In February 1837, the U.S. Supreme Court, voting 5-2, rejected a claim by owners of a toll bridge in Boston that the Massachusetts legislature had acted unconstitutionally in authorizing construction of a second, competing bridge. The ruling meant little to Bostonians. The second span, the Warren Bridge, connecting their city with the Charlestown neighborhood, then … Lire la suite

Unsettled History: America, China and the Doolittle Tokyo Raid. Paradox Communications, 2022. Airs in April on public television stations. Check local listings for day and time.  On April 18, 1942, 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers under the command of Lt. Col. James Doolittle lifted off the storm-tossed deck of the carrier USS Hornet and headed west … Lire la suite

Earl Hess has added the study of human-animal relationships and their roles in the Civil War to his long list of scholarship. In his new Animal Histories of the Civil-War Era, he gathers essays on subjects ranging from insects and bees to hogs, dogs, camels, and horses. The war not only exposed the need for … Lire la suite

While the actual fighting occurred in Normandy, victory would never have been achieved in France without help from Britain’s south coast.  Standing on the waterfront in Portsmouth, with the choppy waters of the harbor sparkling like crumpled aluminum foil in front of me, it’s difficult to make sense of the scathing comments of previous visitors … Lire la suite

In World War I, the U.S. Army established the Citation Star, which in 1932 became the Silver Star, its third highest award for combat heroism. The Silver Star was authorized for the Navy and Marine Corps in August 1942. In World War I and early World War II, Marines serving in the Army could be … Lire la suite

While the katana sword tends to be associated with male samurai of Japan, a distinctive weapon called the naginata has been traditionally associated with women and female fighters known as onna-bugeisha. Why is the naginata so strongly associated with women—and is it true that the weapon was designed with women in mind?   The naginata … Lire la suite

In the spring of 1843, the first ripple of a coming tide of would-be settlers piled everything they owned into canvas-covered wagons, handcarts and any other vehicle that could move, and set out along a dim trace called the “Emigrant Road.” They went by way of a route that was a broad ribbon of threads, … Lire la suite

To piece together the surprising history of the Choctaw Nation’s surprising alliance with the Confederacy, cemented by a treaty in 1861, Fay Yarbrough meticulously sifted through archives at the Oklahoma Historical Society and the University of Oklahoma. The exhaustive effort led to her book Choctaw Confederates: The American Civil War in Indian Country (UNC Press, … Lire la suite

The effectiveness of anti-tank aircraft in World War II is taken for granted by most writers on the subject, offering a technophile orthodoxy that can be seamlessly woven together with accounts of later developments up to and including the Iraq wars.  Luftwaffe legend Hans-Ulrich Rudel claimed to have destroyed 519 Soviet tanks, most of them while … Lire la suite

On June 24, 1997, a rather unusual Lance Corporal was awarded the British Army’s Long Service and Good Conduct Medal at a formal ceremony at the Tower of London—his name was Bobby, and he was an Indian blackbuck antelope. He was one of a long line of antelopes, all named Bobby, who enjoyed distinguished careers … Lire la suite