by Sharon Hall | Dec 2, 2013 | Military History Monday
One hundred and forty-nine years ago, on November 29, 1864, perhaps the most atrocious and disturbing attacks in United States military history occurred at Sand Creek, an encampment in Colorado Territory of 700-800 Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians. The attack was led by...
by Sharon Hall | Nov 27, 2013 | Digging History Magazine, Ghost Town Wednesday
The area around today’s ghost town was settled thousands of years ago. All along the Kodiak Archipelago the Alutiiq people lived, and like most other natives they hunted marine mammals (sea otters) and fished. The community was well organized – men and women both...
by Sharon Hall | Nov 26, 2013 | Tombstone Tuesday
Since the weather has turned colder (and snowy in some places) I decided to cast out to the far north where snow has been on the ground for weeks – Circle, Alaska. A small marker was placed over Nellie Ross Cullens-Norwood’s grave in this remote area of Alaska. Only...
by Sharon Hall | Nov 25, 2013 | Military History Monday
Soon after the Kansas-Nebraska Act was signed, the Massachusetts (New England) Emigrant Aid Society sent 200 “Free-Staters” (anti-slavery) to counteract the influences of southern states and neighboring Missouri who were strongly pro-slavery. The Massachusetts group...
by Sharon Hall | Nov 23, 2013 | Home Remedies and Quack Cures
Before it became illegal to lie on the package label, this “cure” for alcoholism was called “Golden Specific” – later changed to “Golden Treatment” when the law went into effect. Dr. James Wilkins Haines of Cincinnati, Ohio claimed his medicine was endorsed by the...
by Sharon Hall | Nov 22, 2013 | Feudin' & Fightin' Friday
San Elizario in El Paso County, Texas was the location of this conflict over mineral rights. San Elizario was founded in 1789 south of the Rio Grande River. In 1831 a flood changed the course of the river and San Elizario became an “island” between the two channels...
by Sharon Hall | Nov 20, 2013 | Digging History Magazine, Ghost Town Wednesday
Once upon a time this ghost town came within three votes of becoming the capital of Mississippi. Native Americans found it a good place to cross the Mississippi River long before the area was settled by the French in 1763, who named it “Petit Gulf”. In 1781 the...
by Sharon Hall | Nov 19, 2013 | Tombstone Tuesday
I normally write Tombstone Tuesday articles about ordinary, everyday people who lived economically and physically challenging lives out on the American frontier somewhere. Today’s article is related to tomorrow’s Ghost Town Wednesday article, and since I ran across...
by Sharon Hall | Nov 18, 2013 | Military History Monday
President James K. Polk was on a mission to expand the country westward. The term “divine destiny” had been used by journalist John O’Sullivan in 1839, later evolving into what came to be known as “Manifest Destiny”. Part of Polk’s plans for westward expansion...
by Sharon Hall | Nov 16, 2013 | Home Remedies and Quack Cures
I’ve recently been performing a lot of historical and ancestral research by combing through digitized newspapers. Inevitably, in the newspapers of the mid-1800’s until the early 1930’s, I am reading advertisements extolling the benefits of so-called...
