The useless bits of info to see if we can make a million posts thread

[cAstAgeAr]

The only two Southern state capitals not occuppied by Northern troops during the American Civil War were Austin, Texas and Tallahasse, Florida.

[cAstAgeAr]

At the end of the Spanish-American War, in 1898, the United States occupied Cuba. Rioting mobs in the street, along with outbreaks of malaria and yellow fever, created havoc in the country. Lieutenant James Moss was sent with is troops to maintain order; they were successful. The unique thing about Moss's 25th Infantry of only 100 men was that they were a bicycle corps -- they all rode bicycles, they were all black, and they never once used their weapons while in Cuba

[cAstAgeAr]

Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.

[cAstAgeAr]

The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought at neighboring Breed's Hill.

[cAstAgeAr]

"John has a long moustache" was the coded-signal used by the French Resistance in WW II to mobilize their forces once the Allies had landed on the Normandy beaches.

[cAstAgeAr]

The Enola Gay was the name of the B-29 bomber that dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima.

[cAstAgeAr]

The Bockscar was the name of the B-29 bomber that dropped the atom bomb on Nagisaki.

[cAstAgeAr]

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 did start in a barn belonging to Patrick and Katherine O'Leary. The O'Leary's house was one of the few that survived the fire. The O'Leary's house had to be guarded by soldiers for weeks afterwards, however, because many enraged residents wanted to burn it down.

[cAstAgeAr]

However, the Chicago fire was the second-biggest of October 8, 1871. On that same evening, at almost the same hour as the O'Leary's barn went up, a forest fire of unimaginable intensity erupted near the lumber-milling town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, about 220 miles to the north. Flamed by the same wind that had spread the Chicago blaze, it flowed through the treetops so fast that it was useless to try to fight it or even run away. In ten minutes, half of Peshtigo and its residents were incinerated. Some saved themselves by jumping into the Peshtigo River. Those who were overtaken by the flames were quickly reduced to heaps of ashes. Although the damage was estimated at only 5 million dollars, the death toll was much higher -- around 1,200 to 1,500 and 2,000 square miles (or 1.3 million acres) were devastated.

[cAstAgeAr]

Napoleon hit on the idea of using a semaphore telegraph -- visual messages from as far as they eye could see -- and gained a huge advantage over his enemies. He could send a message from Paris to Rome in four hours

[cAstAgeAr]

The dirt road that General Washington and his soldiers took to fight off General Clinton during the Battle of Monmouth was called the Burlington Path.

[cAstAgeAr]

Original copy of the Declaration of Independence is lost. The copy in Washington D.C. is what is referred to as a holograph. That is a term for a handmade copy of a document and is not the same as a laser produced hologram.

[cAstAgeAr]

In the great fire of London in 1666 half of London was burnt down but only 6 people were injured

[cAstAgeAr]

When Saigon fell the signal for all Americans to evacuate was Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" being played on the radio.

[cAstAgeAr]

Spiral staircases in medieval castles are running clockwise. This is because all knights used to be right-handed. When the intruding army would climb the stairs they would not be able to use their right hand which was holding the sword because of the difficulties in climbing the stairs. Left-handed knights would have had no troubles except left-handed people could never become knights because it was assumed that they were descendants of the devil.