The American taste for the avocado has skyrocketed in the 21st century, with the US Department of agriculture noting the annual per capita avocado demand tripling to 8 pounds between 2000 and 2021. Whether for trendy toast or for football party guacamole, the story behind the evergreen fruit is a spicy addition to the mix.
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.