display. “It’s no wonder that these treasures have branded themselves in the international consciousness since 1922.”

Here are nine fascinating artifacts recovered from King Tut’s tomb, from the biggest finds to some hidden treasures.

1 An Iron Dagger

On the surface, this iron-bladed dagger doesn’t look like a spectacular find, but King Tut died several centuries before the start of the Iron Age, when advances in technology allowed for the forging of iron and steel from mineral deposits.

During King Tut’s time, the few iron objects on record were made from metals that literally fell from the heavens in the form of meteorites. “There were theories that the iron dagger was a gift from a foreign king who would have presented it as a ‘gift from the gods,’” says Mueller, “as an omen of something powerful. That really got my attention.” A solid-gold dagger with an ornately decorated sheath was also found in the folds of King Tut’s mummy placed ceremoniously on his right thigh.

2 A Scarf with a Surprise

Inside a small wooden chest made from ebony and cedar, Carter and his team found a gold-plated leopard head, and a gorgeous pair of ceremonial objects known as the pharaoh’s crook and flail, always depicted as held across his chest. But alongside these priceless items was something conspicuously commonplace—a knotted up linen scarf.

When the archeologists untangled the scarf, they found several gold rings inside. But how did they get in there? From other clues, it became clear to Carter that King Tut’s tomb hadn’t remained completely untouched. Thieves must have broken in soon after the tomb was sealed and made off with the smallest and most valuable items they could carry, like gold jewelry. Unlike other pharaonic tombs, which had been fully ransacked over the centuries, King Tut’s tomb “had only been lightly looted,” says Mueller. The scarf packed with gold rings was evidence that the thieves may have even been caught in the act or scared off by guards and left their loot behind. It was hastily packed into a box when the tomb was resealed, not to be opened for another 3,200 years.

3 A Game of Chance and Fate

A senet gaming board from Tutankhamun’s tomb, 14th century BC. Made from wood veneered with ebony and inlaid with ivory. From the collection of the Egyptian National Museum, Cairo, Egypt. Egyptians played board games and one of King Tut’s favorites (judging from the fact that there were four sets in his tomb) was a game called senet. Historians don’t agree on the exact rules of the checkers-like game, but it involved moving your game piece through a series of 30 squares by throwing knucklebones or casting sticks. The Egyptian Book of the Dead, which details the journey of the soul through the afterlife, says that playing senet is a popular pastime for the deceased. Eternal life may even have been at stake. “There’s evidence that it was a game played against the god of death,” says Mueller, “so it’s also a game of fate.”

4 King Tut’s Lost Daughters

One of the reasons why King Tut fell through the cracks of Egyptian history was that his reign was so short (around a decade) and he didn’t leave behind any heirs or offspring. But thanks to Carter’s discovery, we know that King Tut’s wife Ankhesenamun—whom he married at age 12—bore two stillborn daughters who were buried in their father’s tomb.

Inside an unmarked box, Carter’s team found two tiny wooden coffins, each bearing a gilded inner coffin that contained the mummified remains of King Tut’s daughters. The fetuses appeared to be 25 and 37 weeks old and died from unknown causes.

Mueller says that there’s a tendency to paint King Tut’s tomb as macabre, given the fascination with things like King Tut’s curse. “Yes, this is a tomb with several dead people in it,” says Mueller, “but in a way, the Egyptian view of the afterlife—their obsession with it—softens all of that. It becomes death as a work of art. King Tut’s preparation for the afterlife becomes a museum.” Archeologists also found a lock of King Tut’s grandmother’s hair in the tomb, which may have been a family keepsake.

5 Gold Sandals

In one of the crowded antechambers, Carter found a painted wooden chest that he described as “one of the greatest artistic treasures of the tomb… we found it hard to tear ourselves away from it.” Inside were sequin-lined linens, an alabaster headrest and a very special pair of sandals. These were King Tut’s golden court sandals, ornately decorated footwear that he’s seen wearing in some of the statuettes found in the tomb. Made from wood and overlaid with bark, leather and gold, the eye-catching parts are the soles of the sandals, which depict the nine traditional enemies of Egypt. That wasn’t an accident. “He’d be symbolically walking on their faces all day,” says Mueller.

6 A Small Army of Servants

Thousands of years before King Tut, at the dawn of Egyptian civilization, powerful rulers were buried with their royal servants, who sacrificed their lives to serve their master in the eternities. By the late Middle Kingdom, human servants were replaced by small figurines called ushabti, who were inscribed with a magical spell to forever do the deceased’s bidding in the afterlife. For the average Egyptian burial, one or two ushabti were placed in the deceased’s tomb. In King Tut’s tomb, there were 413 ushabti, a small army of foot-tall figurines made from various materials including faience, a glass-like pottery with striking colors. Some of King Tut’s ushabti held copper tools like yokes, hoes and picks to do manual labor for the pharaoh in the afterlife.

7 King Tut’s Undergarments

Not every treasure in King Tut’s tomb was made of gold. The young pharaoh, who died at 19 after just nine or 10 years on the throne, was also buried with some of his clothing. Among the ancient textiles found in the tomb were 100 sandals, 12 tunics, 28 gloves, 25 head coverings, four socks (with a separate pocket for the big toe, so they could be worn with sandals) and 145 loincloths, triangular-shaped pieces of woven linen that both men and women wore as underwear. “I really like his underwear,” says Mueller. “King Tut was kitted out for the afterlife, right down to the undergarments. They’re quite spectacular, little loincloth-like things. They’re incredible.” King Tut’s undergarments were a step above non-royal underwear. According to textile historians, the weave of an ordinary Egyptian linen loincloth had 37 to 60 threads per inch, but King Tut’s underwear had 200 threads per inch, giving the cloth a silk-like softness.

8 A Dazzling Resting Place for the King’s Organs

The gilded shrine of canopic jars or canopic chest from King Tut’s tomb. This detail shows the goddess Selket. During the mummification process, Egyptian embalmers carefully removed the lungs, liver, intestines and stomach from the body, embalmed the organs, and placed them in vessels called Canopic jars. The final resting place for King Tut’s organs was one of the most exquisite objects in the entire tomb. Carter found Tut’s Canopic jars stored inside an alabaster chest, itself housed within a magnificent wooden funerary shrine covered in gold leaf. “Facing the doorway stood the most beautiful monument that I have ever seen,” wrote Carter, “so lovely that it made one gasp with wonder and admiration.”

What really struck Mueller when he saw the golden shrine in person were the four Egyptian goddesses of death guarding the young pharaoh’s embalmed organs on all sides. The goddesses Isis, Nephthys, Neith and Selket are depicted in naturalistic poses with form-fitting dresses that inspired flapper fashion in the 1920s. “Here are these gorgeous goddesses looking over his innards for all eternity,” says Mueller.

9 The Iconic Golden Mask

For Carter, the greatest prize among the 5,000 objects in the tomb was the mummy of King Tut himself. But to get to the mummy, Carter and his team had to slowly and painstakingly work through a series of nesting shrines and coffins that were never meant to be opened by human hands.

First there were four box-like golden shrines, each slightly smaller than the last. Inside the last shrine was the heavy stone sarcophagus. Once the stone lid was removed, it revealed the first of three coffins. The first coffin, as well the second one nested inside of it, were wooden coffins overlaid with gold foil and designed to look like the god Osiris lying in repose. The third and final coffin was a jaw-dropper: a solid gold casket weighing 296 pounds also depicting Osiris with the ceremonial crook and flail across his chest.

With trembling hands, Carter opened the golden coffin and found himself face to face with the iconic funerary mask of Tutankhamun. The 22-pound, solid-gold mask rested directly on the head and shoulders of King Tut’s mummy, and portrayed the handsome young king as Osiris, complete with the pharaonic false beard. “The golden mask of King Tut is probably the best-known and most widely recognized archeological treasure ever,” says Mueller. King Tut’s mummy, when carefully removed and unwrapped, contained 143 different amulets, bracelets, necklaces and other priceless artifacts among its ancient bandages. 

SOURCE: HISTORY.COM

From All That’s Interesting:

9 The White House

Perhaps the most haunted house in America is also its most famous. The White House in Washington, D.C., is allegedly home to several ghosts. Completed in 1800, the White House has been home to every president since John Adams. And his successors have admitted to feeling a ghostly presence in the executive mansion.

“The damned place is haunted sure as shootin’,” President Harry S Truman wrote to his wife in 1946, after hearing knocking on doors and footsteps in empty rooms. “Secret Service said not even a watchman was up here at that hour.”

To date, several former White House inhabitants have made their presence known. The ghost of a little boy so frightened members of President William Howard Taft’s administration that the president forbade anyone of speaking of it — or they’d get fired.

Some have claimed to see Abigail Adams, John Adams’s wife, in the East Room, where she once hung out clothes to dry. Contemporary staff report smelling lavender and wet laundry.

And others have reported seeing presidents lingering around the White House long after their administration (and lives) had ended. Mary Todd Lincoln claimed to hear Andrew Jackson stomping around. Others say they’ve seen Thomas Jefferson playing the violin and William Henry Harrison — the first president to die while in office — in the attic.

One of the most commonly seen ghosts in the White House is Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated in 1865. First, Lady Grace Coolidge claimed she saw him staring out a window in his former office, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill says he saw Lincoln sitting by the fire.

“They say Lincoln always comes back whenever he feels the country is in need or in peril,” said Jared Broach, who once offered White House ghost tours.

Broach claims he is sure that the White House is haunted. “If I said [otherwise], I’d be calling about eight different presidents liars,” he explained.

Certainly, the White House has some of the most alleged hauntings in the United States. But is it the most haunted house in America? More haunted than Myrtle Plantation? Or the Villisca Axe Murder House?

There’s only one way to find out. Gather your wits and visit some real haunted houses across the United States. Maybe some of the country’s most active ghosts will make themselves known.

SOURCE: ALLTHATSINTERESTING.COM

Bye bye

In honor of the day, I found an article on HISTORY.COM detailing 10 things we may not know about Columbus.

From HISTORY.COM:

1 Columbus didn’t set out to prove the earth was round.

Forget those myths perpetuated by everyone from Washington Irving to Bugs Bunny. There was no need for Christopher Columbus to debunk the flat-earthers—the ancient Greeks had already done so. As early as the sixth century B.C., the Greek mathematician Pythagoras surmised the world was round, and two centuries later Aristotle backed him up with astronomical observations. By 1492, most educated people knew the planet was not shaped like a pancake.

2 Columbus was likely not the first European to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

That distinction is generally given to the Norse Viking Leif Eriksson, who is believed to have landed in present-day Newfoundland around 1000 A.D., almost five centuries before Columbus set sail. Some historians even claim that Ireland’s Saint Brendan or other Celtic people crossed the Atlantic before Eriksson. While the United States commemorates Columbus—even though he never set foot on the North American mainland—with parades and a federal holiday, Leif Eriksson Day on October 9 receives little fanfare.

3 Three countries refused to back Columbus’ voyage.

For nearly a decade, Columbus lobbied European monarchies to bankroll his quest to discover a western sea route to Asia. In Portugal, England and France, the response was the same: no. The experts told Columbus his calculations were wrong and that the voyage would take much longer than he thought. Royal advisors in Spain raised similar concerns to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Turns out the naysayers were right. Columbus dramatically underestimated the earth’s circumference and the size of the oceans. Luckily for him, he ran into the uncharted Americas.

4 Nina and Pinta were not the actual names of two of Columbus’ three ships.

In 15th-century Spain, ships were traditionally named after saints. Salty sailors, however, bestowed less-than-sacred nicknames upon their vessels. Mariners dubbed one of the three ships on Columbus’s 1492 voyage the Pinta, Spanish for “the painted one” or “prostitute.” The Santa Clara, meanwhile, was nicknamed the Nina in honor of its owner, Juan Nino. Although the Santa Maria is called by its official name, its nickname was La Gallega, after the province of Galicia in which it was built.

5 The Santa Maria wrecked on Columbus’ historic voyage.

On Christmas Eve of 1492, a cabin boy ran Columbus’s flagship into a coral reef on the northern coast of Hispaniola, near present-day Cap Haitien, Haiti. Its crew spent a very un-merry Christmas salvaging the Santa Maria’s cargo. Columbus returned to Spain aboard the Nina, but he had to leave nearly 40 crew members behind to start the first European settlement in the Americas—La Navidad. When Columbus returned to the settlement in the fall of 1493, none of the crew were found alive.

6 Columbus made four voyages to the New World.

Although best known for his historic 1492 expedition, Columbus returned to the Americas three more times in the following decade. His voyages took him to the Caribbean islands, South America and Central America.

7 Columbus returned to Spain in chains in 1500.

Columbus’s governance of Hispaniola could be brutal and tyrannical. Colonists complained to the monarchy about mismanagement, and a royal commissioner dispatched to Hispaniola arrested Columbus in August 1500 and brought him back to Spain in chains. Although Columbus was stripped of his governorship, King Ferdinand not only granted the explorer his freedom but subsidized a fourth voyage.

8 A lunar eclipse may have saved Columbus.

In February 1504, a desperate Columbus was stranded in Jamaica, abandoned by half his crew and denied food by the islanders. The heavens that he relied on for navigation, however, would guide him safely once again. Knowing from his almanac that a lunar eclipse was coming on February 29, 1504, Columbus warned the islanders that his god was upset with their refusal of food and that the moon would “rise inflamed with wrath” as an expression of divine displeasure. On the appointed night, the eclipse darkened the moon and turned it red, and the terrified islanders offered provisions and beseeched Columbus to ask his god for mercy.

9 Even in death, Columbus continued to cross the Atlantic.

Following his death in 1506, Columbus was buried in Valladolid, Spain, and then moved to Seville. At the request of his daughter-in-law, the bodies of Columbus and his son Diego were shipped across the Atlantic to Hispaniola and interred in a Santo Domingo cathedral. When the French captured the island in 1795, the Spanish dug up remains thought to be those of the explorer and moved them to Cuba before returning them to Seville after the Spanish-American War in 1898. 

However, a box with human remains and the explorer’s name was discovered inside the Santo Domingo cathedral in 1877. Did the Spaniards exhume the wrong body? DNA testing in 2006 found evidence that at least some of the remains in Seville are those of Columbus. The Dominican Republic has refused to let the other remains be tested. It could be possible that, aptly, pieces of Columbus are both in the New World and the Old World.

10 Heirs of Columbus and the Spanish monarchy were in litigation until 1790.

After the death of Columbus, his heirs waged a lengthy legal battle with the Spanish crown, claiming that the monarchy short-changed them on money and profits due the explorer. Most of the Columbian lawsuits were settled by 1536, but the legal proceedings nearly dragged on until the 300th anniversary of Columbus’ famous voyage.

SOURCE: HISTORY.COM; CHRISTOPHER KLEIN

On October 10, 1985, the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro reaches a dramatic climax when U.S. Navy F-14 fighters intercept an Egyptian airliner attempting to fly the Palestinian hijackers to freedom and force the jet to land at a NATO base in Sigonella, Sicily. American and Italian troops surrounded the plane, and the terrorists were taken into Italian custody.

On October 7, four heavily armed Palestinian terrorists hijacked the Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt. Some 320 crewmembers and 80 passengers were taken hostage. Hundreds of other passengers had disembarked the cruise ship earlier that day to visit Cairo and tour the Egyptian pyramids. Identifying themselves as members of the Palestine Liberation Front—a Palestinian splinter group—the gunmen demanded the release of 50 Palestinian militants imprisoned in Israel. If their demands were not met, they threatened to blow up the ship and kill the 11 Americans on board. The next morning, they also threatened to kill the British passengers.

How the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Began

The Achille Lauro traveled to the Syrian port of Tartus, where the terrorists demanded negotiations on October 8. Syria refused to permit the ship to anchor in its waters, which prompted more threats from the hijackers. That afternoon, they shot and killed Leon Klinghoffer, a 69-year-old Jewish-American who was confined to a wheelchair as the result of a stroke. His body was then pushed overboard in the wheelchair.

Yasir Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) condemned the hijacking, and PLO officials joined with Egyptian authorities in attempting to resolve the crisis. On the recommendation of the negotiators, the cruise ship traveled to Port Said. On October 9, the hijackers surrendered to Egyptian authorities and freed the hostages in exchange for a pledge of safe passage to an undisclosed destination.

The next day–October 10–the four hijackers boarded an EgyptAir Boeing 737 airliner, along with Mohammed Abbas, a member of the Palestine Liberation Front who had participated in the negotiations; a PLO official; and several Egyptians. The 737 took off from Cairo at 4:15 p.m. EST and headed for Tunisia. President Ronald Reagan gave his final order approving the plan to intercept the aircraft, and at 5:30 p.m. EST, F-14 Tomcat fighters located the airliner 80 miles south of Crete. Without announcing themselves, the F-14s trailed the airliner as it sought and was denied permission to land at Tunis. After a request to land at the Athens airport was likewise refused, the F-14s turned on their lights and flew wing-to-wing with the airliner. The aircraft was ordered to land at a NATO air base in Sicily, and the pilot complied, touching down at 6:45 p.m. The hijackers were arrested soon after. Abbas and the other Palestinian were released, prompting criticism from the United States, which wanted to investigate their possible involvement in the hijacking.

On July 10, 1986, an Italian court later convicted three of the terrorists and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from 15 to 30 years. Three others, including Mohammed Abbas, were convicted in absentia for masterminding the hijacking and sentenced to life in prison. They received harsher penalties because, unlike the hijackers, who the court found were acting for “patriotic motives,” Abbas and the others conceived the hijacking as a “selfish political act” designed “to weaken the leadership of Yasir Arafat.” The fourth hijacker was a minor who was tried and convicted separately.

SOURCE: HISTORY.COM