American History
Celebrating Flag Day June 14, 2023 aka Old Glory, Star-Spangled Banner, Stars and Stripes
“During the night of September 13, 1814, the British fleet bombarded Fort McHenry in the harbor at Baltimore, Maryland. Francis Scott Key, a 34-year-old lawyer-poet, watched the attack from the deck of a British prisoner-exchange ship. He had gone to seek the release of a friend, but they were refused permission to go ashore until…
Read MoreBenjamin Banneker – America’s First Clock
Known as the first African-American scientist, Benjamin Banneker invented a wooden clock that struck on the hour. He built the clock in 1753 a the age of 22 and scholars believe he modeled it after a borrowed pocket watch, which he studied after taking it apart piece by piece. He built his wood clock entirely…
Read MoreOn This October Day in American History
October 3, 1863 – President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation designating the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. Birthday – October 4 – Artist Frederic Remington (1861-1909) was born in Canton, New York. He studied at Yale Art School then traveled extensively throughout the American West in the late 1800’s sketching cowboys, Native Americans,…
Read MoreFirst Official National Decoration Day
Decoration Day dates back to the 1860’s, when local groups from the North and South laid flowers on the graves of the Civil War soldiers who fell in battle. The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), an organization of Union veterans, officially established Decoration Day in 1868. The name Memorial Day was used with, or…
Read MoreEvacuation Day
“Strike up the band, bring out the oxen…Let’s celebrate! Celebrated in Massachusetts, the day commemorates the evacuation of the British forces holding Boston under siege for 11 months. The British control of the sea and land accesses had stymied the Continental Army under Washington. Boston bookkeeper and artillery genius, Henry Knox engineered “one of the…
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