In February, 1863 the Union Navy suffered a stunning setback that threatened to change the course of the war. In response, the Union deployed an entirely new class of vessel, the massive and intimidating Black Terror. Flying the skull and crossbones, the cruise of the mighty Black Terror is another example of history stranger than fiction.
On October 19, 1762 the day was so dark at Fort Detroit that candles were needed to see at noon. A British officer called the day "The most extraordinary dark day perhaps ever seen in the world." Some would take the darkness as a sign.
Solenopsis invicta, the “Red Imported Fire Ant”, native to South America, has proven a tenacious and destructive pest in the United States, costing Americans billions of dollars every year. That is why, in the late 1950s, the United States embarked on an all out war against the six-legged menace.