It Happened on July 31: Chris, Marq and Tommy

From the July 31, 2020, Chicago Tribune "On July 31..."

**  1498--  Christopher Columbus reached the island of Trinidad on his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere.  (Especially interesting in these days of rage when his statues are being attacked and removed.  He made a huge impact on world history regardless of where you stand on him.)

**  1777--  The Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, was given the rank of major general in the American Continental Army.   That is very, very young.  But, without him and France, I don't think the colonies would have achieved their independence, and then all the leaders would have been branded as traitors and all sorts of bad things might have happened to them.)

**  1877--  Thomas Edison took out a patent leading to the development of the phonograph.  (And that development sure had a huge impact on my life.

--Cooter