The Bathtub from the USS Maine-- Part 1: Everyone Wants a Piece of the Ship

From Factbites.

Yes, that USS Maine cited as a reason for the Spanish-American War when it blew up in Cuba's Havana Harbor.

It is located in the Hancock Historical Museum in Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio.

**  When the USS Maine was raised in 1911, every Congressman wanted a piece of it.

**  The courthouse janitor eventually typed a "U.S.S. Maine Bathtub" sign and attached it to the case because he got tired of explaining it to visitors.

**  Most of its enamel is gone, but it doesn't detract from the fact that it is from that famous ship.

--CootBath

10 of the Strangest Moments in the History of War-- Part 2: Tootsie Rolls Delivered as Ammunition

5.  A bathroom break causes a war.  The Marco Polo Bridge Incident July 7-9, 1937, in Beijing, China, vs. Japan.

4.  Tootsie Rolls delivered as ammunition at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, Korean War, Nov.-Dec. 1950.

3.  A blind king charges into battle on August 26, 1346.

2.  A soldier becomes a veteran of three armies.  Was in the Japanese, Soviet Union and German armies during WWII.

1.  British sink their own flagship, the HMS Victoria.  1893 collision with HMS Camperdown.

--CooterRolls

10 of the Strangest Moments in the History of War-- Part 1 Cavalry Captures Fleet

From the October 15, 2013, Listverse.

10.  French cavalry capture a Dutch fleet, January 1795.  Well, the ships were stuck in ice.

9.  Founder of Scientology fights naval battle with imaginary enemy, May 19, 1943.  Thought it was a Japanese submarine and attacked with PC-815, a sub-chaser.

8.  Two drunk soldiers start a battle to see who was tougher, 334 B.C.

7.  British get the Ottomans high, November 1917.

6.  Meteorite wins battle--  Rome.

Remember, go to the site to read more about these.

--DaCoot

By the Numbers: U.S. War Veterans-- Part 4-- Korean War to Desert Shield/Storm

KOREAN WAR  (1950-1953)

Service:  5,720,000
Casualties:  Deaths--  54,246 (36,574 in theater)  Wounded--  103,284
Estimated Living:  2,275,000

VIETNAM WAR  (1964-1975)

Service:  8,744,000  (estimated 3,403,000 deployed)
Deaths:  90,220  (58,220 in theater)  Wounded--  153,303
Estimated Living:  7,391,000

DESERT SHIELD/STORM  (1990-1991)

Service:  2,322,000  (694,550 deployed)
Casualties:  Deaths--  1,948  (383 in theater)  Wounded--  467
Estimated Living:  2,244,583  (2009 estimate and may include veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan

Lots of Wars.  --Cooter

By the Numbers: U.S. War Veterans-- Part 2: Indian Wars to Spanish-American War

INDIAN WARS (1817-1898)

Service:  est. 106,000
Deaths:  1,100 est.
Last Veteran:  Fredrak Fraske, died 1973 at age 101.

MEXICAN WAR  (1846-1848)

Service: 78,718
Casualties:  13,283 dead, 4,152 wounded
Last veteran:  Owen Thomas Edgar, died 1929 at age 98.

CIVIL WAR (1861-1865)

Service:  Union 2,213, 363  Confederate 600,000 to 1,500,000
Casualties:  Union 364,511  Wounded 281,881  Confederate  unknown
Last Veteran:  John Sailing.  Died 1958 at age 112.

SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR  (1898-1902)

Service:  306,760
Casualties:  2,446 dead (385 in battle) Wounded 1,662
Last Veteran:  Nathan E. Cook died 1992 at age 106.

--Cooter

By the Numbers: U.S. War Veterans-- Part 1: American Revolution and War of 1812

From the June 5, 2013, CNN U.S..

There are still 1.7 million Americans alive today who served in World War II  But, hundreds are dying every day.  The VA estimates that by 2036 there will be none alive.

The last American veteran of World War I was frank Buckles who died in February 2011.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION (1775-1783)

Service: 184,000 to 250,000 estimated
Deaths:  4,435, Wounded: 6,188
Last veteran: Daniel F. Bakeman, died 1869 at age 104.

WAR OF 1812  (1812-1815)
Service: 286,730
Casualties:  Dead 2,260, Wounded: 4,505
Last veteran:  Hiram Cronk, died 1905 at age

Freedom Isn't Cheap.  --Cooter

10 Ridiculous Myths From Famous Historical Wars

From the June 20, 2015, Listvers by Gregory Myers.

10.  World War I started because of a sandwich.

9.  The U.S. saved the day in World War II.

8.  The American soldiers in the Revolutionary War were highly motivated.

7.  General Hannibal's elephant cavalry turned the tide against the Romans.

6.  Napoleon would have won the Battle of Waterloo if only he had....

5.  The harshness of the Treaty of Versailles led to World War II.

4.  The Tet Offensive determined the Vietnam War.

3.  The U.S. entered World War II after Pearl Harbor.

2.  The Scottish wore kilts while fighting the English.

1.  The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was unprecedented.

As usual,. pictures and more information at the site.

--GreGen

Our McHenry Vietnam Deaths

Vietnam casualties on Find the Best site.

McHenry, Illinois.

GLENN PHILLIP DAVIS, Age 22.  Died May 13, 1868. Corporal USMC.  Vietnam Wall:  Panel 59E, Row 020.

JOHN EDWARD GRANATH, Age 20.  Died May 6, 1970, Corporal U.S. Army.  Vietnam Wall: Panel 11 W, Row 111.

CARTER JOHN FREUND, 23, died Feb. 28, 1969, Corporal U.S. Army.  Vietnam Wall: Panel 31 W Row 092.

Top Ten Obscure Wars-- Part 2

5.  FIRST BARBARY WAR:  (1801-1805), U.S. versus Barbary States of Morocco, Algiers and Tunisia.

4.  INDIAN AND EUROPEAN FRONTS AMERICAN REVOLUTION:  (1778-1783)  France and Spain versus Britain.

3.  ALEUTIAN ISLANDS CAMPAIGN:  (1942-1943)  Alaska territory (U.S.) invaded by Japan.

2.  SOVIET-JAPANESE WAR:  (August 9-September 2, 1945), the Soviet Union invaded Manchuria.    

1.  ANGLO-ZANZIBAR WAR:  (August 27, 1896), lasted 38 minutes.  Zanzibar declared itself free of British rule.

--Cooter

Top Ten Obscure Wars-- Part 1

From the June 6, 2012, Listverse.

10.  NORTHERN CRUSADES:  (1147-1290), eliminated pagan groups in Scandinavia.

9.  WAR OF JENKINS' EAR:  (Probably one of the best war-names ever.  (1739-1748), Fought in the Caribbean, Florida and Georgia.  Part of the larger War of Austrian Succession.

8.  QUASI-WAR:  (1798-1800),  U.S. versus France.  The French were fighting the British and the U.S. was neutral, but still traded with the British, causing attacks on them by the French.

7.  THIRD PUNIC WAR:  (149 B.C.-146 B.C.), Rome versus Carthage.  Led to the final defeat of Carthage.

6.  SONDERBUND WAR:  (Nov. 3-29, 1847),   Switzerland Civil War.  Several catholic cantons broke away.

--DaCoot

Sixty-Three Spanish-American War Veteran Children Still Receiving Pensions

From the March 21, 2013, Mailonline (UK).

Yesterday, I wrote about two children of Civil War veterans still receiving pensions, almost 150 after the war ended.  They also had a table showing how many people are receiving pensions from subsequent wars.

From the U.S. Veterans and Dependents on Benefit Rolls as of September 2011.

War/ Veterans/ Children/ Parents/  Surviving Spouses

CIVIL WAR--  __/  2/  __/  __

INDIAN WARS--  __/   __/  __/  __

SPANISH-AMERICAN--  __/  63/  __/ 50

MEXICAN BORDER--  __/  10/  __/ 22

WORLD WAR I--  __/  2,371/  __/  2,734

WORLD WAR II--  269,418/  11,185/  29/  210,696

KOREAN WAR--  206,502/  2,347/  105/  65,900

VIETNAM ERA--  1,325,941/  4,051/  2,228/  191,488

GULF WAR--  1,214,,715/  3,220/  1231/  19,941

The last verified Civil War veteran, Albert Woolson was 109 when he died in 1956.  The last verified Civil War widow, Gertrude Janeway, died at age 93 in 2003.  She married John Janeway when he was 81 and she was 18 who received a $70 monthly pension check.

Of interest, two of former President John Tyler's grandsons are still alive, 140 years after the 10th president's death.

Interesting Numbers.  --Cooter

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Obscure Wars-- Part 5

9.  THE JAYBIRD-WOODPECKER WAR--  As a result of Reconstruction after the Civil War.  In Fort Bend County, Texas, 1888-1889.  Pitted two shite groups, the "Woodpeckers" who were allied with blacks and "Jaybirds" who were not.  After a gun battle, the "Jaybirds" prevailed.


9A  THE KIRK-HOLDEN WAR in North Carolina.  In the counties of Alamance and Caswell, there were attacks by the Ku Klux Klan which prompted Governor W.W. Holden to declare martial law in 1870. He sent in militia under former Union Colonel George Kirk.  This move was so controversial, Holden was impeached.


10.  THE PASTRY WAR--  A French pastry chef in Mexico was annoyed that local soldiers had looted his shop and complained to France's King Louis-Phillippe. In 1838, the king demanded compensation and sent a fleet, which fought the Mexicans around Veracruz and won a promise of payment.

I Had Not Heard of Most of These Wars.  --Cooter

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Obscure Wars-- Part 4

7.  THE WENDISH CRUSADE--  Everyone knows the Crusades involved Christian Armies trying to get the Holy Land back from the Muslims, but an offshoot of the Second Crusade was called the Wendish Crusade in the mid-12th century, where non-Christian Slavic peoples were attacked in present-day Germany (called the Wends).  They were given the choice of converting or dying.


8.  THE WAR OF THE OAKEN BUCKET--  A twelve-year war that started in 1325 in Ital between the city-states of Modena and Bologna.  It started when a soldier from Modena stole a wooden bucket from Bologna.  Bologna demanded it back and it escalated into war and thousands died.

Modena displays the bucket to this day.  (This shouldn't be confused with the annual Old Oaken Bucket football game between Purdue and Indiana.)

Bucket, Bucket.  Who's Got the Bucket?  --DaCoot

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Obscure Wars-- Part 3

5.  THE TOLEDO WAR--  Holy Toledo!!   The Toledo War was fought in 1835-1836 between the Territory of Michigan and the state of Ohio.  Hundreds of men took up arms, but only one wounded and none died.  It was over the strip of land from Toledo west to Indiana.  In a compromise, Ohio got Toledo and Michigan got the Upper Peninsula.  I'm sure Wisconsin was all happy about that one.


5A.  THE HONEY WAR--  was an 1839 conflict between the territory of Iowa and state of Missouri as to how the border between the two was to be drawn.  There were no casualties except for three trees containing bee hives cut down by Missouri tax agents.


6.  THE PUNIC WARS--  Between Rome and Carthage from 264-146 BC (three of them) is quite famous among ancient wars, but not many know about them today, even with Hannibal and his elephants.  However, they can claim the honor of being the longest-running war(s).  The mayors of the two cities didn't sign a peace treaty until 1985, ending the 2,249-year-old conflict.

So, You Didn't Know.  --Cooter

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Obscure Wars-- Part 2

3.  THE MILK WAR OF OCTOBER 1935--  Hundreds of thousands of gallons of milk were spilled, many beatings, two bridges burned down, a railroad track blown up and two dead.  Started over low prices of milk and a faction of dairy farmers in northwest Illinois and southern Wisconsin tried, and nearly succeeded in blocking all milk deliveries to Chicago and Elgin.

For two weeks, much of the milk delivered to Chicago was accompanied by armed guards.


4.  THE FENIAN BROTHERHOOD WARS--  Much is made about Americans and Canadians sharing the "world's longest undefended border" but from 1866-1871 Canada was fortifying its border on the frontier to stop invasions into Canada from the private Irish-American of the Fenian Brotherhood seeking to put pressure on Britain to free Ireland. 

Hundreds of fighters crossed the border.  the Fenians failed but did push Canada's provinces toward unification.

Never heard of these last two wars.

Wars to the Right.  --DaCoot

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Obscure Wars-- Part 1

From the Feb. 3, 2013, Chicago Tribune "10 things you might not know about OBSCURE WARS" by Mark Jacob and Stephan Benzkofer.

Our intrepid knowledge-gatherers are back at it again, this time writing about wars you've probably never heard of.

This article is based on President Obama's declaring that "a decade of war is now ending" in his recent inaugural address.  Of course, just the week before, the US had signed an agreement with Niger in Africa to station troops there to support French troops in neighboring Mali which has all sorts of problems.

Could this be the next Afghanistan or Iraq?

1.  THE WAR OF JENKINS' EAR--  Britain was angry at Spain's publicized incident in which English sea captain Robert Jenkins' left ear was cut off near Havana.  The war began in 1739, and three years later became part of the "less interestingly named War of the Austrian Succession."


2.  THE QUASI-WAR, or HALF-WAR--  We were thankful of French help in the American revolution, but then the French had their own revolution and we got into a dispute over debts and trade.

This was primarily a war at sea (I find that many American Naval commanders in the War of 1812 were veterans of this war).  Fought 1798-1800.  "It ended so quietly it barely makes the history books."

War to the Left.  --Cooter

Ten Best Old War Films

From the Jan. 1, 2011, Screen Junkies.

1.  Twelve O-Clock High (1949)
2.  The Desert Fox (1951)
3.  From Here to Eternity (1953)

4.  The Caine Mutiny (1954)
5.  The Bridge Over the River Kwai (1957)
6.  Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)
7.  The Longest Day (1962)

8.  The Great Escape (1963)
9.  Patton (1970)
10. Apocalypse Now (1979)

Seen 'Em All.   --Cooter

Ten Greatest War Movies

From Screen Junkies.

1.  Saving Private Ryan
2.  The Hurt Locker
3.  Black Hawk Down
4.  Glory
5.  We Were Soldiers

6.  The Patriot
7.  Platoon
8.  Full Metal Jacket
9.  The Thin Red Line
10. Inglourious Basterds

They Have Reasons.  Check It Out.  --Cooter