Lions have not been native to the British Isles since cave lions went extinct there some 12 - 14 thousand years ago. Yet there is one type of lion that, if not native, at least has been prospering on the British isles since prehistory, and one that is centrally important to English history and culture, even if it is not directly represented on the royal coat of arms.
In August of 1918, as the armies of Europe neared exhaustion, American troops of the 28th “Keystone” division were thrown into a nearly forgotten battle that fully represented the horrors of the War to End All Wars.
Of the vaunted ironclad warships of the US Civil War perhaps the mightiest and most terrifying was the confederate ram Tennessee. On August 5, 1864, she would be put to the test in the largest naval engagement of the war, an engagement that defined the divided loyalties of the War of the Rebellion.