Astonishing Events from the American Revolution That They Don’t Teach in School! We all know about Washington’s crossing of the Delaware and Betsy Ross’s stitching together the Stars and Stripes, but how about a little-known, valid reason for the war itself and why General George was able to survive a plague that wiped out many of his fellow countrymen? History buff Tim Rowland provides an entertaining look at happenings during and surrounding the Revolutionary War that you won’t find in history books. He digs into the war’s major events and reveals the unknown, bizarre, and often wildly amusing things the participants were doing while breaking away from Great Britain. For example, conventional wisdom says that “no taxation without representation” was an important reason for the revolution, but not in the way we’ve been told. Colonists paid the wages of common-court judges, who were reluctant to rule against the men who paid their salaries. Therefore, duties on molasses (the key ingredient in rum) were generally unenforced until the British cut the tariff in half. Strange but true, the spark that touched off the revolution was in fact a tax cut. During the French and Indian War and then again in the first year of the revolution, the British were accused of biological warfare, infecting blankets with smallpox and then concealing them in Indian camps. So feared was the disease that soldiers began to illegally inoculate themselves before widespread vaccination was finally ordered for the army. Washington himself was immune, thanks to a Caribbean trip taken as a young man when his brother Lawrence sought a cure for tuberculosis. Lawrence wasn’t cured, but George was infected with smallpox in Barbados. As a young man in a warm climate, he survived. As an older man in a northern winter, however, the story of the father of our country might have had a different ending. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Presents a series of historical anecdotes about little-known, miscellaneous events and personal experiences of the American Civil War.

Excerpt from Anecdotes of the Revolutionary War in America: With Sketches of Character of Persons the Most Distinguished, in the Southern States, for Civil and Military Services The author cannot sufficiently lament that he had but little share in the achievement of those important events which fixed the independency of the United States. His heart from the earliest dawn of the Revolution was devoted to the cause of his country, and he would have been first in the ranks of her armies but the Revolution found him a youth in Europe, in pursuit of his Colle giate studies, and a parent's mandate forbid it. When age permitted his return to America, his fortunes without a murmur were sacrificed to his principles, and his life. To have promoted the interests of America, would have been yielded without a sigh. The public witnessed his zeal and liberally rewarded it. His general gave him his confidence and promotion. His fellow soldiers, What he must ever consider his highest honour, their friendship and esteem. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Tales of the Revolution: Being Rare and Remarkable Passages of the History of the War of 1775 One of the most important advantages gain ed by the Americans over the English during the first year of the Revolutionary War, and one that contributed, perhaps quite as much as any other which occurred in the course of that eventful season, to encourage the hearts of the patriots then engaged in defence of the liberties of the country, was the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, by a party of tr00ps sent out under the direction of the State of Connecticut, and commanded by Colonel Ethan Allen of Vermont. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The 1948 crime film The Naked City (later a television show) ended with this iconic line “There are eight million stories in the naked city.” Things have not changed either before or since: every era and neighborhood is full of true tales and legends about which even residents are likely to be unaware. Strange And Obscure Stories Of New York City takes the reader on a breathtaking tour of the five boroughs in search of these accounts. Some are eerily fascinating in their own right while others explain how the city became the great metropolis that it is. Before the World Trade Center 9/11 tragedy, the aftermath of a fire aboard the steamboat General Slocum in the East River was the city’s greatest disaster. The 1904 event occurred during an outing for a church group. The loss of life—1,021 out of the 1,358 passengers—devastated the German-America community that inhabited Manhattan’s East Village. To escape bad memories, they relocated to the Upper East Side’s Yorkville, the reason why that neighborhood became celebrated for its German restaurants, stores, and breweries. On July 23, 1886, not long after the Brooklyn Bridge opened, a 23-year-old named Steve Brodie announced that he survived a 150-foot drop from that span into the East River. (A liquor dealer offered to back a saloon that Brodie wanted to open but only if he took the risk). Although there were no witnesses, news of the alleged jump made headlines, with The New York Times supporting Brodie’s claim, and the phrase “pull a Brodie,” meaning to try a dangerous stunt, entering popular parlance. Then too are the unsolved murders, ghost stories, urban legends (are there indeed alligators living in the sewers?), and hidden histories that are all part of this lively and captivating chronicle of the world’s greatest city. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

This fascinating collection explores the unusual and often bizarre persons,attitudes, and events of the Civil War. Illustrated and indexed.