At about this time in 1806, future President Andrew Jackson faces Charles Dickinson in one of the most famous duels in American history. Jackson participated in many duels during his day, although the exact number is disputed. How remarkable that he survived so many of these encounters—or that he didn’t hurt more people. Jackson’s marriage to Rachel Donelson Robards became a source of public controversy. Rachel Donelson Robards was in an unhappy (maybe abusive) marriage w

On this day in 1813, Thomas Jefferson writes John Adams, informing him that their mutual friend Benjamin Rush had passed away. The two men had only just begun communicating after more than a decade of silence. It would take Abigail Adams a bit longer to relent, but she finally did a few weeks later. “Abigail’s voice, as always,” historian Joseph Ellis writes, “was the surest sign. Jefferson had been forgiven. The friendship, so long in storage, had never completely died.

On this day in 2005, Green Acres star Eddie Albert passes away. You might know him for his success in Hollywood, but do you know about his Navy service during World War II? Perhaps most notably, Albert supported Marines as they fought to secure the Tarawa Atoll and its important airstrip late in 1943. He even received a Bronze Star with Combat “V” for the stunning rescues he made. That invasion began on November 20 as Marines landed on the tiny island of Betio, along the

On this Memorial Day in 1948, a soldier is honored in a ceremony led by none other than General Omar Bradley. Edward G. Wilkin’s young son had received a Medal of Honor on his behalf two years earlier. Now he was also present as Wilkin’s remains were finally brought home. The younger Wilkin remembers the ceremony, “but what it really meant, what it represented,” he admitted. “I never really understood it until I got older of course.” He also remembers Bradley, who spoke t

On this day in 1755, Tench Coxe is born in Philadelphia. Was he a Patriot or a Loyalist? People weren’t so sure at first. But he rehabilitated himself—or at least his reputation—and later served in four presidential administrations. He also became a prolific writer on the importance of an armed citizenry. Perhaps it’s unsurprising, given his background. Coxe’s father was once a stamp (tax) collector in New Jersey. Patriot threats and protests caused him to resign, but then

On this day in 1945, a Seventh-Day Adventist engages in an action that would earn him the Medal of Honor. He was the only conscientious objector to receive a Medal of Honor for his service during World War II. Doss, of course, objected to the term “conscientious objector,” right from the beginning. He preferred “conscientious cooperator” or “noncombatant.” After all, he intended to help the Army in any way that his religion allowed. He worked to get himself assigned as a me

At about this time in 1775, a Patriot begins a long horseback ride from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Philadelphia. The ride was long and exhausting—but urgent. The rider, Captain James Jack, has been called “Charlotte’s Paul Revere.” One historical problem? To this day, no one is entirely sure what message Captain Jack carried. It’s said that he carried a document called the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, allegedly approved on May 20, but was there actually such a

On this day in 1951, the first “Engineeress” in the Coast Guard passes away. Myrtle Hazard was the first woman to serve in the Coast Guard—and the only woman to serve during World War I. It was perhaps an unexpected path for the young mother to take? When the United States entered World War I, Myrtle was living in Baltimore with her husband, parents, and three-year-old son. She saw an ad for the Y.M.C.A.’s Wireless and Commercial Telegraphy School. The ads promised “Goo

On this day in 1943, a Marine receives the Medal of Honor. Joseph J. Foss is perhaps best known as the first “Ace of Aces” in World War II. He earned his Medal over the skies of Guadalcanal. Foss has been called “one of the mentally toughest aviators in the South Pacific.” That steely determination served him well, long before he became a Marine. In fact, he might never have been a Marine at all, but for his willingness to persevere and work hard. Foss was born to impove

On this day in 1766, a little-known Revolutionary War heroine is born in South Carolina. At the age of 15, Dicey Langston would make a Paul Revere-like dash in the middle of the night. Revere was fortunate to have a horse: Dicey had only her feet! She also had the swift currents of a local river standing between her and her destination. Dicey made her run even though she’d already been admonished to quit passing intelligence on to Patriot groups. Her father was getting worr

On this day in 1919, an intrepid group of aviators attempt something no one had ever accomplished before: a flight across the Atlantic Ocean. They would soon become the first to make such a transatlantic crossing, and they would do it nearly a decade before Charles Lindbergh’s record-breaking flight. You’ve doubtless heard of Lindbergh’s feat, but you most likely haven’t heard of this flight, undertaken by the U.S. Navy. While Lindbergh’s trip was the first to be solo and n

On this day in 1908, a new chapter begins for the United States Navy as a new Nurse Corps is authorized. Twenty pioneering women would soon be selected as the Corps’ first nurses. Together, they came to be known as the “Sacred Twenty.” The idea of Navy nurses had been slow to take hold. “The strongest resistance came from within the Navy itself,” historian Susan H. Godson explains. “Many older senior medical officers had never worked with women nurses . . . . They could o

On this day in 1945, a telephone wireman receives the Medal of Honor. Robert D. Maxwell was lucky just to be alive. Months earlier, near Besançon, France, he’d made a split-second decision, putting his own life on the line but saving the men around him. But Maxwell did more than survive. He lived so long that he was the oldest living Medal of Honor recipient at the time of his passing in May 2019. Perhaps Maxwell was an unlikely hero? His Quaker grandfather had been a hug

On this day in 1984, a Medal of Honor recipient passes away. Maynard H. Smith was not your typical recipient. Indeed, he’d grown up a bit entitled and even earned the nickname “Snuffy” because he was viewed as an obnoxious misfit. Smith’s background surely contributed to his attitude. He was the son of a local judge who’d protected Smith when he got in trouble. For instance, a young Smith was once speeding and hit a horse and buggy. He wasn’t prosecuted because of his dad

On this day in 1915, American newspapers report startling news: A passenger liner, the RMS Lusitania, had been torpedoed by a German U-boat. Some of the casualties were American. Were the Germans trying to goad America into joining World War I? Why were ammunition and war supplies in the ship’s cargo in the first place? Did the British secretly want Americans pushed out of their neutrality? Or was the tragedy simply the result of bad timing? British naval operations may hav

On this day in 1915, the RMS Lusitania is torpedoed by a German U-boat. Shockingly, Lusitania sank in only 18 minutes! Nearly 1,200 people, including 128 Americans, were killed. How could a civilian passenger ship become a casualty of war? Americans were outraged. Indeed, the tragedy was one domino that fell, eventually prompting the United States to enter World War I. In retrospect, it seems obvious that more precautions should have been taken. Mere hours before Lusitani

On this day in 1941, Bob Hope gives the first of his legendary shows for the USO. It was just the beginning of a 50-year effort to bring smiles to the faces of our men and women in uniform. His overwhelming success has earned him the moniker “One-Man Morale Machine.” Hope was then host of NBC radio’s The Pepsodent Show, featuring his comedic monologues along with skits and other performances. But the course of Hope’s life would forever be altered when The Pepsodent Show w

On this day in 1961, the first American astronaut rockets into space. Alan B. Shepard, Jr. traveled to an altitude of 116 miles above Earth, completing the mission known as Mercury-Redstone 3 while he sat in a small capsule that he’d named Freedom 7. He landed in the Atlantic just 15 minutes and 28 seconds after launch. The Apollo missions sent men to the moon, of course, but do you know about the Mercury missions that predated them? Ultimately, more than two dozen of the

On this day in 1945, a young Marine makes a split-second decision, saving the lives of four Navy corpsmen. Elbert L. Kinser’s extraordinary bravery on this day so long ago would earn him the Medal of Honor. “He was a farm boy,” Earl Fletcher says. “He was just a good old Greene County farm boy who left the farm and went to the South Pacific in World War II.” Fletcher is executive director of the Nathanael Greene Museum, where Kinser’s Medal remains a treasured part of the

On this day in 2007, Wally Schirra passes away. He is best known for his service as an astronaut at NASA: He was the fifth American and the ninth human to travel into space. He was also the only astronaut to fly in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. He wasn’t the only astronaut to participate in all three, though. Technically, Mercury astronaut Gus Grissom should have done the same, but he never flew as an Apollo astronaut. Instead, he was tragically killed along wit