On this day in 1860, the woman known as Annie Oakley is born. That wasn’t her real name, of course. The famous sharpshooter’s name at birth was Phoebe Ann Mosey. Annie was nothing if not talented. “At 30 paces she could split a playing card held edge-on,” one commentator notes, “she hit dimes tossed into the air, she shot cigarettes from her husband’s lips, and, a playing card being thrown into the air, she riddled it before it touched the ground.” She could even fire ove

On this day in 1778, General Charles Lee’s court martial ends with a guilty verdict. But who is Charles Lee? Well, it seems that if Charles Lee had had his way, he would have been Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Now he was in trouble. Mere weeks earlier, he had ordered a retreat in the midst of the Battle of Monmouth. General George Washington had arrived just in time to reverse the retreat and salvage the battle. Battle of Monmout

On this day in 1934, Alcatraz accepts its first official group of federal prisoners. That maximum security prison in the middle of San Francisco Bay would soon become the stuff of legends, earning a reputation as “The Rock” from which no prisoner could possibly escape. Did you know the facility was a military prison long before it was a civilian one? As early as the 1850s, the Army was constructing a fort on the island. It soon began using Alcatraz as a military prison, b

On or around this day in 1831, a sea captain from Massachusetts names his American flag “Old Glory.” The name that Captain William Driver gave to his flag stuck. “Old Glory” is more than just a general nickname for our national banner. It is an actual flag, which can be found today at the Smithsonian Institution. The American flag pictured at sunset aboard USS Green Bay. The ship was then at White Beach Naval Base in Okinawa, Japan. Photo taken on on August 21,

On this day in 1916, a future Medal of Honor recipient is born. Some might have thought Ernest H. Dervishian an unlikely military hero. After all, he’d chosen law school over medical school because he’d been unable to stand the sight of “gruesome things” during a tour of the Medical College of Virginia. Nevertheless, Dervishian left his legal career behind and joined the U.S. Army during World War II. By May 1944, he was with Allied forces near Cisterna, Italy. They’d been bo

On this day in 1927, President Calvin Coolidge speaks at a dedication ceremony for Mount Rushmore. Work would begin on that famous monument soon thereafter. What did Coolidge think the importance of the monument was? “On this towering wall of Rushmore, in the heart of the Black Hills,” Coolidge said, “is to be inscribed a memorial which will represent some of the outstanding features of four of our Presidents.” He thought it natural that the design would begin with George Was

On this day in 1943, the Women Airforce Service Pilots is formed. The WASPs would assist the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, but these women were not officially a part of the military. They were civilians. “There were no GI benefits, no fringe benefits, and no dress parades,” former WASP Deanie Parrish would later say, “just the satisfaction of knowing they had done their duty and they had completed their mission.” The WASPs might never have existed but for the effo

On this day in 1943, a young woman enlists in the Women’s Army Corps. Twenty-two-year-old Maybelle Rutland would go on to serve in the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion during World War II. The “SixTripleEight,” as the battalion came to be known, was the only all-black, all-female Army unit to serve overseas during the war. Yet when those 855 women boarded the French ocean liner SS Ile de France on February 3, 1945, they had no idea what their mission was to be.

On this day in 1945, the last survivors of USS Indianapolis are pulled from the Pacific Ocean. They’d been there since a Japanese submarine had torpedoed and sunk her several days earlier. Indianapolis had just finished delivering parts for the Little Boy atomic bomb to American bombers. Now, because of communication gaffes, the heavy cruiser was missing, but no one knew it. (See First part of story.) Survivors were waiting for a rescue that was not coming. The men were

On this day in 1929, a future Medal of Honor recipient is born. Corporal Gordon Craig’s sacrifice would save four men, but it did far more than that. His sacrifice still lives on today in a way that the young soldier doubtless never envisioned. After Craig was awarded the Medal, leaders in his community made a memorial at his old high school. His portrait, Medal of Honor, and Purple Heart have been hanging near the school entrance for decades, inspiring future generations.

On this day in 1945, USS Indianapolis is sunk by Japanese torpedoes. Her survivors would float in the ocean for days before anyone found them. There was just one silver lining to the tragedy. Indianapolis had already performed the most important part of her mission: She had successfully carried parts for the Little Boy atomic bomb across the Pacific. American bombers would soon carry Little Boy toward Hiroshima. Along with the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Little Boy would ulti

On this day in 1944, a soldier engages in an action that would earn him the Medal of Honor. Hulon “Rocky” Whittington is the only Medal recipient from the small lumbering town of Bogalusa, Louisiana. He’d volunteered for the Army, even before the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. He was soon serving with the 41st Armored Infantry Regiment, 2nd Armored Division. That division fought from North Africa to Sicily and Normandy, even earning a nickname: Hell on Wheels! Whittingt

On this day in 1929, Jacqueline Lee Bouvier is born. Americans would later come to know her by her married name, of course. Jackie Kennedy remains one of our nation’s most recognizable First Ladies, long admired for her grace and style. It’s easy to remember the glamour that surrounded Jackie and John Kennedy, but there was another side to their story, too. The couple wed while Kennedy was still just a Senator. The nation was fascinated by them, but life was not always so

On this day in 2013, one of America’s most highly decorated officers passes away at nearly 90 years old. George “Bud” Day served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. He was a Marine, a soldier, and an Air Force pilot. He is also a recipient of the Medal of Honor, awarded for his bravery as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. When Day was captured, he was a 42-year-old Air Force Major and the commander of a squadron of F-100s known as the Misty forward air contr

On this day in 1944, United States Marines invade the island of Tinian, in the Pacific. By August 1, they would be in possession of the island. “In my opinion,” Admiral Raymond A. Spruance would say, “the Tinian operation was probably the most brilliantly conceived and executed amphibious operation in World War II.” It would prove vitally important, too. Tinian later became the base of operations for aircraft dropping nuclear bombs on Japan. Its relatively flat terrain made

During this month in 1787, delegates to the Constitutional Convention debate an important question: How should a President be elected? You’d be surprised by the great variety of crazy ideas they had. For starters, it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that we’d have only one President. We’d fought a Revolution so we could escape a tyrannical British King. Why would we now invest all Executive power in one man again? Perhaps it would it be better to disperse power. Can you imagi

On this day in 1893, a professor stands atop Pikes Peak in Colorado. She is struck by the beauty around her and is inspired to write a poem. Her poem is later set to music. Today, we all know that song as “America the Beautiful.” It nearly became America’s national anthem. The professor was Katharine Lee Bates, daughter of a minister and teacher. Her father unfortunately passed away when she was young, but her mother managed to send Bates to Wellesley College anyway. Bates la

On this day in 1940, a boy is born in Connecticut. Harvey “Barney” Barnum would one day find himself in the middle of a desperate Vietnam battle. His courage that day would ultimately earn him the Medal of Honor—but first, he had to become a Marine. Barnum might never have been a Marine at all but for an experience in high school. His school hosted a Marine recruiter during his senior year. Apparently, the students were so boisterous and rowdy that the recruiter denounced t

On this day in 1789, a signer of the Declaration of Independence writes a letter to John Adams. The letter sounds harsh to modern ears. And yet it makes perfect sense. “A simple democracy,” Benjamin Rush wrote, “or an unbalanced republic, is one of the greatest of evils.” Wait. Democracy . . . . evil?! What on earth could he mean? Simple. Our Founders knew that, as a matter of history, simple democracies tend to implode. Naturally, they wanted to avoid such a catastrophe. Per

On this day in 1987, a former Navy nurse passes away. Jane Louise “Candy” Kendeigh is best known for her service during World War II. She was the first Navy flight nurse to land in an active Pacific combat zone during World War II. She’d just been wrapping up nursing school when the Japanese attacked at Pearl Harbor. She was soon volunteering for the brand-new School of Air Evacuation, ultimately graduating with its first class. That training was no picnic, covering every