In the nineteenth century invaders from Russia took over vast swaths of the nation, threatening America’s very way of life in what has been described as one of the most rapid invasions in history. The invasion, and century and a half long war against Salsola Icali tragus, better known as “Russian thistle,” and even better known as the “Tumbleweed,” deserves to be remembered.
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.